Thanksgiving Pumpkin Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables

There are so many delicious meat and starch dishes at Thanksgiving that it’s easy to forget to cook enough vegetables to go with the meal. We usually have either green beans or collards on our table. This vegan and gluten-free recipe provides something a little more, and it features many of those favorite flavors of Thanksgiving. The vegetables are baked inside a small pumpkin. When it’s done, the pumpkin meat is soft and tender and can be scooped out along with the vegetables.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin (e.g., New England pie pumpkin)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 chopped red pepper
½ chopped green pepper or orange pepper (or combination)
2 chopped celery stalks
1 chopped Portobello mushroom
½ c. chopped onion or 1 tsp. onion powder
1 large crushed garlic clove or ½ tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or 1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. ground sage
1 tsp. ground thyme
1 tsp. ground dill
½ tsp. black pepper
Salt to taste

Directions

Chop the vegetables. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Remove the top from the pumpkin and scoop out the innards. Fill the pumpkin with the veggie mixture. Put the top back on. Bake at 350˚ for 90 minutes (or at 325˚ for 2 hours).

Using 2 little pumpkins, a variation on this recipe would be to include 2 cups of crumbled cornbread and 2 beaten eggs. Also, consider adding ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Then you would divide the ingredients between the 2 pumpkins.

Other ingredients that could be added to the filling include chopped Shitake mushrooms, dried cranberries, chopped apples, chestnuts, or walnuts.

Eat well, be well, live deliciously!