a Grazing Board: simple dinner idea

 A Grazing Board is an easy option for dinner, lunch or appetizer. There are no rules and you can make it as simple or extravagant as you would like.

We are a family of nibblers.

Not ALL the time, just some of the time.

As a general rule, we are a ‘let’s all sit down to the table and have a dinner with placemats and napkins’ kind of family, so the ‘grazing’ dinner is a real treat.

But sometimes, on special-ish occasions, we break out…the Grazing Board.

Like, when we are decorating the Christmas tree and the home;  we always put out a grazing board.

Or when there is a good football game on, it’s so easy to put the stuff out and let folks graze. (If you are more interested in “traditional” tailgate food, this post is for you.)

Or when we are all involved in a project, like a puzzle or packing everything your youngest fledgling wants to take to college…you need a grazing board for sustenance.

Or when it’s 6 p.m. on Tuesday and  I haven’t even thought about dinner plans…clearly grazing board time.

In my book, these are all PERFECT occasions for a Grazing Board.

This image is of a grazing board we recently enjoyed on a day when we were all darting about before our eldest was leaving for school.  It sufficed as our lunch on that busy day.

Earlywood Mini Cutting Boards 

There are no real ‘rules’ for a Grazing Board…but if it requires a fork to eat, it probably doesn’t belong on a grazing board.

And the amount of preparation you want to put into your grazing board is completely up to you. If you feel like wrapping slices of prosciutto around wedges of melon…by all means, knock yourself out.

However, if you just feel like opening a jar of olives…then that’s OK too.

The grazing board is a judgment free zone!

So, here are some of our favorite Grazing Board ingredients:

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• You need a BIG tray or several smaller trays. Mine, similar to this one, is 18″ diameter.
• Individual plates. These Earlywood Mini Cutting Boards are just about perfect for a grazing board.
• Cheeses…of all varieties; hard, semi-soft and soft. It’s nice to have a variety
• A good jam or jelly to accompany your cheese is always in order.  You can’t go wrong with this spicy tomato jam or this jalapeno wine jelly. In fact, when I ponder a new jam or jelly, ‘will it work on the grazing board?’ is often a consideration.

  

• Meats…Salami, prosciutto, capicola, etc..  Sidenote…I had some prosciutto to put on this tray but forgot all about it.  Now it’s sitting in the fridge awaiting it’s next opportunity to appear on the Grazing Board.
• Nuts…we are partial to Macadamia and Pistachio…but any and all nuts are good in our book
• Olives, Pickles, etc…  On this tray, we just had plain Castelvetrano olives.  But if you want to take it up a notch, marinate them.
• Bread, crackers, etc…

  

• Fruit and or vegetables.  Radishes, cherry tomatoes, figs, grapes, dried fruit, blanched asparagus, bell pepper strips are all great ideas. We also like these Cherries in Spiced Port Wine on our grazing board…they are a nice contrast to a savory cheese.

Bookmark this page or pin the following image to save these ideas for your next grazing board.

Thanks again for spending a few minutes of your busy day with me today.

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!