Dinner In A Pumpkin

We made this last night for dinner. It's one of our favorite fall recipes.

1 small to medium pumpkin
1 onion chopped
2 Tbsp. oil
2 lbs. ground beef
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c. cooked rice
1 can sliced water chestnuts

Cut off top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp. Paint an appropriate face on the front of the pumpkin with a permanent marker. Pre-heat oven to 350.
In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain and add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Simmer 10min. Add cooked rice and drained water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into the cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin, with filling on a baking sheet. Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender. We like to slice the sides and serve with rice mixture on top. It's best when you eat the rice and pumpkin together. Yummmm!