Italian Night with Tossed Caprese Salad and No Work Lasagna

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of On-Cor. The opinions and text are all mine. 

This easy Tossed Caprese Salad with a 4 Ingredient Pesto Vinaigrette is the perfect Italian night side dish for Lasagna! Even my husband, who is not a lover of salad recipes, loves this caprese salad recipe! I think it’s the little bite sized Mozzarella that win him over. You can even make the whole dinner easier by cooking an On-Cor Lasagna with Meat Sauce in the oven so all you need to do is toss the salad together! 

Italian Caprese Salad Recipe with Lettuce is the perfect side dish for Lasagna with Meat Sauce

Let’s see if this sounds familiar to you at all, or if it’s just only my own poor planning skills. 😉 I spend my day juggling between two very long to-do lists – one filled with deadlines and tasks for my business and one filled with house and parenting tasks. In fact, the day is spent with so many tasks that I constantly forget about one of the most needed tasks of the day – dinner! Then when I do remember, which is usually when my husband walks in the door by the way, I just don’t have the time to stop everything and start cooking. Sound familiar at all?

All of this means that I need to have easy dinner prep ideas in the house at all times; dinner ideas that allow me to NOT slow down while also getting to still sit down at the dinner table as a family. This is where On-Cor comes in. For 70 years they’ve been bringing families to the table with their entrees, and they are the perfect solution to one of our many chaotic nights. I picked up my lasagna entree at my local Jewel-Osco.

I embrace the chaos though! It’s a good thing because it means we are working hard and loving hard. Planning for the busy family nights makes life more manageable though, so knowing that I had a few deadlines coming up with a teething baby, I planned for a quick Italian Dinner Night for us.

I purchased On-Cor Lasagna with Meat Sauce that is made with real mozzarella cheese and quickly tossed it in the oven. While the lasagna was baking, I was able to play blocks with my son and make him giggle, respond to client emails, even squeeze in a quick me moment via a cell phone game, and then finally toss together this delicious Tossed Caprese Salad with a homemade Pesto Vinaigrette.

Unlike a traditional Caprese Salad recipe, this version includes a lettuce base, which makes it a big selling point for my husband who wants a bit more to his salad than just tomatoes and cheese. Add a simple Caprese salad dressing with this Pesto Vinaigrette; it’s fresh, light, and flavorful! The best part of it though is that it’s a quick salad recipe to toss together while your On-Cor entrée is baking in the oven, giving you plenty of time to play with the kids, help with homework, tackle the dishwasher or more.

On-Cor are fully-cooked, frozen dinners that are conveniently packaged. There is no prep work other than preheating the oven and peeling off a layer of plastic film. That’s it! And On-Cor has been working to enhance their products to satisfy us busy moms, giving us quality dinner solutions and new packaging that makes it easy to understand exactly what we are feeding our families.

So not only does On-Cor want to help you out with dinner prep, but they also want to give away a box of goodies! The prize will include a coupon valid for one free On-Cor entrée, a planner, a lasagna spatula, a timer, a cast iron trivet, oven mitts, puzzle or art project, and a learning activity and colored pencils. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite On-Cor entrée is and what you would do with your extra time while it’s cooking?

More Delicious Salad Recipes:

• Ranch BLT Pasta Side Salad
• Honey Lime Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
• Caesar Vinaigrette Dressing
• Chicken, Berry and Almond Salad

Make a Simple Italian Salad with a 4 Ingredient Caprese Salad Dressing!

Tossed Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette

Yield: 2 people

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Make Family Italian Night easy with this simple Tossed Caprese Salad with a 4 ingredient homemade Pesto Vinaigrette. It makes the perfect side dish for lasagna! 

Print

Ingredients

Caprese Salad

• 2 cups Mixed Greens
• 1/2 cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella Balls, cherry sized

Pesto Vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp pesto
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp apple vinegar (or white)
• 1/4 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

Caprese Salad Prep

1. Halve your cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls (if desired) 
2. Add tomatoes and mozzarella to the mixed greens in desired bowl.
3. Drizzle lightly with Pesto Vinaigrette. You can always add more to your salad if you want. I save my leftover dressing for another day. 

Pesto Vinaigrette Prep

1. Add all the ingredients into a jar or bowl and mix well. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of On-Cor. The opinions and text are all mine.