Sweet & Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Halloween!

Many of us have been getting creative and carving up a pumpkin or two with the kids. We did ours yesterday as it was inset day, and decided to go quite simple this year with a scary pumpkin face with plastic glow in the dark teeth, and a simple 'Boo!'. 

This year I downloaded my template from The Pumpkin Lady, where you can find over 700 free templates, from simple ones (like my Boo!) to the more complicated for the creative ones among us. In the past I've definitely spent more time on my creations, including these Hello Kitty and Trick or Treat pumpkins, but this year we left it quite late to get the pumpkins and only managed to find some relatively small ones.

One thing that I always find time for is roasting the seeds from the pumpkins, as they make a great snack. In the past I've made spicy ones, as well as simple salted ones, but this year I tried sweet & salty, and they turned out just as I'd hoped. Instead of turning the oven on to roast a few seeds I cooked them in the Actifry this time, which seemed to work better than the oven, as they toasted evenly without the need for turning (especially useful if you have an oven like mine that bakes unevenly).

The seeds had the flavours of sweet & salty popcorn (which we love here), and didn't last long!

Crispy Pork & Broccoli Stir Fry

Last week I shared a quick and easy recipe for Pan Fried Pork Medallions with Black Pepper Sauce, which went down really well with the family. Another cut of pork that I buy quite often is the shoulder, which I either slow cook and use for pulled pork or a roast dinner, or I buy the pork shoulder steaks for the barbecue. This time of the year when it's getting a bit chilly for outdoor cooking I usually opt for a stir fry, and this Crispy Pork and Broccoli Stir Fry is full of flavour, and definitely hits the stir fry spot. If I was making it just for myself and the husband I would also add lots of fresh chilli, but the kids don't like it too spicy so I leave the chilli out and add a few chilli flakes afterwards to ours.

The pork in this dish has such a rich flavour and look, that it could easily be mistaken for beef, but it costs less than half the price of rump steak, or stir fry beef strips.

Stir fries are a great midweek meal for the family as they are so quick to make, and having the addition of broccoli and mushrooms also adds those valuable vegetables to the kids diets. Throw a handful of peas into the rice and you get an extra portion of your 5 a day!

Commissioned post for Love Pork