spring quinoa tabbouleh

aka the one salad I would eat for the rest of my life.

We’ve entered a lovely (and *brief*) window of relative calm on the farm, where pretty much all the spring veggies have been planted, and we have 2-3 weeks to catch our breath (and catch up on weeding + tackle other lingering farm tasks) before the next big push of planting all the frost sensitive summer veggies – think tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, etc.

It’s always tempting to get your summer veggies in the ground as soon as possible, in hopes of being the first to harvest those sweet tomatoes, zukes, and cukes, but I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to just hold tight a few extra weeks. When I’ve planted summer seedlings too early, not only is it super stressful when late frosts inevitably happen, but I’ve also found that summer veggies just don’t thrive until temperatures are consistently warm and the days start getting nice and long.

The “last frost” date around here is generally considered to be April 15th, but I usually wait until the end of April to get all our frost sensitive veggies in the ground.

Not sure when your last frost date is? HERE is a helpful frost date calculator based on your zip code.

As for other farm updates… things are POPPIN around here! In the past week, our asparagus has shot up, potatoes are sprouting, and overall everything has nearly doubled in size. Just in the nick of time, as our first CSA pick up is on Tuesday! This week we also *finally* finished trellising our blackberries, a project that somehow took us about 3 months to complete.

Alright, time to get cooking! Keep scrolling for this week’s recipe (one of my all time favorites), Spring Quinoa Tabbouleh.

PPS – CONGRATS Torianne Holmberg, you are the winner of my monthly giveaway, which is open to all my fabulous paid subscribers! This month I’m sharing a new copy of one of my favorite gardening books, How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons.

If I could eat one salad for the rest of my life, it would be this one.

It checks ALL the boxes for me… hearty (thanks to a quinoa base), bursting with tender veggies (asparagus, peas, radishes, etc), deeply fragrant and herby (freshly chopped parsley, mint, and dill), crunchy (pepitas/sunflower seeds), salty (feta cheese.. optional, but encouraged), and delightfully bright + citrus-y thanks to a creamy lemon dijon vinaigrette. And because this salad has a quinoa base (rather than lots of leafy greens), it holds super well in the fridge for days worth of lunches and dinners.

And the best part? This salad is wildly adaptable and forgiving. Don’t have asparagus? Skip it! Use whatever veggies you have on hand. Don’t like dill? Leave it out! Add whatever herbs strike your fancy. No pepitas/pumpkin seeds? No stress! Grab any kind of nut or seed you have available.

Go crazy people! You do you!

See below for the full recipe, and you’ll also find a one-page PDF version for easy printing.

Spring Tabbouleh Salad

Serves 6