Recipe for Homesickness

     It's rainy here in south Mississippi, but I'm not complaining too much because with the rain comes cooler weather.  This morning should have found me running the annual Walk/Run to Remember in Baton Rouge, but because of J's work schedule and my looming finals I had to sit it out this year.  This is the first year I haven't gone since my family started participating in this 5k.  You see, the Walk/Run to Remember benefits the Alzheimer's Services of Baton Rouge, and my family participates in honor of my grandfather who battled the disease for years before he passed away.  It was weird not to be there this morning, but that's life I guess.

     I don't know what is up with me lately, but I've been having serious flashbacks to childhood.  Maybe it's this time of year, but I find myself calling my sister more and more in order to ask her, "Do you remember...?"  Maybe I'm getting a little homesick.  I haven't been home since July, which I know is a paltry amount of time for most Navy wives, but I live a mere 2 hours from home, so it's odd for me.

    I have found a coping method for homesickness, but it's doing my hips and thighs no favors.  I've taken to cooking and baking things I haven't had since I was a kid to make up for it.  I think I need to find another coping method or just plan a trip home before my pants no longer fit!

   At least one of my cooking escapades lately wasn't unhealthy, so that'll be the one I share with y'all.  Last night after carving pumpkins, I cooked up a batch of pumpkin seeds just like my mom used to make.

Pumpkin Seeds 

Pumpkin Seeds (about 3 cups)

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup + 1 TBS Kosher salt (or any other type)

Remove seeds from carving pumpkins, making sure to get all the strings off.  Rinse until clean.  Add warm water and 1/2 cup salt to a large bowl; stir until salt is mostly dissolved.  Add the pumpkin seeds, cover, and let soak over night. Strain.  Spread seeds out on baking sheet in a single layer, sprinkle with 1 TBS salt.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until pumpkins seeds turn white.  Remove from oven.  Let cool, and store in an air-tight container.

Enjoy :-)

   Now I'm off to go cook up a batch of some Chicken and Dumplings.  Nothing like a bowl of that to send me right back to childhood.  I may even sit Monkey on the counter and let her drop in the dumplings like my mom used to do with me :-)