Quinoa Tabuli

I have eaten tabuli my whole life. Usually we would make it with bulgar wheat, but I didn't have enough so I used quinoa as well. It worked out beautifully! Here is a great way to get your whole grain for the day! Not only is this dish versatile, healthy and vegan, it is easy to make and gets better in your refrigerator... make it on the weekend and eat throughout the week!

You will need:
~2 cups quinoa
~ 1 cup bulgar wheat

~fresh cilantro and mint
~1 large lemon
~1 small white onion
~6+ cherry tomatoes
~high quality, extra virgin olive oil
~sea salt/ freshly cracked pepper

First you want to bring to boil your quinoa and bulgar wheat in enough water to cover it by two inches. Keep your eye on this so it doesn't boil over and you can add water if necessary. Cooking these two is very similar to rice; it cooks for a bit and absorbs the liquid when finished. Transfer from the pot into a bowl and stick in the fridge and let cool while you prep the rest.
**One trick for those who are not very confident in cooking these types of grains yet... you can always use the directions on the package and combine the two grains after they have cooked or just use one or the other. The dish will be delicious any way you choose to do it!
While the grain is cooking/ cooling you can be chopping your veggies! I, unfortunately, do NOT like the flavor of raw tomatoes, LAME-O. So, to cheat, I sliced the little guys so thinly that I couldn't focus my taste buds too firmly on them and I was able to choke them down. However, for all you normal people, I would only cut them in half so the flavor is not lost and really adds to the dish. So, half your tomatoes and put in your serving bowl. Finley chop the onion, you can use shallots as well. Then move to the herbs. With these you want to tear them as small as you can and then at the very end chop them until they are pretty fine. The point of tearing is to keep them from going brown like they would if you had used the knife blade. Put all of these and the onion in with the tomatoes and drizzle a good bit of olive oil on top, about a 1.5 Tbls. Sprinkle with the sea salt and crush some pepper and then juice the lemon over and mix it up! When the grain is cool, pour into the serving bowl with all the other ingredients and toss it all. Take a spoon full and add more oil, lemon juice, s/p to taste. Not traditional, but my favorite, I always add in a clove or two of garlic... I think garlic improves EVERYTHING!
Cover and chill for at least two hours or over night and serve chilled with whole wheat or corn tortillas or stuff some warm pita and enjoy!