Beef in a Costume

My mom served this dish at my 8th grade Halloween party, and every year after, I would ask her to make it. But, we lost the recipe soon after that party. I'll confess, there have been many a Halloween when I thought this dish would hit the spot.

So, I was super excited when I was going through my mom's recipes this summer and found this. I did a bit to update this (note the distinctly 1980's can of water chestnuts and can of sliced mushrooms), but really, it's a pretty tasty one dish (or one pumpkin) dinner.

Beef in a Costume

1 small to medium pumpkin about the size you'd use to make a pumpkin pie--about the size of a soccer ball
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T vegetable oil I left this out and just used the fat from the beef
1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef
2 T soy sauce I used 3 T
2 T brown sugar I used 3 T here, too
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained I sliced about a cup of cremini mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c cooked rice I used 2 c of brown rice, I might move up to 2 1/2 c next time
1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained I skipped

Cut off the top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. Paint appropriate face on the pumpkin with permanent marking pen or acrylic paint. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain drippings from skillet.

I cooked the hamburger first. When it was almost done, I added the onion, mushrooms, and 1 chopped red bell pepper and sauteed all until they were nice and soft.

Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into the cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin, with filling, on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender. Put pumpkin on a plate. Remover pumpkin lid and serve meat. For your vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin and serve. Serves 6.

Delightful with a scoop of sour cream.