Bulgur, Celery and Cucumber Salad with Apple and Almonds

This crunchy salad is both colorful and tasty. Its crisp flavors and textures might be better suited for warmer weather, but we still thought it was delicious (and, as always, we look forward to eating the leftovers for lunch).

Place 2/3 cup bulgur in a medium bowl and add boiling water to just below the surface of the grain. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes, until the bulgur is just tender. Add more water as needed, or drain in a colander if the bulgur is cooked but not all the water has been absorbed.
Then add:
1 1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3 stalks)
1 crisp apple, chopped
1 persian cucumber, chopped
2 tsp fresh basil, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Mix ingredients until well combined. Drizzle and mix in
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1/2 medium lemon
kosher salt to taste

Variations:
- In these proportions, the blugur will be lightly disbursed throughout the chopped ingredients, which make up the bulk of the salad. Feel free to double the amount of bulgur that you use if you're looking for a larger dish with more grain. This may require extra of the final 3 ingredients.
- Substitute 1/3-1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt for the extra virgin olive oil at the end.