Brown Rice Tabbouleh

A little bit of a twist on the tabbouleh we've eaten before, but this is definitely a summery make again! (I doubled this recipe to feed my crew.)

1/2 cup uncooked long grain brown rice (or you can use whatever rice you have on hand like I did)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 English cucumber, finely diced
4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
3 Tbsp fresh mint
1/4 tsp salt and pepper

Rinse the rice and drain well. Combine the rice and broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a low simmer. (Or if you have a rice cooker, make according to its instructions.) Cook until the liquid is absorbed, 40 to 45 min. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a large bowl to cool to room temperature.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together th olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Stir in the diced cucumber, tomatoes, cooled rice, parsley, chives, and mint until blended. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

190 calories, 4 g protein, 8 g total fat per 1 cup serving.

Mexican Green Rice

Two words for this recipe: Simple and delicious!

1 1/2 cups Basmati rice
3 cups water
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
2 cups green onions, finely chopped ( I used chives instead)
2 Tbsp seeded and finely chopped jalapeno pepper ( I just used red pepper flakes)
2 cups fresh cilantro

Rinse rice in a fine-mesh strainer under cold running water until the water runs clear. Drain. In a saucepan, mix the water, rice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium- low and cook uncovered until almost all the water is absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir with a fork, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook another 6 to 8 minutes until rice is tender. OR put same ingredients in rice cooker, push button and walk away until cooker signals done.

Remove rice from the heat and fluff with a fork. Toss with remaining ingredients. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cabbage

Cabbage is one of those vegetables that does not conjure up oodles delicious meals for me. We eat it approximately two ways and neither one is any less time consuming than the other. We either have cabbage rolls or coleslaw. Today's head of cabbage was made into a giant coleslaw which will likely take us days to eat and give many of us cramps, gas, or both. Gross, but true.

I've resorted to using yogurt, mayonnaise, sugar or agave nectar, and lemon juice to make my dressing. I combine and adjust them to my taste. To the chopped cabbage, I add onions, carrots for colour, and raisins for a little flavour kick.

Cranberries or pineapple are other tasty options/additions. To say that I love this dish would be a lie, but I don't mind it. It's far more palatable than some of the cabbage salads that I've made/eaten over the years.

That being said, I think it's time to hunt up some new cabbage recipes. I do want to make saurkraut. Time for some research :o).

Beans on Leaves (aka The Everything Salad)

Once lettuce prices go down to under a dollar a head again, Beans on Leaves becomes a once a week meal here. We usually have it sometime on the weekend. We like it because you can throw pretty much anything you have in the refrigerator into it and it will still taste good. The only requirement we have is that there has to be beans in it as it is our protein for the night that gives the holding power to prevent the hungries until morning.

Yesterday's salad consisted of Romaine lettuce, carrots, celery, zucchini, tomatoes, black beans, feta cheese, mushrooms, and the dressing of one's choice. I usually just have a splash of balsamic vinegar.

We've also been know to add pineapple, leftover quinoa, barley, rice, mango chunks, almonds, hemp seed, sunflower seeds, cucumber, beet slices, egg, tuna, croutons, olives, you get the idea. Really the sky (and perhaps your tastebuds) is the limit. You could never eat the same salad twice if you didn't want to. That's why this is a very popular meal in our home because you never know what's going to be in it :o).