Tomato and Mozzarella salad

Lily and Rifah

Our dish is a tomato and mozzarella salad.

Ingredients:  

1. 15 grape tomatoes.

2. 1⁄2 lb fresh mozzarella cheese

3. 1⁄2 cup torn basil leaves.

4. 3 tablespoons olive oil.

5. 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar.

6. kosher salt or sea salt, to taste.

Steps:

Step 1:Place grape tomatoes , alternating with mozzarella slices, in a large bowl.

Step 2: Combine oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid; shake well. Drizzle over tomatoes and mozzarella

Step 3: Mix everything together

Step 4: Sprinkle in basil and mix

Step 5: Sprinkle basil on top

Step 6: Serve and enjoy

This meal is traditionally eaten by Italians on holidays and with cold sandwiches like hoagies. In our meal, two out of the six ingredients are whole foods while the rest are processed. Most of the ingredients are found in your own home like salt, pepper, and olive oil but if not they are affordable just as much as the tomatoes and mozzarella. These items are found at any local grocery store. If you would like to support small businesses or your local farmer’s market, then tomatoes and basil leaves can be bought there. This promotes sustainable farming, use of less pesticides and fertilizers and also helps them expand their business so their foods can reach more people in the community. However, all the other ingredients are usually mass produced and benefit bigger companies and corporations than anyone else. You could also grow the tomatoes and basil yourself, to save more money and also be more environmentally friendly!

Overall, this recipe is relatively cheap since most of the ingredients can be found in every home. Altogether it would take about $10-15 to purchase the ingredients. All of the ingredients are healthy, so it wouldn’t be too big of a deal if you ate it every day. However, if you did decide to eat it every day, it would be important to lay off on the cheese because it could cause high cholesterol. However, if the levels are maintained and eaten along with a relatively healthy diet, it should not be a big deal. Hope you try this dish at home and enjoy it!