Foodster Friday: The Antipasta Dinner

Some of my favorite meals are not meals at all.  If it's hot, or I'm just not in the mood to cook, the best meal as far as I'm concerned is one that presents great, but doesn't require much, if any actual cooking.  Truth be told, I'm also a terrible meal planner, so sometimes these things come together out of sheer neglect.
That doesn't make them any less tasty.
Enter the Italian Antipasta plate.  Not reinventing any wheels, here.  Just giving my take.  Also, so simple, yet filling enough for a busy mom to be able to check off the box of "I made dinner."

"Antipasta" covers a lot of ground, but for me it means:  some kind of cured cold-cut (with or without fruit), a selection of cheeses (ours were decidedly NON-Italian, so go with what you like), fresh bread, and some kind of salty goodness - usually olives/anchovies/tapenade, etc.  I threw in some arugula greens to make it pretty, and get something of a veggie in.

It's really a preference thing, but I will say, having GOOD olives is key for me.  I'm not a big olive person in general, but these olives are absolutely amazing.  Cerignola olives.  Put it to memory.  They're  "young" olives, but still big and buttery.  They're also preserved in a brine that isn't so ridiculously salty.  They're just incredible.  Check the specialty area of a grocery, gourmet food store, or in a pinch, Amazon sells them HERE.

Arrange it prettily on an olive board or something.  Take a pic for Insta (obvs), and call it a night.