Caprese Salad

First, if you haven’t entered the giveaway for a custom brooch from the Finding Silver Linings Boutique, do it here! Sunday at noon, it closes, so hurry up!

 

Okay, on to the food!! Caprese style food (Capri is an island in Italy) usually consists of some sort of tomato basil concoction. This happens to be a favorite combo of mine.  I’ve found over the years that the best Italian food is often the simplest and uses only really fresh ingredients.  This dish is light, and packed with flavah!  It’s also perfect for when unexpected guests pop in because it’s so easy to prepare. Here’s one of my go-to appetizers.

You’ll need:

fresh mozzarella

fresh basil

small cherry or grape tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

garlic powder

salt

pepper

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I prefer to use the small balls of mozzarella, but I only had one large ball on this particular evening. No worries if the large mozzarella is the only one that is available, just cut it into tiny bite-size pieces and put them into a serving bowl.

Next, slice your fresh basil leaves chiffonade style.  This is just a fancy way of saying really thin, ribbon-like slices. This is the way I’ve found to be the easiest.  Take a few basil leaves and place them on top of each other.

Roll them up into a tube.

Slice as thinly as possible, then put into the bowl.

Next, slice tomatoes in half and put them into the bowl also.

Add a sprinkle of garlic powder, salt and pepper, then a generous drizzle of olive oil & balsamic!

 

**kisses thumb, middle & index fingers**

MMMM!  I like this refrigerated so it’s really cold.

What’s your favorite “OMG is that the doorbell?!” appetizer?  Post up a link if you have it!