dinner in a pumpkin: creamy spiced sausage stroganoff

This recipe is delicious and fun to make for dinner parties!

1 medium sized (10-12" diameter, basketball sized, ~10 lbs.) pumpkin
1 pound ground beef
1 pound (a chub.) mild sausage (we use Kielbasa at our house)
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons oil

1 head broccoli, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 large green apple, diced

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar/mozz/jack cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
dash red pepper
dash pumpkin pie spice

6 cups cooked hot rice, for serving

Remove top rack from oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove all the seeds and stringy pulp inside. Season inside pumpkin with a little salt, pepper, and pumpkin pie spice.
Heat oil in a large saute pan and bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add beef, sausage and onions into saute pan and cook until browned. Add broccoli, carrots and apple into boiling water and cook for 8 minutes to soften (skip this step if you like a little bite to your veg). Drain vegetables. In your biggest mixing bowl, whisk together the softened cream cheese, milk, cheese, parmesan, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper. Stir in meat and onions and veggies. Carefully pour into prepared pumpkin and replace pumpkin top. Place pumpkin on a heavy duty cookie sheet or in a casserole dish. Carefully put in oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees. To serve, scrape sides and bottom of pumpkin to get bits of pumpkin with stroganoff. Serve over hot rice.

* recipe may be halved and prepared in a small pumpkin for a cute little family, or use individual sized pumpkins per person(cooking may vary).