Caprese Salad

I'm on a basil kick lately. One afternoon, Cancy went to Austin Homebrew and ended up coming back with a mozzarella cheese kit too. So, we made fresh mozzarella and had an easy dinner. We grilled some hot italian chicken sausages and made a great salad to go with it.

Caprese Salad

2 tomatoes per person, sliced
fresh mozzarella, cut into bite sized pieces
basil, chiffonade into strips
Balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Layer the tomato, mozzarella, and basil around the plate
Sprinkle with salt & pepper
Drizzle with a bit of Balsamic vinegar

Enjoy!

Basil Pesto

So far, my favorite thing about our garden is all of the basil. Our basil plants are both out of control and harvesting the basil only makes it come back fuller. Sooo.... One of the easiest things you can do with basil is make pesto. This is sort of a non-recipe but will give you some super tasty pesto.

Basil Pesto


About 2 Cups of basil leaves plucked from the stem
about 3/4 Cup of shredded Parmesan Cheese
about 1/4 Cup of raw pine nuts
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
salt & pepper to taste
Olive Oil

Add all but the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until blended. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until you have the consistency you want. About 3/4 to 1 Cup should do it.

Caprese Salad ( for one )

This is an incredibly easy and healthy lunch. Please make sure you are using the freshest of ingredients. I was shopping yesterday at Central Market, and came across their made-in-house Mozzarella, so I had a little inspiration.

Caprese Salad ( for one ) 

2 (on vine) tomatoes

a couple stems of fresh basil

1 oz of fresh Mozzarella

black pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

Chop the tomatoes ( i removed the seeds from mine ) 

Tear the basil into small pieces

Break the mozzarella into tiny pieces

Combine into a bowl. Sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper. Shake a good bit of balsamic over it and toss to coat.

Serving Size: makes 1 delicious salad