At Home Happy Hour: Roasted Heirloom Caprese Salad & Aperol Spritzers

Happy Friday! 

This week I had my first solo trip with Rascal to the vet, a successful event at my 9-5 and we booked a trip back to COLORADO!

Jared and I went to college in Colorado (where this little blog was all started!) and the state definitely holds a large place in our hearts and memories! So we are so excited!

We are headed back for a wedding in Aspen! My friend Christine that I did my wedding internship is getting married (ironic right?!). We are also going to try and see as many people as possible and maybe even sneak in some family portraits of my Aunt that lives on the front range! I am so excited guys. I feel like this trip will put us back on balance. We have been feeling really crazy with our life here in CA. Between our full-time jobs, the blog, Rascal, and staying afloat, I hope this trip will be one large breath of mountain fresh air! 

So to celebrate I thought we would make a few Aperol spritzers and an alfresco appetizer for this week’s at home happy hour!

You guys I won’t lie to ya… this was my first time making/trying an Aperol spritzer and damn if I’m not hooked. These spritzers 100% live up to the hype! They were fantastic. It’s basically just prosecco (which I love!), Aperol and a little bit of soda. But from what I have read over the last week people are seriously putting so many twists on them! Like swapping out prosecco for Rosé. The second round we made we actually used a little peach soda on top and it was AMAZING. 

We kept looking at each other like ‘is this really good?’ or is it just me?!’

I’ve been on a real roasted tomato kick lately! As I should be, tomato season is gracefully upon us!

For this easy appetizer, we whipped up a heartier version of Caprese salad! 

Instead of using whole slices of tomatoes, I opted out for roasting smaller heirloom ones. Be sure to grab some of all different colors to really make the dish shine. The yellow ones are my fav. I roasted them off to bring out some great flavor and of course, marry them with some garlic.

We topped traditional caprese mozzarella slices with the tomatoes and little pockets of prosciutto. If you want this to be vegetarian you can totally leave out the prosciutto. We just love it and I try to add it into summer dishes!

Top your dish with some fresh basil and some toasty baguette pieces and you’ve got yourself a mega easy and super delicious at home happy hour! If you want to really do it right… pick yourself up one of those $5 basil plants and keep it alive for the rest of summer. I have been putting fresh basil on practically everything and it has been this amazing herbal kick! 

Grab the recipe below ane enjoy happy hour 😉 

Roasted Heirloom Caprese Salad

8-10 Thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
6-8 Slices of prosciutto
1 Pint of cherry tomatoes
4 Garlic cloves peeled
1/4 Cup of olive oil +more for drizzling
Salt + Pepper
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Sliced Baguette

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Brush a small amount of olive oil onto each baguette slice and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes or until toasts are lightly golden.

Toss whole cherry tomatoes with remaining olive oil, garlic cloves, and salt and pepper. Bake for 15-10 minutes or until tomatoes have started to blister.

Arrange cheese slices, prosciutto, and roasted tomatoes on a large plate/platter. Top with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and fresh basil leaves. Serve with toasted baguette slices.  

Aperol Spritzers

3 Parts prosecco or dry white wine
2 Parts Aperol
1 Splash of soda (we used peach soda!)

A large orange slice
Ice Cubes

Fill a wine or low ball glass with orange and ice cubes. Add in Aperol and top with prosecco and soda. Give it a light stir. Cheers!