Chicken tabbouleh

A light, summery bulgur wheat dish

Perfect for a healthy lunch (can prepare the night before and eat cold the next day) or for a light dinner.

My version is not spicy as I am not a big fan of spicy food but feel free to cook the chicken with spices. Since the onion is raw, prepare for strong flavours but they work so well together and this dish tastes deliciously fresh and nutritious!

This will be perfect at barbecues or picnics in the summer time but it's okay to start a little early!

Serves 2

- 2 chicken breasts, chopped
- olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- paprika
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cucumber, chopped
- 100g bulgar wheat
- lemon juice
- fresh mint, torn (I didn't have any but I would recommend)
- fresh parsley, chopped

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, then in a small roasting tin, brush the chicken with olive oil, and coat in the garlic and as much paprika as you would like, as season. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes.

2. Place the chopped onion, tomatoes and cucumber into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Prepare the bulgar wheat according to packet instructions (Cook in a pan of boiling water - enough to be fully absorbed - keep adding more until soft to bite).
4. Mix the cooked bulgar wheat into the large bowl with the other ingredients and stir until combined.
5. When the chicken is cooked, stir into the bulgar wheat mixture than squeeze fresh lemon juice on top and mix in the parsley and mint, leaving some to garnish.
6. Either eat straight away as a warm dish or leave to cool for later or the next day!

Enjoy :)

Summer salad

Yay, summer has finally hit England! It probably won't last for long but the heat and the sun lured me into making a refreshing salad for lunch yesterday. Thinking back I wish I had put fruit in it after my post about the salads in Ibiza, but oh well it was still delicious and very filling while still being healthy/nutritious. You don't have to put egg in it if you don't like egg, or any of the ingredients for that matter, swap something you don't like for something you do like - salads are amazing like that! I haven't put quantities for everything because you can put as much or as little as you like :)

- lettuce, torn (I used little gem)
- cucumber, cut into chunks
- tomatoes, quartered
- 1/4 of an avocado, cut into chunks
- new potatoes (already cooked), quartered
- 1 egg, hard boiled, quartered
- salad cream

Simply put everything together in a bowl! You can make your own dressing or try different ones with this salad but you can't beat a bit of Heinz salad cream - it goes with every ingredient! Hope I have inspired you to make some interesting salads this summer


Enjoy :)

Smoked salmon pitza

Try this for a flavoursome, light lunch! I called it a pitza as it's pizza style, but uses pitta bread instead. I made this for lunch today because I wanted something more exciting than just a boring smoked salmon sandwich. This is super simple and it looks and tastes great too; everyone knows smoked salmon and cream cheese is a match made in heaven! If you want this for dinner instead of lunch, then you could fry up some onions to add on top, make a big salad to go with it, and have two pitza's instead of just one! You're probably thinking ah but smoked salmon is so expensive - but it doesn't have to be! It tastes just as good when defrosted from the freezer, so look out for deals on smoked salmon (they often do really good quality packs for half price) and buy them even if you don't want to eat it asap. Or, if you're a student like me, then buying Tesco value smoked salmon trimmings is amazing! If I remember correctly it is only around 90p, and although there is the odd grey bit and fish bone, it really isn't bad at all. Trimmings are perfect for topping on pizza, adding to scrambled egg and salads etc.

Serves 1
- 1 large wholemeal pitta
- large dollop of cream cheese (I used Sainsbury's light soft cheese)
- sprinkling of mixed herbs
- smoked salmon, cut into strips
- cucumber, sliced

Spread the cream cheese on a toasted pitta, sprinkle on herbs and top with smoked salmon. Serve with cucumber.

Enjoy :)