For Christmas my sister-in-law bought me a box of conversation cards with questions all about food. Some of the questions are a little bit silly like, “has our love of bacon gone too far?” (Yes, bacon is nice, but bacon maple frosting is too far) Some are really fun to think about like, “what would you serve if Julia Child came to diner?” (Probably something Puerto Rican since maybe she wouldn’t have eaten much of that before)

One question I really like is, “what do you eat when you’re alone?” I like this question because the answer encompasses a whole range of foods. When I’m lazy, I like popcorn, a spoonful of Nutella, and cheese and crackers. Sometimes when I’m alone I like to try something really difficult to make because then if it comes out badly, no one else knows. But my favorite thing to eat when I’m on my own is Greek salad. I love Greek salad. It’s crunchy and salty. It’s pretty healthy, but it’s got some indulgences with the olives and cheese. And I just love all the flavors and I eat it whenever I can. When I was in grad school writing my thesis, I’d run down to the deli beneath my apartment and grab a salad on a break. When, it was too loud and crazy at when I worked at Ford’s Theatre, I’d run to Cosi for lunch and get one. And now I always search for it on takeaway menus.

And also, I eat Greek salad when I’m alone because Ryan doesn’t like olives and feta. But sometimes I can’t resist, and I make it for dinner anyway. I wanted to make it a little heartier, so I decided to substitute the greens for bulgur, but still keep all the yummy other vegetables. This was the first time I ever had bulgur and it was so good! It’s small like quinoa, but chewier like rice. Also I like that it’s got an uneven shape.

To be honest, although it’s a straightforward salad recipe, I feel a little nervous sharing this! I have two Greek coworkers who sometimes ready this blog, and I’m changing up a traditional dish. That feels somewhat taboo. But in truth, this recipe is like tabbouleh and regular Greek salad fell in love and had a delicious hybrid child. So it’s like two wonderful Greek recipes in one. This is yummy, a nice side dish, and Ryan even liked it (without the feta and olives).

One last thing before the recipe – I have a tip on cutting cherry tomatoes. Cutting a lot of small circular foods is kind of annoying and time consuming. To speed up the process, take two lids from food storage containers. Put your tomatoes (or grapes or pitted cherries or your circular whatever) between the two container lids. Make sure your knife is sharp, then carefully cut horizontally between the two lids. Then boom, you’ve got lots of tomato halves in one slice. Some might be a little uneven, but for a salad that’s not really important. I really like this trick because I think it makes preparing a salad less tedious and it’s a fun trick. Sorry, I don’t have a trick for cutting tomatoes into quarters.

Unrelated to this post, after three years of having a Twitter account, I’ve decided to finally start using it. For real, I’m going to start tweeting and stuff. Help me get up and running! You can follow me @mariel621. Thanks!

Messy level: Salad is so easy and neat – if you plan it properly. You’ll need a cutting board, knife, and a saucepan for the bulgur. You could use a separate bowl to mix it all together and serve, but if you have a large enough saucepan you can do it in there. I didn’t have a large enough saucepan, then I transferred it to a mixing bowl that was too small, and then I finally got it right and put it in a big enough bowl. Don’t make my mistakes, and it’s a one spoon recipe.

Bulgur Greek Salad

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 6 large servings

Ingredients

• 1½ cups bulgur
• 3 cups water
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes in quarters
• ½ cup cubed cucumber
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (or in strips if you prefer)
• ½ red onion, cut into matchsticks
• ⅓ cup pitted kalamata olives
• ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• oregano (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the bulgur and water. Bring it to boil.
2. Once the water has come to a boil, cover, and lower the heat. Simmer until all the water is absorbed. It should take about 15-20 minutes, but check what the package says.
3. While the bulgur is cooking is cooking chop up all of your vegetables
4. When the bulger is finished, fluff it with a fork and let cool to room temperature (or just slightly warm).
5. Stir the vegetables into the bulgur.
6. Pour the olive oil and balsamic over the bulgur and vegetables. Taste and adjust as you prefer. I like only a little balsamic to give it a nice tang, but not over power the dish.
7. Serve and sprinkle with a little oregano (dried or fresh) for garnish.

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One of the things I wanted to eat while in the US was nachos. You might be thinking to yourself, “Mariel, they have to have good nachos somewhere in the UK.” And they probably do, but I was burned – and burned bad. So I’ve only had nachos once in London and didn’t want to risk it again.

Here’s what happened: Ryan and I went to a pub to watch the Arsenal match. We had a few pints and started to feel hungry and we thought, “What kind of bar food do we want? Oh, nachos sounds good!” So we ordered them, not thinking about where we were. Because in the US you can have satisfying nachos pretty much anywhere.

When our plate arrived there were some chips, a smattering of cheese, and big dollops of sour cream and watery salsa. No meat, no beans, no veg, no gooey-ness. I mean, we ate it of course, but I was disappointed. Since then I’ve stuck to homemade nachos.

In Colorado, Katy (my sister-in-law) suggested we make nachos for when we watched the Broncos football game. Boden was our adorable little helper who let us dress him as a football. Isn’t he freaking cute? I made a photo of him the background on my phone and it makes me so happy! Ok but I’m digressing, let’s get back to nachos.

So the thing is, you don’t really need a recipe for nachos because there’s plenty of room for improvisation. We used bison meat which I’d never cooked before this! It’s leaner than beef and has a really delicious flavor. We didn’t add much to it in terms of seasoning, but it was so flavorful!  I know you can get bison meat all over the United States, but being at the edge of Plains and having bison meat somehow felt authentically Colorado. Maybe it’s not authentically Colorado, but that’s how it felt. Anyway, instead of bison, you can use ground beef or turkey, sliced chicken breasts, or beans. In fact, go bigger and make a combo and use both meat and beans!

You can also make nachos really homemade or somewhere in between. We bought jarred salsa but we made guacamole. However, instead of chopping up tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapenos we bought pre-made pico de gallo. You can find pico de gallo in the refrigerated section on the produce department. Or, if you want to make your own here’s a recipe from the Pioneer Woman. So find your perfect balance and make what you want or buy what you want.

The key to good nachos is layering. Katy’s secret to good nachos is two layers of cheese. First, a layer of chips, then cheese, then meat, then toppings, then cheese, then salsas. Double cheese layers add extra deliciousness and work as a glue to hold all your nachos fillings together. Genius right?

Last thing, Katy is responsible for the beautiful sour cream piping. Those clouds of sour cream are gorgeous! What’s great about nachos is you can make them your own, and so we decided to make them beautiful.(I alternated in the spoonfuls of guac and salsa) But, it needs to be said that I am so impressed with Katy’s piping as I’m terrible with a piping bag. We decided we would be a perfect team in a bakery – I prefer the baking and she prefers the decorating. Win-win baby. Anyway, presentation is important to making tasty food look even more desirable so artfully dollop on your salsas and once you serve people will be dying to dig in.

Messy level: One spoon. Nachos are so easy! For preparation we only needed one skillet and a bowl to make the guacamole. Everything else just gets layers on the main serving platter. Easy and clean – that is until you start eating.

Bison Nachos

 

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A recipe for hearty bison nachos with guacamole. You will have extra guacamole at the end!

Author: Mariel & Katy

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 pound ground bison meat (or substitute ground beef or turkey)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thick matchsticks
• 2-3 ripe avocados
• 1 cup pico de gallo
• 1 lime, sliced in half
• salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• 1 bag of your favorite tortilla chips (we used Scoops)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (you might not need it all)
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ cup sour cream

Instructions

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and ground bison. When 75% of the meat is browned add in the bell pepper. I like adding it here to soften the peppers up a bit and give them some more flavor. Remove from the heat once the meat is completely browned. Set to the side.
3. Cut the avocado lengthwise around the pit. Now you'll have the avocado broken apart into two halves.
4. Using a spoon, scoop out the pit and set it aside.
5. Scoop out the avocado flesh into a medium bowl. Using a fork, mash up the avocado until it is smoother but still with some chunks.
6. Add the pico de gallo to the avocado. Mix thoroughly.
7. Add garlic powder, chili powder, and salt (to your taste) to the avocado mixture. Squeeze half the lime in too. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add the other half of the lime if you like it, add more garlic and chili powder if you want more "pop." Now you've got guacamole. Add the avocado pits back in to the guacamole. This keeps it from getting immediately brown.
8. Arrange the tortilla chips onto a large serving tray.
9. Sprinkle half the shredded cheese over the chips.
10. Spoon the ground bison and bell pepper mixture evenly over the cheese.
11. Sprinkle the other half of the cheese over the meat.
12. Put the serving tray in the microwave and heat on high for 1 minute at a time, until the cheese is melted.
13. Artfully dollop the sour cream, salsa, and guacamole evenly on top of the cheese.
14. If you have more cheese left over, sprinkle a little more on top.
15. Serve while hot and gooey!

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