CHEESE AND CRACKERS WITH RED STICK RECIPES

Steps:

• Combine cream cheese, butter, goat cheese and garlic powder in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add chives, parsley, and thyme leaves and pulse a few times until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Form mixture into a large ball. To make the turkey body, Pulse ¾ cups pecan halves in a food processor until finely chopped. Roll cheese ball in pecan crumbs and chill for at least 1 hour to allow the cheese ball to set up. To decorate: Make the tail by sticking pretzels, pretzel sticks and multi colored julienned carrots into the tail end of the turkey. Slice carrots to make the turkey feet. Cut a red bell pepper into a large triangle to make the face of the turkey and place on cheese ball using a toothpick or pressing into the cheese ball. Slice a smaller triangle from a yellow bell pepper and attach to the red triangle to make the beak using another toothpick. Slice a thin carrot crosswise to get 2 rounds, for the turkey eyes and place onto red triangle with toothpicks. For the wings, stick pecan halves into the sides of the body, overlapping each other to make a wing shape. Serve cheese ball turkey on a platter along with crackers.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Put the garlic cloves on a square of heavy foil, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Wrap it up and bake until the garlic is golden, nutty and mushy, about 1 hour. Let cool. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• Mix the garlic together with the 4 cheeses, chives, crushed red pepper flakes and some black pepper in a bowl.
• Cut the bread in strips in one direction, being careful not to cut all the way through the loaf. Rotate the bread 90 degrees and cut in the other direction. Stuff the cheese mixture in between the rows. Drizzle the melted butter all over the top.
• Wrap in foil and bake for 25 minutes. Open up the foil and bake until the cheese is hot and bubbly, another 10 minutes. Serve immediately.