Small pie pumpkins make edible bowls for a savory Halloween dinner. Here they hold ground beef, cauliflower, spinach and herbs, with an egg stirred into the filling before the final bake. Scoop out some tender pumpkin with each spoonful of filling.
The order matters: cut and clean the raw pumpkins, roast them empty, then add the hot filling and bake them again. The first roast softens the pumpkin without asking the filling to cook inside a hard shell.
What to Have Ready
Make the plain chicken meat stock and homemade stovetop ghee ahead. Measure one cup of finished stock and one to two tablespoons of finished ghee for this recipe. Their preparation is separate from cooking the pumpkin dinner.
Choose three small pie pumpkins sold for cooking. Choose unpainted pumpkins with sound rinds. The cauliflower is measured as one whole head and the spinach as one bundle with its stems removed. Their sizes vary, so you may have a little extra filling to bake separately.
Herbes de Provence is a dried herb blend. Read its label and choose a blend made only from allowed dried herbs. Keep sugar, starch, flavor enhancers and other additives out of both the blend and the garlic powder.
Cut Before Roasting, Fill After Roasting
Cut off the tops while the pumpkins are raw, then remove the seeds and loose fibers. Leave the walls intact. Place the empty pumpkins cut-side down in a baking dish with a half-inch to one inch of water and roast at 425°F.
Begin checking after fifteen minutes. A fork should enter the flesh, but the shell should still support itself when lifted. Small pumpkins differ in thickness, so the fifteen-to-twenty-minute window is a starting check, not a reason to remove a hard pumpkin.
The water and pumpkins will be hot. Lift the pumpkins onto a stable heat-safe surface, then let the water and dish cool enough to handle before draining. Return the pumpkins upright to the emptied dish. You fill them after this first roast, once they have cooled slightly.
Cook the Filling While the Pumpkins Roast
Shred the raw cauliflower into little rice-like pieces with a grater or suitable food processor. It goes into the skillet raw with the beef and stock. You do not need a separately cooked cauliflower-rice recipe for this filling.
Cook the garlic briefly in ghee, add the onion and let it turn translucent. Add beef, cauliflower and stock, breaking the meat into small pieces. Once the beef is nearly cooked and some liquid has evaporated, stir in the seasonings, then wilt the spinach under the lid.
Check the beef for 160°F and the cauliflower for tenderness. After taking the skillet off the heat, stir in the whisked egg. Fill the roasted pumpkins and return them to the oven, uncovered. Check the center of each filling for 165°F; a browned top alone does not tell you the egg-containing center is ready.
If the filling does not all fit, put the extra in a small oven-safe dish and bake it to the same temperature. Keep the pumpkin rims clear rather than forcing more food into them.
Where This Fits on GAPS
This is a Full GAPS meal after its ingredients, including whole egg and ghee, have been introduced and tolerated and digestive symptoms have cleared. It is not an Introduction Diet recipe. The pumpkins roast with their skins on to form bowls; eat the cooked flesh and leave the skin behind.
Fresh beef, cauliflower, pumpkin, spinach, onion and garlic provide the filling and vegetables. Use the linked homemade meat stock and strained ghee for the liquid and cooking fat. There is no rice, flour or condensed soup in this measured filling. Ghee is dairy-derived, and the recipe contains egg.
Serving and Saving Leftovers
Set the hot pumpkins on supported plates or a heat-safe serving surface and let them cool briefly. Serve filling with some of the soft pumpkin flesh. Three filled pumpkins describes what you are making; it does not establish three dinner servings for every household.
For leftovers, scoop the food out of the skins into shallow containers. Refrigerate within two hours, or one hour when the temperature is above 90°F. Use within two to three days, with the stock’s remaining storage time in mind. Reheat in the oven or on the stove to 165°F.
Questions Before You Start
Can I Use One Large Pumpkin?
This measured method uses three small pie pumpkins. A large pumpkin has a different wall thickness and cavity, so the same roasting time is not a dependable instruction for it. Use small cooking pumpkins for this recipe.
How Long Does It Take?
Allow about fifteen to twenty minutes for the empty-pumpkin roast and another eight to ten minutes after filling, with longer cooking when the tenderness or temperature checks call for it. Cutting, preparing the filling, heating and handling add time. Have the finished stock and ghee ready before you begin.
Can I Make More?
The 2× setting gives six pumpkins and doubles the measured filling ingredients. Use additional dishes and a large enough skillet, or cook separate batches. Keep the same shallow water depth in each roasting dish and check every filled pumpkin.
Other Variations
For the same beef-and-vegetable idea in a different edible bowl, try jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers. That separate recipe uses its own measured marinara filling and baking method.
The original Super Healthy Kids stuffed pumpkin uses wild rice, brown sugar, soy sauce and condensed mushroom soup. It also describes individual pumpkins and a squash casserole. Those are different formulas and methods; this Full GAPS recipe follows the measured cauliflower filling from Juli Bauer’s Meaty Rice Stuffed Pumpkins at PaleOMG.
Other Halloween Recipes
- Halloween chili with homemade sausage toes
- Raw jack-o-lantern pepper vegetable holders
- Cheese and carrot witches’ brooms
My planned Stock Pot Course will help you organize homemade stock and meals that use it. Follow the WFLI shop for its release. For this dinner, start with the finished stock, finished ghee and three small cooking pumpkins.
Beef and Cauliflower Stuffed Pie Pumpkins for Full GAPS
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Have the linked meat stock and ghee prepared before starting. Heat the oven to 425°F. Choose one or two high-sided, oven-safe baking dishes that hold the three pumpkins with room to lift them out.
- Cut the tops off the raw pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and loose fibers. Finish this cutting and cleaning before roasting. Keep the pumpkin walls intact so they can hold the filling.
- Pour water into the baking dish to a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch. Stand the empty pumpkins cut-side down in the water. Roast for 15–20 minutes, checking for flesh that yields to a fork while the shells still hold their shape. Larger or thicker pumpkins may need longer.
- Meanwhile, shred the raw cauliflower florets into small rice-like pieces with a grater or a suitable food processor. Dice the onion, mince the garlic and remove the spinach stems. Whisk the egg in a separate small bowl.
- Heat the ghee in a large skillet or pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Stir rather than letting the garlic scorch.
- Add the beef, raw shredded cauliflower and measured stock. Break up the beef and cook for about 3–5 minutes, until it is nearly cooked and some liquid has evaporated. Stir in the herbes de Provence, garlic powder, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Add the spinach, cover and cook for about 2 minutes to wilt it. Check that the ground beef reaches 160°F and the cauliflower is tender; continue cooking if needed. Remove the skillet from the heat, then stir in the whisked egg. The egg will finish cooking in the oven.
- When the empty pumpkins are tender, lift them from the roasting water with suitable tools onto a stable heat-safe surface. Let the dish and water cool enough to handle safely before discarding the water. Return the pumpkins upright to the drained baking dish and let them cool slightly for filling.
- Spoon the hot filling into the pumpkins without forcing it over the rims. Bake upright, uncovered, for about 8–10 minutes, then check the center of each filling with a thermometer. Continue until each center reaches 165°F and the tops are lightly browned. If filling remains, bake it in a separate small oven-safe dish to the same temperature.
- Let the pumpkins cool briefly before serving. Scoop some soft pumpkin flesh with the filling, leaving the skin behind. The three filled pumpkins are a batch yield; divide the food into portions that suit your meal.
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