Stuff, Bake, And Enjoy The Heck Out Of A Pumpkin

It’s pumpkin season!

​Not only do pumpkins fit well into a health-conscious diet, they taste good too! They are low in calories but high in fiber. They are also low in sodium. The seeds are high in protein, iron, and the B vitamins. Pumpkins are very high in beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that converts Vitamin A, which is important to maintain a healthy body

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin, about 7 pounds
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Spinach - about 2 cups
• 6 oz mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 oz diced bacon
• 1/2 lb chicken cut into ½ inch pieces
• 3 oz roasted red peppers

• 1 cup cooked wild rice
• ¼ pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into ½ inch chunks
• 2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped
• About ¼ cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• About 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions
1. Cut a good size hole in the top of the pumpkin. Large enough that makes it easy to clean out the seeds and place your stuffing inside.

2. In a separate pot, cook 1 cup of brown rice or wild rice and set aside.

3. Remove seeds and strings from pumpkin and top

4. In a pan sauté garlic and onion until they become fragrant (4-5mins)

5. Add the mushrooms, peppers, chicken, and bacon into the pan and light sauté until the chicken has browned and the bacon is mostly cooked. (these ingredients have a lot of water in them and you want to get some of it to evaporate out before putting it in your pumpkin)

6. Add the spinach and rice to the pan and mix until the ingredients are nicely combined.

7. Stuff that empty pumpkin with the fixings! 

8. Add the cream and cheese, place pumpkin top on.

9. Bake at 350F for 2 hours.  Check on the pumpkin at 90mins, remove the top so any extra liquid can evaporate and the top stuffing gets nice and brown

When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully (it's heavy, hot, and wobbly)  bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you'll bring to the table