I am well aware that Summer is almost over, however, for us in North Carolina the Summer months don't really end until October (unless, of course, you have littles in school already) AND... when we head back to Hawaii in October, its literally summer all year round.
This is one of my favorite summer days lunch, its light on the belly but so delicious. I often make it at the begging of the week and it will last me 5 days of lunch. Of course you could double the batch or even one and a half it and it would last even longer. Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious. Ingredients:- 1 cup Quinoa - 2 Roma Tomatoes (you could definitely substitute with cherry tomatoes, they just aren't my favorite)- Fresh Mozzarella - 1/4 cup Chives - 2 TBS Olive Oil - 1/4 cup plus 1 TBS Seasoned Rice Vinegar- Salt & Pepper to tasteCook The Quinoa accordingly. If this is your first time cooking it, its a 2:1 ratio just like rice. Some people prefer to cook theirs in chicken broth for more flavor, personally I prefer water, but both work the same. After you have fully cooked the quinoa, it needs to cool. You can either chop up the tomatoes, mozzarella, and chives while its cooking, or wait a bit until its been placed in the refrigerator for a while, about an hour. Once the quinoa has cooled, go ahead and chop up your roma tomatoes, it should create about one cup. Of course that would vary if you chose to use cherry tomatoes. One complete stock of green onions creates about 1/4 cup,. I'm not an "exact measurement" kind of girl when it comes to cooking (baking is another story) For the mozzerella, I used about half of the ball, I tend to go light on cheese because I like it too much...so I regulate it, I know some of you can relate ;)For those of you that are not familiar with seasoned rice vinegar, I wasn't either until a recipe called for it, now I'm hooked. It is NOT the same as regular vinegar or even apple cider vinegar, you cannot substitute. I have tried a couple different brands, and my favorite is definately Kroger. Now all thats left is mixing it all together and adding the oil and seasoned vinegar. Go ahead and mix 1/4 cup plus the 1 tablespoon of seasoned rice vinegar as well as the tablespoons of olive oil. I find its easier if I mix those in then add the remaining ingredients as well as salt and pepper to taste. The longer it sits, as with a lot of food, the more flavoe it soaks up. Of course you could use this as a side dish to a meal, I just love it for lunches. I prep it in the beginning of the week and I'm set.

M A K E R S