CNYEats A Taste of Utica Tabouli

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Tabouli? or LEGS?  Let’s start with my legs.  They’re recovering from the marathon. To be honest, if it wasn’t for my calf, I wouldn’t feel the need for recovery. I feel good…FELT good after the run. It was my head that hit the bad spot. You train daily with a goal in mind, to run the Philadelphia Marathon (or what ever event), the day comes and goes, and BAM! You feel good so what do you do now? That’s the let down. You flounder.

You WANT to rest but your mind wants to go. It’s a fight.

Training gets old, then tapering is tough, race day is climatic, then it’s over. FLOUNDER! BUT!!!! I’m making a come back. I realize my body needs time off. I took four days figuring when my calf stopped hurting I would try a few miles.

So I did.

2 1/4 miles on Friday but headed for home with an upset stomach. At least it wasn’t my calf. After my tummy relaxed, I was feeling good and needed to DO SOMETHING. I had extra energy and needed to work it out somehow so 45 minutes on the elliptical with 15 hard minutes on the bike then a quick total body weight workout. This all felt good but it left me realizing I feel so much more energized when I JUST RUN. Down Boy Girl! .. your time will come.

Saturday I had a good run with Shane. 4 1/2 miles around the golf course at a marathon clip pace.  Gorgeous morning for a run.

Tuh-BOO-luh

This dish is made up of bulgur wheat, tomatoes, onions, parsley and flavored with lemon, mint and olive oil.  The Utica version adds cucumbers.  It’s served cold and uses all fresh ingredients.  This salad bursts of flavor in your mouth.

Page 145 of our book

and a recipe submitted by Kathleen Hobaica posted by Rainie Piccione.

The recipe makes  A LOT of tabouli.  You may want to cut it in half. Also, I reduced the amount of wheat suggested from 2 cups to 1 1/2 and it was STILL a lot of bulgur wheat.

• 1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat –rinse and soak
• 2 cucumbers *original recipe used one – peel, seed, and chop
• Juice from 2 large fresh lemons
• 2 medium firm tomatoes – seeded and chopped *original recipe suggested one tomato.
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped (wash well)
• fresh mint, chopped (I used 4 medium leaves)
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped (I used 2 large scallions)
• fresh snipped chives
• 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Add salt and pepper if you like

Place the bulgur in a bowl and add enough water to cover.  When all the water has been soaked up by the wheat and you are done chopping, it’s ready.

Chop all your ingredients.  The parsley was the most tedious part of this recipe. Once you’re done with the parsley it’s smooth sailing.

Put all ingredients in a bowl, add the lemon and olive oil and mix to coat.

Serve cold.

What do you think about using quinoa instead of bulgur in this recipe?  I was going to but didn’t feel like cooking the quinoa.

If you have extra Bulgur left over and want to use it for something other than tabouli, try these Bulgur Wheat Honey Brown Rolls.