Kent's Sicilian Stew Recipe
Even though Kent has had a screaming sore back for a week now (possibly a herniated disc – anyone have advice for him?), he was feeling a little better Saturday and wanted to try a Sicilian Stew that a friend told him about. It’s a use-up-the-veggies-left-in-your-garden kind of stew that goes well with the unseasonably cool August weekend we had here in Michigan. (How sad to be at that point in the summer, we’ve really enjoyed our first garden!) When he told me what he was putting in it I was skeptical – it didn’t sound that great, but it actually turned out very good and we each had a couple helpings. (This was great as a meatless / vegetarian meal, but would be good with beef or chicken, too!) It had a nice blend of fresh summer flavors; it was baked for just the right amount of time so the veggies were not hard or mushy and the flavors of the herbs came through well; the feta cheese on top gave it an extra burst of delicious flavor; AND it only took a few minutes to pull together…
Kent's Sicilian Stew
Ingredients
Toss any veggies and herbs that you have on hand into a cast iron pot – which ones and the amounts you use can vary, but I’ll tell you what Kent used:
- Yellow summer squash – 1 medium, in whatever size chunks you’d like
- Zucchini squash – 1 medium
- Green beans – 1 handful
- Red onion – 1 medium, cut into pieces
- Cherry tomatoes – 1 handful sliced in half
- Roma tomatoes – 2, cut into chunks
- Yellow tomatoes – 2, cut into chunks
- Garlic – 4 cloves or so
- Sea salt & pepper to taste
- 1 can tomato sauce
- few glugs olive oil
- crumbled feta cheese for the top (if desired)
Chop up and add whatever herbs you have. Kent went to the deck and filled a small bowl with these:
Instructions
Add can of tomato sauce (we used organic), and a few glugs of olive oil and mix all together with your veggies and herbs.
Bake (covered) for 45 minutes at 300*. Serve with feta cheese crumbled on top, if desired. (I found some delicious tomato-basil feta at the store.)
The kids didn’t go for all those veggies, so we gave them some of the sauce over leftover pasta with parmesan cheese on top and called it spaghetti. This makes a great meal on it's own, or could also be a tasty side dish to go with a nice roasted chicken.
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- More Meatless Meal Ideas
- Have you read Kent’s guest interview?
- Check out the pizza tasting post, Kent tried two different kinds to see which one we’d like best.
Part of Tasty Tuesday & Food Roots
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Something that’s helped me in the past to relieve back pain is to soak a piece of unbleached wool in castor oil and put it on the part of my back that hurts. I cover it with plastic then lay on a heating pad. It really helps, as does ice.
I know it may sound strange, but what we use whenever we have any issues with backpain, (and pain in general) is 3 parts Raw Butter (we make Kefir Butter) mixed with 1 part Raw Honey. I learned this from Aajonus Vonderplanitz book “We Want to Live”, I let someone borrow the book so I can’t tell you what he says about why this combo is so effective, but I do know that good fats support healing and reduces inflammation, and Raw Honey also has anti-inflammatory properties, enzymes, trace vitamins and minerals, etc. to support healing. This is also great if you are having trouble sleeping, take a heaping teaspoon right before getting in bed then just keep it by your bed to dose through the night if needed. I also agree with Cheeseslave, pain is there to get our attention about what is going on inside that we need to heal (I know this through my own experience) healing happens from the inside-out. I would also recommend Louise Hays wonderful book “You Can Heal Your Life” it would take up too much room to say why I love this book, I hope you feel led to look into it. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop now ; ) I hope he feels better soon, I’m sure we are all sending him healing energy. You both seem like such wonderful, loving people. Thank you for blogging!
Looks delicious! I love a good veggie stew – it warms the heart! My mom made veggie soup/stew once a week when we were growing up to clean out the veggie drawer! But it was always my favorite dinner.
Thanks Barb, telling me where exactly I can get it makes it easy!
Kelly, all those herbs, tinctures and homeopathic remedies can be found at Harvest Health (local plug–is that legal?)
You guys are great! I love the range of suggestions, I’ll make sure Kent sees these and we’ll go from there. 🙂
Kelly
I would recommend an osteopathic physician for osteopathic manipulation for his back. I know there are plenty of them in your area, good ones too, and being and osteopath myself, I know it helps! Hope his back is feeling better soon!
I would highly suggest Ken seek out an authentic acupuncturist for his back. It can be hard to find a good one in the midwest but you have to ask around a lot. I live in Omaha and it took a long time to find one here. I’ve met a couple of people who went to him for a herniated disk and they are just about symptom free today. Definately worth a try.
Kel, this sounds delicious! Funny because I made gazpacho last night. I’m posting my recipe this morning.
For Kent: The last time I had back pain, Seth told me about a guy named Dr. John Sarno. He wrote a book called “Healing Back Pain”. You can find it on Amazon or I bet, at your local library — it’s been around a while.
Here’s his website:
https://www.healingbackpain.com/
I read that book and it changed my life. I remember, he has you ask “What’s my inner rage?” I asked that question and then had a dream which led me to realize I hated my job, so I quit. But here’s the weird part — my back pain disappeared as soon as I had the realization — way before I quit my job. I felt free inside — I think because I realized I didn’t have to stay at that job — and when I realized my freedom the pain in my back was gone.
Seth also had a recent experience with it — I won’t share the details of what happened to him since he may not want me to. But he had appts scheduled with the chiropractor, massage therapist, etc. And once he had his realization, the pain went away.
The point is, it works! I can’t recommend that book highly enough.
When hubby hurt his back early this summer (he’s prone to back issues) I put him right to bed. Sitting for an extended period of time is hard on the back. If Kent’s not hurt BAD bad, he can try 20 minutes sitting, 20 minutes standing, 20 minutes laying down and 20 minutes walking on and off all day. Hubby’s was BAD bad so I set him up a desk in a reclining position on an air mattress that could be inflated and deflated to provide a little flexibility.
Ice packs 20 minutes of every hour are a must. External cold will almost always take the inflammation down as well as ibuprofen, if not better. Some chiropractors have a traction machine they can put you on for a few minutes which totally relieves the pain and provides a break from the compression.
I created an oil (I call it Ahh Oil) that we keep in the fridge for sprains, bruises and back injuries. It’s a blend of arnica, boneset, borage, calamus, comfrey, nettle, St. John’s wort, turmeric and yerba santa. It’s helped many a friend with back and neck problems.
Barb, I’m sure the antispasmodic stuff will sound the best to him – thanks for your info! (Is this all stuff at the health food store? Why do they have to name these natural things with such hokey names?!)
Jen, Kent’s hoping to avoid surgery, too, but if this keeps up, I’m not sure if he’ll have a choice… OH, by the way, the chiropractor he went to last week gave him a natural anti-inflammatory called Bozwalia. We Googled it and found out it’s the same as Frankincense – isn’t that interesting?!
Poor Ken! These are things that we have used:
St. John’s Wort oil externally (also known as arnica of the nerves)
Herbpharm’s lobelia/skunk cabbage compound (Kloss’s antispasmodic tincture) external and internal
Kloss’s liniment: https://www.learningherbs.com/jethro_kloss.html
Homeopathic hypericum
Sounds great! I will try this for sure, with the excess produce from our CSA box right now.
My husband has a degenerative disc in his lower back. He was diagnosed after a few incidents of “throwing out” his back, and finally seeing a doctor after he walked crooked for a week! He had several physical therapy sessions where he was shown stretches that would relieve the pain. He does these stretches every morning and evening, and they take about 10 minutes.
He manages it as naturally as possible. He was shown how to lift, turn, etc., in order to avoid straining his back. When it does act up, he applies Arnicare (a homeopathic gel that he says is excellent) and again… the stretches. On occasion, he will take ibuprofen to decrease inflammation as well. Now that I think about it, I should research more natural anti-inflammatory agents. 🙂
This regimen has worked really well so far (fingers crossed!). He definitely does NOT want surgery or steroid shots in the spine, which were both presented as possible treatments.
I hope Kent’s back feels better soon!