Quinoa Caprese Salad

I am always trying to come up with quick dishes to add to the dinner meal besides potato, rice, pasta. I love quinoa for many reasons, one of which is that it is quick cooking. What to add with it to give it some flavor though can be a dilemma. Tonight I tried cooking quinoa in the rice cooker while I went for a run after work. Success! I came back to find the cooker in warming mode and the quinoa cooked perfectly. I threw some cherry tomatoes into the cooker with the quinoa while it was still hot so they would cook slightly. Summer tomatoes always belong with fresh basil, olive oil and mozzarella cheese in my opinion, so a quinoa caprese salad was born. It was a great side dish to some broiled salmon and will be a delicious lunch tomorrow. Enjoy!

Quinoa Caprese Salad
Serves 4 as a side dish

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely diced
handful of fresh basil, cut into ribbons
2 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces

1. Add quinoa and broth to the bowl of a rice cooker and cook on the "white rice" setting.  Alternately, add quinoa and broth to a medium pot. Cover, bring to a boil and then decrease heat to low and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed.
2. Once quinoa is cooked, add cherry tomatoes and cover to allow tomatoes to cook and become soft.
3. Drizzle quinoa with olive oil and add garlic, basil and mozzarella. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Can be served warm or cold.

Zucchini Stacks

Are you into Pinterest? I am a little and looked there other day for zucchini ideas as I am experiencing a little zucchini glut. Zucchini's have been coming in our farm box for at least 4 weeks and I needed something new. I have already been making bread and muffins. I have made zucchini gratin 3 times because I love it so much (I combine Splendid Table with Smitten Kitchen). I have been having zucchini omelets with feta cheese, roasted zucchini, sauteed zucchini and still there is more this week.

Most of what I found on Pinterest was breads and muffins and a few fried zucchini recipes , but I did see a picture of some zucchini rounds covered in bread crumbs and baked. For some reason seeing that picture gave me the idea for stacks. I had one larger zucchini so I cut it into rounds, added some red pepper and some slices of tomato, roasted them, topped them with cheese and broiled. End result was delicious and because of the ingredients, seasoning and cheese it reminded me a little of pizza with out the crust. Perfect as an appetizer or as a side. Enjoy!

 Zucchini Stacks

6 rounds zucchini
6 slices red bell pepper
6 slices of tomato
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
fresh thyme (2 tbsp)
fresh basil (handful)
6 slices from a ball of mozzarella cheese (I'm sure other cheeses would be great too)

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes on a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme
2. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove tomato slices and flip over zucchini and peppers. Roast for another 8-10 minutes or until starting to brown. Remove from oven
3. Turn on broiler in the oven. Top each zucchini round with a slice of pepper and tomato. Top with cheese and return to oven. Allow to broil for about 2-4 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
4. Serve topped with fresh basil