Dinner in a Punkin'

DINNER IN A PUMPKIN

This is a great recipe, kinda like your favorite meatloaf.  you can add whatever you like or whatever you have, and create a fabulous harvest dinner! At my house, everyone gets their own 'made-to-order' punkin'!

But here's the basic recipe, of course feel free to get creative and add/subtract whatever you'd like:

1 small pie pumpkin

1 onion finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 t. vege oil

1-2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, sausage)  *sausage is my fave!

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. brown sugar

sliced mushrooms

1 10-11oz can of cream of chicken soup

1-2 cups cooked rice (my kids prefer stuffing instead of rice)

sliced water chestnuts

optional adds: apples, raisins, cranberries, green peppers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, 

carrots, any vege, pears

preheat oven to 375, cut off top of pie punkin', clean it out thoroughly. can color a jack o'lantern face on it with a permanent marker if you wish. place punkin' on cookie sheet, rub inside of punkin' with oil and salt, i like to also rub a bit of cinnamon on it too! (yum!)

bake for 1 hour, as its baking, prepare your veges and meat, etc.

remove after one hour, and turn oven temp to 350 degrees.

 cook and drain meat, chop veges and fruit and sautee with meat, simmer.

add soy sauce brown sugar mushrooms and soup, simmer about 10 minutes.

spoon into punkin' shell, replace the top of the punkin, and bake another1/2 hour-45 minutes or until punkin pulp is tender. 

one small pie punkin serves about 4

ENJOY!!!