Pumpkins make me happy.

For some unexplainable reason pumpkins make me really happy. Additionally I have concocted the idea that October is officially pumpkin month. All this said, at the town of Erwin, TN's Apple Festival last weekend I picked up an adorable, locally grown pumpkin for the purpose of making an autumn couscous stuffed pumpkin . So, below find the recipe that I made up with some items I had in stock and enjoy the beginning of pumpkin month!

Autumn Couscous Stuffed Pumpkin

Ingredients:
1 pumpkin, "lid" (top w/stem) cut off, if you are serving 2 people you can use another pumpkin or cut your pumpkin in 1/2 to make two small bowl shapes
2/3 cup of couscous, toasted
1 cup of vegetable broth
1 can of mixed beans of your choice
1/2 cup each of cashews and raisins
2 tablespoons of butter or vegan butter
2 teaspoons each of cardamom and cinnamon and sage

Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare your pumpkin by cutting off the lid (and if serving two with the single pumpkin cut in 1/2), place in a baking dish with about 1 inch of  water on the bottom, rub the inside of pumpkin with butter, cardamom, and cinnamon. Bake pumpkin until flesh is soft (about 45 min to 1 hour)

 In a saucepan on the stove bring vegetable broth to a boil, mix in couscous, cover and remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Fluff couscous lightly.
Simultaneously, heat your mixed beans on the stove, in a saucepan over med heat, about 7 minutes
Mix beans with couscous, add cashews, raisins, and sage. Heat this mixture up over med heat for about 5-7 minutes.

When your pumpkin is soft and finished baking, remove from oven, let cool, and scrape flesh from the inside (leave it in the pumpkin still), add couscous mixture, mix with the pumpkin flesh (still inside the pumpkin), you can sprinkle a little more cinnamon/cardamom over the top of the mixture, maybe add a little agave nectar if you want it sweeter, and place back in the oven to bake for about 10-15 minutes (until mixture is slightly browned on top).

Enjoy!