Yes, I'm a wine-o - I admit it! I'm a big lush and I looove me some cheese.

I know that this isn't exactly a skinny sort of thing, but if it's done right and in moderation... it doesn't have to completely undo your day, or week, or month, or year! So this is a how-to for a proper cheese plate.

Basically when you're putting a cheese platter together, you want to be sure that you have a nice selection of different textures and tastes. Funky, nutty, sharp, creamy, fresh, sweet, salty, and crunchy!

A wine will be completely different if you taste it after having a crumble of blue cheese rather than following after a piece of dark chocolate. It's fun to get to play around with it all and find what sets your palate off.

I like to pile on the additional items such as fruit, nuts, olives, and pickles. Why? Well, I have found that if I have a variety of other things to munch on, I won't completely gorge myself on the cheese. Which let me tell you - I will do if I'm not careful. Especially after a glass or two of wine.

I picked everything on this platter for a specific purpose and reason, tailored to my own personal tastes. You could definitely swap the cheeses around to suit your own; such as chèvre would be a good alternative for the fresh cheese in place of the mozzarella. I personally cannot stomach goat's milk cheese, if I know that it's goat's milk cheese. I went with prosciutto instead of other meats (such as pepperoni) due to the calories per ounce being significantly less.

We all have our guilty pleasures, no?

Mine is everything you see here.

Anatomy of a Cheese Plate
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
The nutritional information will entirely vary depending on the sort of cheeses you go with!
My mom did a break down of all the cheeses that we used and we ended up with an average of about 92 calories in a 1 oz. serving of cheese alone.

Directions:

The Cheeses:
Funky - Bleu
Nutty - Gouda
Sharp - Extra Sharp Cheddar
Creamy - Brie
Fresh - Mozzarella

The Meats:
alami & Prosciutto

The Vehicles:
Crackers & Crunchy Bread

Sweet Stuff:
Fresh Fruits - Berries, Apple & Grapes
Dried Fruits - Cherries & Apricots
Fruit Jam - Blueberry & Cherry
Dark Chocolates

Crunchy Stuff:
Seeds & Nuts

Salty Stuff:
Mixed Olives

Plate up and enjoy in moderation!