It's time for...

Our sometimes annual stuffed pumpkin!

I say sometimes annual because there are years that go by where we

just never end up having the time to make the stuffed pumpkin.

But this year, we did! We started this tradition our first year in Rhode Island after finding a white pumpkin at the pumpkin patch and figuring we'd do something fun with it. Now it's become a hunt for us to find the perfect sized white pumpkin each year for our annual dinner.

We try to either make this meal for Halloween if we aren't entertaining and it's on a weekend, or for our wedding anniversary - tonight, we opted for the pre-anniversary dinner stuffed pumpkin.

Each year I vary

it a bit on how I stuff the pumpkin - hell one year a picture of my stuffed pumpkin even made it to the now defunct Ugly Food Blog! But don't let that deter you - because come on, when have you ever made a stuffed anything that looked REALLY beautiful after you cut it open? I rest my case.

Tonight's stuffing was just kind of done on a whim, and we can honestly say one of the best to date in the past 7 years. This, we agreed, will be the new regular stuffing for the pumpkin.

This is the perfect fall dinner, and I hope I'm sharing it with you in enough time to make before Halloween or even to serve for Thanksgiving. It really would be a great side dish addition to your holiday feast!

Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

1 white pumpkin - about 5-7 pounds. Visually try and cut it in your mind's eye in to four slices, and if you think it's the right size, go with it!

2 boxes Wild Rice mix, made according to directions but omitting butter

2 apples diced

1 pound ground Italian sausage removed from the casings, cooked and browned

Salt/Pepper

Onion/Garlic powder - or fresh

Fresh Sage - about 3-4 T fresh cut ribbons

To begin, cut the top off your pumpkin, remove the seeds and innards. Save the seeds for roasting if you'd like! Once the pumpkin is cleaned out, drizzle the inside with some olive oil and sprinkle with about a 1/4-1/2 tsp. kosher salt.

Place in a square metal baking dish and cook at 375 - you will hear it sizzling a bit and that's fine - make sure the top is off though!

While your rice is cooking, brown your sausage and drain to remove the fat. In a large bowl, mix the cooked rice, the browned sausage, sprinkles of garlic/onion powder - maybe a half teaspoon of each. Then add in two apples, diced with the skins on. Add about 20 good fine cracks of black pepper, no more salt though - the rice is sufficiently salted already. Now if you have a spouse that actually likes dried cranberries, add them here. Otherwise leave them out. Toss in your fresh sage and stir to combine.

Remove the pumpkin shell from the oven, keeping the oven set to 375. By now the pumpkin should be tender but not all the way done yet - the rice takes about 30 minutes so it will have already had 30+ minutes in your oven. Stuff the pumpkin with the filling loosely - do not pack it down! It will expand even more during the baking process. Place the stuffed pumpkin back in the oven and cook for another 20-30 minutes, or until you can easily insert a sharp knife in the pumpkin and pull it out.

Carefully transfer your pumpkin with a flat spatula and a spoon to a large cutting board, preferably one with a well around the edge. let sit for about 3-5 minutes and then cut in to quarters and serve.

You'll find the sage combined with the rice and sausage adds a nice fresh flavor and the apple a bit of sweetness. Our pumpkin had a very spaghetti squash like texture and it just came together so well.

Delicious!!

*NOTE* realizing as I'm typing this I completely forgot I bought mushrooms to slice and sauté up to add to the stuffing mixture and forgot to do this step - so if you're a mushroom eater - go for it!

*NOTE 2* I have made stuffed pumpkins before with bread stuffing instead of rice - and I don't recommend it - it becomes way too dense and overpowering from everything else in the stuffing you make. Barley and rice both work very well!

Finally, a stuffed pumpkin for you!

So on Halloween each year I make a stuffed pumpkin for dinner. This year we tried a new recipe and were really not all that impressed with how it turned out. Usually I use rice and meat with veggies for the filling, this recipe called for meat and stuffing with heavy cream. It had a really nice flavor but was just way too heavy for dinner. Sadly, the leftovers never made it in our bellies but in the trash can.

Oh well, it was pretty!

Overstuffed Pumpkin with Cornbread, Apples, and Turkey Sausage with Sauvignon Blanc

1 pumpkin
1/4 cup melted butter (I just used some olive oil)
Salt
Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil (I used Pam)
1 onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage, divided
Salt and pepper
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cubed
2 pounds ground turkey sausage (I used a lb. of meatloaf mixture meat)
3/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc wine (I used Sherry)
1 cup heavy cream
1 (16-ounce) package cornbread stuffing ( I used regular stuffing)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Cut off the lid of the pumpkin and set it aside.

Pull out the seeds and strings from inside the pumpkin. Brush the inside flesh with melted butter, season with salt and pepper.

Place pumpkin on a roasting pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat oil over moderate heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, celery seed, fennel seed and 2 tablespoons each parsley and sage. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the apples and cook 2 minutes. Add the ground sausage, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, and brown until no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

Deglaze the pan with wine, cook down 2 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Stir in the cream, check seasoning. Scrape the sausage mixture into a large bowl and fold in the cornbread.

Gradually blend in the eggs and chicken broth, until the stuffing is evenly moistened. Add remaining parsley and sage. Fill the pumpkin with stuffing, return to the oven and bake 20 minutes until the eggs are cooked and the stuffing has a little lift. Serve stuffing in the pumpkin bowl topped with lid