Candied Balsamic Tomatoes & Mozzarella Salad

Life can get pretty stressful at times.

Just when you think things couldn't get any better, life always has a way of throwing little curve balls at you that make you forget how great things really are.  Of course they only make you stronger in the end, however they aren't very fun when being thrown your way.  What am I talking about you ask?  Well I seem to discuss everything on this little blog, so why not vent to you as well?

As most of you know, Chris plays hockey and well this past week while playing in his tournament game he was struck in the head with a hockey puck.  Yes, yes he was wearing a helmet, but did receive a pretty bad concussion which resulted with us in the emergency room.  Luckily he was fine, but the CT scan did show other stuff that wasn't so good.  Long story short, he has an appointment today to find out the results and to say I'm a hot mess would be an understatement.  Please keep him in your prayers!

Ok enough of the depressing stuff, on to a yummy salad!

I absolutely LOVE salads.  We never really ate very healthy growing up and I was very picky so the only salads I would eat contained basically lettuce and a few cucumbers.  Well as I got older I finally decided to branch out and now I love salads of all kinds!  This one would be my favorite.

This is a great recipe I found in my Cooking Light, Fresh Food Super Fast cookbook and puts a fun twist on your traditional caprese salad.  The added sugar and balsamic vinegar caramelizes with the tomatoes creating a sweet combination alongside the fresh basil and mozzarella.  The flavors are pretty much a party in your mouth, take that as you will.  We ate this over grilled chicken breasts, but this would also taste amazing as a bruschetta on toasted baguette slices or even just a side salad!

This is probably one of the easiest dishes to make and takes absolutely no time at all.  Pair this with any Italian entree or bring a bowl to work and you'll have a nice healthy lunch for a few days!  You really can't go wrong with this salad.

Oh and isn't it just so pretty??

________________________________________

Servings: 2

Serving Size: 1 1/3 cups 

Calories: 233

Fat: 12.2 g

Carbs: 17.1 g

Fiber: 4.3 g

Protein: 12.3 g

Old Points: 4.9 pts

Points+: 6 pts

________________________________________

Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

4 cups grape tomatoes

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, drained and cut in small pieces

1/4 cup small fresh basil leaves, torn

Cooking spray

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Add tomatoes to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tomatoes release juices.  Sprinkle with sugar, salt, and pepper; cook 2 minutes.  Drizzle with vinegar and cook about 30 seconds or just until vinegar evaporates.

Transfer tomato mixture to a serving bowl.  Add mozzarella and basil, toss and enjoy! 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend

and please keep my Christopher in your prayers!