Dinner in a Pumpkin

We've been having dinner in a pumpkin for Halloween in the Jensen family since before I can remember. I LOVE it and this year we got to share it with the Gaileys and the Tracys. Unfortunately it's my grandma's recipe, so there isn't a real recipe but this is what my mom came up with with a few additions...

Brown 1 lb of hamburger with 1 onion chopped. Drain.
Preheat oven to 375.

Cook 2 quarts (8 cups) of tomatoes, 2 cans tom. sauce, two cans tom paste, 1T chili powder, a few dashes of Tabasco, 2T worch. sauce, 1T garlic salt, 1t salt, 1t pepper. Add hamburger and cook til warmed throughout. Add 1 box macaroni noodles (we used mini penne noodles this time) straight from the box, stir and add to pumpkin. It will be a little soupy.

Bake at least 90 minutes. (I think it ended up taking closer to two hours this year.) It's done when the noodles are soft and pumpkin scrapes easily from sides.

Remove from oven and serve from pumpkin, scraping sides of pumpkin to add squash to mixture.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I got this recipe from Noelle Bastian a few years ago. The original recipe makes bars, but we do it in the cheesecake pan and like it a little better...

Crust:

20 chocolate graham crackers

2T sugar

4T butter, melted

Filling:

2 pkgs cream cheese

1c sugar

1c canned pumpkin puree

3 large eggs

3T flour

1t pumpkin pie spice

1/2t salt

4 oz chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend cookies with sugar until finely ground (1c crumbs). Add butter, pulse til moistened.

(If you do this in the Blendtec, it takes 3 whole seconds, it's incredible!)

Transfer crumb mixture to pan, press into bottom. Bake til fragrant and slightly firm (12-15 min). Cool.

Place cream cheese in food processor, blend til smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, flour, spice, and salt.

Melt chocolate 30 seconds at a time in microwave. Add 1 c pumpkin mixture, stir to combine.

Pour remaining mixture into spring form pan. Drop dollops of chocolate onto pumpkin mixture, swirl. Bake til set, but jiggles slightly (about 40-50 min).

Cool, cover and chill til firm (about 2 hours).

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

4 eggs

1 1/2 c white sugar

2 t pumpkin pie spice

1 t salt

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans (optional, yuck!)

1 c margarine, melted

1 8 oz container whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease one 9x13 in baking pan.

In large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well and spread into prepared pan.

Sprinkle cake mix over top of pumpkin mixture and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.

Bake for 60-80 min, or until done. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.