This recipe is a 20+ year tradition in our house. I cannot remember when I started making it, but I know it’s been over 20 years ago. My oldest son is going to be 25 years old and to the best of my knowledge we have been enjoying Dinner in a Pumpkin each fall season as long as he has been eating table food. Boy, that was a long time ago.  All 3 of my kids and even their significant others still enjoy eating this every October.

 Most people don’t think about cooking in let alone eating the same pumpkins you can turn into jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkin is an amazing vegetable, that tastes great cooked and is very good for you. Orange vegetables are full of fiber, betacarotene and vitamin A, just to name a few of its benefits.

What’s really great about this recipe, if you have younger kids, you can use acrylic paint to decorate the pumpkin before baking and have a dinner in a jack-o-lantern if you choose to decorate.

Dinner in a Pumpkin Recipe

The recipe is very simple and takes about 30 mins of prep and 1 hour of cooking time. Your kids will be thrilled to see a pumpkin on the table for dinner. Scoop it out and enjoy! Do you have any family traditions you follow in the fall or for Halloween? Let us know what happens in your home.

Dinner in a Pumpkin Recipe

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The whole recipe makes approx. 5 cups. You may need to double the batch for a bigger crowd or a bigger pumpkin!

Ingredients

• Small round pumpkin
• 2 lbs lean ground beef browned with onions, mushrooms and garlic. Drained
• To Stir in meat
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 3 10.75 cans cream of celery soup.

Instructions

1. Wash the outside of the pumpkin.
2. Cut top of the pumpkin off and remove the seeds and pulp.
3. Fill hollowed out pumpkin with meat mixture and bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for one hour.
4. Pumpkin should be soft.
5. Scoop out onto plates and enjoy!

The whole recipe makes approx. 5 cups. You may need to double the batch for a bigger crowd or a bigger pumpkin!