Warm and hearty, dinner in a pumpkin is a great meal for fall! It is soooo delicious and tasty!
Because of Covid, normal activities that happen around this time of year have been cancelled or postponed. There are a lot I've been sad not to take part in, but that's mostly because I miss spending time with people I love. I have missed going to people's homes, grabbing lunch with dear friends, or just being able to be with people in what used to be a normal way. Navigating time with people, maintaining connections, and building relationships has been difficult for everyone during the pandemic.
One thing I have not been sad about is not feeling the pressure to carve pumpkins with whatever group I happen to be in that is doing so. I really don't enjoy carving pumpkins. I think I put too much pressure on myself to make sure that I do it "right." I always worry I am not creative enough or I'll somehow stab myself. I don't know why I feel so much pressure, but I do. So I was grateful when I thought I had at least one thing from the pandemic that made my life a little less stressful. That is until a group from my church decided to distribute pumpkins for everyone to carve/decorate and post on Facebook. Sigh.
Rather than carve my pumpkin, I decided to turn it into dinner. One of my old roommates used to make this in the fall, and it is seriously so yummy! And I love that you cook it in the pumpkin. The recipe is relatively easy, it's just emptying out the pumpkin guts that takes the most work. If you don't want to go through all the work of emptying a pumpkin I have just put the meat mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish and placed the halves of an acorn squash on top. Then I just bake it until the squash is soft enough that a fork goes in easily. I even think that just the meat mixture is delicious without the pumpkin or squash, so this could be a quick dinner idea if you are in a hurry.
This is not the fanciest dinner ever, but it is hearty, filling, and delicious. I like scoop out some of the pumpkin flesh out with the meat mixture when I serve it. Extra veggies! This really is such a fun dinner for fall!
1 onion chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 can cream of chicken
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 ounce can sliced mushrooms (optional)
2 1/2 cups cooked rice
Clean out pumpkin. Salt and pepper the insides. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Over medium heat add meat to a large frying pan and brown. Drain grease. Add onions and cook until softened. Add remaining ingredients except rice and simmer 8-10 minutes. I usually add about a 1/2 cup of water to help the sauce go a little farther. Add rice and simmer another 5 minutes. Put mixture in pumpkin and bake for 1 hour at 350.
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