Steph's Virtual Bridal Shower - Dinner in a Pumpkin

When Kita sent me the invitation to help support Steph (a fellow blogger) with her upcoming wedding by being a part of a virtual Bridal Shower I was ALL IN! As much as I love dressing up in a dry-clean only gown in order to spend an evening keeping four kids, also clad in dry-clean only attire, away from the chocolate fountain bubbling in the corner, a virtual bridal shower sounded more than ideal.

The theme for the bridal shower is “Date Night” and in order to come up with a suitable idea I had to go back 14 years and remember what we did for date night when we were newlyweds…well besides spending our Saturday’s pretending to be interested in furniture just so we could get free hot dogs and soda at the local furniture store, we also liked to watch the TV’s shows we had recorded throughout the week on our VHS recorder or grab a bite to eat at the local hospital cafeteria after our Friday night volunteer shift was over. Yeah! We were pretty wild and crazy back then.

Surely we did other stuff too?  I consulted the photo album. Ahhhh yes, our first Halloween together. We hosted a murder mystery night with all of our friends from school. Look how cute we were! (and no we were not dressed up as ghosts, we just had no idea how to use a flash properly.)

It was great looking back at our first Halloween together and I realized that a tradition began that year….Pumpkin Hunting.

Since we have been married, we have always enjoyed searching for the perfect Jack-o-lantern pumpkin together. It’s the perfect date regardless of the variation you choose. We would either go to a local farm stand to pick up our pumpkin and then take some time browsing the stand and gift shop. We’d grab a bag of hot sugared pumpkin donuts and a class of cold apple cider to enjoy while we sat at a picnic table and talked about whatever crossed our minds.  Once the sun had set and I was sufficiently frozen we’d drive home. Sometimes we’d carve the pumpkin right away but usually we would save that for another date night. For carving night, we take the time to carve the pumpkin and then we’d eat roasted seeds while watching a rented movie (not a scary one…remember? I don’t do scary well).

As the years have gone by our tradition has stuck and now we enjoy doing this with our kids. Today our pumpkin patch haul includes 6 carving pumpkins  (1 for every member of the family) and about 3 or 4 sugar/pie pumpkins to be used for whatever baking treat needed baked.  And that brings us to the food….Date Night wouldn’t complete without something to eat right? I present to you... 

Dinner in a pumpkin! 

I got this recipe from my good friend Camille who we met while we lived in Michigan (when/if you have kids Steph, you’ll defiantly want to check out her blog, A Curious Thing, filled with reviews on children’s lit). Although the recipe is enough to feed 6-8 adults, you can easily stash away half of the filling in the freezer and use it on another night (You know me, I’m a fan of make-a-head meals).

Good luck Steph. I wish you the very best on your wedding day and everyday after. Your marriage will be worth every effort you put into it and I hope you and Lucas are able to start traditions that you will look forward to participating in year after year after year.

Congratulations!!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

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serves: 8

Ingredients:

4 small pie pumpkins, prepared with top cut and strings and seeds removed.

1 lb. sausage

1 lb. ground beef

1 large sweet onion, finely diced

2 large celery rib, finely diced

3 cups cooked brown rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 tablespons brown sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 can (8oz) sliced water chestnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large skillet brown the sausage and beef with the chopped onion and celery.  When done, drain and return to the skillet. Add rice, cream of chicken soup, brown sugar, soy sauce and water chestnuts then stir and heat together. Simmer for about 10 minutes on medium low heat.
3. Spoon the filling into each cleaned pumpkin shell until stuffed. Place tops onto each pumpkin, place pumpkins on a cookie sheet and back for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
4. Dinner is done when the inside of the pumpkin easily peals away from the skin with a fork. Excellent served with a bit of cheese sprinkled on top.

Source: Camille (not posted) A Curious Thing 

Gwenevere