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!!

Did you enter to win a custom piece of stamped jewelry from Old Pool Glassworks??

Enter here! 

Let's Celebrate!

Happy Hump Day!!

Rev3 Anderson was spectacular!

with Coach Shapie

It's been a busy week around these parts. Last weekend I returned from a spectacular couple of days of hanging with my Rev3 peeps down in SC for the Anderson race. I've been to SC before but never this far inland--close to Georgia and Tennessee. It was very rolly and I cannot wait to go back and ride with teammate, Robin!

team

Me with Sean and Holly

quite the view from the race expo/finish line!

I have a ton of really fun stuff coming up for YOU! SO....Let's just get right to it. I'm excited and I cannot wait to share something super duper cool with y'all!

I met a really talented artist in one of my bootcamp classes last year and I found out that she is an artist and creates CUSTOM jewelry. When one of my athletes achieved several distance milestones, she made a beautiful necklace with tags of the distance and a manta and a bead of the athletes birthstone. The necklace is on a rubber cord and looks fabulous!! It came out beautiful and I was super pleased.

Renee is currently creating a very special 140.6 tag to add to my TriBling necklace!! I cannot wait to see it.

Let me introduce you to Old Pool Glassworks and Renee (say ree-knee not ren-ay) and her talents!

Her talents are not limited to jewelry-this is a beautiful mirror frame-
Would love this in my family room!

Renee has so generously offered up her talents and beautiful custom work for ONE lucky MMM reader.
How totally exciting is that??



So you will get to consult with Renee to create a one-of-a-kind custom stamped piece for you!!

If you are local or want to come visit beautiful Biddeford Pool, Maine then plan a trip to her studio and check out her STUDIO SALE this weekend, Oct 25-27th. 

So how can you enter to win?? It's easy!!

You must leave a comment for EACH entry, please. Failure to do so will only lessen your chances of winning since you get ONE entry for each method!

1) Go give Old Pool Glassworks a like on Facebook! 

2) Tell me what your custom stamped piece will say and why.

3) SHARE THE NEWS! One entry per method and one entry per day can be earned. You can leave just one comment with the number of entries for each way you shared. Please leave a new comment each day you share. 

• Tweet about this giveaway
• Instagram about this giveaway
• link on Facebook
• Pin it on Pinterest
• Share on your blog

4) Tell me what you next BIG GOAL is...

5) If you can attend the studio sale OR purchase any Old Port Glassworks piece online, earn 5 additional entries!! 

THE FINE PRINT:

Entries will be accepted until midnight on Thursday, October 31st~all entries will be verified and the winner will be chosen at random from all qualified entries. 

FTC Disclosure: I am not being paid or compensated in any way, shape of form for this blog post. All opinions are mine and this giveaway is simply a way to celebrate today with Old Port Glassworks who is generously donating the gift to celebrate with me! Thank you Old Port Glassworks!! 

Reset Run

The last two weeks have been crazy. like UBER crazy and im trying to catch my breath. keep up.
between the many classes I am teaching per week--bootcamp, cycling, fitness.
covering for co-workers (which I LOVE) who are sick or away
being Mommy. wife. Jen.
and now add new SWIM COACH position to the mix (fist pump excited about it)

my own workouts have been missed. this is strange for me. i don't like it

but today? i made time for this.
it was heaven on earth.

*le sigh*

All I had to do was follow the YELLOW trail. Yup. still got lost. Ended up on Blue. Red.
It was fine. I was so ok with getting lost in the woods.

My incredible strength parted these trees. Not really...

Bridge Planks. Cuz that's totally normal when you are in the woods. 

DIRT!! WOOO HOOOO

Trail blocked...keep going!

I'll be doing that again soon...I have not had a re-set run like that in a LONG time.
all is well with the world

The Long and Short of It...

Just before I left for Ohio to have 1406 miles of fun, I wanted to chop all my hair off.

I had been contemplating it for a while and I was pretty sure it was taper madness talking. My Mom reminded me of the story of Samson and Delilah; Samson's strength was from his hair so I opted not to cut it just yet.

Within days of my return home to Maine, I was sitting with my girl Anne Marie, scissors sharp and ready to CHOP.

We ended up taking off well over a foot of  hair and had enough to donate.

Goodbye long, blonde ponytail.

No more long & blonde...

Bye Bye Braids. I will miss you!

I have had long hair my entire life with the exception of a really bad asymmetrical cut in the 80's...I was ready for a change.

I am still getting used to this shorter do and I'm diggin' just how easy it is to actually style it every day.
I think we need a 'lil sumthin' added so I will be channeling my teammate, Tonia for some FUNK inspiration...stay tuned! We need to jazz this up with some color.

Cedar Point: The After

You can catch up with the previous few posts if needed but summary.

almost did not make it to Ohio to race
did make it to Ohio to race and did not get sick
had a fantastic fun day and loved every minute of it
crossed the finish line with a smile

...My family had been chasing me around all day and I could tell they were tired. My body was feeling good and my spirits were high. I got a ton of congratulatory hugs from my amazing Rev3 team mates and enjoyed the energy of the finish line. My teammate, Kely, confirmed that I got second on my age group!

Best Team EVA! My girls Tonia and Brit post race

Memories of THIS spot forever

My teammate, Anne.
She was a total rockstar helping me out with special needs
on the run AND with a special message from Coach Shaprie.
 Love you Anne, thank you SO MUCH for your awesomeness!

The minute I sat down, I had to text Coach and tell her about the day! I called my parents but it was obvious that they were glad I was done and had been watching every move I made all day. I love that I have always had them in my corner for this journey!!

I made my way into the retail tent where Casey and Christine held up a sheet so I could change out of my tri kit and into some clean, dry clothes. My feet were pretty beat up and I could see how many pretty deep blisters I actually had developed over the course of the run. I also had a pretty knarly case of "undercarriage chafe" going on (which, thankfully the aid stations were very well stocked with TriSlide).

We hung out at the finish line for a bit and Lola started to get really tired, as was Casey (rightfully, so) and so gathered up my stuff, got my beautiful QR out of transition and I said goodnight to my team mates. As much as I wanted to stay and cheer everyone in, I also needed to let my family relax and chill. It was a long day for them too! The thought of lounging around and getting some food sounded really good to me! We stopped at Friendly's for burgers and ice cream and got back to the hotel. I took a much needed bath the minute we got in...I had a hard time calming down even though I was tired. Finally, sleep came and I woke up waaaay too early.

We were planning on heading back to Maine very early in the morning. I was not expecting to have an awards ceremony to attend so we changed our plans and packed up the car, had a bit of breakfast and headed back to the park for the awards.

It was a nice way to say farewell to the weekend of ups and downs (literally) and to walk along the shore of Lake Erie. I recalled being there last year and how I could not wait to race here and it was already over.

Before my race, I got a message from a local friend, Erika. She told me that she was passing along a bit of advice she received before her first 140.6 - that it was a long day that would go by too fast. She was right...absolutely right. The day flew by.

 We got back to Cedar Point and joined the Rev3 Peeps for the awards ceremony!

Such cool bling--my bumper car finishers medal fits into the AG award. And the medal lights up!

we were hungry!

with Michael from TEAM FIGHT. CP was his first full and he rocked it!

saying goodbye to Lake Erie! See you in 2014

RUN LOLA RUN

It was not until I was settled into the van for the long ride home that I did a little inventory.

That blister that was hurting during the run? yeah...it was REALLY BAD. So were the other 5 blisters that cooked up. I have no idea how I was so oblivious to these.

 Each pinky toe on the inside was completely blistered...there were others too but I did not take pics of those.  Seriously, it's three weeks out from the race and these suckers are still healing. That one blister must have annihilated 14 layers of skin...

I had some pretty epic chafing like I've never had before. I remembered asking for TriSlide at one of the aid stations on the run and lubing up the undercarriage again while running but by then the damage was really done.

I was in SHOCK to see the actual damage. Yes, I took pictures. I really, really want to put them up too!! So inappropriate... My husband was HORRIFIED that I was taking pics of this mess but I wanted to remember it forever. Ha ha ha ha. I did show some friends the pics and/or the actual damage and one comment was "what the hell did you do??"

Lola and I had as much fun as we could on the drive home and I took turns driving with Casey.

someone was STOKED to have ROOTBEER

Lola, a self portrait of her toes

Bobby and Casey

In upstate NY, we stopped to see a life long friend, Bobby. It was nice to catch up with him and of course, Lola was entertaining us as usual.

Finally...we were almost home! Here we are 26 miles from home

I told Casey to just drop me off and I could just run the rest of the way home...no big deal, right!?

__________________________________

Just before Cedar Point I was considering doing another full in December. I wanted to see how things went at CP before I decided. I consulted with Coach and the timing worked so it was thumbs up. Back to back fulls were planned.

In the weeks that have followed Cedar Point, I felt great physically and mentally. I was excited to tackle 140.6 again with new goals. Lola started school, all day Kindergarten. Worked picked up for me-more classes, more clients and a new Coaching position with the swim team. My days were jammed packed with busy. Lola was (and still is a bit) struggling with being away from me all day.

I started to feel selfish for taking time away from her when she needed me. I questioned my motivation for another race so soon when there were NEW challenges taking my time and attention. I called Coach and chatted with her.

So as much as I want to go to California and do another full, my daughter needs me and my attention right now. My family has been super supportive with the training time all summer and now is time I can give a little of my time back to them. I have my whole life to race and I will only have my 4 year old Lola right now.

And I am OK with it. I have a couple more trips with Rev3 planned for this season and I have not ruled out going to Cali to race a different distance. I love going long but maybe it's time to shift gears for a bit.

Shorter. Harder. Faster.

It's not the off season yet....