I used dried plums instead of fresh, as that's what I had on-hand, and it was soooooooo good! My family & guests loved it, and after an hour we were sad to find that it was gone!

Reviewed On: Apr. 8, 2011

The first time I tried to make this I ended up with the wrong kind of cooking pumpkin, and I wouldn't have been able to get into its hard shell without boiling it for an hour. So I went pumpkinless, and made a casserole with the cabbage and filling instead, and my family went completely bonkers for it! I modified the recipe a little - used ground turkey instead of beef, tripled the garlic (we love love love garlic), and used Trader Joe's low-fat creamy tomato soup instead of tomato juice because I had it on-hand; also, as recommended by other reviewers, I omitted the green beans and cooked the rice half-way before adding to the other ingredients. I also probably used 4 or 5 cups of coarsely chopped cabbage. Layered in a casserole, cabbage on bottom, meat/soup/rice mixture on top, with a few cabbage sprinkles on top, this was really fabulous, and has been added to my regular meal planning rotation. I did cook the filling in a pumpkin once and it was great, but we were all a little disappointed in having a change to the dish we liked so much!

Reviewed On: Apr. 8, 2011

I used this recipe as a Thanksgiving side dish instead of the same old sweet potato & marshmallow casserole, and it didn't last long at all. Everyone LOVED IT, myself included! I used egg substitute instead of whole eggs, and the dish still had a nice little touch of custard flavor. I also used Smart Balance margarine in the potatoes (real butter for the topping) and skim milk to cut back on the fat a little. This dish was truely a wonderful addition to our holiday meal!

Reviewed On: Dec. 3, 2010