How’s everyone doing? For me, August 2019 is going down in my memories as some of the best weeks of my life. At the beginning of the month our family of four packed our bags and headed off to London and Paris. I’m trying to process all that I saw and experienced. As I transition home, I want to keep the sense of adventure with me, after I get some sleep first!

Besides taking a vacation, I also took a fresh look at Baking with Rachel. I want this to be a resource for becoming more comfortable in the kitchen. I want you to be able to follow along with a child or learn yourself. When I teach cooking classes, I give much more detail on how to perform each and every step. It’s common practice to write recipes with a certain expectation that the reader knows how to prepare the ingredients. Yet, when I first learned to cook, I spent a lot of time researching because I didn’t know how to do any of it. Maybe you are the same? I’ll format my posts similar to how I teach my classes by giving more details for each step. Let’s give it a try and tell me what you think!

Ready to get started? One of the simplest salads is the caprese: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. Drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s a classic that I wanted to introduce to my family. My boys joined in the fun and we had a great time putting these together. I hope you enjoy making (and eating!) this as well.

Caprese Skewers

This recipe makes a big plateful and is plenty to serve 4. It makes a great afternoon snack, addition to a lunch box, or served with pasta for dinner.

Supplies:

Colander, 3 small bowls (I used cereal bowls), paper towels, slotted spoon, knife, cutting board, toothpicks, plate

Ingredients:

• Pint grape tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh basil
• 8 oz fresh mozzarella (I used 1/3 oz “cherry sized” balls)
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Steps:

Start with washing hands. Safe food handling is really important.

Prepare Tomatoes:

1. Put tomatoes in colander and check for any that are mushy or rotten and discard.
2. Put the colander in a sink and run cold water over the tomatoes to rinse off dirt.
3. Transfer tomatoes into small bowl.

Prepare Basil:

1. Lay a couple paper towels on the counter.
2. Look at leaves and pick the leaves that are bright green and set aside. Discard stems and leaves that are limp or discolored.
3. Cup the basil leaves in your hand and rinse under cold water.
4. Roll basil in paper towels and squeeze out liquid.
5. Transfer drained basil to a small bowl.

Prepare mozzarella:

1. Scoop mozzarella balls into in a small bowl with a slotted spoon.
2. If using a mozzarella log, cut into 1/2 slices and then quarter the slices.

Set a plate on a clean work space. Bring bowls of ingredients, bottle of olive oil, salt and pepper and toothpicks to the table.

Assemble skewers:

1. Grasp the toothpick by one end and slide on mozzarella, basil leaf and tomato. My basil was VERY large so I rolled it up before add it to the toothpick.
2. Place finished skewer on plate.
3. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
4. Once finished, drizzle the skewers with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
5. Enjoy immediately and refrigerate any leftovers for a day or two.