I love when the weekends are full of “F” words…friends, football, food, family and fun.
The cheeseball is my mom’s go-to recipe for parties. It feeds a lot of people and it’s a favorite. She makes it for work parties, holiday parties, and for the heck of it. This has been one of my favorite dishes since I was a little girl. I love hand-me-down recipes, not hand-me-down clothes.
It’s a great last minute dish to make because it requires no baking at all!
Ingredients:
*2 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, *2 packages of cream cheese (8oz) *1/2 medium onion finely finely chopped, *1 red bell pepper finely chopped, *1 green bell pepper finely chopped, *1 tablespoon garlic powder (more to taste), *juice of 1/2 small lemon, *salt & pepper to taste, *chopped walnuts, and *crackers.
You can totally make this recipe lighter. I do it a lot. Just replace the cream cheese with lighter cream cheese, use a lower percentage sharp cheese, and add more vegetables!
You can also make this match the party or holiday you’re serving it at by switching up the pepper colors!
After all ingredients are added to the bowl, use your hands as if you were preparing a meatloaf and combine. You’ll have to break out the inner chef and do a lot of taste testing to make sure it has enough lemon, garlic, salt and pepper!
Once the ingredients are all blended and the cheese ball taste just the way you want it, roll it into a ball.
You will need a bag of walnuts. I used chopped walnuts to save time. Add the chopped walnuts to a plate and roll the cheeseball in the walnuts. You can use almonds, pecans, or peanuts. I’ve see some people use pretzels for nut allergies.
Place the cheeseball in the refrigerator for a while to firm.
Add the cheeseball to the center of a serving plate. I bought an adorable white one at home goods for $12.00. The original price was $89.00. Seriously what a deal! Add the crackers around the edge of the plate.
Emilee and I had fun arranging the crackers. We are weirdos like that. We used pretzels, wheat thins, Triscuits and Ritz crackers. You can use gluten free crackers if you need to.
When you’re done, store everything in the refrigerator. The cheeseball is perfect for large parties because it makes so much!
Do you think there’s anyway to make this without cream cheese? Or some sort of substitute? This looks AMAZING (and is making me really hungry), but I can’t stand the taste of cream cheese and since I’m slightly lactose intolerant, it makes me super sick.
You could substitute chevre (goat cheese), or use the pre-made cheese spreads (like Kaukauna, it’s in most grocery stores) and just fancy them up.
It’s too bad I don’t eat dairy because this is by far one of the best food ideas I’ve ever seen! Cheese ball?!?!?!
Have you ever heard of the brand GOVEGGIE? They make dairy free cheeses. And they’re delicious!You could make this recipe with a dairy free cream cheese and they also make dairy free sharp cheddar 🙂 http://www.goveggiefoods.com/products/cream-cheese/dairy-free/classic-plain