How To Make a Cheese Board (Charcuterie)

If you saw my Instagram stories @lisa_allen over Easter, you probably saw the meat and cheese board we had before dinner. Guess who made this display of goodness? Avery and Poppy did! When it comes to anything Pinterest worthy, I always have my kids help. They are so good at making food pretty! For years I have loved to order a meat and cheese platter. It wasn’t until a few months ago I could pronounce the proper way to say Charcuterie (SHärˈko͞odərē). You’re welcome for the rest of you who were also unsure how to say it:).

How to Make a Meat and Cheese Board

Use Different Kinds of Cheese

The options for cheese are pretty endless. I’m not super adventurous when it comes to cheese and I don’t love smelly cheese like blue cheese or goat cheese.

We stick to mozzarella balls, smoked gouda, parmesan, brie and white cheddar.

Use Different Kinds of Meat

We love using salami, prosciutto, turkey summer sausage (Trader Joe’s carries a great one)

Add Sweet Ingredients

Add grapes, dried cranberries, dried apricots, apple slices, blueberries, mini jar of honey. It’s good to have a mix of fresh fruit and dried fruit.

Breads and Crackers

A mix of baguettes and crackers make for a fun board. Trader Joe’s has a great box with 3 different types of crackers. I also love pretzel rolls sliced instead of baguettes. We used water crackers, Ritz crackers, and multi grain crackers.

Salty Sides

We use a medley of greek olives, mini pickles, marinated artichoke hearts. I also like to use different types of mustards, I think the kids forget them this time.

Pick Your Board

All of our WOODEN BOARDS are obviously made by Jeff. He is not selling them anymore due to so many front door orders. He is now just making a few extra to gift his clients. I found a few fun wood boards online you might like: WOOD and MARBLE, RUSTIC BOARD, SKINNY BOARD, TEAK END GRAIN. Ps, end grain boards are the best type to buy. They are a lot more expensive, but they won’t dull or damage your knives. It’s the only way Jeff will make them and it’s how our butcher block counter was built.

How To Assemble Your Meat and Cheese Board

This was the fun part for the kids! I think one to thing to remember when making a charcuterie board, is that anything will work. Get creative. Use what you have on hand. I got everything from TRADER JOE’S, but all grocery stores have big meat and cheese sections! The kids rolled some of the meats for a variety of texture on the board. Then they grouped the bigger items and used items like dried cranberries and olives as fillers to fill in gaps on the board. You can also drizzle a balsamic glaze across your mozzarella and brie. Like I said, get creative and use ingredients you like!

Bonus: leftovers are great for school lunches! My kids don’t like sandwiches, but leftovers from a charcuterie board is basically a grown up version of Goldie’s favorite, the lunchable;)

I love when you make recipes and ideas you saw on my account and tag me in your food posts/stories. Thank you. Keep doing it!

MORE RECIPES 

SHRIMP CEVICHE – PROTEIN GUACAMOLE –AIR POPPED POPCORN– CARNE ASADA TACOS – TOMATILLO SALSA – LEMON CHICKEN SOUP – PROTEIN FUDGE – BRUSSELS SPROUTS SALAD –  WHITE CHICKEN CHILI –PROTEIN BALLS– CHICKEN TOMATILLO SOUP – PROTEIN DATE SHAKE

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