All of my favorite summer flavors in one delicious side dish! Tortellini Caprese Salad is super easy to prepare for a light lunch or alongside dinner!

Tortellini Caprese Salad

Guess what time it is friends? Time for one of our favorite blogger events, the summer edition of Freaky Friday! Once every few months a group of our blogging friends gets together, we are each assigned one of the other blogs and set free to choose a recipe from their site to recreate for our site.

So I’m making a recipe from another site and someone else makes a recipe from our site. The best part…we don’t know who is assigned who until reveal day and here we are.

Without further ado….I was assigned Tampa Cake Girl! Run by Cyndee, she makes dessert creations that if you are lucky enough to live in the Tampa area you can actually purchase! I remember the first time I ran across Cyndee and Tampa Cake Girl on Facebook a couple of years ago, she posted a Maurice Salad recipe that used to be served at Hudsons department store, it brought back childhood memories.

When it came time for me to choose a recipe to make from her site though my eye was drawn toward her Tortellini Caprese Salad.  I knew it would be a dish that I would love and one that I could tweak a tad so my family would love it too.

If you can boil water you can make this Tortellini Caprese Salad! Let me tell you it is super simple to prepare! Frozen cheese tortellini is the basis, throw in tomatoes, fresh mozzarella a touch (or more if you prefer) of basil and some Balsamic Glaze!

That’s it, mix together and you have a wonderful accompaniment to grilled meats, burgers or as a meal in itself. I opted to use garden fresh diced tomatoes, you can certainly use grape tomatoes and I used a minimal amount of basil as my kids are fussy, you can heap on the basil if you’d like.

Until I read Cyndee’s recipe for this salad, I never knew you could purchase something known as Balsamic Glaze. Well, you can and it is ah-mazing! You’ll find it in the vinegar section alongside the selection of Balsamic Vinegars, it is thick and syrupy and clings to the tortellini perfectly. I’ve already found so many other uses for it and want to give Cyndee a big thanks for helping me find this gem.

See that pocket of Balsamic goodness clinging to the tortellini above, DELISH I tell ya! This is the perfect pasta salad to throw together early in the day, fire up the grill and have a simply delicious dinner.

Be sure to check out Tampa Cake Girl for recipe inspiration, I spotted a Tropical Pineapple Trifle that just cries out summer in a dish and a Southern Fried Chicken Salad that needs to go on my menu soon!

 

Other great summer pasta salads: 

Asparagus Tortellini Pasta Salad

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Tomato Quinoa Salad

Yield: 6 servings

Tortellini Caprese Salad

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All of my favorite summer flavors in one delicious side dish! Tortellini Caprese Salad is super easy to prepare for a light lunch or alongside dinner!

Ingredients

• 1 19 oz pkg frozen cheese tortellini
• 1 cup tomatoes, diced
• I cup fresh, mozzarella
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Balsamic Glaze
• OPTIONAL: Basil leaves chopped and incorporated and as garnish.

Instructions

1. Prepare frozen tortellini according to package directions.
2. Drain and rinse under cold water until tortellini is cool.
3. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except Balsamic Glaze.
4. Drizzle Balsamic Glaze, garnish with additional basil leaves if desired.
5. If not serving immediately, hold off drizzling with Balsamic Glaze until prior to serving.

Find this recipe and more at the Weekend Potluck!