The Pumpkin

We made a neat new dish today. We baked a pumpkin whole. It was stuffed with ground chuck and rice. It was soooooo easy. We had some tiny pie pumpkins at school. I have been wanting to make something out of the pumpkins for a long time, and this week while we are studying Native Americans, I thought it would be a great time to do that "something."

I cut the top off and reamed out the pumpkin which was probably the hardest part of the job. After reaming, I put already cooked hamburger and rice which was about 50/50. I salted it somewhat and used a little pumpkin pie spice. I baked the pumpkin for about 1.5 hours at 350 degrees.

I made a cheese sauce to put on top of the finished product.

Cheese sauce is easy. You melt about a tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan. You mix about 1/4 cup of flour into the melted butter until you have a paste. Add two cups of milk and bring to a boil. Add 5 slices of American Cheese - not cheddar because it will taste like soap - and a teaspoon of dry chicken bouillon. When it's thick and actually looks like you want to eat it, add a glob of sour cream. Use a whisk as a tool.

When I got home from school, I made another stuffed pumpkin for Mr. Terry. This time I used vegetables like mushrooms and leeks and walnuts, and made a bouillon sauce for it. Instead of rice, I used bulgur. It was very nice. It didn't need the cheese sauce.

We had corn, applesauce, and flat bread with cheese as the rest of our meal.

If you have any questions about this pumpkin business, let me know. It was a real success with the kids.