Chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and spinach. Can’t go wrong there, am I right? (I’m totally right!) This Moroccan-Inspired Sweet Potato and Spinach Stew is warmly spiced, hearty, and rib-sticking. Plus, it’s super easy to make. I’ve included the recipe below – and insist you make it – but I’m also here today to tell you about something else really cool that I think you should know about!
This delicious plant-based stew recipe is from a new vegetarian meal planning website called Green Plate Club.
My fellow blogging friend Kiersten built this new service, and I wanted to share it with you today because it’s THE BOMB. (Do people still say that? Well, I still do, apparently!)
This is not a sponsored post; I really just wanted to share with all of you because it’s such a great new resource.
Every week, you get access to three new meal plans: Vegetarian (lacto-ovo), vegan, or flexitarian for those who aren’t vegan or vegetarian but would like to incorporate a few more plant-forward dinners into their lives. I think the flexitarian plan is perfect for mixed-diet families!
- Green Plate Club meal plans and printable shopping lists are SUPER lean. And I don’t mean without fat, I just mean that no food goes unused. We did one of the vegan meal plans last week and the only thing I had left over was a bit of parsley! It was a revelation.
- Tips are included for Sunday meal prep, but it’s easy stuff that doesn’t take too long and isn’t a must – not this lose-an-entire-day-to-meal-prep stuff that just doesn’t work for me.
- The meal plans are EFFICIENT, with awesome, realistic tips that help later on in the week. For instance, I had roasted winter vegetable bowls on Monday. When I cut the cauliflower for that, I also cut some up for Wednesday. When it came time to roast cauliflower as the side for Wednesday’s meal, it was all ready to go.
- The recipes are great, too! If you want a taste, just try this recipe for Moroccan-Inspired Sweet Potato and Spinach Stew below. It was my favorite of the week.
Green Plate Club is a paid membership meal planning site, but it’s a huge bargain – $6 per month, $15 for 3 months, or $50 for an entire year. Basically, I paid for a year’s membership in what I saved by not buying last-minute take-out the first two weeks.
So there’s what I wanted to share with you guys today. Check it out at GreenPlateClub.com. That is an affiliate link, by the way, which means I get paid a portion of the sale if you decide to buy a membership. Which I really appreciate, financially, but if you’d rather, just click on this non-affiliate Green Plate Club link. Either way, it’s cool!
Green Plate Club Membership Giveaway
OH! And the most exciting thing is that I am giving away ONE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP (a $50 value) to Green Plate Club! To be entered into the giveaway, just leave a comment below telling me what your biggest challenge is when it comes to getting weeknight dinners on the table. Be sure to include your accurate email address! I will draw a name and contact the winner by email at the end of the week – giveaway ends on Friday, February 5.
Moroccan-Inspired Sweet Potato and Spinach Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion (diced)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 small sweet potato (about 8 ounces, peeled and diced)
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- 1 tablespoon harissa*
- Salt to taste
- Lemon wedges and freekeh (couscous, rice, or quinoa for serving)
- Chopped parsley (for garnish (optional))
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it has softened, 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic, cumin, and coriander and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the sweet potato, chickpeas, tomatoes, and water or broth.
- Bring the mixture to a slow boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
- Add the harissa and spinach to the pot and stir until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and season with salt to taste.
- Serve over your grain of choice with lemon wedges.
I’m so glad you’re here! I’m a vegetarian home cook, certified plant-based pro, and mom. I’m married to an enthusiastic carnivore, and my mission is to achieve peace in the kitchen – one tasty recipe at a time. These days, I also try not to ask to speak to the manager.
I have two major problems in planning meals for the week. Okay three. 1. Using what I already have in my pantry/ fridge. 2. Getting my kids to actually eat what my hubby and I eat. I’m gluten, egg, dairy, almond and cane sugar free. So challenges there. And 3. Getting everyone to eat more veggies.
Thanks for listening!
Have a wonderful day!
Those challenges sound oh-so familiar! Thanks for entering the giveaway and you have a wonderful day too 🙂
Analysis paralysis! I have SO many saved recipes from so many cookbooks and bloggers I respect and I can never decide which one of them to make! I scroll for hours on the weekends trying to plan my meals for the week because “that sounds good, but maybe there’s something else that sounds better…”
Oh man, I totally do that! I think that’s partly why I can’t stop myself from waxing poetic about these meal plans. The two weeks I’ve done them, I’ve saved so much time fiddling around looking, brainstorming, making grocery lists … ugh. 🙂
Definitely finding recipes that will use up all the ingredients I buy. I can put together a list of recipes for a week, but they’re using use a variety of ingredients that I then don’t know what to do with all the leftovers before they go bad. I love the idea that they take that into consideration when making the meal plans!
Hi Caitlyn, I drew your name for the free year of Green Plate Club meal plans! 🙂 Is this the email you would like to use for the meal plan service? If so, I’ll let Kiersten know and she’ll get you all set up. Enjoy, I think you’ll love the service!
Wow! Yay! Yes please use this email and thank you so much!
My biggest problem is a lack of energy to even get it all done. Otherwise I love cooking!
I have a hard time preparing a healthy meal that is easy to make and is something that the kiddos will enjoy. I love meal planning and find that my week goes more smoothly if I can make 3-4 meals on the weekend and eat those throughout the week. Having meal plans that are vegetarian and simple that are laid out for me so I don’t have to visit several websites/ recipe books sounds dreamy!!
Thanks for the opportunity to win a free meal plan!
This sounds delicious! Question though: I’m prepping for a knee replacement surgery and looking to make a bunch of soups and stews for freezing tp have on hand during my recovery. Do you think this would freeze well (outside of wilting the spinach at the lasts minute and the quinoa)?
Yes, I do! As you say, I’d freeze without spinach, then add spinach when warming up. Great idea to have some meals ready for surgery. I wish you a fast and healthy recovery!
Thanks very much, Kare! Looking forward to making this and a few others!
I definitely struggle with variety. Week nights tend to be either grilled meats with a vegetable or potato, or the same sauce-covered casseroles we’ve always had on rotation. We also definitely struggle with the rotten vegetable issue! I almost don’t want to buy lettuce these days because I know where it’s going to end up in a week. 🙁
I can plan meals (tried and true, but still…) and go shopping for the ingredients, but most of the time that’s as far as I get. Before I can get around to chopping everything, I’m hungry so often I just have a bowl of cereal. I live in Alaska where it’s been particularly cold and dreary this winter, which doesn’t add to my planning, prepping, and actually cooking energy. So what I need is something broken down into steps. Go shopping once for all the ingredients. Have something simple to make, with minimal preparation, enough for the first two meals. Chop everything for all the next meals on the second day. Then, since everything’s already chopped, putting the rest of the meals together would be doable.
Or I suppose I could just move to some sunny place – that might also work, I guess. 😊
My biggest challenge is creating a variety of food textures in the “main dish”. There’s always plenty of crunch in salads, but I find myself repeating my favorite “soft” recipes like chili, soups and casseroles because a) they are easy to prepare, and b) they have the flavors I enjoy. My goal is to create meals that don’t seem repetitive. Texture variety in plant based “mains” is my problem!
I would love to have a subscription to this site, it is not in my budget! I live on $16.oo a month on food stamps. The seasoning alone would cost more than I receive in a month. Food pantry does not give me very much in the way of fresh foods, fresh veggies and fresh fruits are luxuries in my life. My preference is meatless meals as that is what I used to eat in my former life. At this time I now need to choose between food and medicine that my insurance doesn’t cover. I have no car to get to any produce giveaways. I would enjoy a subscription to this service.
Leslye Goldman
My biggest challenge when it comes to getting weeknight dinners on the table is planning! Planning recipes to prepare, planning the grocery outing to gather the ingredients, and planning around weeknight activities. I enjoy cooking meals at home and having us sit down for family dinners, but some nights are easier that others.
This would be such a time saving measure for me! I could reduce the time it take to plan and then search for plant based meals! Just having a shopping list for each week would be a game changer for me!
My biggest challenge is inspiration. I love to cook but when I’m not inspired by the food in my fridge, I can’t always find the energy to cook.
Biggest challenge is time. I get home at 7 and bed time is 830 for kids…ugh
This meal was amazing! My biggest struggle when it comes to weekend or weekday meals yes pleasing the step kids, the meat eating husband, and my flexitarian Ways.
I’m intrigued by combining their wants and needs with mine!!
Kim
I keep mentioning this meal planning service to
my husband (now all of my favorite food blogs have mentioned it)!
Getting started is our biggest challenge. We try to meal plan and shop on the weekends but it’s always an unpleasant task. I pull up all my Pinterest boards, he grabs a cookbook. We know our 5 year old will not be excited about most of what we plan out. We need a better, less stressful system!
I struggle with motivation to cook during the week – I usually batch cook on the weekends to counteract this.
My biggest challenge is finding something healthy that everyone will eat! And lack of time, of course!
Very WW friendly, super delicious and filling with healthy fiber and protein. That squeeze of lemon at the end completely makes it. Thanks, I love it!!!!