Goat cheese: an introduction

A couple of months ago, my mom decided that it would be "fun" to have a billy goat come for a conjugal visit to the two female goats they have. Enter Buckeye, a very youthful looking billy goat who wasn't quite sure what his role was as a male. Enter male goat #2 who is older and more experienced and voila! both boys suddenly know exactly what to do and get to work making kids. My parents are now owners of two pregnant goats, Daisy and Maggie, who should have at least one kid each by Spring. My 12-year-old sister watched the entire fornicating process with my dad--definitely an easy segway to the birds and the bees talk.

But I can't think about any of this when I eat my new favorite food, goat cheese. I've always been a little skeptical of goat-anything, chalking it up to health food gurus who also feed their children only food with the word "organic" in it. But over Christmas, I had a salad with goat cheese on it and fell in love with the stuff. If you've never had it, it's a very soft cheese, about the consistency of cream cheese, with just a little bite, like sour cream has. It comes in all kinds of flavors, and my favorite so far is mediterranean herb. Delicious. It's great on salads (like the one below) and on crackers.

Here's one of my favorite salads:

Baby spinach leaves
sliced pear
mandarin oranges
honey roasted almond slices (I buy these in a bag at the store)
mediterranean herb (or plain) goat cheese
fruity vinaigrette dressing (I prefer Ken's Healthy Options Raspberry Walnut)

Enjoy!