Caprese Skewers

Summer is a great time for pot luck picnics. It's also a great time for tomatoes and basil. Here's an easy to put together dish that's also easy to transport and needs minimal refrigeration. These disappeared when I took them to a recent picnic, so they must be as good as they look. They're even better if you have either vine ripened or home grown tomatoes and basil.

Ingredients:

24 grape tomatoes
24 leaves of basil
24  bocconcini or rounds of buffalo mozzarella

24 toothpicks

Directions:

Thread one grape tomato, 1 leaf of basil and one piece of mozzarella on each toothpick. Arrange on a platter and serve.

Makes 24 appetizers

Stealthy Cooking Tip: Bocconcini are small rounds of fresh mozzarella cheese. Buffalo mozzarella are bigger rounds of fresh mozzarella. Both taste the same. Bocconcini are sometimes difficult to find, but I can usually find the large rounds of buffalo mozzarella. If you use the large rounds, simply cut them into 24 pieces. If you can't find any fresh mozzarella (that sometimes happens!), you can use regular mozzarella. I've used the mozzarella cheese sticks, and simply cut them into bite size pieces!