FAIRLY EASY CHEESE SPREAD

I adapted this from some spread ideas in The New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook.

Haul out your trusty food processor. If you don't have a food processor, measure out the ingrediants, let them come to room temperature and combine. I'd recommend using the finest side of your shredder.

Combine one half cup each low fat cottage cheese, non fat cream cheese and a good cheese shredded. Go for something with a really good flavor and kind of pack it in the measuring cup. It's worth it to spring for a good chunk of swiss type or sharp cheddar because a little goes a long way. Process until smooth and put in a covered container in the refirgerator. Because of the cottage cheese only make what you can use within a week or so.

I've had good luck with a spicy pepper jack. And also made on with gruyere swiss thins morning. Added a teaspoon of dill to the swiss spread and it seems to work well. The occaisional crunch of the dill seed as I munched my veggies was a nice touch. Another combo could be sharp cheddar and chili powder or cumin to taste.

The cookbood was written in the late eighties so a lot of the no salt herb combos weren't on the market at the time. At least not the wide variety of say the Mrs. Dash brand. You could just do the cottage cheese and cream cheese and add curry or cajun seasonings for a good bite.

Great with raw vegetables or apple slices. Pretty darn good on a good bread too.

I'm not sure about the calorie count. But the cottage cheese has about ninety calories per half cup and at thirty calories per two tablespoon serving of the cream cheese I'd say maybe two hundred and forty calories or so on the cream cheese. Hard cheese expands wonderfully when you shred it, so maybe two ounces or so of the hard, higher calorie cheeses. A couple of generous tablespoons has been enough for me to take to garnish my veggies for work so I don't think it's too bad.

Run with it and see what works. I suspect that fresh parmesan and tomato, garlic, basil Mrs. Dash would be really good too. And I suspect that about a quarter cup of shredded parmesan would go a long way. Hm, shredded asiago (Greek style cheese) and lemon pepper? Down girl, down.