I don’t know about you, but I’ve completely embraced winter eating – pies, stews and mash with everything. It’s easy when, with the weather as it has been, you’re constantly covered in a layer of thermal clothing and any journey outside makes you feel like you definitely need to eat a steaming bowl of carbs to warm up.

Now I don’t normally have a problem with this and I’m definitely not one for diets. But I do feel like I need to embrace fruit and vegetables a bit more and eschew coffee and pastries for breakfast every day.

This salad is my first step, packed full of good things and perfect for packed lunches: bulghar wheat with peas, cherry tomatoes, seeds, rocket and feta in a lemony dressing. Think of this as very much open to interpretation – we skipped the feta and had chunks of chicken for a light dinner and I’m sure salmon would work perfectly too. I would also substitute the peas for chickpeas for something equally tasty.

It’s fairly robust and a big batch will keep in the fridge for a good few days. If you are taking it to work, I would layer it up, spoon the salad in first and top with the avocado and rocket (this stops the rocket getting soggy).

Ingredients
300g bulghar wheat
½ tsp bouillon powder
250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
200g frozen peas, covered in boiling water and drained
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped parsley
½ lemon, juice only
3 tbsp olive oil
sprinkling toasted mixed seeds (I got mine in Tesco)
100g feta
handful rocket
½ avocado, peeled, chopped

• Pour the bulghar wheat into a saucepan, sprinkle over the bouillon and stir it in with a fork.
• Cover with 1cm boiling water, bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.
• Meanwhile, tip the cherry tomato, garlic, peas and parsley into a large mixing bowl.
• One the bulghar wheat is cooked, tip this into the mixing bowl. Squeeze over the lemon and add the olive oil. Mix well and season to taste (bear in mind you’ll be adding feta too so it won’t need much salt.)
• Sprinkle over the seeds, crumble over the feta and stir well.
• Sprinkle a little salt over the avocado and squeeze over a little lemon juice.
• To serve, mix in the rocket and top with the avocado.

Tags: bulghar wheat, feta, peas, tomatoes

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