Pumpkin Stew

I've been meaning to try this pumpkin stew recipe for several years now. In our first young married class at church, someone brought it to a potluck and I thought it was such a cute idea. I just found this recipe on the internet, so I don't know if it's quite the same, but it's pretty close. Basically, it is just beef stew inside a pumpkin. The taste isn't really that different from normal beef stew (except for the bits of pumpkin in the stew), but somehow it just tastes better being served from a pumpkin. Lisa came over and braved eating out of a pumpkin with us.

Here are the ingredients (minus the meat, tomatoes and seasonings):




I would definitely recommend it, though it might not really be worth the trouble of gutting the pumpkin unless you're taking it somewhere, or unless you just have the extra time to spare (which I did yesterday). I ended up having to throw the pumpkin out and store the leftover stew in a separate container because the pumpkin began to collapse on the bottom and ooze orange pumpkin mess. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
-3 Tbsp. cooking oil, divided
-1 cup water
-3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
-4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
-1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
-4 cloves minced garlic
-1 medium onion, chopped
-2 tsp. salt (though next time I might use less, because it turned out fairly salty)
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-2 Tbsp. instant beef bouillon granules
-1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
-1 pumpkin (10-12 pounds)

In a dutch oven, brown meat in 2 Tbsp. oil. Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir in bouillon and tomatoes. Wash pumpkin; cut a 6-8 inch circle around the stem. Remove the top and set aside; discard seeds and loosen fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a shallow, sturdy baking pan. Spoon stew into pumpkin and replace the top. Brush outside of pumpkin with remaining oil. Bake for 2 hours at 325 degrees or just until pumpkin is tender. Do not overbake. Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little bit of pumpkin with each serving.