As you know, I run on meat and cheese so the idea of being vegan is contrary to everything that makes me happy. As for GMOs - let's not go there.

In its most basic form a charcuterie board is meat and cheese on a cutting board. With that in mind, the fun part is kicking it up notch - presentation is everything. Don't freak out... there are three easy steps to serving a beautiful board:

1) Think about how many people you are going to serve and find an appropriate sized board or platter - you want it to look "full".

2) Go to a good Italian deli and tell them you're building a board and they will help you choose a nice selection of meat and cheese - once you've done this a few times you won't need help. At the same deli you will be able to find a plethora of pickled items and spreads.

3) Lastly, go to the internet and google "charcuterie board" and you'll get 1,000 ideas for how to make yours look fantastic. You will also see that the sky's the limit on what to include!