Italian Stew

First off, sorry that I didn't get this out sooner... how many times will I be apologizing, you may ask. As many as it takes to right the wrong I guess, so get used to it! Anyway, this is a slow cooker recipe, which is why I should have had this written earlier. But oh well, and perhaps you can switch it with another day. This will end up working quite well for us, because we had a large can of tomato sauce, which some of it went to the enchiladas and the rest I will dump in here. And I call this a stew, because that's how it turns out, before you doctor it up. So, it can be more soup based if you'd like, but I'm going to make mine more of a sauce. And this tastes best when served with tortellini (but since we're poor, we're just serving it with plain pasta). Oh, and one last note, I use an Italian seasoning mix from *Crockery Gourmet (they were on sale and I highly recommend them). So basically, just follow the recipe on the back. And if you don't have a packet, you'll just have to season it with some chicken bouillon and spices and it should be similar enough. Speaking of enough, here goes nothing!

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Italian Seasoning Mix*
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 2 c. water (or chicken broth if you don't have the mix)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 small can olives, drained
• 1/2 pack of fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2-3 chicken breasts (you can add more chicken, and less veggies; all to taste/sight)

Directions:
1. Mix seasoning packet with can of tomatoes and water. Add tomato sauce to thicken as desired (you may have to add brown sugar, salt, pepper, seasoning, etc. to make sure it tastes ok).
2. Add veggies and chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low, 6-8 hours.
4. Serve with pasta or serve plain as a stew. Garnish with grated Parm.

PS- You can add packaged tortellini for about the last 10-20 minutes of cooking... oh, and serve with crusty bread, which goes well with any version you choose!