I don’t know about where you live, but around Chicago it’s been a pretty freakishly hot summer. I’ve been effectively using the baby as an excuse not to leave the air-conditioning pretty much since June, and I’m sorry to say that my poor garden has gone completely neglected. The tomatoes were left cage-less (hmmm… cage-free tomatoes, maybe there’s a marketing spin there…) , there was not a chip of mulch to be found until last week, and everything is looking fairly sad and withered-looking. Except of course, the mint and parsley, which I’m convinced could grow out of the cracks in our sidewalk. As sad as I am about the lack of beautiful homegrown tomatoes, which I’ve been looking forward to since we finished the last of the tomatoes last year, there is a bright side. And the bright side is this quinoa tabbouleh.
Tabbouleh is a middle-eastern herb salad typically made with bulgur. I’ve always really liked tabbouleh, ever since my mom would buy it at the fancy-pants grocery store, Treasure Island, when I was a kid. This was back in the early nineties, and things like tabbouleh weren’t exactly available in the usual chain grocery stores, so it was a treat. And I kind of felt pretty grown up eating it. Something about the fresh herb flavor with a hint of garlic and lots of big lemony tang still brings back memories of the stuff mom used to buy at Treasure Island. However, I’m sure this is so much better than that stuff ever was. Continue reading
