Pumpkin Stew by Lee Hollis

Ingredients
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 pounds stew meat cut into one-inch cubes
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, thinly sliced
4 cups veggie broth or you can use water
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
3 cups peeled and cubed pumpkin

Using a large resealable plastic bag add your flour, salt, and pepper. Then add your cubed stew meat a few pieces at a time and shake to coat, remove, and put on a plate until all pieces are coated.

In your Dutch oven or large heavy pot add your oil and butter until heated. Add your meat and let it brown a bit. Add your onion and garlic, and cook for about 3 minutes (do not burn garlic). Stir in the carrots and celery, broth (water), bay leaf, and bullion. Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours.

Stir in pumpkin and bring to a boil, then reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until pumpkin and meat are tender. Discard your bay leaf.

Ladle into soup bowls and serve with some crusty bread and enjoy.

 

About the book:
For Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, Halloween is all about costume parties and holiday treats—until a killer crashes the party . . .

This Halloween, Hayley can’t imagine a worse trick than her ex-husband Danny returning to Bar Harbor. Her kids may be happy to see their dad, but Hayley’s determined not to be taken in by his charms, and suspects he’s in financial trouble—again.

Still, the haunted holiday is about to get a whole lot scarier after Danny’s moonshine-making uncle is found lying dead next to a tombstone in a cemetery—and Danny quickly becomes the prime suspect. To prove her ex is innocent, Hayley will have to dig deep into her own bag of tricks to unmask the real culprit . . . before anyone else—including her—ends up in the graveyard . . .

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley’s kitchen!

About the author:
Lee Hollis is the pen name for a brother and sister writing team. Rick Copp is a veteran film and television writer/producer and also the author of two other mystery novel series. He lives in Palm Springs, California. Holly Simason is an award winning food and cocktails columnist for the Mount Desert Islander newspaper in Bar Harbor, Maine, where she resides.