This recipe is a tradition of the fall season that my dad has done for a few years now. Our mom had passed away in 1999, and being a working electrical contractor he was all about the quick and easy methods in the kitchen. It's something that he would make a bunch of and we would take them to families in the neighborhood on cold nights when they were still warm out of the oven. Here's the recipe:

- 1 5-6lb pumpkin
- 1 1/4t. pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
- hot tapioca pudding (he always just uses the recipe off the minute tapioca box)
- whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Cut a 4-5'' lid on the pumpkin top. Clean out pumpkin as much as possible and discard seeds, strings, etc. Scrape pumpkin as clean as possible. Sprinkle 1 t. of the spice inside the pumpkin; roll it to dust the interior evenly with spice. Set top back on pumpkin and place it on a rack in a broiler pan. Please in a 350 oven, then pour boiling water into the pan to a depth of 1/2'' to 3/4''. Bake about 45 minutes or until pumpkin is almost tender when pierced. After pumpkin has cooked about 20 minutes, start the tapioca pudding.
Remove pumpkin from oven and set lid aside. Pout hot pudding into pumpkin and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 t. spice. Continue baking, uncovered, about 30min or until pudding is set. Remove from oven and replace lid; let set about 30 minutes to cool slightly.
Serve warm, scooping out some pumpkin meat with each serving. Best served with cream or ice cream. Makes about 12 to 15 dessert-sized portions or 6 to 8 lunch portions. May be refrigerated and reheated.

My dad has been remarried for a few years now. I asked him if he would be willing and able to demonstrate on a Wednesday morning and he said he would love to.