Hippie Stew for Two

When I lived alone in my Philadelphia bay window, I would host stew nights for friends, poor and not. There were also sometimes outfits and aprons involved. The stews were usually just giant pots of vegetarian hot mess, cobbled together from the reaches of my fridge—hey, with enough garlic and salt you can make anything taste good. I miss the close-quarters-love of stew night here in the Lonely Apple, so I decided to make a little stew for me and my main man.

Here’s the recipe:
1 large can of diced tomatoes (or 4 large tomatoes, diced)
1 can of chick peas, don’t drain them!
1 large carrot cut into circles, then into wedges
½ Vidalia onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
7 or so napa cabbage leaves, chopped into squares
2 zuchinni or summer squash, chopped into semicircles
2 pinches paprika
salt
black pepper
1 small jalepeno chopped or 3 pinches red pepper flakes.

Sautee the onions, garlic and carrots until the onions are nice and soft; add spices about halfway through.
Add chick peas and tomatoes; stir!
Add zuchinni, cook until zuchinni look a bit translucent; add the cabbage squares; stir
Cook until cabbage is bright green (and white) and tender.

Serve with long grain brown rice. I mix wild rice into mine, but you don’t have to.

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Can you tell my lunch was unsatisfying?

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What's even better than stew night is when you come home to a house full of cooking smells and are shortly served a delicious pasta, cheese, fava beans and bacon thing by your honey. What's even, even better is when your long-time buddy is there too. Luckily for me that happened last night.