Cheesy Blog

One of my favorite things is also my biggest downfall. I can't ever walk away from a cheese platter! Blind fold me and put me in a large, dark room filled with alligators and dead fish, and I will still sniff my way to the cheese tray. I just can't help myself. This weekend was sweltering on the east coast, so as we sat in our steamy misery we tried to come up with something simple, cool and LOW fat for dinner. To chill out before our main meal, we sat around our cocktail table (in front of two, huge fans, of course!) and sipped chilled chardonnay while appetizing on chunks of Parmesan cheese. We usually think of Parmesan as something to grate and put on pasta, over a salad or into a boiling bucket of yummy, but chopped up and served with a cold beverage is simply divine! The chardonnay brings out the deep flavors of the cheese (or other way around???). Our next course was a wonderful, easy to make salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and feta cheese with a simple olive oil/garlic/salt and pepper dressing. On the main course, I'll confess, I totally cheated by purchasing a delicious bowl of vichyssoise soup at our local eatery, BUT, I added my own chilly flare by carving out chilled cantaloupes and using them as chilly, tasty bowls (so they sat flat, I shaved a bit off the bottoms with a cheese slicer). For this meal we thought outside the ice box and used daily lovelies in cool new ways.
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Fifteen minutes
COST: Parmesan cheese: $4.99, soup $3.75 and bottle of wine $4.25 (don't judge...tough times!!)
STRESS LEVEL: Chilling out on a hot night: LOW