Chickpea Chili!

Happy Friday blog friends!! I have quite a post for you lovelies, today. I found out some very interesting things about my feet (exciting stuff huh?), and I have a new yummy recipe for you to try out.

First things first, chickpea chili! It was very cold in Maryland yesterday and I was in the mood for a warm bowl of soup. I looked through my kitchen and found some very random ingredients that I thought would make a great soup! It is roughly based off of this recipe, but I switched it up
based on what we had on hand.

White Chickpea Chili

Ingredients:

1/2 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 1/2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

pinch  ground cloves

pinch cayenne pepper

2 cans (15oz) garbanzo beans

14 oz low sodium chicken broth

1 cup frozen corn 

1 cup frozen spinach

1 lime

Instructions:

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook about 5-7 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add garlic cloves and spices, continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. Add beans and stock. Stir and simmer for 25 minutes. Add corn and spinach, continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and squeeze lime into chili. 

If you prefer a thicker chili, puree 1/4 of the soup before you add the corn and spinach.

I was quite impressed with myself after this meal. It was warm and filling and the spinach and chickpeas added quite a bit of nutritional value!

Okay, so about my feet. I have been hearing for years that you should have running shoes that are specially made for the way you run. Everyone has a different running style, and it is important to know what your is. So, today I went to If The Shoe Fits, a store that will analyze your running/walking style and give you shoes that will be most comfortable. 

I walk in and a very nice salesman starts asking me about my running style. He asks how far I run, how often, and what kind of shoes I have now. I tell him that I've had the same shoes for about 2 years and his eyes practically popped out of his head. Apparently, you are supposed to switch your running shoes every six months and that is probably why my knee has been bothering me. He says that knee pain can be directly linked to the shoes you wear when you run. Who knew!

 He measures my foot and puts me on a treadmill with a camera attached. The camera is pointed at your feet and I am told to jog for 15 seconds. The salesman then watches the footage back in slow motion and analyzes my run! If you are interested, my foot turns out a bit when I run, making my strike uneven. Cool huh??

He gave me some shoes to try on and I fell in love with these Nike Lunarglide 4 sneakers: 

Aren't they adorable!! Buuut, they came with a $115 price tag. Yikes!! Maybe I'll wait until those bad boys go on sale? It was a very informative trip, though and I recommend everyone go and get an analysis to make sure you are wearing the best show for your runs!

Enjoy your Friday night :) Oh! and I got a brand new digital camera today so expect some beautiful high def pictures in the future! No more grainy IPhone pictures, YAY!!

Do you know your running style?