Over time I have become a proponent of grazing. Putting together picnic or buffet style dinners that are very different from the one pot solution or the soup and sandwich or the protein, sauce and two sides approach. I like a modular dinner dish where I can sub out different things and eat fresh. I’ve written before about the samples basket at Whole Foods at the cheese counter. Here’s four actual size cheese samples plus baby brie. I got the whole grain baguette and the pear from Whole Foods as well and the creole tomato from the Red Stick Market downtown last Saturday. But this could just as easily be put together with proscuitto, salami, or paté. Cucumbers, carrots, radishes. Apples, grapefruit, grapes. Crackers, biscuits, leftover roasted chicken, kalamata olives. Buffalo mozzarella, hardboiled or deviled eggs, curried cashews. I’m sure you get my point. Pick a few things you want to eat, put them together on a plate and get after it. And pie and ice cream sandwiches and oatmeal raisin cookies after that if you want. Grazing gives you many, many options and is a perfect time to try a new cheese or a new deli side. You can also incorporate leftovers and it is a really good time to do the healthy eating thing with unprocessed or barely processed foods. Also, like the traditional picnic, it is easy to share. Both the meal and the bottle of wine you’ve been sitting on. Bon appétit!
