Caprese Salad

So easy, yet so delicious! My mother-in-law Anne's birthday was last week, and this past Saturday Joe and I invited Anne and my father-in-law Fred over for dinner to celebrate, along with my brother-in-law John and his girlfriend Rebecca. Knowing that Joe and I don't have much time these days to cook, John and Rebecca graciously offered to bring dinner and dessert. John made his amazing homemade ravioli, meatballs and sauce, and Rebecca whipped up a delicious tiramisu (get the recipes on their blog!). I wanted to contribute something, so I decided to make an easy salad. I was planning on doing something plain with lettuce, but the night before dinner while feeding the babies at 2:00 am I for some reason decided I wanted to do a caprese salad (who knows why I decide what I do at 2:00 am?). I don't really even like tomatoes, but for some reason I wanted to go with caprese. I had Joe pick up the ingredients for me at the store, and when he returned with basil I saw that there was a recipe for caprese salad on the bag. I had just been planning to put sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves on a plate, but this recipe jazzed it up a bit. And it was delicious! I had three servings of it, and as I said, I don't really like tomatoes. It was a great addition to our Italian feast!

Caprese Salad

2 large tomatoes, sliced
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Basil leaves
1 garlic clove, finely minced
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Place tomato and mozzarella slices on plate and arrange basil leaves in between and on top of slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with minced garlic. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top before serving.