Mini Caprese Kabobs (Tomato, Basil & Bocconcini Bites)

     Hello! How are we today? 

     Monday can either intimidate me with thoughts of what needs to get done in the coming week, and I feel it's too daunting and get unmotivated. Or it can give me a fire to start checking things off the list and see what I can do! This morning I'm feeling the latter; motivated, excited, ready. 

    The start of a new week also finds me eating better (because usually I have a treat night during the weekend and I need some recovery!), and that's why I want to share these delightful little bites of goodness with you today!

    If you're not familiar, a caprese salad is an Italian salad (meaning "Salad of Capri") and is traditionally made of sliced, fresh, sliced mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and seasoned with salt and olive oil. I've made a version of this salad before; I just tossed everything into a bowl and mixed it up! It was a good salad, but you didn't always get enough of each flavour in every bite. Thumbs down.    

   Anyway, while in Belgium this summer, we visited some family who served us bbq Bugles with a herbed cheese balls (surprisingly good!), aged cheese (obviously good!), prosciutto wrapped melon (super-surprisingly amazing!!!), and mini caprese kabobs. :) 

   It was another food idea I knew I wanted to try when I got home. I had a little basil plant that was doing well, so I decided that instead of sprinkling dried basil on the kabobs (as we had on the ones we ate in Belgium), I would put an entire basil leaf onto each toothpick, ensuring a fantastic, unmistakable basil flavour. It was scrumptious!   

Some of the tasty and beautiful apps we enjoyed while visiting family in Belgium

Mini Caprese Kabobs
For 15 Kabobs 


Ingredients:

• 15 Toothpicks
• 15 Cherry tomatoes, cut in half width-wise (that'll give you 15 mini kabobs, so make more or less depending on how many you'll need)
• 8 Cocktail bocconcini balls, cut in half (as I did), or 15 mini bocconcini balls (I can't find this size at my grocery store)
• 15  Fresh basil leaves, washed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper

Method:

1. Push one half of a tomato onto a toothpick, cut side inward
2. Fold a basil leaf in half (or in quarters, if it's a really big leaf), and slide it down onto the toothpick
3. Slide the cheese on
4. Finish with another tomato half, cut side inward
5. Place kabobs into an airtight container if you're making them well ahead of time, or onto a serving platter if you're making them for that day
6. Once all the kabobs are made, whisk together the oil and vinegar, and drizzle over the kabobs
7. Sprinkle some salt & pepper on if desired

   You can basically eat these right away, but I prefer to make them ahead and let them sit in the oil and vinegar and get all the nice flavours together! 

These are the beautiful caprese kabobs we had in Belgium

Such beautiful ingredients for these little gems!

 
   And that's that! Pretty simple "recipe". It's really hardly a recipe at all, just a basic outline to get you going! Use more or less oil & vinegar if you want. Skip the vinegar all together and make it more traditional and Italian by using only olive oil, or slice larger bocconcini and tomatoes, and serve with fresh basil, as pictured below. You can use multi-coloured cherry tomatoes as I did here (so pretty). 

This is another caprese salad I had in Breda, The Netherlands

 
   One last note about these lovely kabobs: they keep well! They can get a little uglier as times goes by because of the balsamic vinegar, but, kept in an airtight container in the fridge, and they'll be good for up to 5 days. My husband really enjoys taking these to work, and they are great to add as a side to a dinner that needs more colour. For dinner one night I had a big plate with coleslaw, a broccoli salad, and about 6 of these. It was perfect.

   Well, have a great Monday! Oh, it's the first official day of fall too, so after you're done making this hilariously summer salad, make something more fall-ish with apples or pumpkins too! :)