So, Black Bean Bulgur Burgers.  Yep, that’s some nice alliteration.

I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make bean burgers without filling them with breadcrumbs and bulgur did the trick! I also think one key to these is letting them bake long enough. Baking time will depend on thickness, but these were in the oven for about 20 minutes on each side, which is much longer than I usually cook bean burgers (and then I wonder why they’re still mushy inside).

My favorite way to eat these is over a bunch of vegetables (like red butter lettuce!) with an ample serving of guacamole on top.

I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, this was a dinner experiment that turned out to be a total win. Even though I spent all day thinking about a salad I could make with the whole wheat couscous I was sure I had in the cupboard, only to come home and find we were in fact out of whole wheat couscous, it didn’t stop me from forging ahead with fine bulgur in its place. I think I actually like it with bulgur better than I would have liked it with couscous, so that’s awesome.

And the bad news is my right knee. 2 weeks before my first 50K, it is NOT a happy camper. I ran 6.5 miles last night and felt completely amazing…except for my stupid knee, which felt like it was going to explode. I’ve had tons of IT band issues in the past, but this is a completely different pain so I have no idea what it is, but I’m icing and ibuprofin-ing like a champ in hopes that it will magically heal itself as soon as possible. I think my weak quads are to blame because I haven’t lifted a single weight in… um a year? Not good.

Anyway… about that glorious run. It was SO GOOD to be back out there! I missed you, Lake Merced.

An no, that’s NOT how the image looked straight out of the camera. I’ve been wanting to try HDR lately, so this morning I spent a little time with GIMP, LuminanceHDR, and this tutorial and learned how to do this:

(The picture is from Si Phan Don in Southern Laos).

Sometimes I think it’s a little too Tomas Kincaid-ish for my tastes, but it’s fun to experiment with.

But back to the run…look! Somebody was feeling festive in the parking area. I LOVE seeing Christmas decorations in unexpected places.

After the run, I was definitely ready for a healthy, filling meal. I pulled a completely random assortment of ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards (broccoli, tempeh, fresh cranberries, mustard, maple syrup, almonds…) and got to work. There’s kind of a lot going on here, but it all works and as a bonus, it’s pretty healthy. Fine bulgur is one of my favorite grains to cook with because you don’t even have to cook it! Just soak in water for about 15 minutes and it’s ready.

Recipe:

salad
1 tbsp olive oil
8 ounces tempeh, thinly sliced
3 cups broccoli florets, steamed until crisp-tender
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
1 1/2 cups fine bulgur, soaked in 1 1/2 cups water for about 15 minutes
1/4 cup diced red onion, soaked in cold water for about 10 minutes, then drained
3 tbsp almonds, finely chopped

dressing
1 tsp dijon
1 tsp grade B maple syrup
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

To make the salad:
Heat the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high. Add the tempeh slices and cook on each side for a few minutes, until golden brown. Set aside.

Fluff the bulgur with a fork and combine with remaining ingredients.

To make the dressing, whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, syrup and salt together. Add as much as desired to the salad and mix well before serving.

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit, I didn’t know Armenia even existed until a couple years ago, and I didn’t know how great their food was until a couple days ago, when an Armenian cookbook caught my eye at the library. (And I kind of think the only reason it caught my eye was because it’s a really pretty purple with nice writing on the spine). I know if I lived in Fresno or LA I would probably be very familiar with it, but I’m in a town that is desperately low on ethnic cuisine and diversity.

Because red lentils are my very favorite lentil (do you have a favorite lentil? I recommend red!) the recipe for red lentil patties was an obvious pick. Plus the fact that it’s a traditional recipe for Lent (which I don’t observe but know is currently occurring) just made it seem like the perfect thing to make. With bulgur and red lentils making a complete protein, it’s a great choice for vegetarians, not to mention the fact that it’s DELICIOUS. Basically, you just cook up some lentils with cumin, some onions with cayenne, then combine them together with fine bulgur and get a paste. You let that cool, then shape it into patties and sprinkle with onions and cilantro, and serve it with flatbread. Not fancy, but really, really good. The leftovers are great straight from the fridge too, but I don’t recommend taking them to work because the onion-breath factor is pretty high.

Recipe:
(from Simply Armenian by Brbara Ghazarian)

1 cup red lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
1/2 cup fine grain bulgur (#1)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 medium onion, diced (I used a white onion)
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp olive oil
a few tbsp chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Put the lentils and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid on until the lentils are fully cooked (15-20 minutes). Add the bulgur, salt, and cumin and stir well. The mixture should be pretty thick – if there is still some water, keep cooking until the mixture thickens.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and most of the chopped onion, reserving about 1/4 cup to sprinkle on the finished patties. Stir in the cayenne
Cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent (8-10 minutes), then add to the lentil mixture.
Transfer to a bowl to cool completely, stirring occasionally.
With damp hands, shape 1/3 cup at a time into egg-shaped patties. Sprinkle with reserved raw onion and parsley or cilantro to serve.

I used to have a fairly major parsley aversion. Too much of it (which usually amounted to anything over about 1/4 tsp) would completely ruin a dish for me. I think it was mostly a mental hang-up though, because I’ve been known to polish off loads of tabouli in a single sitting, and what is tabouli absolutely full of? Parsley. So I’m working on being more accepting of it in dishes other than this one.

Tabouli is so healthy it’s almost ridiculous. Bulgur, a whole grain we all should love. Lemon juice, parsley, mint, green onions, and tomatoes – lots of vitamins, antioxidents, and other great stuff there (not to mention killer flavor). You can put some olive oil in yours for healthy fat but I actually prefer it without, because I think olive oil kind of gums up the texture. It comes together pretty quickly and is even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. It’s right up there with green papaya salad on my list of foods I must consume on a fairly regular basis, so I urge you to make some today!

Recipe
(adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen)

1 cup bulgur
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 green onions (white and green parts), chopped
15 fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh parsley (I generally use curly parsley)
3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat and stir in the bulgur. Let stand covered for 30 minutes.

Fluff the bulgur with a fork, then transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Chill 20-30 minutes before serving.