I am a person who has no guide (erh, besides the internet) to navigate my way through the “healthy food” world.  I’ve found more horrifyingly bland and nightmarishly textured food than anything that I’d consider eating again.  I’m not against healthy eating of even vegetarian dishes, I’m just very inexperienced in that area.    But you know what?  Tabbouleh is really good because you can fuss with it and make it a million different ways.  You can make it vegetarian, vegan, or omnivorous.  And it’s really good.

I know we are now in the middle of July, but I have been slacking hardcore on my posting here (two sons!  I plead the two sons defense!) so while the recipe I am about to post is delicious, it is definitely a cold-weather dish.  Oh well, it will give those of you melting in intense heat the urge to look forward to blood-freezing temperatures that force you to snuggle up in your domicile and make delicious food.

This recipe is a one dish meal.  It has a little meat, vegetables, and lots of luscious whole grains.  It’s fantastic.

Full-Meal Tabbouleh

My Recipe

3 cups bulgur wheat

2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced

1-1/2 cups diced carrot

1 14.5 0z. can of diced tomatoes

1 14 oz. can tomato sauce

3 cups chicken stock

1-2 cups cooked chicken chunks

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. dill to place on top of dish when serving

The first thing you need to do is cook the bulgur wheat.

Put the bulgur wheat into a large bowl.  Pour 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil over it and then the boiling water.  Cover the bowl with a thick, clean kitchen towel and let the bowl steam for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, put a skillet over medium-low heat.  Pour in 1 Tablespoon olive oil and add the sliced onion.  Cook slowly.  What we’re going to do with these babies is caramelize them!

Fresh in the pan…..

TA-DAH!  15 minutes of careful cooking and stirring and you get these beautifully caramelized onions!

Now we need to cook those carrots.  You can nuke them in a microwave or boil them, but I really like steaming things.  So choose your preferred method and get those babies soft.

My carrots enjoyed a nice sauna.

I know that this dish looks really involved and complicated but all we’re doing is cooking the ingredients individually and then assembling them.

That doesn’t look too crazy, does it?  I love the sight of a busy stove-top.

Now get your favorite soup pot or dutch oven and put in the chicken stock, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes and get them nice and simmering.

Drain any excess liquid from the bulgur wheat and add it (the bulgur wheat, not the excess liquid) to the simmering liquid.  Add the carrots and onions.  Salt and pepper the mess to taste (that means you actually have to taste this in order to know if it’s up to par for you).

Now add the cooked chicken.  I don’t know how you plan to come across the cooked chicken, it’s entirely up to you.  This entire dish was thought up as a way to use up leftover meat on roast chicken carcasses.

Not so pretty after a couple days in the fridge, eh?

Add the chicken to the mess.  heat through and serve up.  Add a plop of dill on the top.  The dill cuts through the richness of the dish and adds a great taste when stirred in.

I know this dish has a lot of ingredients and it seems really involved and time-consuming.  It certainly isn’t a half-hour-to-the-table meal, but I probably only put in 45 minutes of work total.  While the bulgur wheat was steaming I was caramelizing the onions and steaming the carrots.  It all happens pretty quick actually so please don’t be intimidated.  I’m not talented enough to come up with a really complex recipe.

When the cold weather comes around again, I hope you give this dish a try.  Omit the chicken and replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock and you’ve got a terrific Meatless Monday dish as well!

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Spaghetti Pie
2. Red Beans and Rice
3. Beer Can Chicken

Look at your plate.

How colorful is the meal you are about to eat?  Is it mostly a beige and brown meal?  Believe it or not, by eating a meal that is full of natural (i.e. they occur in the food naturally and not by process) color, you are pretty safe in assuming that you are eating a meal full of essential vitamins and minerals.  You want to eat food that is dark and green, dark blue/purple, bright orange, and red.  When you are eating processed food and fried food, the colors will tend to be a beige and/or brown color.  While this is fine in smaller portions for certain meals, you certainly don’t want it to make up the bulk of your meal.

Avocado is a must.

Take a quick read why.

In general, the avocado is tasteless or very mild in taste.  It’s very easy to punch up the flavor with herbs, citrus, and spices.  Use simple mashed up avocado in place of mayonnaise on your turkey sandwich.  Make a big bowl of creamy guacamole and serve it with pork chops or chicken breasts instead of just tortilla chips.  Use it as a way to make a smoothie extra creamy and thick.  Add it to a citrus based pasta salad for an extra punch.  It’s recommended that you try to consume avocado at least 3 times a week.  Since they can be expensive, though, try for a once a week consumption.

FISH FISH FISH FISH.

Fish is good….for the most part.  Read this article.  I’ll wait.

Fish is super good for you to eat, again for the most part.  If you are pregnant or have a frail condition, you certainly want to avoid larger fish such as tuna, shark, swordfish, and other huge fish to avoid mercury poisoning.  We like to hear about those lovely Omega 3 Fatty Acids and oily fish are one of the best places to get it.  Salmon is good.  Sardines are great.  Mackerel is divine.  The internet is flooded with thousands of recipes for fish.

If you’re still one of those people who hate fish?  Look, you really ought to try to get your palate used to it.  Start with a very mild fish like flounder and start working your way up.  Try different recipes.  Use fresh ingredients.  Citrus and fresh herbs make almost any fish taste better.

Dark Leafy Greens

I know that I made mention of these above, but this category is seriously one of the most important. It’s a super food.  No joke.  Here, read this.

I’ll tell you one thing, my freezer ALWAYS has frozen broccoli and spinach.  They can sometimes be flat and the taste can get old, so you turn to the internet to spice things up.  One of my favorite ways to spice up a bag of frozen spinach is to add a can of stewed tomatoes and about a teaspoon of curry powder along with a pinch of salt and pepper.  It makes a great side dish to any week night meal.  And honestly, I prefer my broccoli steamed with no flavorings added.

In the summer, when all of those beautiful salad mixes are out, I like to buy some and have side salads with ever meal dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette ( I almost never buy salad dressing).

Whole Grains

Hugely important in every diet.  Here’s a short article.

One of the easiest grains to have access to is brown rice.  I’ll be honest with you, I do not care for brown rice and planned to never buy it again.  However, I’ve decided to give it another chance.  I recently read that, instead of preparing brown rice the way you might prepare white rice, bake it.  So, I’m going to give it a whirl.

My favorite whole grain is bulgur wheat.  I love Tabbouleh.  You can find so many recipes for it online and you can find bulgur wheat quite easily in most supermarkets.

Don’t forget about oatmeal.  I try to eat oatmeal for breakfast every day.  I get SICK TO DEATH of it, but I still try to eat it.  I buy dried fruit and add a little bit every morning to make it more interesting.

Elementary School should have taught you the “elementaries”.

The rest of the important stuff, you should remember from elementary school.  Do you remember the food pyramid?  We need to remember that.  Remember being taught the difference between processed sugars and natural sugars?  Here’s a must read on that subject.

It’s still pretty simple.  Eat your fruits and vegetables.  Drink lots of water.  You need calcium (either through dairy or other means).  Beans are good for you.  You don’t need more than 4 oz. of lean meat at your evening meal.  Dessert is nice, but not needed.  Snacks are recommended but should consist of nuts and fruit instead of candy bars and potato chips.

As I said before, I am not a nutritionist.  I’m just a mom and a housewife who has learned these very simple facts concerning nutrition.  The most unfortunate thing about eating healthy is that it is so much more expensive than eating junk.

A few things that I always keep on hand to help me with this are frozen fruits and vegetables (not as perishable and more affordable in the long run), canned tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes.  Don’t buy premade tomato sauce as it can contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients that you don’t want…and it’s way more expensive.  I try to buy whole grain pasta (but read the labels on those.  They aren’t always really whole grain).  And I’ve always got both green and black tea on hand.  Oh, did I forget to mention tea?  Ok, here:

Drink Tea.

Green tea is thought to be great, but is lacking real world evidence.  So what?  It’s loaded with antioxidants!  Read this.

Although it isn’t praised as much as green tea, black tea is super too!  Read this.

As you know, I like to make homemade (i.e. not made from a pre-sweetened powder) iced tea.  I also like to make iced green tea.  We love it and drink it by the gallon!

There.  That about covers all of my personal knowledge concerning nutrition.  I’m by no means a professional and I’m sure I still have a thing or two to learn.  I hope someone out there finds this helpful.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Fish Pouches