Summer Zucchini Stew

I named this recipe Summer Zucchini Stew because I get most of the ingredients from my yard in the summer. I mentioned in my last hub of stuff zucchini that there are so many recipes for zucchini and this is another one.

Except for the garlic and diced canned tomatoes and the pinch of sugar and the cheese, all the rest of the ingredients are from my garden. When I start getting tomatoes from my plants, then they will be in this stew also instead of canned.

One of the nice things about this recipe is you can eat it hot or cold the next day, which is just as good. It can be a side dish for dinner or the main dish for lunch with a piece of crust bread. It also lasts a long time in the refrigerator. If I were inclined to can, this is one of those foods that are great to have in the middle of winter. I might still do that, I'm not sure though.

Hope you enjoy this easy to make recipe.

Mostly stews are a hodge podge of ingredients left over with meat added.

Beef stew, chicken stew, my Nona even made rabbit stew. There are seafood stews also which are popular around the Christmas season in a lot of Italian families.

There are red stews with are tomato based and there are brown stews which are brown gravy based. There is something for everyone. You can experiment with what you like and what you have on hand. I hope you do that, you never know what you can come up with.

You will see pictures below of the herbs I put in my stew. I grew them in my little (and I do mean little) herb garden. The Italian parsley and basil are pictured. There is a jar of dried oregano which I planted and dried last year and am still using. I also have dill in my hard and 2 plants of Rosemary.

You can grow the ones you use the most in little pots and keep them in your kitchen all winter if you have the room. I don't, so I plant them in the summer and dry them for the winter.

Have fun with your own herb garden.

• If you don't have fresh herbs then by all means use dried ones but use a little less since dried herbs have a more intense flavor.
• You can also use other vegetables if you like, but not corn, it didn't go right with this type of stew. (I tried it.) The zucchini, onions and garlic and tomatoes are a must.
• If fresh garlic doesn't agree with you then you can use garlic powder to put the garlic in whole and fish it out before serving.
• If you're not sure what type of wine to cook with a good rule of thumb is to use whatever wine you like to drink. If you use something you don't like, you won't like it in the food either.