Fall Recipe: Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

I first made this recipe that I found in one of my first cookbooks as a young married woman.  We were living in a one bedroom apartment on the third floor in a little town overlooking a lake.  My husband was in Bible college.  Good memories!  I made this and he really enjoyed it!  It is a fun presentation for a fall dinner.

Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds ground turkey or beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 cups cooked rice
1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 large pumpkin (8 to 9 pounds)
Canola oil

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the soup, mushrooms, soy sauce and brown sugar. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rice and water chestnuts.

Wash pumpkin; cut a 6-in. circle around stem. Remove top and set aside. Discard seeds and loose fibers from the inside. Spoon beef mixture into pumpkin; replace top.

Place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Rub oil over outside of pumpkin. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1-1/2 hours or until pumpkin is tender. Scoop out some pumpkin with each serving of beef mixture.

Enjoy!