Watermelon and Quinoa Salad with Feta with a giveaway

–GIVEAWAY CLOSED–
On paper, my husband and I really don’t go together.  Our childhoods were so different from one another you might say we grew up in totally different worlds.  When we began dating we had zero hobbies in common.  We couldn’t stand to listen to each other’s music on the radio.

But, as most people put it after they spend some time with the both of us, our relationship just works.  I would guess that the most important thing to having a relationship that just works is knowing how to handle one another.

For instance, on the evening I served this meal I told him we were having a ‘salad with romaine’ for dinner.  Obviously, romaine is the least important ingredient to this salad concoction.

He knew there was more to dinner than just lettuce, though, so he pushed me for more information.  This entire conversation was interesting because we had it without eye contact, while babysitting the horses who were cutting the grass outside our fenced pastures.  Due to the circumstances I was able to calculate my answers without revealing the lies-of-ommision therein.

So, I could have said the salad was romaine with feta and won him over, but that’s obviously too simple to actually be what was for dinner – he’d catch on.  I could have said the salad was romaine with watermelon but that would have sent him to Domino’s.

I settled on romaine with cinnamon peach balsamic dressing and with that he was satisfied.

We have just returned from a trip where we spent quite awhile sitting at a bar at The Olive Shoppe, sampling exotic balsamic vinegars and eclectic olive oils.  The combinations the bartenders served up were divine: orange creamsicle, blackberry jalapeno, black pepper and fig.  Narrowing our selection down to just a bottle was so, so hard.  Although I had no definite recipe in mind to suit our final selection of warm cinnamon peach balsamic, I knew this flavor would lend itself perfectly to both sweets and savories.

The way it complemented this salad was amazing.  It was perfectly fruity and tart to accent the sweet watermelon and the blueberries added as an afterthought to the salad (note the last picture above does not have the berries – it really was a last minute suggestion by the Omnivore once he saw the components of the meal!).

Although I encourage you to make this salad whether or not you have a fancy cinnamon peach balsamic vinegar on hand, The Olive Shoppe and I would love to give you the opportunity to win a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of balsamic vinegar (excluding truffle varieties).  The bottles are 375 mL each and will be shipped to your address free of charge.  This is over a $40 value.

To be entered into the giveaway, please peruse the Olive Shoppe’s online store and leave a comment saying which oil and which vinegar you’d most like to win.  Leave a comment with a vinegar and a comment with an oil.  You can leave two comments per day of the giveaway as long as your choices of the oils and vinegars you’d like to try are different. 

Balsamic Vinegars at The Olive Shoppe – so many delicious choices.
Blended Olive Oils at The Olive Shoppe – butter flavored olive oil?  Yes please!
Extra Virgin Olive Oils at The Olive Shoppe – high quality oils!
Infused Olive Oils at The Olive Shoppe – basil infused oils, jalepeno oils, lemon oils.  Delicious!

The giveaway runs from July 12, 2012 through midnight July 19th.  Winner, chosen by random number generator, will be notified on July 20th.  If prize is not claimed by July 22nd, a new winner will be chosen.  Only those living in the continental United States are eligible.   

Watermelon and Quinoa Salad with Feta and Blueberries (inspired by Annie’s Eats)