Fall Dinner: Dinner In A Pumpkin

When I was at college I lived near my aunt and every year some time around Halloween she would invite me over for her dinner in a pumpkin and so last year when I needed a festive dinner for a party I called her for the recipe. 

If you are still looking for something to cook on Halloween (or any fall day) you should try this.

You need:

• a pumpkin, medium sized
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 ½ lbs ground beef
• 2 Tbls soy sauce
• 2 Tbls brown sugar
• 2 Tbls vegetable oil
• 1 can (10 oz.) cream of chicken soup
• 1 ½ cup cooked rice
• 1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts
  
  
  

Ours was for a party so we used a very large pumpkin, and tripled the filling recipe.

I set my husband to cutting the top and cleaning it out. I hate the feeling of the insides of pumpkins so I was glad he was willing. 

We use a kitchen dish scraper to scrape the sides smooth.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and in a skillet use oil to saute the onions and brown the hamburger, drain the grease. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and soup. Simmer for 10 min. Mix with the rice and chestnuts in the pumpkin.

Put the lid back on the pumpkin and put on a cookie sheet in the oven for about an hour, the pumpkin will be softening a little. Ours barely fit, so if you are doing a big one, make sure to check your oven size, bigger pumpkins will also take a little longer to cook.

It ends up as a really thick soup or even like a rice casserole. Serve straight from the pumpkin, you can run the spoon along the inside of the pumpkin to get some of the pumpkin off and your dinner will have more of a pumpkin flavor. We usually eat it with rolls and fruit.

My aunt says the best is to leave the left overs in the pumpkin and just reheat the whole thing, the second day will have more of a pumpkin flavor.