Dinner in a Pumpkin

It's FALL!! Which means all things PUMPKIN! Pumpkin shakes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin.  Oh and lets not forget the carving of pumpkins!  If you love pumpkin it's one of the happiest times of year, if you don't..... well..... sorry, hang in there it'll be over in 3 months.  Today I'm going to share with you an amazing recipe- Dinner in a pumpkin!
Someone brought us this meal last year when I had my baby and it was the first time I had ever tried anything cooked in a pumpkin- it was DELICIOUS!  I've actually craved it for the past year and so I was so excited to see pumpkins in the store the other day and snatched one up right away to make this.

After talking to the lady that made the one given to us- she didn't use a specific recipe, but just some inspiration of a few so needless to say there wasn't a recipe for me to follow.  But I followed her example and did the same- it actually tasted just how I remember hers tasting so apparently I did good!

Here's what you do:
Carve out your pumpkin. (you'll want to save the top for baking)  If time is short you can cut the pumpkin in half and just pile the filling on top of each side and bake it like that.

In a stock pot cook 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of chicken stock (or you can use chicken flavoring and water) until rice is cooked. Set aside.

In a frying pan cook:
2 T olive oil
1 onion- chopped

Once you get a good carmelization on the onions add:
1 lb of ground sausage. (I used maple flavored and it was amazing)

Brown the sausage and chop it up well.

In a large bowl mix:

1 large or 2 small cans of cream of mushroom soup
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of corn
1 head of cabbage- chopped up
2 T brown sugar
2 T pumpkin pie spice (this is what makes this recipe amazing and makes people wonder what's in it)
Salt & pepper to taste

Once the meat and rice are both cooked add all ingredients in the large bowl and mix well.
Pour into your pumpkin, place the top on the pumpkin and bake at 400 degrees for about 2 hours (depending on the size of your pumpkin)

This would be great to take to a potluck! Enjoy!