Table Experience: Caprese Bites with Cucumber

Try this easy party food appetizer, Caprese Bites with Cucumber, next time you want to create a yummy “table” experience.

Some of our best friends came for dinner last week and we had a great time around the table. After a long day of work, obligations, and stress, we came together to enjoy some wine and appetizers on the back patio, with a yummy steak dinner. My husband made this delicious appetizer, Caprese Bites with Cucumber, using end-of-season garden cucumbers and tomatoes. A perfect way to start off our little dinner party! {Here is the link to our backyard lighting, if you’d like more information on the lights!}

The point of entertaining is to gather people around your table that you want to be there. That makes it fun and exciting for me as I plan a dinner party! It’s a beautiful thing to actually have people into our home who we want to invest time in, and hopefully in return they’re interested in our lives. (Secretly, it’s always nice to get a reciprocated invite, but we never base our friendships on that. That is not why we host.)

Gathering.

This is what “gathering” is all about. Some of Paul’s and my best moments as a married couple have been spent creating and cooking meals together–hours in the kitchen–often with the harvest from our garden. Then we gather at the table with people—some new and some old friends—creating community, love, and courage.

Courage.

I write about courage a lot. I often to refer to John Wayne’s quote, “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

Sometimes you just have to be brave, when you invite people into your home, especially if you’re a perfectionist and you worry about everything. It can all be scary—like the meal, the state of the house, will your family be accepted and loved, do you look okay, will your kids act out, what if you don’t know what to say? These are questions that go through women’s heads—I think women more than men—because image is very important to us.

Perfect.

Men seem to be way more relaxed, willing to toss a steak on the grill and make a giant salad and call it good, whereas women want to make things pretty, make more than enough food, stress the family out by cleaning the house (because, what will they think?), and we really want our families to shine and look “just right.” We want to be loved and accepted, so we work our little hinies off trying to make it all perfect.

3 R’s.

But when it’s all said and done–even if the food is amazing–it comes down sharing our hearts with each other—laying it out on the table. It’s where we are challenged, we listen, where courage grows. With the sound of glasses clinking, forks scraping, and words flying, we like to look at it as being recharged, rejuvenated, and sometimes love is rekindled.

The bottom line is this. We just walk away as better people when we have this kind of “table” experience.

Caprese Bites with Cucumber.

Now for the appetizer. Slice, layer, salt and pepper, add a basil leaf, drizzle with balsamic, and you’ll have the best party food in about 10 minutes!

When is the last time you “saddled up” and made an invite, even though it was a scary thing to do?

5 stars (1 review)

Leave a Review

Get the Recipe:

Caprese Bites with Cucumber

Bites of Caprese goodness. If you don’t have balsamic glaze, lightly drizzle with balsamic and olive oil.

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 10 minutes mins

Yield: 12 -16 bites

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save RecipeSaved!

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• 1 large cucumber, sliced
• 8 mozzarella slices
• 2-3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
• Fresh basil
• Balsamic glaze, we use DeLallo brand
• Salt & pepper

Instructions

 

• Assemble the bites in the following order: cucumber slice, tomato slice, mozzarella slice; lightly salt and pepper.
• Place a basil leaf on top of each bite and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

Author: Sandy / Reluctant Entertainer

Did you make this recipe?Tag @reluctantentertainer on Instagram and hashtag it #reluctantentertainer!

Are you following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest? Thanks being here today, and if you’d like to subscribe to Reluctant Entertainer, to have each post delivered straight to your e-mail box, then please add your email, here. It’s really easy!