Food Fun Friday-Apples and Cranberries Baked in a Pumpkin

In staying with our healthy eating... for desert we had: Apples and Cranberries baked in a pumpkin.  Next time I will make sure that I have LOTS of apples.  You need to fill it to almost overflowing!!  I would add about 3 more apples, but not adjust the sugar because it was WAY too sweet.  (I'll bet I could have added the Agave I bought at costco)  It was really good and certainly fed our sweet tooth. 

oh yeah, and let me add healthy eating is hard... I really wanted cheesecake.

This was found at:  http://eatathomecooks.com/2010/11/apples-and-cranberries-baked-in-a-pumpkin.html 

these are her photographs

 Apples and Cranberries Baked in a Pumpkin

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 pie pumpkin
• 2 small apples, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries or 1 cup whole, fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbs. butter

Cut the top off the pumpkin.  .
Once the top is off, scrape out the seeds and stringy stuff.
Stir the apples, cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon together.  Fill the pumpkin with this delicious-smelling mixture.  Dot with butter.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for an hour to 1 1/2 hours, until the pumpkin inside is tender when you poke it with a fork.
To serve, spoon out some baked pumpkin from the edges, along with the apples and cranberries.  Here’s a better photo of the pumpkin when it came out of the oven.

This can be made this with both dried and fresh cranberries.  The dried are sweeter.  Fresh bring a nice tartness and look a bit prettier.  Use whichever you have on hand, because both taste delicious.  This will serve 4-6 people as a side dish, depending on how big the pumpkin is.