Feta Makes It Betta

This week I made my mom’s version of Tabbouleh.  It's a veggie-filled Mediterranean dish that is perfect for the sauna like summers in Birmingham.  I bought enough of the ingredients to make several batches so that we will have plenty of food for lunches and post-yoga meals, but the recipe included is for one batch (which still makes quite a bit).

We have done fairly well the past 3 classes about eating at home after yoga class during the week.  We did make one exception though…

You see, I have a small obsession with Groupons and Groupon-type sites.  I’m signed up for about 6 different deal sites.  We essentially use Groupons as our restaurant budget.  I’m only going to go to a restaurant if we have purchased a Groupon or if we are going with friends.  It means we miss out on a lot of our go-to favorites, but we get to try a lot of new places, and we are usually paying 50% of the cost…for at least a portion of the meal.  Paying so little for a meal really messes with how you view the money you spend on going out to eat.  It’s a neat little trick really.  Let’s say I purchase a deal for $12 and get a $25 certificate to a restaurant.  When I get to the restaurant, I pay the 2 dollars plus a tip on the full amount, and feel like I just got a huge meal for almost free.  You forget the amount you originally paid for the certificate because it was probably purchased several weeks, if not months, ago.  After a while you have to start looking at it as, “I paid 12 dollars for this meal 2 months ago,” or, “I saved 13 dollars on this meal,” otherwise the $4.30 meals will really go to your head.  Bottom line, it is still money saved, but you have to be careful because the cost of the Groupons will sneak up on you just as easily as the costs of going out to eat. 

That being said, I refuse to let a Groupon expire before I can use it.  Last week one of them snuck up on me.  We had a Groupon for PinchesTacos through Sharing Spree that was expiring on Tuesday, and I realized it Tuesday.  Needless to say, we went to Pinches after yoga that day, but Thursday we were back on track.  I made some more Greek Pasta Salad on Wednesday so it was ready for us when we got home from class Thursday.  Now on to this week and tabbouleh...

Tabbouleh

1-1 ½ bunch parsley, removed from stems, finely chopped

1-2 cucumbers, finely chopped (I do not recommend using a food processor for the cucumbers.  I may be doing it wrong, but they never come out at the right consistency for this dish.)

1-2 large tomatoes, seeded, finely chopped

1 bunch green onion, finely chopped

½ cup wheat germ

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice (or the juice of 2-3 lemons)

Garlic salt, to taste

Whole wheat pitas or lettuce leaves for serving (I like to make little pita pockets for my tabbouleh, but Sean prefers the lettuce leaves.  Romaine or iceburg lettuce works, but we prefer romaine.)

Just mix all of the ingredients together.  You may prefer to adjust the amount of oil, juice, or wheat germ depending on your preferences.  This dish is always better the second day once the veggies have all had some time to marinate.  It is also tasty with a little bit of feta on top, but I’m of the opinion that, in regards to everything, feta makes it betta.  It somehow ends up making an appearance in almost every recipe.

This recipe takes a little longer to prep if you don’t own a food processor.  We have a Cuisinart Prep 9.  If you are struggling with the idea of dropping $150 on a kitchen appliance, I can tell you that ours has been worth its weight in gold.  Last weekend we made homemade peanut butter as well (thanks to my friend, Becca).  If you have ever looked at your peanut butter jar, you will be surprised by how many non-peanut ingredients it contains.  All you really need for peanut butter is peanuts and a good food processor.  We added salt, honey and brown sugar to ours, and it was AMAZING.