Roasted Balsamic Tomato and Goat Cheese Ball Salad

So up until last night we were still nursing our delicious quiche.  Unfortunately its gone now, but not to worry I have a delicious meal up my sleeve for tomorrow night, or I think anyway only time will tell.

So I'm going to focus on our side dish! It was delicious. The tomatoes were caramelized, so they have a sweet flavor.  Then you add a goat cheese balls which has a tangy slightly sour taste.  Its a perfect combination!

Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes

1 Tomato, cut into thin wedges
2 TBS. Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 TBS. Olive oil
2 TSP. Sugar
2 TSP. Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Arrange tomatoes on a sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.  Sprinkle Sugar, Garlic, Salt and Pepper over the tomatoes.  Put in oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until tomatoes begin to caramelize.

 

 



Goat Cheese Balls

 

5 oz. Goat Cheese, Softened

1 TSP. fresh basil, finely chopped

1 TSP. fresh mint, finely chopped

1/2 TSP. fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1/2 TSP. fresh thyme, freshly chopped

 

1. Chop all the herbs.

 

 

 

2. Mix all ingredients well.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes. 

 

 

 

3.  Using a melon baller, scoop goat cheese mixture out into a container and put in refrigerator until time to serve.

 

 

Time to see the beautiful final product:

 

 

 

 

Summer salad with a Cilantro Vinagrette

So this weekend we had some friends over for supper!  I'll tell you I was pumped I love having company and getting to cook something for them!  Kelley and Bart were actually our first dinner guest!  Thanks for coming guys!!!  Hopefully we'll be able to have some more company soon!  I know one of my best friends from back in elementary school is planning to come within the next week or two!  Hopefully we will have some more soon!

Onto our dinner I made a Summer Salad with a Homemade Cilantro Vinagrette, a Sweet and Spicy Chicken, couscous, steamed Brussel Sprouts, and Heavenly Candy Cookies. I'm going to have three blogs on this meal so make sure you check them all out!!!  Unfortunately my pictures are lacking since I had company over I forgot to take pictures....Sorry

The great thing about this salad, is other than the avocado you can fix this hours before its time to serve it and chill it in the fridge until its time to serve it.  Its also colorful and tons of flavor in every bit. It definitely tastes like summer!

Summer Salad

1 Head of Lettuce, chopped
6 strawberries, sliced
3 handfuls of blueberries
2 avocados, sliced (Our group LOVES avocado so I did add a lot on)

1. Rinse all ingredients.

2. Chop lettuce a throw into your salad bowl.

3. Next slice the strawberries lengthwise. I was able to get about 4 slices from each strawberry. Scatter slices over the lettuce.  Next grab about 3 handful blueberries and toss them on the salad.

 

 

4. About 5 minutes before serving peel and slice the avocado! I chose to fan the avocado out. (Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this salad)

Cilantro Vinaigrette

1/2 bushel of cilantro, roughly chopped
4 TBS. honey
3 TBS olive oil
4 TBS Italian dressing
1 TBS. lemon Juice

1. Put all ingredients into blender/food processor. Blend well

 

 

2. Find a pretty container (We had a maple syrup container I had just used for our chicken)