Red Caprese Quinoa Salad
Recently, one of my recipes from 9 months ago (Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad) went viral on Pinterest/Stumble Upon. No idea how it happened, but according to my analytics, it has increased FFF’s traffic by almost 5 times its daily views. The power of social media. CRAZY.
Anyways, in honor of this happening, I revisited my old recipe this weekend for a delicious BBQ side dish. This time however, I used red quinoa as opposed to white.
Red Caprese Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- ½C quinoa
- 8 oz fresh mozerella
- 1 carton grape tomatoes, halved
- fresh basil
- 2T olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- In a medium sized pan, bring 1C water and ½C quinoa to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and simmer on LOW until all of the water is absorbed. This should take anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. *Cooking your quinoa on low is extremely important. If you let it simmer on a hotter flame, the water will absorb too quickly and the quinoa will turn out hard!
- Cool the cooked quinoa in the refrigerator for at least an hour before preparing the salad.
- To prepare the salad, slice grape tomatoes in half [hot dog way] and cut the block of fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces. Mix together. Then, add the chopped basil and cooked quinoa and give the salad a toss. Next, drizzle on the olive oil and season with a little salt/pepper (to taste). Give your salad a final toss and serve cool or at room temperature.
Blake has the best yard for grilling and get togethers. We had a bunch of people over for a St. Patty’s Day Celebration after watching some March Madness in downtown Minneapolis at a bar called The Newsroom. I have never participated in this holiday, but there is a large Irish influence here in St. Paul. The weather was in the lower 80’s which is extremely abnormal for this time of year, but perfect for grilling. We had steaks, veggie shishkabobs w/ pineapple, red quinoa caprese salad, a poppyseed strawberry salad (a la Brian), orderves (a la Carly), and drinks.
Ingredients Red Caprese Quinoa Salad
- quinoa
- mozerella
- tomatoes
- basil
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
I of course had a little bit of everything…
Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words from my last post about my job offer. It’s so great to know that you all support me! I seriously wouldn’t be blogging, let alone where I am today, if it weren’t for your comments and feedback. Don’t stop!Happy Monday
-L
What did you do for St. Patty’s Day?
What is your favorite BBQ food?
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