Caprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and WIAW

There are a lot of things I enjoy about summer but there are two things I really hate: mosquito and humidity.  Lucky for me I live in a spot that doesn't get too humid too often.  Other the hand mosquitoes are numerous.  They love me and I hate them. No matter what I wear or spray on they still find me.  Last Saturday I mistakenly took no precautions and ended up  with about 10  bites across my legs.  Even with out itching immediately I have welts the size of quarters.  The worst part is that several of them are around my ankles. I have yet to find a pair of shoes that doesn't irritate my bites.  My whole legs begin to tingle and all I can think about is itching my legs.  Arg!  It has not been an enjoyable last three days.

One of the things I love about summer though is the fresh tomatoes and basil.  For me that means lots of Caprese Salad.  You can prepare several different variations of this dish but the one listed below is the one I find the easiest to make and serve on short notice.

Caprese Salad

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

6025048

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 3 cups Ripe Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh Mozzarella Cheese balls, 4 ounces each
• Fresh Basil Leaves
• Olive Oil, For Drizzling
• Balsamic Vinegar, For Drizzling
• Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Instructions

Cut cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls in half and place in bowl. Twist basil leaves and cut slices. Add to tomatoes and mozzarella balls. Drizzle olive oil balsamic vinegar over the top of the salad. Toss. End with a sprinkling of kosher salt and black pepper.

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Breakfast was a some homemade toast with Biscoff on one slide and dark chocolate peanut butter on the other topped with banana slices.  Served with coffee. Some mornings I just need to start off with something sweet.  This hit the spot.

Lunch was a mini pizza made with my favorite frozen Naan bread from Trader Joe's.  Topped with some leftover Caprese salad and additional Parmesan cheese.  I cooked it up in the toasted oven at work and made every one drool.  It smelled so good.  I work with several boys men who have only been out of college for a few months.  They didn't know what to do with this easy yet delicious meal.  I had to chuckle to myself.  I had an apple for a snack about an hour after I ate lunch.

I couldn't resist the last of the cookies staring me down.  I was only planning to have half a cookie but ended up polishing the whole thing down.

Dinner wasn't a cookie.  We had some Asian marinaded flank steak with sauted kale and green beans. As with other times we have used the broiler, we had a bit of a disaster that included the smoke detector going off three different times.  Needless to say I got distracted and didn't get an end photo.