Bulgur Wheat Salad with Grapes, Goat Cheese, and Sunflower Seeds

Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Though my circumstances changed from the previous year and I found myself spending it as a single person with friends, it was still quite enjoyable. However, the merriment I experienced came with a price—a nice long “recovery period” that lasted most of Saturday and was caused by who knows how many bottles of wine. Now that my Valentine’s Day hangover has passed, I’m enjoying my Sunday at home cleaning out my inbox, eating some Greek yogurt, and writing this post for you.

If you too experienced a Valentine’s Day hangover, then this post might be just the right one to help you detox. Some time ago I got a container of bulgur wheat—I had never cooked with it before and didn’t really know what to do with it. I placed it in my kitchen cabinet and there it remained for months untouched. Occasionally I get these bursts of excitement in which I decide to actually use some of the food that I have in my pantry (a strange concept, I know), and I decided to tackle the jug of blugur wheat staring me in the face every time I reached for the bag of sugar. I was reminded of a couscous dish I posted a couple of years back (wait…have I really been blogging for long enough to reference recipes in years???) and used that for inspiration. I think I had been talking with a coworker about using fruit in dinner recipes, which is where the idea for the grapes came from. The sunflower seeds help to add a little texture and additional nutty flavors, and the goat cheese is there for some creaminess. The amounts listed in the recipe below make a fairly large batch, so you might want to cut it in half if cooking for yourself and you don’t want to eat it for lunch all week (though I did).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of bulgur wheat
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 cups red grapes, halved
• olive oil
• rice vinegar
• salt
• black pepper

Procedure:

1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil with a teaspoon of salt. Stir in the bulgur wheat and return to a simmer. Cook until all of the water has evaporated. Cover and set aside for 8-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. Combine bulgur wheat with sunflower seeds, goat cheese, and grapes. (Doing so while still warm will cause the cheese to melt slightly.) Toss with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste.