Quinoa Taboule

When I was younger, I did not like taboule and just like avocados, now I LOVE LOVE LOVE! Especially if it has lots of parsley and garlic. I did not have couscous or bulgur wheat..so I decided to stick with quinoa to keep the consistency and it came out delicious! (Is it pretentious to love so much the food I make??) This is a healthy side dish, snack, or even for sandwiches instead of lettuce...like falafel, roasted chicken sandwiches, or like some say..sangwiches.

2 1/2-4 cups of uncooked quinoa, depending on how much grain you like in ratio to your parsley
5-8 cups of water for cooking the quinoa. Of course, 5 cups of water for 2 1/2 cups, usually 2 cups of water for 1 cup of quinoa
3 bunches of parsley finely chopped
1 cup of finely chopped fresh mint
2 med-large lemons juiced
2 tbs of olive oil
2 medium tomatoes chopped into small cubes
5 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1/2 cup of minced red onion
Salt to taste - can be skipped!
black pepper to taste ( I am still using the Nubian pepper)

First, begin to cook the quinoa. In a medium sauce pan add the water and the quinoa and cook until the core is clear which takes about 10-12 minutes. When it is ready, let it cool down before adding it to the mixture at the end. While it is cooking, chop up all the herbs and vegetables - add to a bowl. When I chopped the tomatoes and added them to the bowl, I sprinkled fleur de sel (salt) so it would release some juice and use less olive oil (you do not need to add a lot of salt!). When the chopping is done, add the lemon juice, olive oil, and pepper to taste. By now the quinoa should be cool and being to add a bit to the bowl and mix, and repeat until it is all mixed in. The mixture should not be very soggy, serve and enjoy!

Redacciones:
Salt: himalayan pink salt, guerande salt, try something new!
Quinoa: barley, bulgur wheat, brown rice, couscous, any other whole grain.
Fresh mint: rosemary, sage
You can also replace the red onion and garlic with shallots!
Try adding some sauteed and cubed zucchini, squash, eggplant.