Vegetarian: Holiday Stuffed Pumpkin by Recipe Cottage

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	Holiday Stuffed Pumpkin

		4 - 6 c bread cubes 1 pumpkin 2 - 3 c green vegetables, minced savory spices (dried onion, dill, oregano, cumin, etc.) 1/2 c nut pieces (pignoli, pecan) 2 eggs (egg beaters) Start with a cooking pumpkin (although a squash may also work), about 3 1/2 to 4 lbs. for a small household. Cut off the top, straight across. Pull out all the innards and scrape it down. The cap can be hollowed out to fit neatly over the stuffed "bird". If you're going the bread route, here's what I did. Get some dried bread or dried bread cubes. Taste bread and if the bread is already salty and savory, then don't add a lot of spices. I used some leftover dinner rolls that had gotten hard, so had to soak them before I put them throught the food processor. I ended up simmering them to speed up the process. I did not measure, but think that the breading came to about 4 - 6 cups. Then shredded some green vegetables, like raw zucchini and broccoli -- whatever I happened to need to use up. Guess some veggies will taste better than others. This tasted fine. It was simmered briefly, then strained, and 2 1/2 cups were used. To that I added dried minced onion and dried dill, each 2 Tbs (approx), and cumin, oregano, each 1 tsp or more, and no salt since the rolls were very salty. Threw in some dried cherries, the roasted pignoli and pecan pieces, about 1 - 2 Tbs on the cherries, and 1/4 cup each on the nuts, or less. Stirred in 2 egg beaters (egg substitute) and 1 whole egg. Moistened it further with vegetable stock made from celery, dried mushroom (2 -3 pieces) and carrot. The celery flavor came through. That's it. And baked at 400 F for an hour or so. Lower the temp if things start to get too brown before the pumpkin gives. Oh, put the cap in too. Since there was enough stuffing left for a small casserole, I put the cap over that. The trade off is between moist and crisp. If you want the top part crisp, cook the pumpkin cap separately then use it for show later, as a cover to the stuffing in the pumpkin. I covered the stuffing with foil before it was all finished and lowered the oven temp. to 350 F, since it was getting too crusty. I think that whatever you liked with your old t'DAY turkey will be what you like in the stuffed pumpkin. I liked finding a few chewey bits of nuts and dried cherries, and I liked it savory and somewhat soaked (not soggy) and moist. And don't overcook the pumpkin, it can always be cut out of its shell and enjoyed with the filling.