My family is one that believes strongly in tradition, and a good number of our traditions revolve around food. For every Halloween of my entire life, for example, including years in college and as a newly wed, I’ve eaten Halloween Stew for dinner. It’s been a family tradition for longer than I’ve been alive, beginning when my mom was little. My Nana made it for her children before sending them out to trick-or-treat, and in turn, my mom made it for us. And now that I have a family of my own, I make it for them. It’s the perfect thing to eat before heading out into a cool, blustery Halloween evening: wholesome and hearty, full of beef and barley and vegetables. I look forward to Halloween, not because of the candy, but because of the stew!
Halloween Stew
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
A long-time family tradition!
Author: Lulu the Baker
Ingredients
- heaping ⅔ cup split peas
- ⅔ cup lentils
- 5 Tablespoons pearl barley
- 1½ cups chopped onions
- lots of water
- 1½ lbs ground beef
- 2 teaspoons brown gravy mix
- 5-6 cups sliced carrots
- 5-6 cups diced red potatoes
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Rinse and pick over the split peas and lentils, removing any rocks (it happens!). Put the split peas, lentils, barley, onion, and 6 cups of water in a large pot and boil until legumes are tender, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown and drain ground beef. Add brown gravy mix to the ground beef and stir until meat is coated. Add beef, carrots, red potatoes, and 4 more cups water to the legumes. Simmer until vegetables are tender and stew has thickened, another 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes fantastic leftovers.
Awesome Halloween dinner ideas in here. I was browsing and found your blog, and was so happy you’ve got interesting Halloween Food Ideas ! Thanks for sharing and I do hope I could pin some nice photos on my Pinterest boards. Good day!
Thank you!
This looks delicious, what would be brown gravy mix? Bisto
Hi Amy! Brown Gravy Mix is a little packet of spices and thickeners available on the same aisle as the taco seasoning at most American grocery stores. If you’re not in America, the ingredients say it includes flour, starch, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, paprika, and some kind of beef flavoring. It thickens and seasons the stew at the same time. If you don’t have access to it, try adding a little of all of the things I just listed and maybe some beef bouillon granules in place of the gravy mix. Best of luck!
Do you think you crock pot this and sub something for the meat and make it vegetarian?
I think you could definitely tinker with the recipe to make it work in a crockpot. And maybe you could mince and saute some mushrooms in place of the meat?