A recipe worthy of Cinderella-Stuffed Baked Pumpkin

Ping dressed as a Princess this was her second Halloween Costume

I am dealing with a camera crises, my canon power shot just up and stopped working and it will be 5 to 10 business days before it is replaced through my Best Buy warranties, eek!   No picture for 5 to 10 days, I couldn't even photograph our pug group's, The Northern New Jersey Pug Extravangaza, snow delayed Halloween party.  


I still decided to post this recipe for Dorie Greenspan's Baked Pumpkin though, it was just so good.  I read about it while I was making the recipe for Soup Cooked in a Pumpkin.   One thing I really like about Dorie Greenspan's recipe is that it is just a blueprint you can change it up with ham, bacon, or different cheeses.   This was how I made mine (I tripled the recipe too so we would have some left overs, and because we have good appetites).


Dorie Green Span's Baked Pumpkin


3 Japanese Pumpkins also called Kabocha Squash about 2 1/2 lbs each
1 lb grated Gruyere Cheese
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs from stale french bread
1 1lb sweet sausage
2 chopped shallots
1 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg
minced chives


Preheat oven to 350.  Cut the top off the pumpkins leaving it intact to form a lid.   Scrape out the seeds and all the stringy stuff from inside the pumpkin.  Season with salt and pepper.   Stir together the cheese, bread crumbs, sausage and shallots.  Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg (all to taste) to the heavy cream and pour over the ingredients.  Stir.   Bake for 2 hours until everything is bubbly and the pumpkin is tender, check sooner as the pumpkin might be done earlier.  Take the lid off for the last 20 minutes to insure the filling gets nice and brown.
Top with the chives and serve.

And Dr. Zira Update:


Zira's EKG report was all good news.   While her valve is a little leaky her heart is not at all enlarged and she good to go for anesthesia!   Her surgery to remove a basal cell tumor on her leg is scheduled for Wednesday.  According to her wonderful vet, Dr. Green, at the Jersey City Animal Hospital once the tumor is removed Zira should be fine as these tumors are unlikely to spread to other parts of the body, even though they are locally invasive. 

  This is a good lesson in taking your dog to the vet regularly and being diligent in checking for any lumps, bumps, or skin discolorations.  Zira's very found her tumor and it looks more like a scrape or an area of irritated skin then a tumor.  If my camera was working I would take a photo.   Its also a good lesson in being prepared for vet bills, my credit card debt is mounting again as this whole basal cell fiasco is going to cost about 1500 on top of the 500 we spent on her eye problems.  If only Zira had not been to old for insurance!