Oh my. When I die and go to Heaven, shut-up you in the back, this is going to be served everyday.

Back in the days before I had to go gluten and dairy free this was one of my most favorite summer meals. I think out of all the foods I have had to give up, it is the only dish I truly miss.

First start with fresh mozzarella. This is not the stuff that is wrapped in plastic waiting for you to shred it up and put on top of pizza. This is a completely different animal. Or animal by-product as the case may be.

It can be found in the deli case and is stored in water. The balls come in different sizes. I generally buy the ones that are slightly larger because the fit on the bread better. But the smaller balls are nice for using in salads since there is no cutting required.

You need:
fresh vine ripened tomatoes, please don’t buy the cardboardy ones
fresh mozzarella
onion, thinly sliced
olive oil
french bread

When I am making this for the kids, I serve it like little open faced sandwiches. I slice the French bread thin and set onion, tomato slice and cheese on top.

Then I drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top. This is made from the olives that never even had an impure thought. You can also use dipping oil, which is just flavored olive oil.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil, washed,dried and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Blend it all up in your food processor. I make dipping oil when I want to be all extra fancy and impress guests. My family enjoys the plain olive oil better. Yes, they do. Okay I just pretend they do to make myself feel better about my own lazy tendencies.

When I make this for guests, I put it all together like a salad and put the bread slices around the platter. I figure grown-up people can make their own little sandwiches.

This entire thing was eaten in a matter of minutes, leaving behind only the design on the plate. My children are like locusts.