3 garlic cloves
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
1 cup pre-sliced fresh mushrooms
Salt, to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 can stewed tomatoes with peppers, onions and
celery - (15 oz)
2 roasted red peppers, drained
1 cup tomato sauce
1 package chopped frozen spinach, thawed, drained
6 cups chicken broth
1 package chicken breast tenders - (3/4 to 1 lb)
1 lb fresh ravioli, any flavor
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano, to pass at table
Crusty Italian bread or rolls, to pass at table


Heat a big soup pot over medium-high heat.
Whack the garlic with a fist or the palm of your hand. Separate the skins from the smashed garlic and throw just the skins away into the garbage bowl. Whack the 3 cloves of garlic with the bottom of a small saucepan. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, to the soup pot. Throw in the garlic and 2 stems each of the rosemary and fresh thyme herbs. The leaves will fall off the stems and give a delicious and really cool flavor to your special stew. Add the mushrooms, too and help stir as the mushrooms cook 3 to 5 minutes. Season the mushrooms up with a little salt and pepper as they're cooking.
Next, open the can of tomatoes and pour into the soup pot. Use a sharp, small knife to chop the red roasted bell peppers into bite-size pieces. Add the chopped up roasted red peppers to the tomatoes and stir. Squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the spinach. Add spinach, tomato sauce and chicken broth to the pot. Stir until the spinach is all broken up in the broth. Cover the soup and raise the heat to high.
Cut up the chicken on a separate cutting board from the one you cut up the vegetables on. Cut the chicken tenders into 1-inch pieces across and add them to the stew. Wash up right away with lots of soap and hot water so that the raw chicken doesn't get on anything else in the kitchen or any other food.
When the stew comes up to a boil again, add the ravioli and leave the lid off. Cook stew until the ravioli is almost done, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the stew cool down a little bit. Serve up the stew and pass cheese and bread at the table to go with it.