Yummy salad!

Karilynn, thanks for the water info and challenge. Today I measured my water intake just from what I would normally drink to see where I was at. Like I said yesterday, I love water, and by 12 pm, I had already consumed 72 oz. Now at the close of tonight -- and I know I will have another glass or two -- I am at 146 oz. So, apparently I don't have too much of a problem consuming enough water. But good to know. I knew I drank a lot but had no idea that it was that much.

Well, I did it! I exercised today! Yeah me!!!! That is huge; let's see if I can do it again.

I'm looking forward to weighing in tomorrow morning. But I am trying hard not to get my hopes up. 8.4 lbs in one week is a lot. I have worked just as hard this week but haven't had the mental psych this week that I had last.

I tried a fantastic salad recipe -- that I loved -- today. I found it on a 101cookbooks.com. I'll share it with you.

Pan-Fried Chickpea Salad

1 tablespoon clarified butter, olive oil, or coconut oil

2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans), pat them completely dry with clean dish towel

1 cup of chopped leeks

1 medium clove of garlic, minced

zest of one lemon

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 to 11/2 teaspoons curry powder (or to taste)

scant 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup of loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup red onion or red spring onions, chopped

Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet and add the chickpeas. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they start getting a bit golden in color. Stir in the leeks and cook until the chickpeas are more golden and the leeks have browned a bit as well, roughly 7 - 10 minutes total. At the last minute, stir in the garlic and the lemon zest. Remove from heat, and set aside.

While the chickpeas cool, make the yogurt dressing by combining the yogurt, curry powder, and salt in a small bowl. Taste, adjust, and set aside.

When you are ready to serve the salad, toss the chickpea mixture with most of the cilantro and most of the chopped red onion. Add about 1/2 of the yogurt dressing and toss again. If you like more dressing, keep adding until you are pleased. Serve on a platter sprinkled with the remaining onions and cilantro.

Serves 4 as a side.

I really enjoyed this most while it was hot. It was also good once it had chilled. I added some chopped tomato to it, and that was way yummy. I probably had a little closer to 3/4 fresh chopped cilantro. And I didn't have any purple onion, so I didn't put any in.

Hope you have a GREAT WEEK THIS WEEK! PRESSING FORWARD WITH WEEK 3!