Pumpkin Dinner

So we had some friends over for dinner tonight. Last year for the first time I heard about pumpkin dinners. You cook dinner in a pumpkin. How cool. So ever since then I have wanted to try it. And just a few days ago my friend Karen posted her recipie! Yay. So we tried it tonight. It was VERY yummy! Here's the recipie stright from her recipie blog:

Pumpkin Dinner
1 medium-sized pumpkin, able to fit into oven with rack in lowest position
2 lbs ground beef or turkey (I used TURKEY)
1 chopped onion
4 T soy sauce (I used 6 T)
1 T brown sugar (I used 2 T)
2 cans sliced water chestnuts, drained (I forgot to buy these this time. I usually only do 1 can. They’re really yummy!)
2 cans green beans, drained
1 ½ C cooked brown rice

Hollow the inside of a pumpkin (keep the stem to seal for cooking). For Halloween, draw a fun jack-o-lantern face on pumpkin with magic marker! Set aside. In a large frying pan, brown beef/turkey and onion. Drain. Return to pan. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, water chestnuts, green beans, and cooked brown rice. Simmer for a few minutes. Put mixture into hollowed-out pumpkin. Place stem on top to seal pumpkin. Place pumpkin on large cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ hours (or until pumpkin is softened).

*This recipe makes a ton! I half it for me and Dave, and we still have leftovers. This dinner is almost like a cousin to shepherds pie, minus mashed potatoes. Growing up, my mom always had this dinner ready for us when we got back from trick-or-treating. We loved it! The mixture inside the pumpkin is so yummy! And, for those of you who like squash, scrape pumpkin off the sides to eat with the dinner. Yum!



She has a picture on her blog of a dinner in a pumpkin if you want to see the general idea. It was way yummy and we have even have leftovers after inviting a family over!