Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Mozzarella Tomato Salad

I made this recipe to have as a nice, new change up for a vegetable to put with my dinners at night. I don't like to make things with onions in it to take to work...because well, I work with people. It is a nice salad...with a little extra kick of flavor.

4 plum sized tomatoes
1/2 medium size onion
2 sticks string cheese
2 tbsp light balsamic vinagrette dressing (I used Paul Newman's Light Basalmic Vinagrette...can't say enough GOOD stuff about that dressing)
oregano (fresh if you have it...if not..dried is fine)
basil (fresh if you have it...if not..dried is fine)
pepper to taste
salt to taste
Mrs. Dash to taste

I bought one of those Dicer/Chopper things...and I used it for the first time making this. Let me tell you how much I like that thing. Making things is so much easier now. Love it...buy one...you will love it too.

1. Chop the 4 tomatoes. In the dicer, I used to large blade. They were diced so that they were probably about 1/2 an inch big.
2. Chop the mozz sticks. I also used the large dicer blade for this. I chopped them so they were about the same size as the tomatoes, if not a little smaller.
3. Finely chop the onion. I used the small blade of the dicer. It makes it so tha the onion pieces are about the size of a baby's pinky.
4. Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up. Throw on a few dashes of oregano and basil. Mix again. Put on the 2 tbsp of basalmic vinagrette and mix.
5. Taste the mix and see what you think. Add pepper, salt or Mrs. Dash if you think it needs more.

What I like about this recipe...it has the consistency of a thick salsa, but without the spicy kick. It has a nice, fresh flavor and adds a great addition to whatever you are making for dinner.

It makes about 3 to 4 cups and I usually use 1/2 cup with my dinners at night.

Here is the calorie breakdown for the whole recipe:

Calories: 265
Fat: 14.5 gms
Cabs: 16.5 gms
Protein: 17.5 gms

So...for a 1/2 cup...it is at most about 45 calories. You can' complain about that. Enjoy!!!