Seasonal Treats, Anyone? How ‘Bout ‘Baked Stuffed Pumpkin?’

I've spent my entire (young) life with French cooks. Look at me. Do I look like I shy away from the food? If it wasn't so good, I'd be a mere shadow of my hefty self. Now, I will turn the post over to my sister-in-law, Diane Veilleux, who knows a thing or two about cooking! This is a recipe for baked, stuffed pumpkin. Take it away Di Di...

Thank you, Jon...here it is:

I use a pumpkin that is approximately 11 or 12 inches in diameter and just about as tall (You may have to cut the stem down a bit so that it fits in your oven), gut it out, being careful not to cut through the bottom.

I then lightly sprinkle 'Pumpkin Pie Spice' all over the inside.

I use 2 1/2 ground beef or ground pork, 2 pkgs of Uncle Ben's long grain wild rice, the one that you micro-wave for 90 seconds, any flavor (I use Chicken flavor to add more taste). Use any fresh or frozen vegetables you want, I use a 15oz package of Autumn medley, or you can use carrots, onions, turnip, broccoli and any other veggies that you desire. Cut in fairly small pieces. I try to use different colored veggies to make it pretty. Boil the meat and veggies together until the veggies are more than 1/2 cooked, al dente. Drain and add to the pumpkin. To that, add the rice, no need to pre-cook it as it will cook in the pumpkin.
Then sprinkle 2 pkgs of Pork gravy mix to top of mixture and pour about 3/4 to 1 cup of hot water on top of everything. Make sure to leave enough space in the pumpkin to allow for expansion as everything cooks, about 2 inches from the top.

Place pumpkin on a cookie sheet, in case of spillage.

Bake at 325 for about 3 hours

You can tweak this recipe pretty much any way you want!

I usually serve this on top of baked potatoes, russets or sweet potatoes. Yum!! Good luck and enjoy!

Thank you Diane!

There ya have it, folks! Good food for the fall...something ole Jonny boy's looking forward to trying soon!