Pimento Cheese

On Christmas day my little family of three has an early breakfast, 3 o'clock "dinner" and real dinner.  This leaves a big gaping hole in our day where we must eat something or we will starve before we reach the 3:00 mark, but can't eat anything too filling or we won't be hungry for our two Christmas dinners.

So this year I made the perfect thing:  homemade pimento cheese!  I had a little sandwich and my husband ate his on Ritz crackers.  It was just the right amount of calories and protein to keep us sustained but not overloaded.  And boy, was it tasty!!

Ingredients:  sharp cheddar cheese, pepper jack cheese, jarred diced pimentos, red onion, mayonnaise, garlic, hot smoked paprika (if you don't have this you can just use regular paprika, but they do sell it at good 'ole Wal-Marts), celery seed and salt and pepper to taste.  White bread or crackers for serving.

Shred the cheeses and add them to a mixing bowl.  You can buy pre-shredded cheese, but the block kind is cheaper and tastes better if you shred it yourself.  I don't know why, but it just does.  If you have a food processor the shredding only takes about 20 seconds.



Chop up the red onion and mince some garlic.  Isn't that a pretty onion?

Then add it to the bowl along with the pimentos and their juices and the mayonnaise.

Mix it well (make sure to disperse the mayo evenly) and then season it with the smoked paprika, celery seed and salt and pepper to taste.

Give it one final mix and adjust the seasonings as necessary.

Slather it on some white bread or crackers.

And chow down!  Trust me, this is sooooooooo much better than the store-bought stuff and it only takes about 5 minutes to make.  I have tried several pimento cheese recipes, including my grandmothers, and this one is my absolute favorite.  It is simply perfect.  Delish!!

Link to the printable recipe:

Pimento Cheese

Source:  Sunny Anderson