Dinner in a Pumpkin... sorta.

Okay, this recipe came from my friend, Brandy. It is one of my favorite fall foods... It looks weird. It sounds weird. It tastes great. The actual recipe that I'm posting is for the dinner to be made in a pumpkin. Unfortunately, I could not find a pumpkin in the size that I wanted, so I made it in a casserole dish with sliced butternut squash on top. :) Still delicious, just not as cute. :P

Things you'll need:

1 medium sized pumpkin (or several small if you want to make individual ones)
2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped (I brown it with the hamburger)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water chestnuts, drained
mushrooms, sliced
2 T soy sauce
1 T brown sugar
2 to 3 cups cooked rice

First, if you're wanting to make this in the pumpkin, you'll need to cut and clean it out, saving the top.

Preheat your oven to 350. Yes, I do realize that this picture is completely pointless, but I took it so... I posted it. ;)



Cook the rice. If you make rice often, I seriously recommend a rice cooker.

Brown the ground beef with some salt and pepper, and the onions.



While that browns, slice the mushrooms. I used fresh mushrooms because I can't stand the texture of canned mushrooms. If you like them, go ahead and use them. I'm not hear to tell you what you like. ;) So, do whatcha want.

I had to get these because they came in a pink container. Plus, it supports breast cancer so... win-win, right? :)



I tried to share these with my dogs, but they weren't very interested. They eventually caved and ate them, but I don't know that they were happy about it.

Again, this picture is completely pointless.



Mix the soup, water chestnuts, mushrooms, soy sauce and brown sugar in a bowl.



Then mix in the rice and browned ground beef.

Scoop that mixture into your pumpkin, or casserole dish in my case.

If you used the pumpkin, skip the next step... If not, read on...

Layer peeled, sliced butternut squash (or squash of your choice) on top.



Place top back on pumpkin, or lid on casserole dish.

Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.



When using a pumpkin, scrape some of the pumpkin out while you dish it up. Mmmmm... ;)