Tabbouleh

When life gives you parsley, make like Fresh Tart and whip up a batch of quinoa tabbouleh.

While the rest of my garden is toast, the parsley lives on, just begging me to make tabbouleh salad. Except tabbouleh is made with bulgur, which is wheat, which I can't eat. Damn it!
Enter quinoa, the grain that is conveniently a gluten-free seed, hey. I'm not as obsessed with quinoa as some, but in a salad like this, its nutty crunchiness is perfectly tabboulehesque...in fact, you would likely not realize you weren't eating traditional tabbouleh salad if someone (like me) didn't point it out.

And except for all the substitutions I made, because that is one of the best things about tabbouleh — it welcomes just about any vegetable or nut you have knocking around in your kitchen. Zucchini not cucumbers? Fine! Roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes? Lovely! Pistachios in place of pine nuts? Great!

No matter the salad ingredients, I always add lemon zest, toasted cumin and coriander seeds, and toasted sesame oil to the dressing to really pop the flavor. The recipe below is vegan, but feel free to cook the quinoa in chicken stock, or toss in crumbled feta cheese and/or pieces of tender chicken for further popping.

Keep reading for her recipe.

Lots of moms like to think out loud and MadnessMgr is one of them! In Second Day of School and Dinner on the Table, from her OnSugar blog Madness Management, she prepares a comforting dinner for her family after a rough start to the school year.

Being a mom is difficult but man, kids sometimes have it really rough. We decided to pull our youngest out of our school and transfer to another in the district because the school's hands-off attitude dealing with school bullying. All Summer she seemed much more relaxed. Yesterday was the first day of the new school year. She started out a little nervous but talked to a couple girls and went to class with hesitation and a smile. I wished her luck and was anxious to hear all about her day at 3 o’clock. [But] wouldn’t you know it. At 1:15 my cell phone rang and it was the new school’s nurse. Julia had puked all over herself in the school hallway and was sent to the office. It broke my heart to see my baby girl go through yet another hiccup.

Today was a much better day, but started of course with conversations about new starts and how kids would take clues from her about reacting to what happened yesterday. She needed to go to school, and if anyone asked about it she could simply say, “Yeah, I puked all over myself, went home, took a shower and layed down. All better now, thanks!”

For dinner tonight: All the stories about the 2nd day of school (which Julia prefers to call the first so she can forget about yesterday).

Veggies: Roasted snap peas and Brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper

Salad: Tabbouleh (recipe below)

Meat: Sausages over roasted mini sweet bell peppers and onions (apple sausage, Cajun sausage, and basil sausage — yum!)

Starch: Rice

Want MadnessMgr's tabbouleh recipe? Get it here. Want to see more? Start following Madness Management or start your own OnSugar Blog. We just may feature your content!