Gluten-free, mostly organic, home-made tabouleh salad (and the magic of quinoa)

Don't even TRY to tell me you can look at this, and NOT drool. Seriously. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 organic stock cube

large bunch flat-leaf parsley

2 large tomatoes (or several smaller ones)

3 inch section of cucumber (or again, smaller equivalent)

juice of 3/4 lemon

splash of olive oil

large garlic clove

First I cooked the Quinoa (you can get a BIG bag of organic quinoa now at Costco)

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 stock cube (normally these are LOADED with sugar, salt and MSG- check them- you'll probably have to get organic ones in order for them not to be toxic)

Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for 15 minutes.

Fluff, uncover and cool.

Then, chop the washed parsley and put it in a container with a lid (helps for shaking). Cut up your veggies and add them to the container (you may want onion in this mix- I'm thinking the little green onions or sweet red would be good...or fresh chives— I just didn't have any). Crush the garlic, squeeze the lemon, add the oil then put on the lid and shake it all up.

IF you can wait, it'll taste even better once you let it settle. I couldn't wait- no way! I put it on a bed of leftover spinach salad from last night. OH MY WORD..that was SO GOOD. Fresh, with a bite—it tasted like....July.

I thought I would have to give up tabouleh because it is usually made with wheat, but quinoa is such a great substitute.

Here is the nutritional content of the quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa) I just added to the salad (to be shared among several servings, but still):

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)


Energy 368 calories
Carbohydrates 64 g
Starch 52 g
Dietary fibre 7 g
Fat 6 g
polyunsaturated 3.3 g
Protein 14 g

Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.36 mg (28%)
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.32 mg (21%)
Vitamin B6 0.5 mg (38%)
Folate (Vit. B9) 184 μg (46%)
Vitamin E 2.4 mg (16%)
Iron 4.6 mg (37%)
Magnesium 197 mg (53%)
Phosphorus 457 mg (65%)
Zinc 3.1 mg (31%)

Gluten-free, mostly organic, home-made tabouleh salad (and the magic of quinoa)