Part Two - Favorite Caregiving Recipes - Vegetable-Herb Stew

Fresh mixed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, parsley, spinach, tomatoes (or salt-free canned, stewed tomatoes)and other vegetables of your choice can be simmered in an herb broth to make a flavorful stew. Seniors who don't usually like vegetables, and who may have dentures, will find this recipe to have a lot of flavor and be easy to chew and eat.

To add protein to the stew there are a variety of choices: chicken, turkey, black beans, soybeans, or white beans(any type of beans will do).

You can use salt-free vegetable broth or boullion, or add chicken or beef broth if you desire. For a tomato based broth for the stew you can use salt-free tomato paste, canned tomatoes or soup. Your favorite variety of herbs such as thyme, rosemary, sage, dill and so on can be added.

The aroma filling the kitchen and house helps to create a comfy, cozy homey effect too. Some people use a ready made salt-free mixture such as the ones made by Mrs. Dash or Spike.

Using fresh produce makes the stew many times more flavorful. Frozen or canned veggies just don't have the amount of flavor that fresh ones do. Also, if you use canned vegetables they need to be rinsed well to get rid of sodium (salt).

The stew can be stored in plastic freezer containers in personal serving sizes for easy later use.