I'm Back (With Tabbouleh!)

Soo I dropped this for a long time, and I have been feeling guilty about it because I missed blogging, but I've been really busy since my last post. The main reason for that is I have a job now! But I am going to try to post here more often now.

One of the things I've been into lately is Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks . They carry mostly locally grown, sustainable, organic produce and they are popular for their Fresh Picks boxes, where they send you an assortment of vegetables that are plentiful and in season that week (I get deliveries bi-weekly and also just switched to their Vegetable and Fruit assortment -I love it). It's affordable, they give you a TON, but one thing it does is it challenges me to make things I wouldn't normally seek out at the store, but may be delicious or really healthy (and challenges me to use things up quickly, since they give you so much). Not to mention, you maximize flavor and nutrition if you try to eat in-season as much as possilble. So many advantages to this, I am probably their biggest fan.

In my last shipment, they included a lot of flat leaf parsley. I noticed yesterday that it was getting a bit wilted, so I decided to make the best recipe for using a lot of parsley : tabbouleh.

There are plenty of interpretations of this dish, but regardless, it is very healthy as it usually uses a lot of vegetables, herbs, olive oil, and some sort of whole grain. I didn't necessarly want to use the traditional bulgur wheat, so I figured I would use quinoa since I'm a big fan and this is a popular subsititute. While at Trader Joe's, I also discovered something new that would be great for many recipes. It's called their Harvest Grains blend and it's Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa. I also use my favorite True Lemon crystalized lemon in place of actual lemons because it was what I had on-hand, but it tastes the same and you can use actual lemon juice if you want.

For the recipe, I used a cup of the blend and a cup of red and plain quinoa for the grains portion and then used the herbs and vegetables that I had on hand to make my own version of the recipe. Hope you guys like it! Heads up - this makes a lot. I'll probably be eating it for another week.

Kate's Simple Spin on Tabbouleh

1 C Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend
1 C quinoa

1 large bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (will equal about 1.5-2 C)

1 1/2 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 C chopped green onion

4 packets of True Lemon (or the juice of about 1 small lemon)

Pepper and salt & spice (to taste)

3 Tbsp olive oil

*Mint: optional (this is typical to many recipes, but I didn't have it, nor do I care for it in Tabbouleh)

• Cook quinoa and Harvest Grains per directions, then combine and let sit until cooled to room temperature
• In a large bowl, mix true lemon into olive oil. Add in cooled grains and mix to coat with the oil
• Fold in parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, and green onions
• Add salt and pepper (or salt & spice and pepper) to taste, but don't go overboard - flavors will intensify as the salad sits in the fridge.
• Refrigerate until serving (a couple hours, or even overnight is best if possible)
  

I had this today for lunch with shrimp sprinkled with chili powder on a skewer and it was very light, but satisfying. Hope you enjoy this great, versatile dish (and thanks for still reading, even though I disappeared for a long time)