5 Great Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipes

Whole Foods offers an easy and delicious recipe for raosted pumpkin seeds. Visit http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

We had a fun Saturday afternoon yesterday at Highland Orchards!  Their pumpkin and gourd selection is really unbelievable – white pumpkins, pastel-colored, heirloom pumpkins and a bevy of decorative gourds that are far too pretty to eat even if they were edible.

Needless to say, I was inspired by my visit to Highland Orchards in more ways than one.  The visit got me thinking a lot about roasted pumpkin seeds and even more about potential recipes for uniquely flavored roasted pumpkin seeds.

I jumped on the Net first thing this morning and found a few very interesting recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds which I’ve listed below with links to the recipe.   Happy pumpkin season and happy pumpkin seed roasting!

Check out the roasted pumpkin seed recipes from around the web below:

 Traditional Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You can’t go wrong with the old-fashioned flavor of traditional roasted pumpkin seeds.  Check out a recipe here:  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/83

Parmesan-Herb Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I love the flavor of parmesan.  This roasted seed recipe would make a great snack and would also taste great on top of a salad in lieu of croutons.  See the recipe here: http://www.redbookmag.com/recipefinder/parmesan-herb-spiced-seeds-recipe

Caramelized Spicy/Sweet Pumpkin Seeds

Just like kettle corn, you sometimes want a snack that offers a hint of both sweet and spicy.  This roasted pumpkin seed recipe will do the trick.  See the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/caramelized-spicy-pumpkin-seeds/detail.aspx

Spicy Pumpkin Seed Recipe

For folks who don’t like sweets, Halloween can be a bummer with its focus on decadent, gooey, sweet treats.  This spicy,  roasted pumpkin seed recipe will be a hit for those who don’t have a sweet tooth.  See this spicy seed recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Spicy-Pumpkin-Seeds

Chocolate-Covered Toffee with Pumpkin Seeds

Chocolate covered pumpkin seeds are super easy to whip up.  If you want a pumpkin-inspired desert with wow-factor, try this one from The New York Times: http://nymag.com/listings/recipe/chocolate-covered-toffee/

It’s Slow Cooker Time!

Get Slow Cooker Inspiration at http://www.William-Sonoma.com

Time to dust off the slow cooker!  Today’s easy, breezy Friday dinner is going to be braised short ribs.  It’s easy because the slow cooker does all of the work.

The slow cooker braising sauces from William Sonoma are excellent because they cut down on prep time and they give the meat a restaurant-quality taste.  Since I don’t have any of their sauces on hand at the moment, I plan to whip up my on braising sauce using this recipe: http://bit.ly/pLJmVG

For more slow cooker meal inspiration, check out the slow cooker recipe section on the Food Network website here: http://bit.ly/qQPXOi

If you feel like a splurge, I highly recommend visiting William Sonoma online or in-store to check out their cooking sauces.  These sauces are a bit pricey, but they make wonderful gifts.  View William Sonoma cooking sauces here: http://bit.ly/q6wid9

Fall Décor: Cute Candles & More from Pottery Barn

Visit http://www.potterybarn.com for fall decor and inspiration!

There’s something cozy about lighting candles on a chilly fall night.  And since I’m wild about fall decorating, I was thrilled to see such a nice selection of fall-themed candles and home accessories on the Pottery Barn website.  I adore the fall display of pumpkins on the buffet shown below.

Still, it was Pottery Barn’s Fall Decorating Guide that really inspired me – so many photos showcasing fall vignettes, loads of how-to tips and oodles of products to make these lovely fall looks your own.  Check out Pottery Barn’s décor guide here: http://bit.ly/mOrfe8

Pick a Perfect Pumpkin

Waterloo Gardens in Exton, PA has beautiful pumpkins right now!

Pumpkin season is here. Did you know that pumpkins are one of the most popular crops in the U.S.?  It’s true.   A whopping 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced in our country each year.  The top pumpkin-producing states include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, California and my home state of Pennsylvania.  Yea for PA!

If you are off to the pumpkin patch or your local garden center today to pick a carving pumpkin, keep the simple tips below in mind.  It’s as simple as remembering the word PUMPKIN!

Silbury Hill Tips for Picking a Perfect Carving Pumpkin

• P – Put a Design on Paper.  Sketch out the design you plan to carve into your pumpkin prior to visiting your local pumpkin patch or garden center.  This design sketch will serve a guideline for selecting the ideal pumpkin in terms of size and shape.  Don’t forget to take the sketch with you while your pumpkin shopping.

• U– Use Good Judgment.  Immediately dismiss pumpkins that exhibit bruises, cuts or signs of mold upon inspection.  Damaged or decaying pumpkins can go downhill rapidly.

• M– Make Sure Your Pumpkin is Ripe.  A ripe pumpkin will sound ‘hollow’ when you knock on the shell.  Remember that ripe pumpkins are often easier to carve.

• P- Place Pumpkin on a Flat Surface.   Don’t discount the importance of picking a carving pumpkin that will sit level and upright.  Test your pumpkins prior to purchase by placing them on an even, flat surface.

• K– Know that the color will not change.  Remember that once a pumpkin is cut from its stem, the color will not deepen or change.  What you see is what you get, so love the color before you pick or purchase.

• I- Invite expert opinions.  If you visit a pumpkin patch or garden center in search of the perfect carving pumpkin, you’ll find yourself surrounded by knowledgeable experts ready and eager to give you their pumpkin-picking advice.  Don’t hesitate to ask their opinion on everything from how to store the pumpkin, when to carve it or even their opinions on the quality of the pumpkin you’ve picked.

• N – Never Carry a Pumpkin by its Stem.  It is convenient to carry a pumpkin by its stem, but it’s ultimately a recipe for disaster.  Many times pumpkin stems are unable to support the weight of the pumpkin and easily break

Enjoy some beautiful images of Chester County pumpkin patches taken by Andrew Seymour (www.aseymour.com) here: http://bit.ly/oOpIsZ

Stay tuned to the Silbury Hill blog each Sunday in October for more pumpkin-themed posts!

A Passion for Parsons Chairs

Parsons chairs have made a huge comeback in recent years.  Given their versatility in terms of function and design aesthetic, it’s no surprise that furniture retailers such as Ethan Allen, Ballard Designs and Pottery Barn are featuring them prominently in their catalog and online.

Originally created in Paris in the 1930s, the parsons chair got its name from the famous Parsons School of Design in France.  As legend has it, a young design student developed the chair as part of a school project and did so by integrating both historical influences and an enduring modern edge that still stands the test of time today.

I must admit that I have a passion for parsons chairs –slipcovered parsons chairs especially.  We used slipcovered parsons in our former dining room (shown left) and our former breakfast room.

While a quick google search for parsons chairs turns up a bevy of results for high and low-end retailers willing to sell you their version of the parsons chair, we opted to go the affordable parsons route.  Our chairs in the dining room, for example, are the HENRIKSDAL chair from Ikea and cost a mere $69 a piece.   We topped them off with custom-made slipcovers in beige linen from a wonderful home décor company in Chester County called Sew Chic. (More on  Sew Chic to come in an upcoming post)

The lovely parsons chair showcased here is from Pottery Barn.

If you have your heart set on custom slipcovered parsons chairs, I highly recommend checking out Ballard Designs.  They offer several different types of parsons chairs and 90 different fabrics options.  Here’s a link to Ballard’s parsons chair options: http://bit.ly/oUlvXK  Prices range from $99 to $469 depending on the style of chair and fabric.  Ballard’s basic parsons chair with a Danish Linen Natural slipcover retails for $161, according to their website.

Pottery Barn’s version of the parsons chair is called the Ryden Chair (see right) and is available through http://www.potterybarn.com or can be purchased via the print edition of the Pottery Barn catalog.

For more inspiration on uses for parsons chairs, please see my Passion for Parsons photo album here: http://on.fb.me/rgahXq

A Little Lighting by Design

Depending on your style preferences and budgetary constraints, finding the perfect lighting fixture can by an enigma.

We originally opted for the builder’s upgraded lighting package when we built our first house back in 2009.  Instead of brass lighting fixtures, our upgrade bought us a similar set of lights in a shade best described as oil rubbed bronze.  These lights were actually quite nice, but I still yearned for a more personalized look.

After a few weeks of searching in stores and online, I came across Lighting by Design in Exton, Pa.  The store is absolutely adorable and they have a tremendous selection with fixtures in every price range!  The store’s searchable website made finding the right fixtures a breeze.

Thanks to Lighting by Design, we ultimately upgraded the builder’s upgraded lighting throughout the home.

If you are in the market for new lighting fixtures, Lighting by Design is most certainly worth a look.  They offer a selection to fit any taste and style –traditional, modern, rustic.  And if you need someone to install your new light fixtures, like we did, we are quite comfortable recommending Mr. Electric.  The local technicians they sent to install our new lighting fixtures were absolute pros -very courteous and knowledgeable.