Sunday morning

. . . and things are properly back to normal.  All the aches and whatevers have gone although I expect I'll sleep a lot today - that's the plan anyway.  Every time I sat down in my comfy chair yesterday I went to sleep.  No complaints there: with all the planning out of the way, I was glad to be able to relax without worries.

Earlier in the week I was rootling in my bookshelves for a cookery book to read (yes, sad individual that I am, I read cookery books for pleasure) and found a fairly old (e.g. over five years old) book called The Hi-Lo Cookbook, Hi-Lo meaning high energy and low fat.  There's some extremely likely looking recipes there and , as the saying goes, because woman cannot live by Hairy Dieters alone, I'm going to have a go at some of them - the ones that immediately appeal to start with
.

So yesterday I made roasted pumpkin and tomato chowder (although I used butternut squash) and it's really rather nice, except that the seasonings are too spicy for me.  I had already zizzed it and pushed it through a sieve to make it ultra smooth and velvety (very nice) so I added a couple of diced potatoes, simmered the soup until they were soft and then just mashed them in.  I'm very pleased with the results - still the velvety texture but with some soft lumps to chew.  And it worked - for me the taste is now just right.  I've made a note on a post it and stuck it on the page!  An added advantage is that it serves six and I will need enough for three today (plus seconds, I suspect) so there should be at least one portion left over for freezing to be used for a school lunch at some point.  Can't complain about that!

You can tell autumn is starting to bite.  Leftover soup for lunch yesterday, more soup for lunch again today . . .  and it's not yet officially started!

Today is a Take It Easy Day, I think.  I have a bit of washing and ironing to do and that can wait until there's something to watch on the telly (or until I fancy a DVD) and I want to try another recipe from the same book for dinner tonight - tandoori chicken with mint drizzle.  I'll let you know!