Now You See ‘Em Spread

My cousin Steve and his wife Becky raved about an appetizer they had at a local restaurant. One night, when we were discussing it, my friend Deloris overheard and spoke up, wondering aloud whether the recipe was one developed by a local company, The Prairie Gypsies, which does catering and sells products. Sure enough, that was it. They make it to serve as a dip, or a spread on crackers. My variation puts it on baked low carb tortilla rounds and adds a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce and 1/8 tsp. garlic powder. If you don’t mind a little sugar, order the Prairie Gypsies’ Red Hot Lover Pepper Jam to use as a topping.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 c. chopped pecans
• 1 c. chopped green onion

Topping:

• Jalapeño or pepper jelly (sugar-free, if you can get it)

Directions:

Chop the green onions and pecans. Mix the worcestershire sauce and garlic powder into the cream cheese. Add the cheddar cheese, pecans, green onions. Mix well. Either form into a ball, like a cheese ball with the jelly on top, and put on a plate surrounded with something to spread it on (or by celery sticks), or spread individual servings onto very plain crackers or baked low carb tortilla rounds and top with a small dollop of the jelly.

The Prairie Gypsies called it Gone in 60 Seconds. I call my version Now You See ‘Em, for the same reason — “Look quick, darlin’, it ain’t gonna be around long!”