No Water Aerobics Today

Since I couldn't go to water aerobics this morning, I did a 40-minute workout on the treadmill.

After that, Mother came over and we did this and that, including getting a gallon jar of friendship cake starter going. It'll take 14 days for the starter to ferment enough to begin adding fruits. Then it will be about a month before we can make cakes with it. The starter juice that is left after draining the fruit for the cakes will be stored in the freezer until we need to start another batch of fruit. This starter juice keeps very well in the freezer. Each new batch makes more starter juice, but finally it does exhaust, which is why we needed to start from scratch again. I don't make friendship cakes for us...I make them to give to Younger Son on his birthday. He happily anticipates getting these cakes each year, and I've been making them for him a long, long time.

After lunch, Hubbie and I did our usual errand-running...to the post office to mail the triglycerides info to Daughter-in-law; to the card shop, where I spent a $5 bonus points coupon due to go out of date soon; to the health store for multi-vitamins and salt-free seasoning, as well as an 8-grain cereal I want to try; to the cable company and the insurance company; to a shoe store to spend a $5 coupon (as it happens this store is having a buy-one-get-one, or BOGO, sale, and they had nice pairs of black socks I was looking for at two pairs for a dollar, so I was able to get a stack of them for my coupon).

Actually, Mother mentioned recently that she'll soon need black socks, so these will become part of my 12-days-of Christmas gifts to her (see one of my blogs from last winter for a description of this tradition at our house). From the shoe store we went, of course, to the WDCS for grocery items that we failed to get Saturday. It was mid-afternoon before we got back home.

We tried a new dish for supper tonight...Couscous Primavera, from a recipe I found online at http://www.recipelink.com/. Here's how it's made:

1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed and minced (we used the equivalent from a jar)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 cups grated carrots
1/4 teaspoon salt (we left this out, because of my low-salt diet)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 cup diced plum tomatoes
3 cups fat free or low fat milk (we used fat free)
1 cup couscous
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves (optional, for garnish)

Combine olive oil and garlic in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until the garlic starts to sizzle.

Add onion, mushrooms, carrots, salt, pepper, and oregano, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft and translucent.

Add tomatoes and milk and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from heat and cover tightly. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.

Uncover and stir in Parmesan cheese. Top each serving with a tablespoon of chopped basil, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings. Delicious!