Halloween is just a short month away, and it is a great time to create memories with the family that will last forever. I have been sharing Halloween ideas for more than thirty years, and the most mentioned one is Dinner in a Pumpkin. Now that pumpkins are coming into the stores, it is a great time to serve this fun dinner to your family.
Dinner in a Pumpkin
1 small to medium pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey
2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 (4oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 (10-3/4-oz.) can cream-of-chicken soup
1 1/2 cup cooked rice
1 (8-oz.) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
Cut off the top of the pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. Paint an appropriate face on the front of the pumpkin with a permanent marking pen or acrylic paint. Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large skillet, sauté onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain drippings form skillet. Add lite soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts.
Now, spoon the 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. Remove pumpkin lid and serve heat. For your vegetable, scoop out cooked pumpkin and serve. Serves 6.
If you want to have a memorable drink to go along with your pumpkin dinner, try floating hands in a punch bowl. Here’s how to do it.
Floating Hands
Wash the inside of a surgical glove and fill it with water. Tie a knot or rubber band at the top. Freeze until solid. Carefully cut slits down the fingers and hand with a sharp knife. Peel away the glove, being careful not to break off the fingers. If you do accidentally break off a finger, don’t worry! This is Halloween, and ghoulish things are expected.
Float the hands in a very cold punch or put them wherever your imagination takes it. For an extra spooky effect, put dry ice in the punch, but be sure not to serve the dry ice or touch it. Be very careful with dry ice when kids are around. The temperature of dry ice is 160 degrees below freezing and if it is tough it will cause a burn just as if it were very hot water.
Make these fun ideas a family tradition. I always like covering the pumpkin with a cloth and then revealing it when everyone is seated for dinner.
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