Sausage & Rice Stuffed Pumpkins
Small pie pumpkins baked whole and stuffed with Italian sausage, mushrooms, rice, and Parmesan.
Nutrition
Ingredients
| 3 | small pie pumpkins (about 2 pounds each) | |
| 1/2 pound | 225 g | Johnsonville Ground Mild Italian sausage |
| 1 pound | 455 g | fresh mushrooms, chopped |
| 2 | medium onions, chopped | |
| 1 | medium green pepper, chopped | |
| 2 | garlic cloves, minced | |
| 4 cups | 960 ml | cooked long grain rice |
| 1 cup | 240 ml | grated Parmesan cheese, divided |
| 2 | large eggs, lightly beaten | |
| 1/4 cup | 60 ml | minced fresh parsley |
| 1 teaspoon | 5 ml | salt |
| 1/2 teaspoon | 2.5 ml | dried thyme |
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450°. Cut a 3-in. circle around each pumpkin stem. Remove tops and set aside. Remove strings and seeds from pumpkins; discard seeds or save for toasting. In a large skillet, cook sausage, vegetables and garlic over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up sausage into crumbles; drain. Remove from heat; stir in rice, 3/4 cup cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and thyme. Place pumpkins in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan; fill with rice mixture. Replace pumpkin tops. Bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven setting to 350°. Bake 25-35 minutes longer or until pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife and a thermometer inserted in filling reads 160°. Sprinkle remaining cheese over filling. Cut to serve. Nutrition Facts (1/4 pumpkin and 2/3 cup rice): 204 calories, 6g fat (2g saturated fat), 49mg cholesterol, 405mg sodium, 30g carbohydrate (5g sugars, 2g fiber), 10g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 high-fat meat.