Happy Retirement!

My Hubs boss is retiring in a few days. Don't we all wish we could trade places with him?? He has been asking me to make some cheeseballs & crackers since I brought some snacks in a few weeks ago. With the holiday parties/Christmas/shopping, I hadn't had time. He so kindly reminded me on Monday, he only has 6 days left of work. (I needed to get to mixin!)

I snagged this recipe from Kraftfoods.com & realized the ingredients are easily switchable.

Standard Cheeseballs
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 1 pkg.
(8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
Dash ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1-2/3 cups PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

BEAT cream cheese, shredded cheese, garlic powder and ground red pepper until well blended. Divide in half. Add roasted red peppers to one half and green onions to the other half; mix each half until well blended. Cover.
SHAPE into a large ball. Roll in pecans. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Since I wanted to make two different kinds of cheeseballs I only used 1 8oz package cream cheese, 4 oz of cheddar cheese & pinches of the seasonings. I omitted the roasted red pepper b/c I didn't have the time or patience to roast a pepper & in this particular cheeseball, I omitted the onions.
For my second cheeseball I made it with 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, about 4 oz Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, a little milk, (like 1 tsp) & the green onions.
I served them with Ritz crackers. Had I known how simple they were, I would have made these ages ago! I am sure they will be making some party appearances soon.

Now, I did receive a "photo-tent" for Christmas http://cgi.ebay.com/23-PHOTO-SHOOTING-TENT-SOFT-BOX-LIGHT-TENT-CUBE-SOFTBOX_W0QQitemZ150141814932QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
I haven't gotten my external light source set up so I haven't had a chance to use it yet. When I do, I am sure I will be beaming!