10/13/08

Dinner In a Pumpkin


This is the best discovery EVER! My girl Kadie got the idea from her cute mom and I love it!! It's quick, easy, and SO good!!! For a large crowd, we doubled the recipe and used a bigger pumpkin - but you'll have to cook the pumpkin longer if you do that.

Kadie's mom (love her...) made this dinner every year on Halloween for her family - what a fun tradition!!!





DINNER IN A PUMPKIN

1 small to medium pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups cooked rice (about 3/4 c. dry)
1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
Cut off the top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. Paint an appropriate face on the front of the pumpkin with a permanent marker or acrylic paint.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain drippings from skillet. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into the cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin, with filling, on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until inside of the pumpkin is tender. Put pumpkin on a platter. Remove pumpkin lid and serve meat. For your vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin and serve. Serves 6.

9 comments:

jannypie said...

this may be the coolest thing i've ever seen

LuckyRedHen said...

I promise that I mean NO OFFENSE but we tried this recipe last year and didn't care for it in the least. The ingredients looked good, and I followed the instructions, but in the end we ate a few bites each until we couldn't stand it anymore then threw the whole thing in the garbage. And I can eat ANYTHING. Hmm. I'll stick with Taco Soup instead.

Lynaya said...

I LOVE dinner in a pumpkin. I think my favorite part of it is the cooked pumpkin. YUM!

Chris and Suzette said...

I want my RS President (or anyone for that matter) to ask me to do such a fun challenge! I wish I could have been there to "play" with ya'll. You did a fabulous job!

JENN said...

HOW FUNNY, I GOT THIS RECIPE FROM ENRICHMENT YEARS AGO. MINE CALLS FOR NOODLES INSTEAD OF RICE. I WAS JUST THINKING THE OTHER DAY OF MAKING SOME DURING THE SEASON. THANKS!!

Audrey said...

My MIL makes this for halloween every year and it's really good. I tried a really great pie recipe from BHG and it turned out great!! I wanted to share it with you. My blog is www.audreyskitchenadventures.blogspot.com
Let me know what you think!

Angela Fehr said...

That is remarkable! Kind of subversive, actually, considering the $$$$ and months/years of planning that are spent by couples in the mainstream these days!

Love the fall colors - why didn't I get married in fall?

Kelli said...

ok, so I did try this recipe for dinner-in-a-pumpkin for our neighborhood Halloween party. I quadrupled it. I prepared the ingredients in the morning before my appointment with the podiatrist. well, I got caught up at the dr.'s office and then had a flat tire on the way home. So, I called my cute husband and asked him to clean out the pumpkin, add the "stuff" and put it in the oven. I forgot to mention that it should go on a baking sheet. I will be cleaning the oven tomorrow. all day. But it sure tasted good & fed the entire neighborhood.

Sommer said...

You don't know me, but I love everything about that wedding, even your dress. I have the same one in my closet!