Tomato Caprese Salad

I’ve never been a right off the vine type of tomato eater… until now. The first tomatoes to ripen this year were these adorable orange ones (don’t ask me the name because I have no idea). They are sweet and honestly taste a bit like happiness. Just look at these droplets of sunshine!

There are so many ways to eat tomatoes but my go to has been a simple caprese salad. Now let’s be honest, a Caprese salad might not be one of those things that require a recipe but here we are so I thought I’d share my favorite combo served on one of our newest sun ray textured dinner plates.

This garden has been a labor of love. When we purchased our home, the garden was located deep in the forrest. Last year we tried growing in that area but it was very unsuccessful. Since we love growing our own vegetables we decided that this year we’d have to move the garden closer to the house and into a much sunnier area. Though it was a lot of work building a new fence and getting the soil together, the garden did not disappoint. We’ve had a plethora of delicious treats come out of the garden from kale to squash to peppers and now tomatoes.

Squiggle Oil Cruet handmade by Wild Bower Studio sits along side a variety of textured bowls and beautiful cherry tomatoes

What you’ll need:

• Tomatoes - pick your favorite but we recommend fresh cherry tomatoes or beefsteak

• Fresh Basil

• Mozzarella or Burrata

• Salt & Pepper to taste

• Cobram Australian Extra Virgin Oil Olive (trust me, it’s the best)

Pick your favorite medium sized Wild Bower bowl. Cut up your tomatoes into halves or quarters depending on size. Chop or ripe your basil and Mozzarella. Add these ingredients to a bowl. Top with salt & pepper to taste. Finally add your EVOO and mix. Sometimes when I’m feeling a little wild, I’ll add a fresh jalapeño, garlic or red pepper flakes. Once fully coated plate your salad on your Wild Bower Studio dinnerware or eat directly from one of our bowls.

When I’m serving this meal to guests I’ll put the herbs & spices on the table in our ceramic catchalls along with the EEVO in one of our oil cruets rather than directly on the salad. It’s a nice addition to any meal and allows guests to really get into the process.

Our bright and beautiful tomato caprese salad is plated on our Sun Ray Dinner Plate along side our Squiggle Oil Curet with a variety of our ceramic bowls in the background.

Blueberry Handpies

Blueberry Hand pies served on Wild Bower Studio Sun Ray platter and dinner plates

While last year I was very focused on foraging, this year I’m all about pick your own. It’s so satisfying to fill a bucket full of delicious treats. Finally we’ve made it to blueberry season and let me tell you… blueberries are incredible right off the bush. It’s amazing how different food tastes in the store vs from the garden.

The past weekend we had some friends over with their young daughter, who loved blueberries. So we decided what better way to enjoy the day but to pick our own blueberries which we now call Bloobs. Off to Saunderskill Farm!

It was a beautiful day and a really easy ride over to the farm. We were part of a hand full of groups who had a similar idea so we all had a lot of space to really get into it. Fast forward and we’ve filled 10 quarts!!! Once we returned home it was time to start figuring out what to do with all these bloobs. Jam was obviously the first step in this process and then time to bake. We wanted to make something that our young picker could easily handle so we went with blueberry hand pies. These treats are super easy to make and really easy to take with you on the go. We used this recipe from King Arthur Flour as our general guide.

Blueberry Hand pies served on Wild Bower Studio Sun Ray platter and dinner plates with hand dyed napkins

Roasted Radish & Kale Salad

Roasted Radish, pickled onion & beet and kale salad served in Wild Bower Studio Round Serving Bowl

If you’re looking for someone to try your cake or brownie, look no further. I have a serious sweet tooth and will never turn down a sweet treat. So you can understand when I say that salad on the other hand is not really my thing… well, it’s still not my number one but growing kale in the garden has really rocked the boat.

Kale was one of the first vegetables that we could harvest this year along with radishes. For inspiration I followed this recipe for roasted radishes and kale salad. I didn’t have all the ingredients so we figured it out along the way. Last year I did a lot of pickling so we added pickled onions and beets. Since we aren’t cooking our kale - don’t forget to massage your kale.

The thing I enjoyed the most from the recipe linked was their Nutritional Yeast and Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing. It was a game changer!

Once you mix up all your ingredients move everything to a Wild Bower Studio Serving Bowl or Platter. Serve your dressing in one of our mixing bowls so your guests can indulge. And enjoy!