Chickpea, Sweet Potato & Spinach Stew

Pinterest: a total time suck which houses a collection of awesome projects I will never actually complete. This is also the place where I have a gazillion recipes stashed- everything from clean eats to not-so healthy! 

Last week however, I stumbled up this recipe for Chickpea, Sweet Potato & Spinach Stew from one of my favorite eat clean website The Gracious Pantry and I just knew I had to try this one out. 

So a little backstory...A couple weeks ago, I was sent a very cool & powerful food blender to try out (yes! more coming on this soon) and one thing I love to make is homemade hummus. Since this was going to my first recipe in the fancy new blender, I wanted to try soaking my own chickpeas vs. using canned. 

Soaked and dried chickpeas

a sneak peak at my homemade hummus 

I WILL NEVER AGAIN EAT A CANNED CHICKPEA. ever. I never realized how easy it is to prep my own chickpeas and they taste amazing--without all the garbage in the canned variety. They have a much nuttier flavor that I am totally digging! 

So when I saw another recipe featuring chickpeas, this was an added meal to the weekly menu. 

Things I loved about this recipe-it was clean, it was simple to make, it featured ingredients I always have on hand and it was a veggie based meal, which I am trying to incorporate into more meals. 

Now, a few notes of change on how I prepared this recipe.

-I was out of tumeric so I just added a bit more curry.

-I used MORE ginger than called for in the recipe. I love ginger. 

-I did not add the fresh baby spinach to the stew. I added a GIANT handful of spinach to each serving bowl and put the soup/stew directly on top of the spinach leaves. 

It tasted even better the second day for lunch!!

Clean Eating Chickpea, Sweet Potato and Spinach Stew

Prep: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes. Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients:

• 2 (19 ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes, including juice
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced fine
• 2 cups packed baby spinach
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon curry
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
• Cilantro, to taste and for garnish

Directions:

1. Over medium heat in a large skillet, sauté onions in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the curry, turmeric, cumin, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper; stir and sauté 1 to 2 minutes more.
2. Meanwhile, microwave the cubed sweet potato, uncovered, about 4 to 5 minutes depending on size of cubes. Stir several times to ensure even cooking.
3. Add the chickpeas and tomatoes and stir. Bring to a low simmer and cover for 10 minutes. (Add the sweet potatoes once they are fork tender).
4. Remove the lid and add up to 1/4 cup of water (to your desired consistency). Simmer 5 minutes more.
5. Off heat, add spinach until wilted. Garnish with cilantro.

Notes:

1. You can substitute frozen spinach, but be sure to squeeze out all water.
2. This dish is complimented by fresh coriander. Add up to several tablespoons in the last few minutes of cooking.
3. This recipe can easily be halved and still feed a family.
4. This recipe can be frozen once cooled completely. For best results, defrost in the refrigerator and warm over medium heat.

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This recipe is perfect for a post fall run or bike!!

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Veggie-licious

I like to eat. I like to cook.

I mean, really, this should be no surprise since not too long ago, I rocked the scales at 250+ lbs but the big difference is NOW I make wholesome, quality food choices. 

I gave up processed foods, take-out and junk food in exchange for fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean proteins. One of my favorite things to do is take a not-too-good for you recipe and tweak it into a cleaner version. I love bouncing around online searching for new, healthy recipes-twitter, blogs, etc.

Last week I hit the jackpot with a couple vegetarian recipes that I wanted to share with you-

While I was on Twitter,  Erin (fellow triathlete/Mom/foodie) was Tweeting about a soup she was making which lead to her posting a link to the recipe on her blog: Chipotle And Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup 

I love spice and chipotle is one of my favorite flavors, so add in the sweetness of Butternut squash and roasted garlic and I could smell a winner. 

From THAT Tweet, to another Tweet linking me to a recipe for Navajo Stew from Moosewood Restaurants in Ithaca, NY

Here is the recipe as it appears on the Moosewood website:

NAVAJO STEW

Inspired by a Southwestern Native American dish, this is a sunny, colorful stew of roasted vegetables in a hot and smoky mole-type sauce.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 red or green bell peppers
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 15-ounce can of tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon canned chipotles in adobo sauce
• 2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 15-ounce can of butter beans or black beans, drained
• flatbread (tortillas, lavash, or pita)
• plain yogurt or sour cream

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450°. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Stem and seed the peppers and cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel the onion and cut it stem end to root end into thin wedges. In a bowl, toss the vegetables with the garlic, oil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Spread on the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes.Stir and continue to roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy. While the vegetables roast, puree the tomatoes, chipotles, and cilantro in a blender until smooth. Set aside.

When the vegetables are tender, put them into a 2- to 3-quart baking dish, stir in the tomato-cilantro sauce and the beans, and return to the oven until hot, about 10 minutes. A few minutes before serving, warm the bread in the oven. Serve the stew in bowls topped with yogurt or sour cream and warmed flatbread on the side.

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I made a few tweaks to this recipe-not many, just a few. I was craving something more STOUP (stew and soup-a thick soup). So I chopped and seasoned the sweet potato, red pepper, onion, garlic as directed

and I roasted them until they were yummy goodness

I used my favorite old soup pot from my Grandmother (aka Mem) and added two cups of my homemade chicken stock. Then I added in a large can (28 oz) of no-salt-added whole tomatoes and the juice, a large bunch of cilantro, two large chipotle peppers and some of the adobo sauce.

 I brought this to a simmer and then used my immersion blender to whiz it all up. 

I then added a large (26 oz) can of drained black beans

I let this gently simmer on the stop top for just a bit, then shut it off and went to work. 

When I returned home a couple hours later, the stoup took on a rich, smoky flavor. The sweet from the roasted veggies brought such balance to the taste of this dish. This is such hearty stoup, even confirmed carnivores (like myself) will not be missing the meat!

This made quite a bit so not only did we have plenty for dinner, there were lots of leftovers for the next day which I happily had for lunch.

 I skipped the sour cream/yogurt garnish and instead opted for some avacado slices-yummm.

A definite winner and I will be adding this to the regular rotation of winter dishes I make. 
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I ended up having a Meatless Monday unintentionally-
on the way to teach bootcamp I had a PureFit bar and a bottle of water
then when I got home I had a breakfast of Kashi Heart to Heart with blueberries and almond milk
Lunch was a veggie wrap with garlic hummus, Siracha, lettuce, carrots, cukes, sprouts and avacado

My afternoon snack was some Greek yogurt with blackberries and blueberries

Then of course, last night dinner was that fabulous Navajo Stew!!


What is your favorite meatless dish??
Where do you go to find new recipes??


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