a recipe! featuring bulgur wheat!

my post the other day omitted one strong key player in the grocery game: the independent grocer. many of the towns i've been to in california have at least one local market or co-op with an impressive selection of fresh local produce and a large variety of dry goods, usually sold by weight. not to mention natural cleaning products and the ubiquitous dr. brommer's.

on a recent sunny day in guerneville, i happened upon one of these such stores, decided to experiment a bit and ended up making a delicious, healthy meal with an ingredient i'd never used and barely tasted before: bulgur wheat.

i was craving brown rice and lentils for some reason, but that takes long and i was running out of propane. i scanned the dry goods and settled on pink lentils, which are tiny and thin, so they cook fast. i chose bulgur wheat because it reminded me of brown rice, but in tiny pieces. turns out it's way more nutricious and cooks way faster. i ended up just putting it on top of the vegetables with a cover for the last few minutes of cooking and kind of steaming it over the veg, then stirring the whole thing together at the end. i would have more pics but i wasnt planning on sharing this--until i realized how simple and nutritious this recipe is and decided i should pass it on..

rinse lentils. cook up some diced vegetables (i used carrots, onion, garlic, celery and red pepper, because thats what i had) in some oil (i used half sesame/half olive oil) with some spices (i put cumin, chili, pepper, crushed cloves and a bunch of tamari) and add lentils. cook for a while, stirring occasionally. i know, im being super specific about all of this haha. anyway, when it seems almost cooked, add the bulgur wheat. as mentioned, i just steamed it on top, but you can mix it up when you like! add tamari to taste and Voila!




yes i cooked on the floor. i needed a hot meal!





the picture doesnt do it justice, but yes, this is brunch in guerneville :)