The Summer Stew I’ve Been Making Every Week

It’s easy, vegetarian, gluten-free, and done in under 30 minutes.

Those of you who strategize with me about how to create healthy eating habits know that half the battle is making sure that the healthiest thing is also the easiest thing. And because life is very full, I’m a big fan of cooking a big vat of something delicious twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday usually works for me) which can then be eaten for several meals during the week.

So here it is, The Summer Stew I’ve Been Making Every Week

Inspired by Kristen Miglore’s adaptation of Alice Waters’s ratatoullie recipe in The Art of Simple Food, via Food52.com.

• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped
• 5-6 large crimini mushrooms
• 2 long Asian eggplants (or if you want to sub a globe eggplant, salt it first then drain in a colander for 20 min)
• 1 large red pepper
• 4 summer squash, whatever looks good
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes
• 5-7 large leaves of kale
• 2-3 TB ghee
• 1 cup fresh basil
• ¼ cup fresh parsley
• ¼ tsp dried red pepper flakes or chili powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• Black pepper to taste

Dice the onions. Chop all the other veggies into ½ inch pieces.

In a large pot, melt the ghee. Add onions and cook on medium high for 5 minutes, add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook another 2 minutes. Throw in the eggplant, squash, peppers, tomatoes, salt, and red pepper flakes. Cover and cook on medium until all veggies are mostly cooked, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Then stir, add the basil, parsley, and black pepper, turn heat to low and simmer another 5 minutes. Adjust the seasonings if needed.

To add protein and make it a more filling meal, throw it on a bed of quinoa, top with a fried egg, or throw in a can of black beans or chickpeas. Enjoy!