Blood, Sweat, and Chickpea Chili

So, I completed this workout earlier today; commando exercise challenge. I completed it in 21 minutes and 21 seconds and then followed up with 20 minutes of interval skipping. By the time I was finished I was dripping sweat and covered in dirt from rolling around on my front porch. It was great. There was a construction crew outside trimming back trees so I was pushing myself extra hard to try and make myself look the optimum degree of awesome in case any of them happened to look my way. Commando push ups are a lot of fun and get your arms screaming for mercy. Don't give them any.

The interval skipping afterwards is really important if you're trying to burn fat or improve your overall cardio health. I can't praise the jump rope enough. They're cheap, portable, work every inch of your body, and have the ability to blast up to 1000 calories an hour! If you don't have an interval timer you can always make  up your own interval workout. If you're a beginner you can start with 50 skips then count to 10 and do it over again as many times as you feel. If you're feeling pretty good with your rope; do 300 skips count to 10 then repeat it ten times or twenty times or until you pass out. Whichever. Watching Zuzana do her workouts everyday and seeing the amazing shape she has put herself in really keeps me motivated. There are days when I get up and the last thing I want to do is workout, but you know what, I do it anyway and I'm always glad I did.

This is what I came home with last night after my trip to Sevananda....

Get in my belly.

This is why I have to put limits on how frequently I can take trips to the grocery. I had soaked some chickpeas overnight so I decided to make a chili out of those and some zucchini.

Aaaaand a 1, and a 2, and 1,2,3,4!

Let's see if I can remember what I put in there...

About 1 lb dried chickpeas soaked overnight or probably two cans

2 zucchinis diced to bits

a few stalks of celery chopped up

1 onion chopped

6 or 7 button mushrooms sliced and diced

1 can diced tomatoes (I usually use fresh but the locals were over $5 a lb!)

1 can tomato sauce 

2 cups of water

3 Tbs chili powder

a good squeeze of honey

4 cloves of garlic minced

good shake of crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

Cooke the onion, garlic, celery, and zucchini in olive oil until the onion softens a bit then stir in everything else and let it simmer for at least and hour and a half. Stir it every now and then. You may need to add more water if it starts to thicken up too much.

You can throw some cilantro in there, switch up the beans, add some tofu or tempeh. Get crazy with it.

Tuesday is always zoo day. Straight to the goats!

Thanks for reading. I'd love to have your feedback. Please feel free to post any comments or questions that come to mind.