Winter Yam Stew

For the tenth day of the cleanse (it is hard to believe the cleanse is already into double digit days!), I started as usual with a fruit smoothie for breakfast and had the candy cane beets and black eyed bean patties from last night's supper for lunch. For supper, I also started as usual with a red leaf lettuce and dandelion greens salad and then had winter yam stew (see picture to left).
Here is the recipe for winter yam stew:
2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp ginger, freshly grated, 4 garlic cloves, minced, 1 medium onion, chopped, 2 medium yams, peeled and chopped, 1 leek, chopped, 1/2 cup celery, chopped, 2 cups additional vegetables (I used carrots, shitake mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, zucchini), chopped, 1 tsp red chili flakes, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 5 cups water, 1 lime, freshly squeezed, 2 tbsp cashew butter (or other type of nut butter, except peanut butter which is best left out during a cleanse), 2 cups chickpeas, cooked (I cooked the chickpeas when I made the basil and cashew pesto and pasta recipe a few days ago), 2 green onions, chopped, 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped, 1 cup black kale, chopped

Place 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large soup pot and add ginger, garlic, onion, yams and leeks and saute for 5 minutes. Add celery and additional 2 cups of vegetables, red chili flakes, cumin, coriander, paprika, and sea salt and saute for another 3 minutes. Add 5 cups of water, cover pot, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 20 minutes (or until yams are tender). Remove pot from heat, add lime juice, and cashew butter and puree with hand blender (or regular blender is fine as well) to a chunky texture. Add chickpeas, green onions, cilantro, and black kale.

Once the stew was dished up, I added flax oil and sea salt - it was another warming and delicious meal!