THE NEW YEAR'S EVE HOSTESS GIFT

Today I made a cheese ball to take as a hostess gift tomorrow night and with a little effort I think I elevated it just a bit - don't you??

 Recipe
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese grated
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 T mayo
1 T (heaping) of either diced pimientos or roasted red peppers
2 t diced white onion, or if you do not want the raw onion use some onion powder
1 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T sweet Thai chili sauce
1 t chopped chives, fresh or dried
1 T diced celery (heaping)
White pepper and sea salt to taste
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

Put the softened cream cheese, then the cheddar in a mixer or food processor and mix, then add the rest of the ingredients until well mixed.  Adjust salt and pepper if needed.

 Remove from the mixer and form a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (preferably overnight to let the flavors meld).

 Now the fun part, the wrapping.  You will need some clear cellophane, ribbon, a pipe-cleaner and wire garland.  Simply cut a length of ribbon and tie a large bow and then cut lengths of the wire garland (I chose stars and music notes) and tie them together, then attach them to the back of the large bow with the pipe-cleaner and you will still  have enough of the pipe cleaner to tie around the cellophane when you put this all together. I found the Bonne Annee graphic over at the Graphic's Fairy. Just brought it into my draw program, added a little border and signed.

Once the cheese ball has chilled you can then roll in the toasted almonds and wrap again with fresh plastic wrap.  I had saved a little black plastic container and it turned out to be the perfect container for the cheese ball.

The finished product!  I found the charger for $1, the ribbon was after Christmas sale too, enclosed are two sleeves of Ritz crackers  and a flat knife to serve as a spreader.  I will leave it all for my hostess. Pulling out the crackers now and putting it back in the fridge until tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Resource

Wire garlands, craft stores and $ store
Charger, Tuesday Morning
Harlequin ribbon by White Pine, Marshalls
Gingham Ribbon, Archiver's
Cellophane, craft and hobby stores and online
Recipe source, jojo
Graphic, Graphic's Fairy  
Draw Program link,CorelDRAW Home and Student Suite X6 - 3 Users