Nana's Pimento Cheese

Nana is DH's mother...and I can't get enough of her pimento cheese. The optionals are the stuff that I add when I want to dress her's up..but for the kids, just the way she makes it is wonderful. We serve it with ritz crackers and celery. We prefer to use the Vermont or Kraft brand of cheese. We like to eat it warm too cause it is more spreadable and who wants to wait till it's cool?

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 8  ounces mild cheddar cheese, grated
• 8  ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 (4 ounce) bottle diced pimentos, and liquid
• 1 (8 ounce) package  of softened  neufchatel cheese (NO non fat) or 1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese (NO non fat)
• 1  tablespoon light mayonnaise
• 1 -2  tablespoon  very hot apple cider vinegar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper

• OPTIONAL

• 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1  teaspoon  finely grated onion (or dried equivalent)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1⁄2 teaspoon Tabasco jalapeno sauce
• 1  pimento stuffed olive, sliced thinly

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix grated cheeses and whole bottle of pimentos and liquids. Mix gently. Add block of SOFTENED cream cheese, 1 TB of mayo and 1 TB HOT apple cider vinegar(this helps soften the mix farther for easier mixing). If you need more liquid, add more HOT apple cider vinegar.
2. I use all the optionals at one time and I love it. Experiment and see how you like it.
3. Serve on crackers and cleaned celery stalks topped with sliced green olive.
4. Also, try wrapping a piece of melon (like cantelope) and a dollop of pimento cheese in a piece of ham. Yum!