Instructions: Prepare your favorite stew recipe, either a beef stew or a vegetarian stew.

While stew cooks, prepare pumpkin. With a heavy knife, cut off top quarter of pumpkin. Scoop out seeds and strings and discard. Set aside pumpkin shell and top. Line a 9 x 13 pan or cookie sheet with sides with foil. If desired, use paints that will withstand heat and paint a face on the pumpkin.

Put the cleaned pumpkin (with lid) in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes while the stew cooks. Fill pumpkin with hot stew, cover with top and return to oven. Bake about 1 to 2 hours (depends on the thickness of the pumpkin flesh) or until pumpkin is soft. Serve with rolls, scooping out some pumpkin to go with the stew.

Warnings: If you get a tall pumpkin, make sure it will fit in your oven without touching the top of the oven. If you get a wide pumpkin, make sure it is not wider than your baking sheet. Try to get a pumpkin that is big enough to hold your stew recipe and leave a little top space.

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