Sauteed Chickpeas with Broccoli and Parmesan

I've been in the mood for beans and rice lately. Beans are inexpensive plus a great source of protein. I love pretty much all beans but my far-and-away favorite is chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), yum! I love them in soups, pasta, hummus, falafel, or even just roasted and nommed like popcorn.

So when I came across this recipe I couldn't wait to try it! It's an easy recipe to play around with, you could easily use different kinds of beans, different vegetables and even different seasonings. It turned out great and took very little time to prep or cook. Since we usually have so many of these ingredients on hand, it's a great meal to throw together on a busy night.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced I used about 1/4 of a large white onion
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 heads broccoli, including stalks, trimmed and chopped (2 cups) I used a bag of frozen broccoli
1 (10.5 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed I used 2 cans. Mmmm...chickpeas
1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth Instead of broth, I added a can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan shavings

Preparation
In a large skillet (preferably one with a lid), warm olive oil over medium heat until hot. Carefully add onion, garlic and salt, and sauté, stirring often, until onion becomes transparent and garlic just begins to turn golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
Toss in broccoli; sauté for 3 minutes. Add chickpeas, broth and red pepper. Stir once, cover and cook for 3 minutes more, just to heat through and finish cooking broccoli.
Uncover, season with pepper, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve. I served over brown rice

Enjoy!

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon 2:31:55

Well, that was humbling.

I knew this wasn't going to be my best race, but wow. I wasn't expecting it to be my *worst* race.

I will say that this race was very well organized and all of the volunteers were really friendly. It was almost the same course as Hills and Heels, along the Campion Trails in Las Colinas. There are a few shady parts of the trail, but for the most part it is full sun.

Before:


Michael and our friend Elliot came out for support. Here is a good shot from around mile 3:


As you can see, I was feeling pretty good but it went downhill (unfortunately, not literally) pretty quickly. I started taking walk breaks early and by mile 6 was feeling really overheated. I drank something at every water station (I alternated between water and Powerade) and the volunteers were also handing out paper towels dipped in cold water. Mile 7 had a pretty evil hill that made me hate life.

By the time I hit mile 10 I really just wanted to finish, I didn't even care about my time. It felt like I was walking more than I was running.

Coming in to the finish line:




The first words I said to Michael when I crossed the finish line were, "I need to sit down" followed by, "I've never been so hot in my life." I grabbed a (cold!) water bottle and my finisher's medal, then sat down and stretched.



We hung around to get some free food from My Fit Foods (although hot migas were not exactly appetizing) and Muscle Milk. The race benefitted the Wounded Warrior Project so the military brought guns and even a tank for people to take pictures with. Even though I was exhausted and hot, we had a great time hanging out afterwards.

I would definitely participate in another Wounded Warrior race, but not a half in the summer again! I'm not sure what I could have done differently to prepare, I tried to drink extra water in the week leading up to the race but I definitely got dehydrated. My stomach was upset for the rest of the day and into the next.

So I'd been having some knee problems leading up to the race. I iced my knee almost daily in the week leading up to the race and that morning I took ibuprofen and it felt good through the entire race! However, the pain has come back and feels worse than before. I went for a short run yesterday (my first since the race) and had to cut it short, the pain was not just in my knee but in my quads and I could feel myself limping. So I know I need to take some time off, but I don't want to lose my fitness level. So I am going to spend this week doing some low impact aerobic exercise and lots of yoga and will continue icing. Next weekend I will try running again!

Wish me luck!

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon Training: Week 9 Complete

Last week's workouts:
Sun: Yoga for Runners podcast
Mon: Short run (2-3 mi) 2.5 easy
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Short run (2-3 mi) with intervals
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Short run or Yoga for Runners Podcast
Sat: Long run (10 mi)

All of a sudden, my knee started acting up again this week. :( After last week's 8.5 mile run, my knee felt a little sore but nothing major. Monday's run went fine but I limped the rest of the day. Thursday I started icing and it helped a lot. I was worried about my Saturday run, but luckily the old knee felt okay. After I got home, I took ibuprofen and iced and that seemed to help. After next weekend's race, I am going to take some time off to refocus on my yoga practice and I think that will help with the knee issues.

This week, I have follow up appointments with my Moh's surgeon and plastic surgeon. Everything looks like it is healing up nicely, so I expect they will go well.

Here is this week's plan:
Sun: Bike ride
Mon: Short (2-3 mi) easy
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Easy run
Fri: Rest or yoga
Sat: Yoga
Sun: Race day!

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon Training: Week 8 Complete

Last week's workouts:
Sun: Yoga Sculpt
Mon: Short run (2-3 mi) easy 2.5 mi intervals
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Short run (2-3 mi) easy 2.25 mi intervals
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Yoga
Sat: 9 8.5 miles easy

Saturday I ran with my friend Jen, I was glad to have company but it was still a tough run. Jen was only planning on doing 5 miles (I distracted her and she did 6 with me, hehe) and then I finished the rest of the miles on my own. It was so hot and humid, I am really getting nervous about racing in two weeks! This heat is no joke. I did my shorter runs on the treadmill, even doing intervals I kept things pretty slow.

This week's plans:
Sun: Yoga for Runners podcast
Mon: Short run (2-3 mi) easy
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Short run (2-3 mi) with intervals
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Short run or yoga
Sat: Long run (10 mi)


Hope everybody has a happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend and rest of the week!

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon Training: Can I count this as Week 7 complete?

I have been feeling great this week! Doctor's orders said to take things easy as far as workouts go, so I tried to do that. I got my stitches taken out on Thursday and have to wear something like Steri Strips to keep everything flat while it's healing.

So here's what I ended up doing for workouts:
Sun: Rest
Mon: Walked 2.5 miles
Tues: Walked 2.5 miles
Wed: Walked 2 miles
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Yoga for Runners podcast
Sat: 7 miles easy run (with lots of walk breaks)

I was worried about trying for a long-ish run on Saturday having been off for 2 weeks, but I felt pretty good! I made sure to take a lot of walking breaks and keep my pace very slow to not get my heart rate up too high. (The plastic surgeon doesn't want to risk me bursting a blood vessel where my skin is trying to heal).

I'm not sure what kind of goal to set for myself since my race is only 3 weeks away. So I guess my only goal will be to finish and if I need to do a run/walk half marathon, then that's what I'll do.

Here are my plans for this week:
Sun: Yoga Sculpt
Mon: Short run (2-3 mi) easy
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Short run (2-3 mi) easy
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Yoga
Sat: 9 miles easy

Still resting...

Monday I went in for Moh's surgery. The procedure was quick and pretty painless. They gave me a local anesthesia on the site where they would be working, so I didn't feel a thing. Then they bandaged me up with a pressure bandage and told me to leave the bandage on for 48 hours. If they got the results back and not all the cancer was gone, they would have me come back on Wednesday and do more work. If the results showed that they got all the cancer, I would be able to go to the plastic surgeon on Thursday to have repair work done.

So Tuesday and Wednesday I got to go to work with this lovely thing on my head.



Pretty hot, amirite?

I took that picture right before I took the bandage off (Wednesday evening, after it had been 48 hours). I don't know what I was expecting, but I almost passed out when I saw what was under there. I finally had to get my husband to change the bandage for me. I'm not normally squeamish, but I totally wimped out.

Thursday I was supposed to get to the surgery center at 12:30pm and couldn't eat or drink after 6:30am. So I set my alarm for 6:00 so I could have a little breakfast. Well, I woke up with the worst migraine I've had in years, I tried to drink water and threw it up. I'll spare you the details but I spent most of the morning throwing up before I finally called the surgery center to see what I should do. They suggested I take my normal migraine meds (even though they contain asprin) to try to get the migraine under control, but I just threw that up as well. Then they told me to just go ahead and come in and they would start my IV meds early.

I was relieved they still wanted me to come in, I was afraid they would say they couldn't do the operation. Everyone at the Texas Institute for Surgery was so nice and understanding. The nurses went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable, knowing how bad I felt. Once they started my IV, I felt so much better. The plastic surgeon and the anesthesiologist were very nice and explained what all was going to happen. They let Michael stay with me all the way up until they wheeled me into the operating room. I remember them moving me onto the operating table and after that I was out cold.

After surgery, they took me to a nice recovery area (lots of other patients, but we were all seperated by curtains so it felt somewhat private). They brought me water and graham crackers and Michael got to come sit with me. The plastic surgeon came over and showed me before and after pictures he had taken of the site. I have a line of stitches running from my hairline down to my eyebrow. Still kinda gross, but not nearly as gross as before!

Anyway, I've spent the weekend just resting. I haven't had too much pain, I've been taking prescription pain killers every 4 hours to keep it that way. On Thursday I get my stitches out and I'll see what the doctor says about activity and so forth after that.

I'm not going to lie, I've been a little antsy about not being able to work out. Plus the weather has been beautiful, there is nothing I want more than to go for a run! I hope by next weekend I'll be able to.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy week!

Unplanned Rest

Last week's workouts:
Sun: Rest
Mon: Short run easy 2.9 miles intervals
Tues: Lululemon yoga
Wed: Short run intervals 2.5 miles easy
Thurs: Short run easy Walked to work, but otherwise a rest day
Fri: Yoga 2.5 miles easy
Sat: 8 miles easy

Saturday's run was a little under 8 miles but we're going to round it up. I got caught in some sort of walk-a-thon raising money for kidney disease so I was weaving in and out of people the whole last half of my run.

This week I really have no plans. I had a mole biopsied last week and it came back positive for melanoma in situ. What this means is that there is melanoma but only in the very top layer of skin. Should be easy to take care of, which is lucky. So Monday I'm having a procedure to remove the area around the mole, then Thursday I am having a second surgery to do some repair work. Because of the mole's location (on my forehead, near my hairline), they can't just put a bandage on it and call it a day.

So between Monday and Thursday I'll have to keep the bandaged area clean and dry: i.e. no sweating. And I'm not sure exactly what recovery will be like from Thursday's surgery. So this week is going to be mostly a rest week!

Don't let this happen to you! Wear sunblock, do self skin checks and get regularly checked by a dermatologist.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy week!