Midwest Charcuterie Board

Step 1

Start by creating some anchor points with any bowls you want to use. Space out dishes of pepper jelly, mustards, olives, and dill dip in a few central spots on the board. From there, you can work outward, using the bowls to support stacks of crackers, hold up apple slices, and bolster up sliced bread.

Step 2

Next, the heavy stuff. Mini cheese balls can piled up into a mini mountain. Slice up the meats and cheeses into finger-friendly pieces and arrange them in luscious piles, layering and overlapping when needed to make it beautiful (Martha calls it "shingling.") Have fun with this; make it symmetrical or random, orderly or chaotic. I do tend to keep like with like, in case there's a specific thing someone needs to avoid; it also makes replenishing the board easier. If you're leaving chunks of cheese for guests to cut themselves, make sure it's accessible on the board.

Step 3

Fill in the gaps with whatever you have: sliced fruit, crackers, breadsticks, baguette, sugared cranberries, peanuts, pistachios, toasted walnuts, you name it. Garnish with herbs, flowers, and finally, add forks, spreaders, and picks where needed.