Say what??

I guess it is time to share the news we alluded to a couple weeks ago and let you in on why we have been so busy. I honestly can't believe that I am saying this given how much effort and work we have put into this house since we moved in just last year, but we are actually putting it up for sale within the next week or two as Jeff was offered, and has officially accepted, a new job. We will be heading back to the state that we left when we moved out to Phoenix where I started this blog... I also just happened to grow up there - that's right, Minnesota!

Huh? What? Are you crazy? I know... I know! The job is of course with the same company and he will even be working with a few of his former co-workers when we lived back in Minneapolis. Unlike the move from Phoenix however, we will be staying out here in Maryland until this house sells (ugh... we can't even wrap our minds around having to deal with showings and all that stuff that goes with selling again - scary!) We've been peeking through a few realtor sites to get a glimpse of what the market has to offer out there - but we will be waiting until we get an offer out here to get more serious about looking for the new house. We are trying to narrow down the area that we want to search in - so far we are thinking of areas south or south west of downtown Minneapolis, but we won't know until we have time to fly out there and see what has changed in the few years since we've been there.

We have a couple more projects to finish up on the inside to get this house listed, but once it hits the market we are really hoping that it won't take months and months to sell. I do have a sneaking suspicion that we will be out here for quite some time.... though I'll try to stay positive about it. We are excited to be moving back - it will be nice to be closer to a big city again that has so much culture and things constantly going on. So... anyone need a house? Come on... how could you say no when you have these cute four legged friends right behind your backyard!

Well, now that we have dropped that bomb, let's move on to tonight's dinner! We knew this Toasted Quinoa, Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella Salad was going to be good before we even took a bite when I rattled off the list of ingredients to Jeff. Do be sure to take the few extra minutes in the beginning to toast the quinoa - it really lures out the natural nuttiness in the grain. As we've mentioned before, you do need to make sure to rinse the quinoa before you use it - even if your package says it was pre-rinsed, I would still advise that you rinse it just to be sure you remove any lingering bitterness.

Once the quinoa has cooked and cooled a bit, the spiral grains are tossed with a medley of colorful veggies and herbs - they include crunchy snow peas, red onions, cool chopped cucumbers, fresh mint, chopped basil and juicy grape tomatoes. We also threw in some delicate pearl-sized mozzarella balls - you could also just dice up some fresh mozzarella if these are not easily accessible.

To get a fresh and tart counterpoint to the salad, the mixture is dressed with a combination of lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and a couple dashes of cayenne pepper sauce. The cayenne pepper sauce does not make this salad spicy at all, but it just adds a little "oopmh" to the final dish. We both think that this would be great to make ahead and have ready for a couple tasty lunches throughout the week.

Recipes
Toasted Quinoa, Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella Salad