Greek Bulgur Salad With Chicken

This turned out to be such a yummy summer recipe, found online at Cooking Light. It makes a TON and can be used as a stand-alone dish or as a side dish. I think it's even better the next day after all the flavors had melded together. If you've never tried bulgur (and I hadn't), it's kind of like a larger-grained couscous.


Greek Bulgur Salad With Chicken
*makes 10 servings at 1 2/3 cup a piece

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups water
3 cups uncooked bulgur
3/4 fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons), divided
2 teaspoons salt, divided
2 1/2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken (I used 2 baked chicken breasts)
2 1/2 cups chopped, peeled cucumber
2 cups halved grape tomatoes
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup (2 oz) crumbled feta cheese (or as much as you darn well please!)
1/4 cup extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped (or as much as you darn well please!)

Preparation
Combine water, bulgar, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and cool to room temperature.

Combine remaining 1/4 juice, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Add cooled bulgur mixture; toss well to combine. Cover and chill.

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Dad will be so proud!

I remember when my parents got a wok to try out some Chinese cooking. Specifically, I remember when Dad went wok-crazy! I swear we had stir-fry at least 4 nights a week for months. (Maybe I'm exaggerating a little here.) But, I do remember that whatever was left in our fridge went into the wok. Everything. As I have previously posted, I was a really picky eater so you can imagine the piles of stuff that was left on my plate. I probably only ate the meat. Anyway, memories of our stir-fry days came back last night when I decided to make some stir-fry myself. Since I'm a much better eater, I didn't have to be as picky about the ingredients. All I did was marinate some chicken in a little olive oil, ginger root, low-sodium soy sauce and garlic for an hour. Then, I threw the chicken, a little garlic, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms and green onions in my pan (sadly, I have no wok......hint, hint) and stir-fried away! The result was this yummy concoction:

So then, we needed some nice brown rice. I popped some in the microwave for 90 seconds and walked away. All of a sudden, there was a loud POP! Jason & I found ourselves on the ground ducking for cover from a drive-by! As we picked ourselves up off the floor, we discover that I just didn't read directions. There's a reason that you are supposed to vent the rice:

If you don't vent your rice, it explodes in your microwave!!! Luckily, I had a spare package of rice to save us and we were able to enjoy our yummy dinner together. Here's to you Dad for inspiring me to stir-fry on my own!

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