Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone out there is enjoying the holiday weekend. If you are looking for a last minute snack/appetizer/side dish to take to a bbq/picnic/etc. here is a good one for you—Caprese Bites. Basically it is a tomato mozzarella basil salad (also known as a Caprese salad) in finger food form. All you have to do is assemble—no cooking required--which is a godsend during the dog days of summer when tomatoes just so happen to be at their peak of flavor and freshness.

I saw some yummy looking yellow cherry tomatoes at the farmers market yesterday which would have been great for this. Enjoy!

Caprese Bites

Ingredients:
1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half crosswise
1 container of perline mozzarella (the really tiny little balls)
10-12 basil leaves cut into thirds
1 package of bamboo skewers or toothpicks
Salt and pepper
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar (optional)

1.To assemble bites, skewer one half of a tomato, a mozzarella ball, piece of basil and cap it off with the other half of the tomato. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
2.Arrange skewers on a plate. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
3.If you’d like you can also drizzle with olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar. Note that if you are taking this to another location, you should do this step AFTER you arrive (I learned the hard way that olive oil can leak out onto a car seat if there is even the slightest angle). I skipped this step yesterday and they turned out just fine.