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Jack O'Lantern Stew

4.6(11)

I first had this dinner 42 years ago when I went to my first Halloween Party. It was originally called Grandma's Stuff in a Pumpkin, but that doesn't sound very scary. When my own kids started having Halloween parties, I began making this for them, with a little tweaking. I have also bought small pumpkins and made individual servings for each child at the party, it doesn't take that much longer to do, and the kids loved drawing the faces on their pumpkins and watched while I did the carving. My oldest son is now 21, and starting a cooking career - last October he called me and begged for this recipe. This is now a 3rd generation favorite- and who knows- may be passed onto more.

by Food Network·published 2016-11-18

Open original recipe

Main Dish

Servings

(6–8)

Total time

—

Calories / serving

376 kcal

Ingredients (12)

serves

1 (9 to 12-inch) pumpkinpumpkin
1 large onion, choppedonion
1 green pepper, cored, seeded, and dicedbell-pepper
1 red pepper, cored, seeded, and dicedbell-pepper
4 carrots, thinly sliced into roundscarrot
3 celery sticks, thinly slicedcelery
2 cloves garlic, crushedgarlic
1 pound lean ground beefground-beef
1 pound ground chicken or turkeychicken
2 cups cooked rice (instant is okay)
1 large can diced tomatoestomato
1 large can tomato soup

Instructions (4 steps)

01Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
02Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the insides. Rinse well. Carve a scary face onto the pumpkin, without going all the way through the flesh. Rinse well, oil outside of pumpkin. Bake the pumpkin shell for 30 minutes.
03While shell is baking: saute the onion, green and red peppers, carrots, celery, and garlic until the vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown ground beef and chicken. Add the veggies and cooked rice and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavors meld.