So after my delicious Mediterranean lunch, I was inspired to continue the trend for dinner.  (Yes, I’m aware that tabbouleh is actually Middle Eastern, but it seems Mediterranean to me; so go with it.)

I had picked up some organic bulgar last weekend at Berkeley Bowl, so I decided to whip up some tabbouleh — super easy, super healthy, and super yummy!

Here’s the end result:

To make this, I took 1/2 cup of bulgar, added 1 cup of boiling water, and let it sit, covered, for 45 minutes.  This should probably sit for about an hour, or longer if you have time (I didn’t).  In the meantime, I chopped up 1/2 an English cucumber, 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 a red bell pepper, 1/2 an orange bell pepper, a tomato, and a big handful of spinach.  I julienned a few mint leaves, then tossed the whole lot together with the juice of one lemon, a little olive oil, and some salt and pepper.

All the produce used for this recipe was organic (actually, I think everything in this recipe was organic…).  A fun fact: generally, the most commonly used fruits and vegetables (pretty much all the produce called for in this recipe, and probably most if not all of the fruits and veggies you’re buying) are the ones with the highest levels of pesticides, because they’re being grown in mass quantities.  Even more of a reason to pony up the cash for organic produce!

I served this with pita bread, organic hummus, and a tzatziki-style yogurt sauce:

The hummus and pita bread were store bought (TJ’s!), but I made the yogurt sauce.  To make the sauce I used 8oz Greek yogurt, added 2 small garlic cloves — minced, 1/2 tbsp. white wine vinegar, a few julienned mint leaves*, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and salt and pepper.  I then grated 1/2 an English cucumber, squeezed out the excess moisture with a towel, and added that to the mix.  Done and done.  Healthy and delicious DIY yogurt sauce.

*If you don’t like mint (I find it a little strong, so I just use a few leaves) you could try using dill or another fresh herb in the mix.

Also, if you can’t find Greek yogurt, you can make your own version by lining a strainer with a couple layers of cheesecloth, adding some plain yogurt, and letting it strain (over a bowl) in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight.

Here’s the whole spread:

I think next time I may add some chicken to the tabbouleh (to up the protein factor), and possibly some hot sauce — kicked up tabbouleh!

I made my dish by stuffing half a pita with tabbouleh, tzatziki, and some hummus:

A little blurry, but a lot delicious!  I had this x 2 (2 halves of a pita, stuffed).

This is a great dish because it’s super easy to make, full of flavor, and packed with veggies and whole grain.  The other bonus is this is one of those dishes that gets better the longer it sits; so feel free to make it the day ahead and leave it in the fridge.  (You can do this with the yogurt sauce as well.)

After dinner I had some dark chocolate while watching “Community” with KC (we love that show since we’re both community college kids — De Anza, wha-what???  Sorry, that was uncalled for.  Go Dons.):

KC and I each had two squares, then the bar joined the rest of the chocolate stash in the fridge.

Alright, time for a shower.  KC is making fun of me because I’m distracted.  What a jerk.

Night!