Pears are in season, and what better way to celebrate this divine Fall fruit than with cheese? Next time you go to your neighborhood cheese shop, be sure to ask about these sheep, cow, and goat milk cheeses so you can enjoy them atop sweet, crunchy pear slices. Before a meal or after, these sophisticated duos will impress without being showy.
When thinking of an appetizer to serve at upcoming holiday parties, skip processed, premade food and serve something fresh and whole instead. We love this idea from FitSugar reader CheesePlease; she posted it in the Snack Attack: Healthy Snack Ideas community group.
Think of Grana Padana as Parmigiano Reggiano's high-maintenance cousin. This cheese is less nutty and salty; a much more delicate cheese compared to your regular Parmesan. Pair Grana Padano with a high quality fig spread or preserve for an elegant and rustic appetizer!
Check out more of CheesePlease's recipes and snack ideas over at her blog, Cheese Please. And don't forget to post your own recipes and snack ideas in the FitSugar Community; they may end up on the FitSugar homepage!
Cheese is one of those party-ready pantry items that I always have on hand; nothing's easier (or classier) than putting together a last-minute spread for a dinner party with crackers, nuts, and dried fruit.
I didn't think anything could improve the old standby of the cheese platter, but I was proven wrong when I came across this elegant arrangement of late-Summer figs and cantaloupe, blue cheese slices, and slivered almonds, all drizzled with honey.
Part fruit salad, part cheese course, this dish highlights the best of the season without doing too much with each ingredient. Be sure to source the best items you can; I opted for green Kadota figs, local lavender honey, and a creamy Wisconsin blue. Keep reading for the recipe.
Surprise your friends this holiday with the unique edible gift of quince paste. Quince is a fruit closely related to apples and pears, but it's most commonly cooked into a jam, paste, or pudding. In Spain, quince paste (dulce de membrillo) is served with manchego. After tasting this sweet and salty combination, the paste has become an essential on my cheese plate. 
Since quince season ends in December, it's the perfect time to make this gift for cheese-lovers. Most recipes call for drying the paste in the oven for 15 hours, but luckily, I found one on Epicurious that simplifies the process. With a little experimenting, I was able to adapt their recipe to create a delightful quince paste with a consistency somewhere between jelly and gumdrops. Discover quince paste by reading more!
Every October I look forward to picking out pumpkins. There's a great ranch near my parents house that has a pumpkin patch along with a picnic area and hay rides, so I'm grabbing a group of friends and hosting a picnic at the pumpkin patch! Since we'll be heading out this weekend, I invited everyone by phone.
The menu will be a hearty Fall-themed lunch. I'll start by setting up an assortment of cheeses and fruit. The elements to an autumn greens salad will be packed in separate containers. The greens, apples, and radishes in one, the cheddar frico in another, and the vinaigrette in third.
The salad can be assembled at the picnic table. Thermoses filled with a fragrant ginger, butternut squash soup are perfect for enjoying at the pumpkin patch. For these scrumptious recipes, read more
Last weekend I attended California's Artisan Cheese Festival. While the highlight was tasting tons of scrumptious cheeses, I did learn how to create a beautiful cheese plate. A cheese plate is wonderful for parties because it doesn't involve any cooking; it's more about assembling and displaying in an attractive way. To see my tips for creating a beautiful cheese display, read more
I've already got a portion of the menu planned for this week's travel party - where the theme takes itself from five countries. The Mexican, Japanese, and Russian rooms will have delicious savory nibbles, dips, and tasty appetizers for guest to enjoy while they mingle. For an element of surprise, create an English cheese tasting platter for the British room. Generally cheese platters consist of Italian, French, or Swiss cheeses, so a platter with nuts, jams, honey, fig crackers, English cheddar, and Stilton will wow guests with your originality. Meaty Cuban sandwiches with pickles and mustard finish up the menu. Head over to Cost Plus World Market to supplement the rooms with sweet treats and exotic bites from the respective countries. For the recipes that will take you around the globe, read more
An engagement party is often thrown to announce the forthcoming marriage of a couple, and in my case, the arrival of Wedding Season on the Sugar Network. The creative juices are flowing and I'm pulling out all of the stops for the most fabulous party yet: a dessert party. The elegant invites set the tone for an extravagant menu full of sweet treats: chocolate brownie cupcakes, salty almond chocolate bark, creamy mini cheesecakes, and tart strawberry shortcakes. Sounds like a pretty complete menu, right? Wrong! What about those people who don't like desserts (I know, hard to believe, but they do exist!)? What will the hostess with the mostess serve them? A simple (seriously this involves no baking or cooking) cheese and fruit platter. To see how to arrange one, read more
Raclette
1. a Swiss, semi firm cow's milk cheese dotted with small holes and mellow, nutty flavor.
2. a dish by the same name consisting of a heated chunk of raclette cheese that is heated, traditionally over an open fire, until it melts. The raclette is scraped off onto a plate and served with boiled potatoes, dark bread, and cornichons.
