by Lisa Bryan — September 2022 

I’ve traveled extensively through Italy twice and I’ve always said that if there’s one country in the world I could easily live in, it would be Italy. The first time I traveled to Italy was during a European study abroad in college and the second time was about 10 years later with my mom. For the record, I may have left my heart in Positano.

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https://downshiftology.com/recipes/zucchini-noodle-caprese/

Both of those trips to Italy were before my celiac diagnosis, so everything in sight was edible. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do my fair share of indulging. I did. But given all the pizzas, pasta, and everything I could eat, I kept going back to Caprese salad. My favorite Italian salad. A salad that’s so simple, crisp, flavorful, and beautiful.

MAKING ZUCCHINI NOODLE CAPRESE

So today I decided to give the traditional Caprese salad a zucchini noodle boost, resulting in this delicious zucchini noodle Caprese.

What’s great about this salad is the freshness and flavor from a few key, simple ingredients. Namely, basil, zucchini, and tomatoes. The basil, combined with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, pine nuts, and cashews makes for a highly addictive basil pesto that you’ll literally want to slather on anything and everything.

The cherry tomatoes and creamy buffalo mozzarella balls are perfectly bite-sized. And I love that you can twirl the zucchini noodles just like traditional pasta.

With a glass of wine, sangria, or limoncello in one hand, this zucchini noodle Caprese definitely has me dreaming of my next trip back to Italy. Enjoy!