Dinner In A Pumpkin- Revisited

It's that time of year!
Family traditions, holidays, decorations, food, and ALLERGIES.
With the recent diagnosis of my husband's soy allergy,
I have been adapting many of our family favorites to make them soy-free.

Dinner In A Pumpkin? Soy? Yes.
Just omit the Soy Sauce? Right? No....Not so easy as that!

How about leave out the canned Cream of Chicken Soup? (which is not the healthiest choice, any how) Yep-no canned soups! If you are a soy-detective, you already know this.

HERE is the original recipe for Dinner in a Pumpkin

HERE is the link for DIY Cream of Chicken Soup- even if you don't have a soy allergy, this is a much healthier option than the old stand-by canned Cream of Chicken Soup.

As for the rice...yes, he is allergic to rice, also.
There are many options, diced potatoes, pasta, quinoa, orzo, etc.
We've got this!
Bring on the holidays, traditions, family, food, etc.

Time For Dinner In A Pumpkin

Time For

Dinner In A Pumpkin

Until you try it....don't turn your nose up.

Warning....once you get past the whole

"Baking-Dinner-in-a-Pumpkin-Roadblock",

this will become a tradition every fall.

Yes, every fall.

For the recipe, click HERE, For more details, click HERE.

Cook up the filling, fill the pumpkin and Bake away.

This goes from oven to table...just like that! Easy and yummy!

Have you tried my Dinner In A Pumpkin recipe?

How did it turn out?

Did you like it?

Do you still think this is totally odd?

Try it...and tell me how it goes....

Weekend Highlights

Birthday Weekend Celebration

Friday, while Ron was at work, surprise visitors walked in to his office...Jeffrey and Alison arrived from Gainesville. The party was just beginning!

I made Dinner In A Pumpkin, Taco Soup, and Fool Proof Whole Wheat Bread

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking, cooking, and cleaning up. I love to cook when my older children come home.

See my previous posts for recipes.

This is the first time in years that I did not make Homemade Carrot Cake. A Publix Carrot Cake did the trick this year.
The Party Assistant Extraordinaire...Katherine loves lighting candles.
Jeff and Ron were elated after the Gator win.

This was the true test of Alison joining our family..... Jeffrey was trying to push Alison in to the pool. Thinking I would come to her rescue, I decided to save her and push Jeffrey in...what a backfire. I pushed Jeffrey, who was clinging tightly to Alison... you guessed it... she went in with him.

Quickly, Megan joined the fun... she loved an excuse to swim in her clothes.

Sorry, Alison.... I was hoping you would be with me on the deck....dry. I am so happy this did not change the decision to marry in to our family!

Saturday, in between College Football Broadcasting, we went to The Pumpkin Patch at St Peter's Methodist Church. My girls attended Pre School at St Peters and I love returning each year for The Pumpkin Patch and The Spring Fair.

Jeff and Alison were in charge of finding the perfect Pumpkin to make our family tradition,

Dinner In A Pumpkin.

Here is my Pumpkin Patch Searching Rule:

Each Year, the girls want to choose pumpkins that are enormous. I solved this by saying they can have any pumpkin in the patch as long as they can carry it all the way to the cashier and the car, then be able to unload it from the car and carry it to the house. No one asks for those pumpkins on steroids any more.

Jeffrey was able to zero in on the perfect pumpkin for our dinner.

Katherine was choosing and changing her mind right up to the moment we were paying at the cashier. She ended up with the pumpkin that was just right for her.

Once we were home, it was time to make Dinner In A Pumpkin

Since my original post on Dinner In A Pumpkin, I have had many questions. These

photos should clarify just how it will look. Note in the background on the counter is the freshly baked Whole Wheat Bread. When I bake bread, it is newsworthy.

Here is the filled pumpkin, ready to go in the oven...

Here is the baked pumpkin as we ate the filling for dinner. It was delicious!

Alison was worn out...too much celebrating... she has discovered what we all know... this is one comfortable sofa!

The best news of all.... The Gators won this weekend.

It was the best Birthday Gift Ron could receive.

Dinner In A Pumpkin

Dinner In A Pumpkin

A Favorite Halloween Tradition

I Love and Bake Pumpkin in any form...except for...Pumpkin Pie...

I Dont Do Pumpkin Pie!
Edit: For more details, click HERE.

The Sunday before Halloween, I serve Dinner In A Pumpkin. Originally, I served this on Halloween before Trick or Treating, however, there is too much excitement buzzing in the air to convince anyone to sit down and eat for too long. The first time I heard about this meal, I turned my nose up and laughed under my breath. When I actually tasted this meal.... I loved it and have made it annually ever since. This will be my 25th year making Dinner In a Pumpkin. There are other variations out there...Halloween Stew, Pumpkin Stew, Pumpkin Casserole, etc. This recipe continues to be my favorite.

Dinner In A Pumpkin

1 Medium Pumpkin (Use a Regular Pumpkin-Not a baking Pumpkin)

1 Medium Onion, Finely Chopped

2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 Pounds Ground Beef

2-3 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2-3 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1-2  cans Cream of Chicken Soup 

2-3 C Cooked Rice (You can use brown rice)

1 8oz Can drained water chestnuts (I omit these to accommodate my family) or fresh mushrooms

Salt, Pepper to season

1/2 tsp Garlic Salt or 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

Cut off the top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp (save the seeds for roasting!). If desired draw a face on the pumpkin with permanent marker. Set the pumpkin aside.

In a Skillet, saute the onions in the vegetable oil. If using fresh mushrooms, add to the onions and saute together.

Add ground beef and brown. Drain drippings. Add remaining ingredients and stir well until just heated. You may want to add more or less soy sauce and/or brown sugar, salt, pepper, and Garlic salt/powder depending on your tastes.

Here comes the fun part:

Spoon Meat Mixture in to the cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace top on pumpkin and place entire filled pumpkin on a baking sheet or in a baking dish. Bake at 350* for 1 1/2 -2 hours until pumpkin is tender. Time may be shorter depending on the size of your pumpkin. If it is turning dark and shriveling up, it is done. As one hour approaches, watch the pumpkin closely.

Remove from the oven and remove the pumpkin lid to cool inside mixture.

Serve directly from the pumpkin. The inside of the pumpkin is tender and may be eaten just like squash-add some butter and salt-yum.

Serve with corn muffins or rolls, and a green vegetable or salad. You are set!

Enjoy our tradition!http://shauna-naner.blogspot.com/2008/10/time-for-dinner-in-pumpkin-until-you.htmlhttp://shauna-naner.blogspot.com/2008/10/time-for-dinner-in-pumpkin-until-you.html