Scrumptious Recipes

Here is where I share some quite delightful recipes I have collected.

This classic Lebanese recipe for Tabouli salad from my hippy cookbook "The New Laurel's Kitchen" by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Brian Ruppenthal. It's gotta' be one of the most refreshing tastes I've ever had in my mouth and one of my all-time favorite foods (and....it's dang good for you, too!)

Tabouli

Ingredients:
3 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups raw bulgur wheat
1/2 cup cooked white beans
2 tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 teaspoons chopped
fresh mint leaves
juice of at least 2 lemons
1/4-1/2 cups chopped parsley

Directions:
Bring water to boil with salt. Add bulgar and return to boil. Remove from heat, cover pot tightly, and set aside for 15 minutes.
Drain off any excess water and chill the grain. Toss thoroughly with all ingredients, adjusting salt and lemon if needed.
Makes 6 generous servings.
I like to spoon some onto crisp romaine lettuce leaves and eat it that way.


Since Christmas is now over and y'all might just have some leftover cranberries a hangin' on your tree (that really ought to be down by now...I mean, come on...), I have a recipe for cranberry salsa that I just love. It's spicy and sweet and tangy all at the same time, and it is quite wonderful to look at that beautiful cranberry color! (It's really a Brannon-found recipe, but me being the second oldest in the family, I just have to steal his thunder and glory and share his secret recipe with the world.) So, here it is. It is super-simple to make if you have a blender that works or especially a veggie automatic chopper thingy, but it's not even that hard if you have to chop by hand (and it feels more quaint and old-fashionedly cozy doing it on a cutting board, anyway). Oh, and I was just teasin' about using your yucky tree cranberries...but you'll see...
CRANBERRY SALSA:
INGREDIENTS:
One 12-oz. bag of FRESH cranberries
2 green onions
3 Tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 medium, fresh jalapeno
DIRECTIONS:
Chop up all the ingredients (probably one ingredient at a time), and then mix them all together. Then, refridgerate overnight to allow the flavors to mix and settle. Serve with your choice of corn chips (I like the white or blue ones, personally).