SUN-day: grey and organized.

Cold and grey day today, and after staying up to see the Leonids and being clouded out, I slept in a bit. Instead of a chilly bike ride with an aching back, I spent a good 50 minutes working on my strength routine and stretching.

Afterwards, I set out for a late breakky, and lots of errands. Christmas shopping, dry cleaning, some groceries so I can cook good food this week - short as it is - more looking for the necessary but amazingly difficult to find black work pants, and a kick ass pair of tall brown boots to wear on my date Tuesday night! I also got a polish change, so I'll have nice red reminder nails again this week.

Now I'm home and settling in for the Sunday evening. I have a little bit of work to do, and I'm cooking a couple of things for the week. When that's all done, I'll pack my bags for the pool tomorrow morning.

Breakfast CousCous - a nice change from oatmeal!
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup uncooked wheat couscous
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup toasted almonds
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan; stir in remaining ingredients. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes. (Mixture will thicken as it cools.)

Yield: 3 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING: CALORIES 305(21% from fat); FAT 6.9g (sat 0.7g,mono 1g,poly 4.8g); PROTEIN 9.6g; CHOLESTEROL 2mg; CALCIUM 174mg; SODIUM 169mg; FIBER 3.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 53.7g (5 WW points per serving)


KumaGail's MADRAS CURRY CHICKPEAS AND CAULIFLOWER WITH SPINACH
1 large head of cauliflower florets
2T vegetable oil
1 large tart apple,grated
2 large onions, chopped
2T fresh minced ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
2T all purpose flour
4T curry powder
1 14oz can lite coconut milk
1 14oz can lite chicken broth
1 bag of fresh Spinach chopped
or 1# frozen
2 cans garbonzo beans

First set a pot of salted water to boil and cook the cauliflower until crisp/tender, about 3 mins. Remove from water.In large pot over medium heat add the vegetable oil and sautee garlic and onions until softening then add apple and ginger and sautee another minute. Add the flour and curry to the vegetables and cook for 5 min on medium. This will cook out the flour taste and toast the curry. While stirring add the coconut milk and broth and let this come to a gentle boil and allow to cook for about 3 mins. This will thicken and become gravy like. Add your spinach then the cauliflower and the beans. Allow this to very gently cook for about 15 mins. Taste and add salt and pepper.

Makes 10 pint servings: 170cals, 6g fat, 2g sat fat, 23g carbs, 7g protein; 3 WW points/pint.