Summertime and Caprese Salad

I am so excited that it is finally time to (unofficially) welcome summer! I get super excited when this time of year finally rolls around… I love the Charlotte weather, being outside, and my time to travel. It means it’s also time for lots of fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs.

Tonight, I am celebrating the launch of my new blog and reminiscing on my time in Italy last year. In both summer, and Italian, style I made a delicious caprese salad and paired it with a Chianti. This Caprese Salad includes some locally grown tomatoes, just-picked basil that I grow on my front porch (I also grow Cilantro and Meyer Lemons), olive oil and Chianti that I brought back from Italy. If you want real Italian olive oil or Chianti, you can buy it online here.

Last June I headed to Europe with one of my best friends from Charlotte. We visited Italy and Croatia for two weeks. We truly had the most amazing time exploring new cities, waters, and countrysides! I brought back some goodies that I am still taking advantage of today. While in Florence we visited a beautiful winery that was an old castle Conte Gucciardini. They grows a variety of grapes and make several types of wine and olive oil. To this day, I include some of the wines we tried there on my list of all time favorites!

If you’ve never made or tried caprese salad, I definitely recommend trying it! It’s super easy and tastes like fresh summer-goodness! All you need are tomatoes, (I like to get local tomatoes and take advantage of the time of year they’re in season), mozzarella cheese that is in water, basil, (which is super easy and inexpensive to grow yourself), olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.