By Holly Sosa
This post is sponsored by Smart & Final. Thank you to Smart & Final for partnering with me. And thank you readers for supporting the brands that support this blog and my family.
While my favorite Detroit team isn’t headed to the Big Game this season, my family and I are still pumped to watch it together. I grew up with football on our family TV as my stepdad cheered on his Denver team, so we’ve still got our hearts invested. My husband and I usually hold a small gathering on the big day and serve tons of typical game day food: chips and dips, pigs in a blanket, the usual. But this year, I thought I’d up my appetizer game after I laid eyes on some gorgeous cherry tomatoes while shopping at my local Smart & Final. Game day is about to get a touch more sophisticated, friends.
These Caprese and Olive Appetizers are stupid easy (my favorite kind of way to cook!) to whip together and offer a little something for everyone’s tastebuds. My husband isn’t a tomato fan, so I got a little extra creative and used First Street black olives on a few of the skewers to offer a substitute for tomato haters (who even are you people?!). Just feast your eyes on all of these fresh ingredients I picked up during my shopping trip.
To start, I simply skewered a piece of mozzarella.
And then a tomato. And then I set it aside on a platter.
And repeated on another skewer, but this time I swapped the tomato for a First Street black olive.
Look how pretty they look all lined up together.
Once I had skewered about a dozen or so, I chopped up some fresh basil.
Oh, how I adore the smell of basil. My whole car smelled fresh and earthy during the drive home. I loved every moment! Can someone make a basil car freshener? Can we get on that already?
And sprinkled it all over the top of the skewers.
And finally, I finished them all off with First Street Vinaigrette.
My husband, who happens to be a bit of a cheese snob and usually turns down soft cheeses like mozzarella, swiftly enjoyed several of the olive versions of these. And I helped myself to plenty of the classic Caprese versions. The tomatoes were so fresh and juicy; I even enjoyed a few all by themselves. And the First Street Vinaigrette was divine over these with the perfect combination of oil and balsamic. As the Italians say, MUAH!
These are going to be a delicious addition to our Big Game gathering and since they’re so simple to make, I’ll be spending less time in the kitchen and more time watching football….and I’ll be honest, the commercials too.
When doing your shopping for the Big Game, check out Smart & Final. It’s one of my favorite stores since they offer the usual grocery items along with bulk items that I need to keep stocked up on for my extra large family and for events like our game day gathering. Plus, when you shop at Smart & Final, you could win free groceries for a year with their Final Score Sweepstakes. To win, you’ll have to guess the correct Final Score of the Big Game.
If guessing isn’t your thing, join me and Smart & Final on Sunday February 7th from 1PM‐2PM PST when we give away a $500 Smartcash Card to one random winner who shares their favorite game day snack with us on Twitter using the hashtag #SFSnackChat. Be sure you’re a follower of @SmartFinal to qualify. Terms and conditions found here.
For more game day recipes, be sure to visit the Smart & Final website. And check out the Smart & Final Facebook page for the latest events, coupons, and more.
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