Quinoa Tabbouleh

It was another...interesting week, recipe-wise. I'm still learning how to balance substitutions and flavors, as well as consistency. Let's just say, I was a little nervous about having a recipe for this week. But there was an eleventh hour reprieve. Inspired by The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook by Jackie Newgent, RD, I whipped up some of her Fresh Herb Quinoa Tabbouleh. I couldn't believe I had most of the ingredients on hand.


Tabbouleh is one of those dishes that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love couscous and tomatoes, and if those are the predominate flavors, I'm normally down for some. But too many times I've been burned by the overwhelming flavor of another ingredient (normally raw onion). So when I saw her list of ingredients (which is much longer than the tabbouleh I have made before), I knew it would be all about getting the balance right, especially with the quinoa taking place for couscous. Because of this, I'm going to leave the ingredient list pretty loose when it comes to measuring because you know what you like. If you like raw onion, kick it up a notch. If you prefer tomato, you can lean heavy on it. Being a cold grain salad, it's nicely flexible for personal taste. Here's what I used though, for a starting point.

Eggplant Pancakes

Say what? I know, ya'll are probably as skeptical about this as I was when I first came across the idea. Heading into week three, I've had a lot of recipe failures. And those that worked...well, there's only so many times one can eat the same thing the same way, you know?

Thankfully, I came across How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. Normally I'm against cookbooks with no photos, but this book is amazing. He's included tons of techniques and variations, so even if you aren't inspired by one flavor combination, there's six more on the next page to shake things up. It's an awesome book for ideas to encourage creativity.

In it, I was introduced to pureeing. Obviously not a foreign concept, but something I hadn't considered outside the realms of the starchy potato family or flavorless baby food. Boy was I wrong. And after pureeing my first eggplant, it was an easy jump to pancakes.

Now, these pancakes aren't sweet and don't cry out for butter and maple syrup. They're moist, flavorful, and (one of the best parts for me) reheat nicely in a toaster oven.

Zucchini Latkes

Whether you're celebrating Hanukkah or just getting healthier, Zucchini Latkes are a tasty treat. And this version is gluten- and egg-free! (Eggs are allowed in my diet, but I wanted to post something friendly to my sister's own diet.)

I've been on my new diet for almost two weeks and I've learned a lot so far. It's been really challenging and I've certainly had ups and downs (including a lot of...unsuccessful recipe attempts). But this one is one of my favorites to date. I've unfortunately lost the original site that inspired it, but here's the modified version for your perusal.