Italian Chicken/Sausage Stew

• 1 lb Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage, bulk (not brat style)
  
• 3 chicken breasts (single breasts), diced in bite size pieces
  
• 2 tbs olive oil
  
• 1/2 eggplant, cut in bite size cubes
  
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 1 19 oz can cannellini (white kidney beans)
  
• 2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
  
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
  
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 2 tbs basil
  
• 1 tbs oregano
  
• 1 tbs italian seasoning
  
• fresh ground pepper
  
• 1 tsp or so of Savory Salt
  

I used Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage because it really produces a nice flavor. You could use hot or sweet, or any Italian sausage whose flavor you really like.

Cook in a large soup pan over medium high heat. Break the sausage up and saute it until cooked, continuing to break up so that there are no chunks. Add chicken and cook until done. If there isn't much fat left from the sausage; add a few tablespoons of olive oil so that there is enough to cook the chicken. As the chicken is cooking, cut up the eggplant and add it; then cut up the onion and add it, then cut up the green pepper and add it. Cook until the veggies are mostly cooked.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic and spices. Reduce heat and simmer until... done.

I've made this before, putting it all together and serving it as soon as the tomatoes were hot. This time when I made it for a church I let it simmer for about 1.5 hours, then took it to church and cooked on high in a crock pot for 2 hours. The flavors simmered together very well. So if you have time; let it simmer or crock pot for a while. But if not - you can serve it as soon as you need to.

Also - seasonings are approximate. I just "sprinkle it on till it looks right". :) - So play with them; but I think the above should work. You can add more chicken. I bought a pack of 4 breasts, but needed one for another meal. And you can play with the veggies. I thought about adding zucchini and yellow squash. I would have added just one of each. And mushrooms would have worked. But I was trying to keep it pretty simple because of a church potluck and not everyone likes mushrooms; etc. So basically - add whatever Italian style veggies you and your family like.