Dinner in a Pumpkin

Every year growing up, my mom made dinner in a pumpkin on Halloween, and she still does. What? Dinner IN a pumpkin? Yes, it really is made inside the pumpkin! I didn't like it much as a kid, but now, I think it tastes great!

Last night, I decided to have a little dinner in a pumpkin party. I made the dinner in a pumpkin, and people who came brought pot luck dishes. It was really fun.

It started out as just a simple little dinner party, but you know me and my outrageous imagination . . . It turned into a full-fledged Halloween party! We played Halloween trivia, guessed which Halloween creature we were (it was taped onto our backs), and I made up a Halloween word scramble. I got very creative all week. I added some cute homemade decorations, and made some really cute place cards.

This is the recipe for Dinner in a Pumpkin:

Choose a nice medium sized pumpkin. Cut a lid, and scoop out the inside. Draw a face with permanent magic marker, or acrylic paints.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-4 oz can sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cups chopped onion
2 cups hot cooked rice
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce

Brown ground beef along with salt, celery, onion, and green pepper. Mix in remaining ingredients. Stuff pumpkin with meat mixture, put on lid, place on a foil lined cookie sheet or baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Serve pumpkin as a vegetable with each serving of meat casserole. Serves 6-8.

*I have used chicken and turkey instead of ground beef, and each are delicious. I also didn't use celery or green pepper, and it still turned out good.

Here are some pictures of how everything turned out.

One side of the pumpkin I decorated.

Another side of the pumpkin.

I decorated four sides of the pumpkin so that people could see from all angles.

The last side of the pumpkin.

I punched out little pumpkins and leaves for decoration on the table. I did black for Halloween.

I traced bats and colored them black with a magic marker, then I hung them up in my curtains. I love the silhouette look.

This is the table all set.

This is my place setting.

This is Lance's place card. I went online and found some Halloween clip art, and made them on the computer. Every person's had a different picture.

One plus of doing this is that if you have some of the pumpkin leftover, it's easy to cut up and puree. I've already made pumpkin bread, and I'm excited to make a pumpkin pie soon! I also was able to save the seeds and bake them for a yummy snack! Well, I hope this gives you some good ideas for Halloween, or if not, at least I hope it will put you into the Halloween mood!