Dinner in a Pumpkin

From my sister-in-law, Erin! (Or more accurately, from her mom, Patty!)

1 small pumpkin
1 chopped onion
1.5 pounds ground beef/turkey
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 oz mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup (I made a white sauce)
1.5 cups cooked rice
1-8oz can sliced water chestnuts- drained
Additional vegetables, if desired

This is a very forgiving recipe. You can add green beans, bell pepper rings, zucchini slices, or peas for added color. Any other vegetables or corn mixed in are great too.

1. Clean pumpkin and scrape out seeds (easier to do if zapped in microwave first –like 7 minutes. Turn often so sides don’t get soft). Paint a face on the pumpkin in permanent marker.
2. Saute onion until tender. Brown meat and drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, and soup, and any other veggies you choose.
3. Simmer 10 minutes, add rice and water chestnuts.
4. Spoon into pumpkin shell.
5. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees (may need to be baked longer for the side of the pumpkin to be soft enough to scrape out when you serve it). Bake the top of the pumpkin on the cookie sheet also so it will shrink to fit the opening of the pumpkin.

Try #1 - November 18, 2010
We made this for William's first birthday (happy birthday, buddy!). It definitely needs a full hour (or maybe longer) to cook the pumpkin through - I took it out a little early and ended up having to stick it back in after we'd eaten some of the filling out of it. The original recipe from Patty called for doubling or tripling the soy sauce and brown sugar... I think next time I would follow that advice. It was good, but could have used a little more flavor. I didn't have any water chestnuts so I used celery instead, which gave it a little crunch. I also added frozen beans, peas, and corn.