Chick peas and couscous - my nemeses

[IAteRosemaryConleyForBreakfast]

Hope that title's right, wouldn't want to offend any hardcore pedants. Not that Mumsnet harbours any of them, oh no [casual whistling emoticon]

Haaaaaaaaaanyway, I have some dried chick peas, bought in a fit of zeal, and a large box of couscous (no excuse for that). I am also very poor (think circa £80 left this month, for just two of us though). So I'm going to have to Be Brave and make food with chickpeas and couscous.

So, I'm looking for easy recipes for a very basic cook. Cheap ones are good. No special dietary requirements. I'm a big fan of 'bit of this, bit of that' cooking, as opposed to painstaking measurements and weights. Any suggestions, MN foodies?

Chickpea potato and leek soup is gorgeous - boil 'em up with stock aznd garlic, or there is a slightly more complex recipe in The Naked Chef if you have it.

We have couscous with lamb, salmon and chicken, you could get some cheap/frozen cuts.

Chickpeas are nice in a curry with spinach (again frozen is cheap), peas, butternut squash, tin of tomatoes and spices. Rice or a naan.

Someone will come along with a good hummus recipe shortly - aren't falafel chickpeas as well??

Oooooooooooooh ideas, brilliant - thanks!

Random veg (peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, squash, tomatoes, etc) roasted in oven with a couple of whole cloves of garlic and olive oil, in cous cous, with cooked chickpeas and some chopped herbs. Standard fare in our house and lovely.

Chickpeas and couscous go well together. Then fry a chopped chopped onion until soft along with a little bit of spice (ground cumin and ground coriander seeds are good) and then mix it all togethger with a hand full of chopped ready-to-eat dried apricots.

houmous: throw the following into a blender: the equivalent of a large tin of chickpeas, 2 tablespoons of tahini, as much or as little garlic as you like, the juice of half a lemon, and a good slug or 2 of olive oil (sunflower will do if you haven't got olive) and some water to get it to the consistency you like.

Make falafel.