Pumpkins & Beehives

I get the awesome opportunity to work with the "Beehives" (aka: 12-13 year old girls in the young womens program at church) and they are a HOOT!

They came over to my house last night for some "Dinner in a Pumpkin" and to make some mean Pumpkin bars--thanks to a recipe brought by Laura (Ek). It was delish and we had a great time.


Dinner before



And after





Pumpkin Bars









And y'all know how much I LOVE Halloween and all things pumpkin-y...so here are the recipes for you to enjoy!


DINNER IN A PUMPKIN (cooks.com)

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GROUND BEEF MIXTURE
1 to 1.5 lbs. lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 tbsp. salt
2 c. each chopped celery and onions
1 c. diced green pepper
In large kettle, brown beef. Drain. Add salt, celery, onions and green pepper.
DINNER:
1 sm. or med. pumpkin
1/4 c. soy sauce
4 c. ground beef mixture
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 c. cooked rice



Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut top of pumpkin off and clean out. (Save top.) In medium bowl, combine beef mixture, soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, soup and rice. Put into pumpkin. Replace pumpkin lid. Place on baking sheet and bake 1 hour or until pumpkin is tender. When served--scoop some pumpkin out with meat.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.


Note: If you want to fill a medium to large pumpkin (like in the pic), expect to double everything in this recipe EXCEPT the meat---just use 2# of meat…any more than that is too much, in my opinion. And ground turkey tastes fantastic! I just throw in a bit of steak seasoning with it.


PUMPKIN BARS
3 eggs
1 15oz. Can of Pumpkin
¾ cup sugar
½ Brown sugar
½ cup oil
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ginger or nutmeg
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese
¼ cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups. Powdered sugar



BARS:
Beat together the eggs, pumpkin, sugars, and oil until well blended. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until smooth. Spread batter evenly in a greased 10 x 15’ baking (jelly roll) pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350. Cool before frosting.

FROSTING:
Beat softened cream cheese, butter, vanilla until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar a little at a time and beat until smooth.