Dinner in a Pumpkin

Behold, a harvest casserole straight from the early '60s! Served in a decorative gourd! Great for that period from Halloween all the way up to Thanksgiving.

DINNER IN A PUMPKIN
One 10-12" pumpkin, top removed and cleaned (save the seeds for roasting)
2 pounds very lean ground beef
6 ounces ground ham
2½ t. salt (I think less, especially since the ham adds salt)
3 T. chopped onion
1 green pepper, chopped
2 t. oregano
2 cloves garlic, pressed
½ cup green onions (aka scallions), chopped
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 eggs, beaten
¾ cup raisins (you could also use currants or Craisins)
1 t. fresh ground pepper

In a large nonstick skillet, fry the ground beef until no pink remains. Add all other ingredients except pumpkin and eggs, and cook together. Remove from heat, allow mixture to cool a bit (so the eggs don't cook immediately from the residual heat when they're added), then add eggs, mix gently and fill the pumpkin. Put the lid on the pumpkin and bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1½ hours. Serves -- uh -- many, because c'mon, you just filled a whole pumpkin!

If you really want a super '60s dinner, serve with a Jell-O mold and some canned green beans, heated, with butter and bacon bits.

Contributor: Karin Buck

NOTES FOR MODERN TASTES:
If you require a little more zing than what this recipe offers, Captain Midnight thinks curry powder is a nice addition. Toss it in with the ground beef.

Beef Pinwheel Rolls

Dan messaged me with a request for this recipe, which he called "Beef Cinnamon Rolls." (They do kinda resemble cinnamon rolls, so...) Mom would make these rolls for dinner every now and then when we were kids. You can mix it up a little by altering the meat in the filling or changing the kind of soup you use -- the original recipe used vegetable soup, but Mom liked Golden Mushroom better.

BEEF PINWHEEL ROLLS
1 lb. ground beef
a few tablespoons onion, finely minced
1 10.75-oz can Golden Mushroom soup, divided
1 recipe Biscuits Supreme (or be lazy and mix up a batch of Bisquick instead)

In a nonstick skillet, cook minced onion until just translucent. Add beef and cook until browned, draining excess fat from pan. Add half the can of Golden Mushroom soup (undiluted) and stir until beef mixture is heated through. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. Prepare Biscuits Supreme dough or Bisquick. On a lightly floured surface, pat dough out into rectangle. Spread top with beef mixture and gently roll up, sealing edges well to keep dough from unrolling. Cut roll into slices about ¾" thick and place on baking sheet. Bake about 15 minutes or until rolls are browned. Heat the rest of the Golden Mushroom soup (undiluted) and ladle over tops of rolls as a sauce. Serve immediately.

Probably serves 6-8.

Contributor: Karin Buck

Mexicali Salad

Grandma used to make this one a lot. You may remember it from childhood. If you don't, you probably need to remember it from adulthood.

MEXICALI SALAD
1 lb. ground beef
1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained
¼ teaspoon salt
1 onion, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 large head lettuce, chopped
1 can black olives, drained
1 large avocado, sliced
1 package tortilla chips, crushed
4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. Thousand Island dressing
hot sauce to taste

In a saucepan, brown ground beef. Add kidney beans and salt and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a large bowl (this is gonna feed a dozen people!), mix together onion, tomatoes, lettuce, olives and avocado. Toss salad ingredients with beef and bean mixture.

Before serving, add tortilla chips, cheese and Thousand Island dressing and toss to mix. Serve with hot sauce.

Makes 12 servings. That's right, 12. Call up all your friends.

Contributor: Norma Eriksson

Aunt Linda's Hamburger Pie

You saw it here first, folks!

AUNT LINDA'S HAMBURGER PIE
Spiced meat:
2 lb. ground beef
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon onion salt
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
dash allspice

Vegetables:
3 large potatoes, sliced
4 carrots, sliced in coins
1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon onion salt

Mushroom sauce:
2 cans mushroom soup
2 small cans mushrooms
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet

Other stuff:

½ pint sour cream

1 recipe pie crust (or just buy it from the store if you're lazy)

In a skillet, brown spiced meat mixture, turning occasionally. While mixture is browning, prepare vegetables. Put vegetable mixture into a large pot, add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Cook until vegetables are tender, then drain water.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. To vegetables, add mushroom sauce and spiced meat mixture. Mix all together and cook for a few minutes, adding sour cream near end of cooking time. Turn mixture into large bowl or casserole dish and cover with pie crust. Bake until crust is golden. Makes 8-12 servings.

Contributor: Linda Hart

Spanish Rice

It's a skillet-to-oven rice casserole. It's pretty tasty. And it's Grandma Eriksson's. Good for serving carbs to crowds.

SPANISH RICE
2 large onions, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
a few stalks celery, chopped
bacon grease for cooking
1 lb. ground beef
1 large can tomatoes
1 can hot sauce
½ cup uncooked rice, washed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, sauté onions, pepper and celery in bacon grease. Add ground beef and brown well, draining fat. Add tomatoes and hot sauce, stirring to mix, and heat until mixture boils. Add rice and stir again. Turn contents into 9x13" casserole dish and bake for about 1 hour. Probably makes 8 servings.

Contributor: Norma Eriksson

Taco Pie

Yep, it's another Grandma Eriksson casserole special! And this one's odd in that you're baking lettuce into a casserole.

TACO PIE
1 lb. ground beef
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 10¾ oz. can golden mushroom soup
corn tortillas, as needed
iceberg lettuce, shredded, as needed
cheese, grated, as needed

In a skillet, brown ground beef, draining fat. Add tomato sauce, onion soup mix and golden mushroom soup; allow to heat through, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread corn tortillas (enough to cover the bottom) in a 9x13" casserole dish. Top with a layer of shredded lettuce, then a layer of grated cheese, then half the sauce from the skillet. Repeat all layers, then top with grated cheese. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until bubbly and browned. Makes 8 servings.

Contributor: Norma Eriksson

Chinese Hekka

OK, so this stovetop dish is "Chinese" the same way Taco Bell is "Mexican," but it's still tasty. In fact, dare we say it's hekka good?

CHINESE HEKKA
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups celery, thinly sliced
2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups carrots, grated
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup water
rice or crisp chow mein noodles

In a large frying pan, brown ground beef with onion. Add celery, cabbage and carrots. Pour soy sauce and water over all and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.

Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry you are.

Contributor: Linda Hart

Grandma Kest's Christmas Soup

I know, David, you hate this stuff. But some of us loooove it. Mm mm good!

GRANDMA KEST'S CHRISTMAS SOUP
Soup:
2 packages meaty soup bones
1 gallon water
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup barley
1 large can tomatoes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
allspice to taste

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup onion, diced
about ½ cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
dash of nutmeg
dash of allspice

In a large soup pot, combine bones and water. Add onion and bring to a boil; cover and boil gently 3-4 hours. Remove bones. Add barley and cook 30 minutes.

While barley is cooking, in a food processor whirl together all ingredients for meatballs until meat mixture is smooth and there are no visible chunks of onion. Roll mixture into walnut-sized balls and add them directly to soup when the 30 minutes are up. Cook another 20 minutes.

(At this point you may refrigerate the soup and skim the fat from the top, then reheat, but it's completely up to you.)

Strain canned tomatoes directly into the soup, then add remaining ingredients, heat through and serve.

Makes a whole lotta soup, and happy people if they happen to like homemade tomatensoep met balletjes, which is the Dutch name for it.

Contributor: Catharina Kest

Tamale Pie

This was a well-used Grandma recipe. In fact the paper she wrote this on is so splotched and faded, it's getting difficult to read. Let's hear it for modern technology!

TAMALE PIE
1 lb. ground beef
3 tablespoons butter (optional)
2 onions, chopped
1 15 oz. can tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 tablespoon chili powder, dissolved in hot water
1¼ cups cornmeal
3 eggs, well-beaten
1 cup milk
1 can black olives, drained
1 teaspoon salt
Cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, brown ground beef in (optional) butter. Add onions and cook about 15 minutes, until onions are soft. Add tomatoes, corn, chili powder, cornmeal, eggs, milk, olives and salt, and cook another 15 minutes more (mixture will thicken). Turn mixture into a 9x13" casserole dish and sprinkle top with cheese. Bake 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Serves at least 8, and probably more.

Contributor: Norma Eriksson

NOTES FOR MODERN TASTES:
Cook a finely-diced jalapeño pepper and a few minced cloves of garlic along with the onions. Use more chili powder (don't be shy) or even a de-seeded poblano pepper. Serve slices with a garnish of freshly-chopped green onions and pass the Cholula sauce at the table.

Chili Kenos

Grandma's fantastic Mexican-ish gringo casserole, ¡ay ay ay! You know you're gonna eat it.

CHILI KENOS
2 lbs. ground beef
2 tablespoons vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cumin powder
½ teaspoon oregano
4 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons chili powder
2 cups hot water
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 cans olives, pitted
½ lb. American cheese, cut in cubes
2 bunches green onions, chopped
2 cans kidney beans
1 bag corn chips

Brown ground beef, spooning off excess fat. Add vinegar, salt and pepper, cumin and oregano. Sprinkle flour over meat mixture. Add chili powder dissolved in hot water.

In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, olives, cheese, green onions and kidney beans. Add to meat mixture and heat through enough to melt cheese. Just before serving, add the bag of corn chips. Serves about 8.

Before you ask: no, I do not know what size cans of olives Grandma meant, nor am I sure whether the kidney beans should be drained and rinsed before adding to the mix. Feel free to mess around with the recipe and see what happens.

Contributor: Norma Eriksson