Quick snack avec collard greens

So.. ever feel hungry and have no idea what you want? That is pretty much the story of my life. At best, I will know whether I am craving something sweet or salty, but my brain likes to make me guess after that point. Tonight I was poking around in my fridge and seeing what needed to be eaten and found a half a bunch of collard greens. They probably had a day left before they would need to be tossed, so what ever I made for a snack tonight needed to include collards.

Wasn't sure what to call this concoction.... but here it is...

Earthy, salty and pretty healthy. Made in under 15 minutes

Collard-Shroom Bowl
*Serves 1

• Half a bunch of collard greens, stems removed, rolled length-wise and sliced
• 5-6 Mushrooms, sliced (any kind and use more or less depending on what you like)
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• Scant 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat your pan to medium heat and add the olive oil. Chop the collards, mushroom and garlic. I think these could be added all at the same time, but I added garlic first and a minute later, I added mushrooms, then collards. Let this saute for 5-6 minutes. Add a little water if it looks dry. Now grind up the sunflower seeds if you haven't done this yet and then toss them in. Add salt and pepper and stir. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until everything is cooked through and tender. Add the nutritional yeast and serve.

Confession - I had already started into this when I realized I hadn't photographed it.
Sorry - have to deal with lower quality cell pic :)

Even though this appears to just be a bowl of greens, the garlic and shrooms give it a bit more depth in flavour and the sunflower seeds give it some crunch and extra fat and protein. So it's like eating greens, except more filling and tastes more like a meal. To make this into a bigger meal, add tempeh, tofu, walnuts, quinoa. I think the options are endless because so many things could go with these flavours... even pasta... I think I might try that one next time!

Gourmet Pumpkin Seeds

Any time you see anything online that involves carving a pumpkin, purchasing pumpkin or cooking pumpkin I always see the same thing... Save the seeds!!

I admit, I have never saved the seeds. I have never roasted my own seeds. Mostly because I didn't want to clean them. It looked labour intensive and kind of icky. However, being that it is Vegan MoFo time and I just cooked a pumpkin rather than buying a can of pumpkin, I figured it was time to try it and see why everyone is into this.

There is definitely nutritional benefits to eating pumpkin seeds. I did some searching online and found that they are really beneficial to prostate health. While that doesn't apply to me so much, any male readers out there... good to know! They are also a great source of minerals which you can tell all your non vegan friends when they ask about how we stay healthy without eating meat. They are rich in magnesium, manganese and phosphorus, and a good source of iron, copper, protein and zinc. Not bad for one little seed.

So I know most people out there have roasted pumpkin seeds before... I thought I would try to jazz things up a bit and do gourmet pumpkin seeds. On the snack menu tonight? Pumpkin seeds three ways. Pumpkin pie, curry lime and italiano

Each take about 30 minutes total, but only about 5 minutes of actual work.

Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Curry Lime Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse kosher or sea salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Italiano Pumpkin Seeds

• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 300 F. get a cookie sheet and oil or spray it. You can also line it with parchment and spray that if you have it. I didn't.

For each of these, mix the dry ingredients and wet together (for the curry flavouring, mix the wet and the dry ingredients separately and the mix together). Next add the pumpkin seeds (each recipe will work for about a cup of seeds each).

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven and cool. They should have a golden colour to them. 

I have now tested each of these. I think my favourite is the Italian. I am not sure if it was that I was craving salt.. but these had the least intense flavour and I think that the natural taste of pumpkin seeds with the garlic and salt was what I was after. I didn't have quite enough seeds for the curry flavouring that I made. While I think that the seasoning was good and went great with the seeds, I just had too much on them! I should have halved the seasoning before tossing. Ah well, lesson learned!

Another good idea for pumpkin seeds?  I through some of the Italian ones into my magic bullet with oil lemon, salt and agave and the result was a great tasting salad dressing!

Have you got a favourite seasoning for roasting pumpkin seeds? Do tell! Now that I have made them once, I am hooked. Home roasted seeds are 100% better than store-bought. Isn't that always how it is? I guess it's the reward for doing the work yourself.