Mini Caprese Salads

Original Pin

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39828777926411628/

Mini Caprese Salads

I married into an Italian family. I come from Lithuanian, Irish, German heritage. I had to learn VERY quickly how to make certain foods. Luckily, growing up, I was taught to learn to try everything and make a decision on the actual taste of the food, not the idea of the food. One of my favorites dishes that I learned from my mother-in-law was her HUGE caprese salad. Fresh mozzarella, fresh garden tomatoes, and fresh basil. And when I talk about fresh basil, I am talking that there are about at least 4 basil plants in the house at any time. Every portion was sliced for a mini meal and it was amazing. Then I was put in charge of the appetizers for one of the holidays. I want to say it was Easter Sunday a few years back. Not just an appetizer, all the appetizers. I decided to look for Pyro's favorites and make all of them bite sized.This recipe was one of the results. 

Materials

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Fresh Basil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Toothpicks
• Serving Tray

What I Did

Rinse off the tomatoes and set aside. Cube up the mozzarella into bite-sized piece. Cut/rip the basil leaves into smaller pieces (I was able to produce about 6 pieces per leave). Get decent toothpicks. They may cost a little more, but they are thicker and hold up to making these. Plus, they look nicer and have a little more length to them, making them easier to pick up.

Make an assembly line. The last time I made these was for Easter Sunday (again on Easter.....it must be a tradition now) and I was still recovering from a major back injury, so Pyro helped put together each one. It is really simple and you can stack them any way that you would like. I just found that the way I stack them worked the best for use. Hold the toothpick, slide a piece of the cubed mozzarella down towards the tip, slide a tomato down, & then fold the basil over two or three times and slide that down. Give each one enough room for people to be able to grab each one with ease, but make sure that the ingredients are secure. Once they are all assembled, you can drizzle a little bite of the balsamic vinegar over the entire batch or have a bowl for dipping. 

Conclusion
I gave it 3.5 out of 5 because the pin itself is one of the pins in which you have to click multiple times to get to the actual recipe; however, once you get to the site itself, just follow the directions. Fun, easy, simple, but you don't have to make it as complicated as you read on these sites. Just make it and have fun.