Serving Stroganoff Cooked in a Pumpkin

Now that Halloween is over, pumpkins are very inexpensive!  My husband said that one of his favorite meals he ate in Brazil as a missionary was stroganoff in a pumpkin.  I'd never heard of cooking dinner in a pumpkin nor had I ever eaten pumpkin like I would squash, but it sounded exciting.  We had his awesome side of the family over for dinner and it was scrumptious!  We place the cooked pumpkin in the middle of the table in a large serving bowl and scooped out the hot stroganoff onto our rice.  We ate it with a bread and salad.  After we had pumpkin pie milk shakes.

I used this recipe with a few changes.  I doubled the amount of veggies and used 1 pound of ground turkey instead of beef.  This serves about 8 people. 


dinner in a pumpkin: creamy spiced sausage stroganoff with broccoli, carrot and apple
an original recipe by rachelle

1 medium sized (10-12" diameter, basketball sized, ~10 lbs.) pumpkin
1 pound ground beef
1 pound (a chub.) mild sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons oil

1 head broccoli, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 large green apple, diced

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar/mozz/jack cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
dash red pepper
dash pumpkin pie spice

6 cups cooked hot rice, for serving

remove top racks from the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
cut the top off the pumpkin and remove all the seeds and stringy pulp inside. season inside pumpkin with a little salt, pepper, and pumpkin pie spice.
heat oil in a large saute pan and bring a big pot of water to a boil. add beef, sausage and onions into saute pan and cook until browned. add broccoli, carrots and apple into boiling water and cook for 8 minutes to soften. (skip this step if you like a little bite to your veg.) drain vegetables. in your biggest mixing bowl, whisk together the softened cream cheese, milk, cheese, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper. stir in meat and onions and veggies. carefully pour into prepared pumpkin and replace pumpkin top. place pumpkin on a heavy duty cookie sheet or in a casserole dish. carefully put in oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees. to serve, scrape sides and bottom of pumpkin to get bits of pumpkin with stroganoff. serve over hot rice.

* recipe may be halved and prepared in a small pumpkin for a cute little family.
* cook in crock pot instead for a yummy meal post-holiday. 3 hours on low.*

I want to thank other exciting bloggers for sharing their family traditions and igniting that creativity in me. 
This recipe & picture comes from the following blog:  http://fashionablyfoodie.blogspot.com/2008/10/dinner-in-pumpkin-creamy-spiced-sausage.html