Fancy Cheese!

            I was just driving through Draper with my family when we discovered Harmon's. My Mom, me and my sisters were so excited you would think that we were attending a rock concert with lots of "hot" singers instead of a grocery store with beautiful hormone free chickens. I am in love with Harmon's Grocery Store! They have wide variety of fruits, veggies, and CHEESE, reasonable prices, awesome cooking supplies, many healthy products, and most importantly they have locally grown produce. Its always is funny when I think of how most teenage girls at my age like to go clothes shopping, but I would rather go grocery shopping any day! Anyway the thing that sets Harmon's apart in Draper is that they have one of the largest Cheese Counters in Utah! (I've decided my favorite cheese is Gouda) We bought lots of different kinds of cheeses; Belgioioso Parmesan, Fresh Motzerella, Cive Squeaky cheese (really good with crackers), Apple smoked white cheddar from Wisconsin, White Stilton with blueberry (Sadly the Stilton molded before we got to use it), and Havarti Cream Dill Danish from Denmark.       

  

The Cheese Counter at Harmond's

    With the Apple Smoked White Cheddar I made a Cheddar popcorn just by making regular popcorn with butter but no salt. Then add the entire chunk of cheddar that I finely grating.

    With the Mozzarella I made a fresh Caprese salad by taking a melon baller and making small mozzarella balls, also I added Basil that I had bought at the farmers market, finally I took some cherry tomatoes and cut big slices. This Would be great idea for a party snack that's not made out of sugar.

With the Parmesan Cheese I made a light pasta. I started by boiling some Brown rice Fettuccine noodles. Then I sliced Asparagus in a diagonal pattern after that I steamed the asparagus. Grated all the Parmesan. (Hint: Cheese when cooked looses some of its strong flavor so I use allot so I can highlight the flavor of the cheese) Then I poured about 2 TBS of melted butter on the noodles and mixed in the Parmesan and the asparagus thoroughly until the asparagus is incorporated and the cheese is melted. Don't forget to salt your pasta!  (Parmesan is a staple cheese in my kitchen it adds a great flavor to many of my dishes.)

  The Havarti Cheese was my favorite to work with! I started by boiling my noodles. While the noodles were boiling I sauted some fresh dill from the herb garden and minced Garlic Scapes (garlic scapes are the top of the garlic stems mince as small as possible for maximum flavor.) with butter, then I made a roux in the dill/garlic mixture by melting butter in a thick bottomed pot to prevent scorching, (Always use stainless steel and not aluminum for cooking because aluminum can be toxic) Then I thickend the butter by adding flour, Then I incorporated the milk and the entire chunk of cubed cheese. (When doing this use a whisk and don't leave the pot, continue stirring the entire time.) When the sauce is creamy add your noodles. Top with steamed broccoli.

Garlic Scapes ( I call them Garlic twists)