Zinfandel, Roasted Garlic and Cheese Platter for Rainy Days and Mondays

It was a typical Monday morning.  Wake up to a beautiful sunrise and clear skies...1:00 pm the sky starts rumbling....3:00 pm humid storm, thunder, lighting all over Longs Peak Mountain Range, torrential rain comes from nowhere and you think this is it - tornado coming...7:00 pm, beautiful clear skies and stunning sunsets...We love it!  It has been the same unpredictable, yet very predictable weather everyday for the past month.  After living in Colorado for a year now, I can honestly say that you can truly get all four seasons in one week here.

Tonight a nice easy hors d'oeuvre platter with a Zinfandel sounded perfect for dinner. After three weeks of baking, taste testing and baking more, preparing for the county fair bake shop exhibit, I didn't want to be near measuring cups, saucepans, or even the kitchen at all.

One of our favorite things to have on a night like this is a cheese, cracker and olive platter, nice bottle of wine and sit on the patio to debrief on our day and upcoming week.  Tonight I made roasted garlic to join the rest of the happy hour team.

Roasted Garlic and Cheese Platter
1 Large Head of Garlic
Olive Oil
Mediterranean Sea Salt

Cambozola Cheese
Kalamato Olives (pitted)
Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives
Your Favorite Crackers (we like the Triscuit Rosemary and Olive Oil to compliment the flavors)

Your Favorite Wine - tonight's cork - Cartlidge & Browne Zinfandel

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut top 1/4 inch off heads of garlic to expose cloves.

Place garlic on a sheet of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cover tightly and wrap foil like an envelope packet. Bake until garlic skins are golden brown and cloves are tender, about 55 minutes. 

 Cool. Squeeze out garlic cloves from skins. 

This is how we weather our storms......

...rainy days and Mondays.

Cheers!