Brandy Verzuz Monica

The Brandy Verzuz Monica is only two days away and I’m in a frenzy. What am I going to eat while I celebrate the music of these two iconic women?

In case you don’t know, the Verzuz battles, created by Swiss Beats and Timbaland brings both artists and producers together on Instagram Live to determine who has the better catalog.

Brandy and Monica are my absolute favorites. These artists represent a coming of age time for me; this is the one Verzuz I couldn’t miss.

However for me to really enjoy the music, I have to make sure my snacking situation is correct.

I think to myself, “What is the perfect food I can eat?” It came to me – cheese. I decide to enjoy a wine and cheese plate while the two queens go hit for hit.

Now, to be clear, I didn’t want a typical store brought cheese patter. I want cheese with a little bit more depth and character. I’m going to make my own charcuterie cheese board.

In the end, the Brandy Veruz Monica went on to break records with over 1.2 million live viewers and over 20 million combined streams. It was a magical night full of great R&B music, wine and cheese.

Cheese Board Ideas

The beauty about a cheese board is that there are so many different ways you can arrange it. This same reason can make preparing a cheese board menu a little overwhelming.

I kept the cheeses on my board very simple. I know I don’t have a ton of money to spend – cheese can get very expensive and I don’t want to spend hours at the grocery store trying to decide on my cheese board ingredients.

Cheese Board Tools

Before we get into the nitty gritty of building a cheese board and enjoying that ultimate wine and cheese night, make sure you have the essentials.

First and most important, you’ll need a cheese board of course. Thankfully, I was gifted with one for Christmas, so I didn’t have to purchase one myself. Amazon has an elegant bamboo cheese board that’s large enough to hold your cheeses, accompaniments, and bottle of wine.

Don’t forget your wine glasses! They add to the cheese board experience. These long stemmed glasses are perfect for a wine and cheese night.

Cheese Board Types of Cheese

There are four main cheese families to consider when creating a cheese board:
Aged: Cheddar, American, Asiago
Soft: Goat, Blue, Mozzarella
Firm: Cheddar, Bri, Feta
Blue: Gorgonzola, Roquefort

For the most part, I’m a hard cheese girl, but I do want a little bit of texture on my cheese board. I decide on a Boar’s Head Gouda ($7.99), Shop Rite Brand Cheddar ($1.77) and Chevre Montchevre Fresh Goat Cheese – Cranberry Cinnamon ($3.99).

My cheese board has a soft, firm and semi-firm cheese. In total, my cheese cost roughly $14.00. Not bad.

Cheese Board Accompaniments

Cheese board accompaniments provide a great opportunity to add fillers and color to your cheese board. This is where you can get creative and incorporate both sweet and savory elements to your charcuterie cheese board.

Examples of cheese board accompaniments include:
Grapes
Olives
Crackers
Breads
Fruit spread
Nuts
Pesto
Hummus
Baguettes

The cheese board accompaniments I used were green grapes, crackers, olives, and fig spread. Cost for the cheese board fillers was roughly $10.00.

Next, just cut your cheeses and arrange your cheese board. This took me no more than five minutes.

Blissfully Single Bean’s Cheese Board

This is how my cheese board came out!

Again, I was nervous my board wouldn’t have enough cheese or be as pretty as so many of the other presentations I’ve seen Pinterest. In the end though, it was absolutely perfect. My cheese board cost me $25 and more than fed two.

My 10 year old was so excited to enjoy the charcuterie cheese board with me. He told me he felt “rich” munching on it, which was hilarious to me. He felt a sense of opulence by just looking at the cheese board.

In the end, it was a great night. My son and I celebrated the R&B Queens Brandy and Monica. My goodness, it was so lovely introducing my child to my era of music. More importantly though, we celebrated time together through food.

Blissfully Single and Yours Friends,