Tabouli and Creamy Vegetable Chowder

Can it really be called tabouli if it's missing lemon and mint? I'm not sure. I love this recipe, but I am so mostly beyond buying something just because a recipe calls for it. I realized AFTER the shopping trip that I didn't have lemons. And it's silly...hundreds of lemon trees on yards around my town, but my neighbor's is empty. Hmmph.

I love fresh summer garden tabouli. All our garden produced thus far is the parsley. Sadly the tomatoes and cukes are just now flowering, and the onions are producing very...slowly... So this is made from produce-store ingredients. Still good and child still likes it.

Tabouli
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced: 1.33
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced: 0.69
1 c. bulgur: 0.50
handful of parsley: free
2 T. olive oil: 0.22
S&P to taste, plus 1/2 tsp cumin: 0.10
2 cloves garlic, minced: 0.10
1/3 c. diced red onion: 0.07
1/4 c. cider vinegar
1 c. water
Total: $3.51 for about 4 cups, or about $0.88/cup (it was a side dish, I ate 1/2 cup)

Put bulgur in heat-proof bowl. Boil water. Add to bulgur and cover, let sit 20 min.

In another bowl, add chopped veggies and garlic. Mix dressing ingredients (vinegar, oil, s&p&cumin, juice of 1 lemon if you've got it). Add bulgur once it's absorbed the water and cooled a bit. Toss with dressing. Top with feta if you like it (I did).

Creamy Vegetable Clam Chowder

So, had this can of clams on sale for months because I was going to make clam chowder. Decided to improvise today. It was good...but didn't taste very clam-my.

1 T. olive oil: 0.11
1 onion, diced: 0.20
1 potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch chunks: 0.50
3 crookneck yellow squash, shredded: 0.50
1 T. flour: 0.01
1 c. vegetable broth: 0.10
2 c milk (I used from dried): 0.25
pinch dried thyme: 0.02
small handful fresh basil, sliced: 0.05
fresh parsley: free
pinch fresh or dried savory: 0.03
pepper to taste (I left out salt on purpose)
1 can cream corn: 0.50
1 can clams: 1.50
Total: $3.77 for 7.5 cups, or 0.50 per cup

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Saute onion until soft. Add flour and cook gently, stirring, until golden. Add water slowly, stirring constantly to avoid clumping. Add potatoes, squash, herbs, and milk. Cook gently about 25 mins, until potatoes are soft.

At this point, I used my immersion blender to smooth out the soup.

Add corn and clams, cook 10 more min. Add parsley and basil. Serve.