What’s New This Week and Tabouli

What’s new? Well… Zoey got her stitches removed.

YAY! Although she was suppose to take it easy over the past two weeks, that lasted about two days. It was more work keeping that crazy little lady down than playing with her.  We went for a 2 mile walk Monday morning but that isn’t enough to wear her out.  She’s going to be an endurance running queen if there ever was one.

Upstate news:  The Empire State Marathon in Syracuse, NY was held on Sunday, Oct. 21. The marathon is small and friendly, just over 500 runners.  There’s also a half marathon distance offered.  This might be one to keep in mind for next year.  It’s less than an hour away.

More news:  Two local women were canonized in Rome, Italy.  Mother Marianne Cope and a Native American Kateri Tekakwitha.  St. Marianne went to Hawaii in 1883 to care for leprosy patients on Kalaupapa where the sick were exiled for decades.  Kateri was known as “Lily of the Mohawks”, born in 1656, she was baptized Catholic by Jesuit missionaries and devoted her short life to the Catholic faith. Kateri died at 24 years old.

And on the home front… the fabric sample finally arrived for recovering our sun room sofa and love seat.

Couldn’t get much smaller! It’s only about 2 1/2 x 4 and it cost $3.00.  Do we like it? We think so. It’s a cool sage green with gentle tones of peach, yellow and cream and tan.  The walls in the sun room are banana cream so it should work out nicely.

What’s to eat?  A Mediterranean salad called Tabouli.

Taken from The Kripalu Cookbook, this is tabouli with crunchy diced celery added.  I typically enjoy a fresh, cool cucumber included in my tabouli but I didn’t have one so I decided celery would add a wonderful crunch to this bulgur-parsley salad. 

Extra virgin olive oil, fresh Italian parsley and a touch of mint with a lot of lemon makes this a refreshing salad and perfect for summer, fall, winter, and spring.  It’s the “anytime” salad.

Makes about 5 – 6 cups

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
• 3 cups chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup diced fresh celery
• 1 1/2 cups diced fresh plum tomatoes
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp fresh ground sea salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• *garlic if you want but I didn’t add it this time.

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add bulgur. Boil for 1 minute then turn off heat, cover and let steam for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Uncover and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, add the parsley, celery, tomatoes, mint, lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Stir in the cooled bulgur. Garnish with fresh mint and a lemon slice.

No matter what the time, go ahead.  Start the therapeutic chopping, dicing and mixing then enjoy!