I love this cheese ball.  I adore this cheese ball.  It might be my most favoritest cheese ball I make.  I really really wanted to make this cheese ball before Christmas, but….   It is easy breezy, but somehow it did not get made.

So today I made it anyway.  Maybe we can have it for New Years.

Pineapple Cheese Ball is another recipe from my mother’s cookbook, “A+ in Cooking“.  George and George Ann Baker gave her this recipe.  ( Yes, George married George Ann – strange but true.)  Mother taught their son Stephen in 1978.  When you read the ingredients, they appear to be slightly odd.  Pineapple with green pepper and onion.  But it works.  It really works.

Here are the ingredients:  Cream cheese, crushed pineapple, green bell pepper, onions, chopped pecans, and (optional) seasoned pepper.  The reason this picture is cropped a little strange, is – I am a dork.  I put seasoned salt in the picture instead of seasoned pepper, and I have taught second grade long enough to know that some of you are visual learners and you would not fully recognize my mistake, and you would use the seasoned salt – which might not be good.  This being said, the original recipe did not even call for the seasoned pepper, but one day I decided to add it, and I liked it.  I think regular pepper would work if you do not have the seasoned kind.

First order of business is to drain the crushed pineapple very well.  If you do not drain it well, you will have a spread instead of a cheese ball, which is okay, but….  (How do I know this?, you ask.  Experience, experience, experience.)  Now, I use a spoon to mash down on the crushed pineapple to get as much juice removed as possible.

If you have one, now is the time to get out your trusty food processor.  It will make short order of the chopping duties.

Chop the pecans.  I like them.  I love them.  FYI:  Pecans are the State Nut of the Great State of Texas, and deservedly so.

Take the bell pepper and remove the seeds and the membranes.  Then chop the green bell pepper.

The onions come next.  I used green onions, and did chop them by hand.

The hard part is over.  Mix together drained pineapple and yummy delicious cream cheese.  Love the smell of pineapple.

Add the finely diced bell pepper and onions.  Mix well.

Then you add those fantastic pecans.  And you know the drill – mix well.  Add the pepper at this time if you wish.  The recipe makes two cheese balls. (Shown is one cheese ball.)

Getting the pecans on the cheese ball without getting messy is a little tricky.  I get a piece of cling wrap and put it on the counter.  Then put down some chopped pecans.  Then dump the cheese ball mixture on top of the pecans.  Take more pecans and put them over the top of the cheese ball until it is covered.  Use the cling wrap to help you pat the pecans into the ball.  I know this is clear as mud.  Just do the best you can.  It always turns out

Finally put the cheese balls in the refrigerator to get happy.  Or you can do as we did, and taste test to see if this cheese ball is really as good as we remembered.  Be still my heart.  This cheese ball was/is delicious.  Now I am so sorry I did no make this for my friends on Christmas Eve.

I have also used this mixture as a spread for tea sandwiches, and it is a big hit.

Enjoy!

Blessings to you and yours,

Thank you for reading Lanabird.  Love you!