MFM REcipe: Chickpeas, Spinach & Squash Gnocchi

Happy meat free Monday all! Here's a recipe my husband and I enjoyed last week. Its an adaptation of a recipe I found on Eatingwell.com and a great way to use butternut squash other than roasting it or putting it in a soup. My husband is definitely a carnivore but he really enjoyed this and we both found it to be very filling.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each

Active Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound frozen or shelf-stable gnocchi(we used fresh sweet potato gnocchi)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups thinly sliced peeled butternut squash or unpeeled delicata squash (1- to 2-inch-long slices)
• 1/2 cup sliced shallots (1-2 medium)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 14-ounce can vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons currants
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar reduction or 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (see Note)

Preparation

1. If using frozen gnocchi, cook in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions. Drain, rinse and pat dry. (If using shelf-stable gnocchi, skip this step.)
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil, squash, shallots and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in broth, currants, sage and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring, until the squash is almost cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Add spinach, chickpeas and the gnocchi and cook, gently stirring, until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes more. Serve drizzled with balsamic reduction (or balsamic vinegar).

Tips & Notes

• Note: vinegar reduction, simply balsamic vinegar that is cooked down until thick and syrupy, is sometimes called balsamic glaze or balsamic drizzle. Look for it with other vinegars in well-stocked supermarkets. Or make it yourself: Bring 1 cup balsamic vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until syrupy and reduced to about 1/4 cup, 10 to 14 minutes. (Watch the syrup carefully in the last few minutes of reducing to prevent burning.)

Nutrition

Per serving: 458 calories; 7 g fat ( 1 g sat , 4 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 88 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 15 g protein; 10 g fiber; 620 mg sodium; 597 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (225% daily value), Vitamin C (53% dv), Folate (33% dv), Iron (28% dv), Magnesium (19% dv), Potassium (17% dv), Calcium (16% dv).

My food battle plan.

I am fighting a war. A war against junk food. I am a busy professional with a home that requires a lot of love & attention...not to mention a husband to keep happy. When a soldier goes off to war they have weapons and armor. My greatest weapon is my weekly plan; My armor is all the vitamin rich food my body takes in to stay healthy. Sound a bit dramatic right?!

I feel it needs to be. If I don't think about the coming week ahead and figure out a meal & chore plan for the upcoming week, I've found that I get short on time, am more stressed and will occasionally opt for the easier meal solution, like takeout Chinese.

I do eat pretty healthily, but I can always do more. The core of my coaching clients are busy professionals with families. So what better way to make sure the strategies and meal plans I suggest work than to try them out with my own family first? Taking just 1 hour each week to make a food plan is a great way to reduce stress and ensure you're family eats healthily. I made mine last night while we were watching tv.

I love digging up new recipes and have a ton I've wanted to try. Often times I find them surfing the web or in the latest issues of my favorite magazines. I then file them, either on a bookmark file on my computer or in a folder, by the season their ingredients are available.

When I sit down to make my plan for the week I open my current season folder and I have a ton of new meal ides at my disposal. I try to coordinate recipes so I can use leftovers for lunches or use recipes that share some of the same ingredients. I also make sure 1 or 2 of the dinners for week can be made in advance, such as a casserole or a crockpot meal. Once I've picked my meals then I make my grocery list of the items I don't have in the pantry already. After doing this planning a few weeks, you'll find that you will also have a list of family favorites to work off of as well.

When I go grocery shopping I make sure to stick to my list. Iq so try to only shop the perimeter of the store where the main staples like the produce are found. By avoiding all the junk food in the center aisles I'm not even tempted to buy them. Out of sight, out of mind. I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear the total. Shopping this way not only makes my time at the store shorter, but also saves a ton of money.

My plan this week has a few new squash recipes and some yummy homemade snack foods. I'll let you know how they turn out  and share the recipes for the successes. I hope you all have wonderfully low stress week and keep warm. I'm now off to the gym and then the grocery store to put this week's battle plan into action.
It sounds like a lot of work but it truly only takes 1 hour each week.