"Graduation" and Goat Cheese! (Great holiday appetizer as well)

I'm not sure if you know what I do so I am going to tell you! I teach classes and give presentations on the magic of food as well as discussing all the other things that affect our well-being. I went to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where I was taught about the Integrative approach to nutrition. You may think that all we discussed was food - and you would be primarily correct.

We broke food into 2 components - Primary Food and Secondary Food. Both Primary Food and Secondary Food were defined as things that nourish our body. Believe it or not, the food we put into our mouth and swallow is known as Secondary Food. So, what is Primary Food?? Primary Food is all the other things humans need to feel truly nourished and thrive. This includes relationships, careers, exercise and spirituality.

I cover all these areas in my classes and I introduce the concept of listening to your body to tell you what you need to be doing to truly nourish yourself. Our bodies are amazing. They talk to us all the time. We just haven't been taught to listen to the language our body speaks. Once we do that, magic happens! I love that word, "magic!" I haven't figured out a better way to describe what happens when we begin to eat foods our body craves and allow the body to works its magic!

So, I needed a recipe to bring to a class I was teaching. This was our last scheduled class. We had spent the last 6 months together meeting about every other week. I always bring food to my classes for people to try. It takes the fear out of trying new foods. Our last class or "graduation" is sort of like a celebration and I wanted something that not only tasted good, was made from whole foods but was also somewhat seasonal and local in nature.

I found this recipe on the internet. It came from a website for Delicious Living. It seems that the recipe was developed as part of a contest using almonds. As usual, I changed the recipe to fit the ingredients I had on hand. So here is my version for:

Baked Goat Cheese with Apple and Cranberries

1/2 cup chopped apple (I used a local Jonathan and chopped it in a small dice.)

1/4 cup dried cranberries (I also chopped these up a little)

1/4 cup nuts (I used almonds and pecans - you could also use walnuts - cut up in small pieces)

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons butter, melted

8 ounces goat cheese (I used the mild goat cheese that comes in a log)

Crackers or warmed baguette

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the chopped apple, dried cranberries, nuts, honey, cinnamon and butter.

Slice the cheese crosswise into four even wheels. Place 2 of the wheels in a small baking dish. Spoon half of the apple/cranberry mixture over the cheese. Place the remaining cheese pieces on top and cover with the remaining apple mixture. Bake until the cheese starts to melt - it took about 10 minutes in my oven.

Serve warm with crackers or warmed baguette.