Spicy Lentil and Chickpea Veggie Soup.

It’s Monday again. How does your week look?  Are you optimistic or want to crawl back under the blankets?

My mind feels good but my body is having a disconnect.  More about that later.  This week is exciting and nerve-wracking all rolled up in just a few short days.  My oldest daughter receives her second varsity letter tomorrow night for swimming, very proud.  But on the flip side she is having her wisdom teeth extracted on Friday so that leaves me nervous.  Oh and add that shiny new driver’s permit to the mix and I’m concluding that I will be out of my comfort zone for a bit.  She’s learning and will be a great driver but she’s our first child to teach to drive.  I’m learning the men in my life (husband and father) have great patience with her.  Me,  I need to meditate more as my type A personality is emerging more and evidently making her nervous.  Yeah, you’re driving is making ME nervous too.  So we’re equal. Ha ha.

Today is a rest day so I’ve been working in the kitchen today.  I made a big pot of this soup and some vegan/gf coconut blondies I’ll be sharing this week.  This soup is perfect for these bone-chilling days.  Freezes great.  Packed with protein and vitamins.  Turmeric for recovery.  Packed with flavor!

Ingredients:

Drizzle of olive oil
2 small yellow onions, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1.5 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 – 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 – 14 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of cooked black lentils
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Baby spinach or kale leaves, washed

Directions:

Over a medium flame, add a few drizzles of olive oil to your Dutch oven and get that hot.  Then add your onions and garlic and cook until translucent.  Stirring frequently.  Then add your celery and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes.  Then add your spices from cumin through cayenne pepper.  Stir until coated.  Then add your tomatoes, bay leaves, chickpeas, broth and lentils.  Bring that all to a boil and then reduce the heat and cover over a very low flame.  I cook it for several hours.  Right before serving, I add about 8 baby kale or spinach leaves to the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the top.  I add a spoon to each bowl and stir before I place it on the table.  During that time the leaves will wilt and mix nicely into the soup.  I stir before serving.  Serve with crackers or your favorite bread.

 

 

Recapping peak week of training.  Well first, you need to go with the flow and embrace Mother Nature – or so I’m learning.  My plan was to get all of my runs done on the treadmill throughout the week with my long run outside either Saturday or Sunday.  The weather looked perfect for Sunday so I took Friday and Saturday off.  After all I had all of my other runs completed.  It would serve as a good prep for my most daunting run yet.  But Saturday brought a snowstorm that went quite late and then changed over to a lovely icy mix for Sunday morning.  In my preparation for Sunday’s run my husband suggested not running outside.  I fought him on it… and then realized that it wasn’t worth it to slip on ice and possibly break a bone.  I conceded.  I would run 22 miles on the treadmill.  Can you feel my dread?

Recap:

Monday:  5 treadmill
Tuesday: 12 treadmill
Wednesday: 5 treadmill, abs
Thursday: 5 treadmill
Friday/Saturday:  Rest
Sunday:  22 treadmill

Each run provides me with a lesson.  So my lesson yesterday was when moving your normally outdoor training run indoors at 70 degrees you will need to adjust your hydration.  I normally sip my energizer drink at each mile.  When it’s freezing out, you don’t need to be slamming your beverage down. When the temp is 70 – you will be requiring a lot more hydration.  It totally slipped my mind.  I didn’t have enough with me.  I was sweating like a bonafide pig!  Salt covered my face.  I felt like death!  No lie.  My long distance pace for my training runs has been anywhere from 8:38-8:48 or so for 18-20 miles. Yesterday I ran 21 in 9:12 and I felt so dizzy from dehydration. I stopped each mile to take a sip and then resumed my run. When I hit 21  I stopped my watch.  I then pulled it together and did one very slow cool down mile – no lie – it was a 10 minute mile.  My body hurt.  My mind was blown.  I was a mess.  I texted my running guru Emily (runemz) and she was so proud.  I felt defeated – she was, as she normally is, a total cheerleader for me.  She was right… training that long on a treadmill is just different.  It was.  And I got it done.  It’s over.  Peak week is OVER!  I have two 12’s and one 16 long run remaining in this training cycle.  PLUS I had no stomach issues yesterday -which was a huge positive. Once I hobbled out of the gym… I went home to shower.  Clean up.  Eat.  Then off to Costco with Bill.

After sleeping 10 hours last night in my Pro Compression socks, which I’m still wearing… I’m recovering.  I’m hydrating a ton.  I’m rolling my sore muscles out.  I’m stretching and I’m back at running tomorrow.

Wanted to share Pro Compression‘s sale that they are running… check it out!

So that’s it from here. I’m off to hobble along and do a little photo shoot with those coconut blondies now.  Have a great day!

— Knead to Cook