Spicy Quinoa Caprese

Quinoa seems to be one of the hot ‘it’ foods in the culinary world.  Me?  I mean I like it, but I’m not crazy about it.  One good thing about quinoa is that a small amount goes a long way!

Another thing about quinoa, in my opinion,  is that it takes a lot of other flavors to make quinoa flavorful.  So when I made some today for a chocolate pudding-like cake (I hadn’t intended it to be pudding’eeee), there was plenty left over, so I decided that use it in a summer salad teaming it up with caprese ingredients and crispy cukes!    I also decided that the flavors needed some spice and kick, so I added the chili pepper flakes. It’s names says it all~~’Spicy Quinoa Caprese.’   If you choose to make this, you can decide if you want the kick, too!

 

What you need:

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup chopped Roma tomatoes

1 cup chopped cucumbers

¾ cup chopped mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup fresh chiffonade basil

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tbl lemon juice

2 tbl lemon zesy

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp red chili flakes

 

 

 

 

What you do:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and blend and mix well (careful not to be too rough when mixing!).

Refrigerate about an hour before serving.

 

 

 

©Alice D’Antoni Phillips   Ally’s Kitchen