Welcome into the kitchen at SoBros HQ – we’re takin’ some of our favorite things to make and sharing it with our most loyal readers (that’s you). Simple recipes, for easy, fulfilling dinners – that’s our aim with the SoBros Recipe Book.
Alright, so this is the first installment of the SoBros Recipe Book that I can’t actually put in a SoBros Recipe Book should we ever actually publish one. But, it’s become my favorite recipe for this time of year, so I figured I had to enrich your lives and share it with you. I found this one through Half-Baked Harvest (linked below), thanks to the recommendation of a friend. The first time I made it was a cool October night in 2020 – my now wife and I had just wrapped up a day of watching football, and were getting into the festive spirit by taking in Hubie Halloween. I figured there was no better time to fire up this recipe and give it a shot. Folks – it changed my life. Heads up – there’s a LONG list of ingredients on this one, but that sort of complexity bleeds into the flavor and makes it a veritable masterpiece. Also, I’m a bit slow (I like to clean as I cook), so while the recipe says “one hour,” it actually took me about an hour and 45 minutes from start to finish. Let’s dig in.
Pumpkin Stuffed Shells
What You’ll Need (courtesy of Half-Baked Harvest):
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3/4 pound lean ground chicken or beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons fennel seed
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 1 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc
- 1 pound jumbo shells
- 1 (14 ounce) can pumpkin pureé
- 2-3 cups shredded fontina cheese
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup provolone cheese, cubed
How to do it:
So, a couple of notes here before I hand it over to the author – first, I just dump a full pound of ground beef into mine when I make it…but I love meat. If you’re in Kroger’s footprint, they have two excellent fontina cheeses in their produce department that are perfect for this recipe – a chipotle fontina, and a pumpkin spice fontina. Whenever I can, I try to get a block of each for this one. Also, if you like blue cheese, go for it – but I have never and will never put it in this dish…it’s just such a stark contrast to every other flavor in this dish that I think it would severely detract from it. Finally, I like to add a pinch of clove to this before I pop it into the oven. I’m a big fan of clove, and it makes it feel even more festive.
Alright – I’m going to direct you guys over to Half-Baked Harvest for the “how to” on this recipe instead of bastardizing Tieghan’s great content. Enjoy!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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