One wedding-related detail I hadn’t anticipated is the stress of hosting out-of-town guests. Honestly, it has probably troubled me more than the big event – keeping the cat-hair level down, vacuuming the rugs every day, tidying the bathrooms, etc. And feeding all the extra mouths around.
To minimize my stress, I’ve been relying on easy one-off dishes that can be snacks or meals, depending on the person. That way, I can feed someone who just landed from a 5-hour flight, someone who just stopped by for a snack or someone who wants a light meal.
Salmon and lox are great; so is brie cheese with an assortment of crackers and jellies. I recently made tabbouleh salad for some house guests and it is the perfect, healthy and flavorful salad to make and just keep in the fridge – it only gets better with time!
I used to think tabbouleh was gross hippie food, but now I find it to be a wonderful cool, crunchy salad for spring and summer. Grant asks for it literally all the time.
Adapted from Ina Garten (she uses way too much salt in this!)
Tabbouleh
Ingredients:
- 1 cup bulghur wheat
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
- 1/4 cup good olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
- 2 T chopped fresh mint leaves
- 3 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 3 T chopped fresh basil
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and medium-diced
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place the bulghur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.
Add the scallions, mint, parsley, basil, cucumber, tomatoes, salt and the pepper to taste; mix well. Serve or cover and refrigerate.
I sprinkle a little extra sea salt over the top to finish. Scrumptious. This is definitely my new potluck go-to dish.
This will be last blog post before my wedding, and in case you miss me, here’s a picture from my bachelorette party/wine tour (which was perfect for me because it included a wine-branch wreath-making party!). I don’t know where my friend Caitlin found these Mickey Mouse ears, but I wore them with pride.
See you soon, friends! xoxo
Seasoned to Taste 