Caprese Wreath

I’m finally getting the last Christmas recipe posted from 2018.  Although it’s not really a recipe, it was a cute idea that worked well.  I like to do a sort of artwork crudité each year and this year was simply cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and black olives.  I could have served it with a balsamic drizzle but my family isn’t big on balsamic.  I took the safe route and went natural.  It was pretty, tasty and loved.

Caprese Wreath

Afterwards, I realized I could have put a bowl of a balsamic glaze in the center for those who wanted to drizzle.  I’ll keep that in mind for next time.  I hate when I have the good ideas too late.  And I rarely remember them next time around!

Cheeses and Grapes Appetizer Tree

In the past I’ve done fun things like a cheese and grape tree.  This one was fun to make, choosing and cutting up so many cheeses.  We did have a lot leftover since it was just 3 of us at my Dad’s house that year.  But doing a smaller tree wouldn’t have been as exciting.  Besides, leftover cheese cubes will never be a bad thing in our household.  We ate it in many ways.

Arrange on round plate

Another year I made an avocado crostini wreath that was  also a big hit.  Everyone loves mashed avocados and serving them on toast with sweet cherry tomatoes was a great idea.  Adding the black olives was a given since we consume mass quantities of them over the holidays.  Black olives are our “thing” and we’ve always stocked plenty of them for the Christmas buffet.

Caprese Wreath

I bought a large container of cherry tomatoes this year, washed them and placed them on a round glass platter.  I cut up the fresh mozzarella into smaller pieces, then did a chiffonade on a handful of fresh basil to sprinkle over the wreath.  Ready to nibble.

Although my goal this year was to prepare foods ahead of time, this wreath assembled so fast it didn’t need much prep.  I washed the tomatoes and refrigerated them until needed.  Done.  I’d actually bought a bunch of fresh parsley to further garnish the wreath then decided it was great as is, without more greenery.