Italian Vegetable Stew

I was inspired by this recipe to make a veggie soup/stew last night. My initial impetus for picking that recipe was to use up beyond stale bread, but I never ended up using the bread. I signed up for a meal swap with some other moms, so I jumped on the chance to use up as much stuff from our fridge/freezer as possible, and in return, we got a quiche, a zucchini pasta dish, and an eggplant with lentil dish.

I had to make enough for about 14-16 servings so I could split it up for the other families. I used our two largest pots and tried to split up the veggies as evenly as possible.

Olive oil
3 onions
12 cloves garlic
3 carrots
one white (haruki) turnip
one bunch of celery (from the garden)
2 white peppers (frozen)
one yellow pepper
one eggplant
about 6-8 cups of chopped tomatoes (I had these frozen)
a bit of cabbage ~ 1 cup
a few Baby Bella mushrooms
4-6 cups of water for each pot
2 tablespoons Korean Bullion for each pot
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
3 cups of cooked Lima beans
a bunch of Swiss chard for each pot chopped - including the stems (from the garden)
dried thyme
dried oregano
fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

I started with the onions, then added the garlic until they were soft/almost brown. Then I added the carrots, turnip, and celery and cooked until they were soft. Then I added the peppers and eggplant. I threw a bit of salt over the eggplant before stirring everything in. Finally, the cabbage, mushrooms, beans, and tomatoes were added. I added the water, herbs, and bullion, brought everything up to a boil and then reduced the heat and simmered until everything (mostly the eggplant) were soft.
At the end, I added the chard and their stems and stirred around until the leaves were just wilted.

When serving, I shaved in Parmesan to add to the taste and saltiness.

If I had potatoes, I would have added those, I would have liked one or two more carrots as well.

I thought it turned out well for throwing a bunch of stuff together!