Holiday Cheeseball and a bit of Existentialism (both perfect for your next holiday party)

Let's just hang out and stare at the lights for awhile. 

Hey! It’s been a while. A loooonngggg while.

I should explain. I had a bit of an existential crisis regarding this little blog that I hope you can understand. After a lengthy discussion with a good friend of mine, wherein he expressed some honest opinions about blogging, I began to think that having a blog where you basically talk to the internet about your life and the food you put on the table might be a bit narcissistic.

For those of you who write blogs that I read on a daily basis (there are about 20 of them) or blogs that I have yet to discover, I don’t mean you. I think I was just debating whether what I was putting out into the world was making a difference to anyone but my own personal ego. I wasn’t really internally debating whether blogs themselves were narcissistic, because, to be honest, I absolutely love being invited into your kitchens each day. I love hearing about your babies, your husbands and your dating slips and trips. It makes me feel like I’m part of something.

It’s for this reason that I realized I was being silly, because if I absolutely love being invited into other people’s homes via this crazy thing called the internet, then maybe other people get a kick out of being invited into my loony bin too.  And boy oh boy, has it been a loony bin lately.

But that’s enough about my brief foray into existentialism (past that one course I took in first year that I somehow got an 86% in with only showing up twice). Let’s move on to more delicious topics.

I’m currently neck-deep in Christmas cooking and loving every minute of it. I’ve got all of my canning done and have now moved on to the baking portion of this year’s entertainment. I don’t think there’s anything I love more in this world than blasting Christmas music and making a giant mess of the kitchen. Especially when that giant mess produces treats (even better when those treats produce smiles on the faces of the people I love).

Ok, I might love it a bit more if I had my parents here to enjoy the mess with me, but they’ll be here on Sunday. I’m currently counting the minutes.

I read somewhere recently that we all think our families are intolerable and a bit weird until seeing them isn’t an option (paraphrase. Obvs). Now I never found mine intolerable, and I still think they’re mighty weird, but not getting to see my parents for months on end makes me feel a bit disjointed. Seeing them (and the rest of my extended tree) is like yoga for my heart. And I’m beside myself with excitement.

Goal: to have enough baked goods that even this massive pile of tins can't contain them. I think I can do it.

To start off my holiday recipes this year, I’m going to holler out a recipe for a cheese ball that can barely be called a recipe. It’s beyond simple and is something you can make in less than 30 minutes (including going to the store) if you’re in a pinch.

The ball in the photo was made by none other than my roommate (the lovely Ashcrash), to prove that it is literally the easiest and least-time-consuming recipe ever.

This little guy needed a few more pecans, but I've upped the amount in the recipe below. It's a winner for sure.

Amanda’s Holiday Cheeseball - Almost as delicious as Chris Marques’s Mom’s Cheeseball (but not quite)

Excellent for a potluck, serves between 2 and 20 people (depending on your love of cheese and tolerance for over-eating).

• 4 cups of grated cheese (half orange cheddar and half old cheddar is my preference)
• 2 blocks of cream cheese (standard size)
• 4 green onions, minced fine
• 2 roasted red peppers, minced fine
• 2 tsp of your favourite spice mix (or paprika, cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper – 2 tsp total).
• 1 cup of chopped pecans  (you could toast these, but you’re a busy beaver this time of year, so I’d understand if you didn’t)
• Fancy crackers and hot pepper jelly (to serve)

Step one – whip the cream cheese in a mixer (or beat with a spoon).

Step two – dump all of the other ingredients into the mixer (except the pecans) and mix until combined

Step three – form into a ball with your hands (fun!)

Step four – roll said ball in pecans until covered

Step five – wrap in cling film until needed and serve with your crackers and pepper jelly.

Step six – impress everyone with your cooking skills. Bask in the glory.

DONE.

I really did miss you. I made you bacon jam to say I’m sorry.

muchos love,

-BBC

p.s. do you follow me on instagram yet? I’ve got tons of fun photos on there. It’s a great way to get to know me outside of my kitchen. @butterybc