Halloween Pumpkin Recipe: Jack-o-Lantern Casserole

When I was a demonstrator for a home-based kitchen product company, I learned how to make the Jack-o-Lantern Casserole as a way to offer a fun, themed demonstration using the company's products and pumpkins as the center of attention. The hostess would assist me with a cooking demonstration, as I shared pumpkin recipes and demonstrated the kitchen products for sale. The finished meal was served to the guests instead of the standard chips and dip.

After learning this recipe, I stopped carving pumpkins so that the pumpkins could be used for this casserole, instead of sitting on the front porch to rot. Instead, using a black marker, the faces were drawn on the outside of the squash.

The Jack-o-Lantern Casserole is not only fun to make, but it is a great way to get your family to eat the winter squash, which adds fiber, beta-carotene (which converts to vitamin A in the body), and potassium to their diet.

Whether feeding your family or demonstrating kitchen products, the Jack-o-Lantern Casserole can become a new tradition in October.

The Jack-o-Lantern Casserole

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized pumpkin
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Black pepper, to taste
2 cups cooked rice

Directions:
1. Cut the top off pumpkin and clean out, as if carving a jack-o-lantern. Do NOT cut the face. Decorate using black marker, if desired.
2. Brown ground beef with onions and celery; drain fat.
3. Mix in remaining ingredients.
4. Fill pumpkin with meat mixture; put top on pumpkin and place pumpkin on cookie sheet.
5. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven until pumpkin is tender, approx. 1 hour.
6. Serve directly from pumpkin, scooping out the flesh with the meat and rice mixture.

Heart healthy alternatives

To reduce some of the calories, fat, and sodium from this recipe, or to increase fiber, consider using one or more of these substitutions:
Ground turkey breast
Reduced-fat cream of mushroom or chicken soup
Low-salt soy sauce
Brown rice or other whole cooked grains

Sources

University of Illinois Extension
Author's personal recipe box and experience