Simple pleasures. Fresh Caprese Salad

I asked myself today which fruit or vegetable that I just couldn't live without.... The first thing that popped into my mind was tomatoes.... Then I thought, wait a second. Are you sure that it isn't something sweeter like strawberries or watermelon? No.... The answer is no. I do love love love those sweet summer fruits. I would be sad knowing I couldn't ever eat them again, but it wouldn't radically change my eating habits to the point that I wouldn't be able deal. Tomatoes on the other hand are the KEY ingredient in so many of my favorite things to eat. Think about it. If you didn't have tomatoes there would be no salsa. That is enough to bring a tear to my eye right there! There would be no spaghetti sauce, tomato basil soup, or pretty much any of the delicious non-creamy soups I love, heirloom salad, no pretty little diced tomatoes on top of my tacos!!! People this would be a travesty! The most missed dish of all just might be a caprese salad. That just wouldn't do. I need to have this salad, especially during the summer when the tomatoes are fresh from the garden. It is a necessity to life. If you haven't enjoyed this variety of summer salad, well, you haven't lived! (Of course this is just my opinion.) There are some crazies out there who don't even like tomatoes. (My husband for example won't even eat a tomato that isn't an heirloom variety, except in salsa...) This boggles my mind. Ah, well.

Planting a tomato or "salsa" garden is literally my favorite part of spring, and harvesting these gorgeous plump tomatoes, and all the other delicious veggies and herbs is my favorite part of summer. This year I think I planted about 15 heirloom and small tomato varieties, and at least that many pepper varieties. It was going to be a heck of an awesome salsa garden. I was planning on so many wonderful summer afternoons picking more tomatoes than we could ever consume (and sharing said veggies with my neighbors and friends!)....... It was all planned. What I didn't expect was this evil, rampant, quick growing weed to completely overtake my garden. I have never seen anything like it. The moment the weather turned hot, and we got a lot of sun on our garden area, said evil weed went to town. I mean, there was no possible way I could have ever weeded it all out. I'm pretty sure it grew an inch or two a day. With my injured back and my hubby's travel schedule we were up a creek without a paddle on that one. It was a travesty. My husband sprayed an all veg killer over the entire garden two weeks ago, and my once-lovely garden looks like a brown dead veggie cemetary. I have never seen such a garden-fail. I have been super bummed out to have been missing out on my fresh picked heirlooms. However, my dear hubby saved the day and brought me home an entire box of heirloom tomatoes of every color home from work!! Hooray! They are so gorgeous. I have been feasting on them like crazy. I have be BEST husband. Stay tuned for the many delicious things I have been whipping up with these pretties. :) 

Since I am celebrating my love of tomatoes, I am going to share with you a simple, perfectly satisfying caprese salad. No fuss necessary. Just delicious food. 

To go along with this caprese salad, I swung over to Harmons and picked up a baguette and enjoyed that with some olive oil and balsamic reduction for dipping. So nummy. So summery. My favorite! (Yes, I have a thing for balsamic reduction...)

Making this caprese salad is as simple as 1,2,3... All you need are tomatoes of your choice, fresh mozzarella cheese and  fresh basil. Dizzle a little olive oil and balsamic reduction over top then a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Voila. A flavorful tomato celebration ready to enjoy!

If you really want to be naughty you could add a bit of grated parmesean cheese to your dip.... (In this case naughty=uber-scrumptious...)

There you have it tomato lovers! Fresh, simple, good, honest food. That's all a person really needs, right? Oh, except chocolate... Let's not forget that. :)

CLICK ON RECIPE TO VIEW AN ENLARGED PRINTABLE JPG

I would love to know which fruit or vegetable you couldn't live without! Send me a comment and tell me what it is, and why.

Happy cooking! :)