Sausage and Rice Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe

 A friend of mine, Jenny. had posted a picture of this recipe on FB and it looked and sounded so good, I asked for the recipe. The ingredients looked a little strange, so I didn't get brave enough to try it for awhile. Well here we are a year later and I finally tried and loved it. I had some odd shaped pumpkins I didn't know what to do with and it worked.  This is a fun potluck dish!

Sausage and Rice Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe:

4-6 lb sugar pie pumpkin (insides scraped, with tops sliced off)
1 lb bulk sausage
4 cups cooked rice (I used a mixture of jasmine and wild rice)
1 medium onion, diced
1 apple - peeled, cored and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
3 Tbl maple syrup
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

 1. Bake seeded and scraped pumpkin in oven with lid on for 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Put a little bit of water in the bottom of the dish when cooking.

2. While pumpkin is cooking, saute sausage, garlic and onion. Remove from heat.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, stir rice, apples, cheese, spices and maple syrup. Add the sausage mixture to the bowl and mix.
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4. Add beaten egg to the rice and sausage mixture and stir until well coated.

5. Remove Pumpkin from oven and turn down to 350 degrees.

6. Stuff pumpkin(s) with the rice mixture and cook with the pumpkin lids on or off. for 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour or until egg is cooked. (Make sure there is a little water in the bottom of the casserole dish.).

Serve with a spoon that has a fairly sharp edge so you can scrap some pumpkin off the sides with every scoop.

It will stay hot for quite awhile with the lid on, making it ideal for potlucks.

Enjoy,
Jackie