Tangy Bulgur Salad

I made up this recipe on the fly. I wanted to try bulgur wheat and didn't want a hot dish in our 85 degree summer, plus the thought of crunchy bok choy and lemon juice and olive oil and fresh tomatoes in combination was pretty appealing.

1 cup uncooked bulgur wheat
1-2 cups chopped bok choy
1 medium shallot, sliced thin.
1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large tomato or equivalent, diced
1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (optional, but gives the dish a nice protein kick for vegetarians.)
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Balsamic vinegar (white)
Sea or Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Cook bulgur wheat by bringing to a boil in two cups of water then simmering covered until done. Set aside to cool.
In a small saute' pan, coat bottom with olive oil, add bok choy, mushrooms, and shallot. Cook until bok choy is wilted but still crunchy.

At this point you can set everything in the refrigerator to cool off and walk away for an hour or so. I made the mistake of combining everything while it was still warm and it got a little mushy, as you can see in the photo below. Still tasted good, but not so aesthetically pleasing.

Once ingredients have cooled, mix everything together, adding more olive oil as needed. Add tomatoes and kidney beans, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and white balsamic to taste. Toss everything together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tasty, hearty, healthy, and easy to make ahead. Just not so photogenic.