Pimiento Cheese is Good for the Soul!

As a child, I was frightened of pimientos. Not that they would taste yucky. That they would bite me. How crazy is that? I therefore completely eschewed pimiento cheese until I was 21 years old, staying with a friend in Florida for a week, and left to my own devices for lunch. Laura, a Georgia girl, had a tub of pimiento cheese in her fridge & a packet of Ryvita crackers in the cupboard. I ventured to try it and became rather enamored. When I lived in a small town outside Nashville, I frequently dropped a tub in my cart at the grocery. But when I moved back to Ohio, I discovered that there is pimiento cheese and there is pimiento cheese. So, I had to learn to make it. Jeannene adores my pimiento cheese and begs me to make it. We had pimiento cheese on light bread (as they say in Tennessee), a romaine salad, and beautiful pineapple & strawberries for dinner tonight. Shred a pound of extra-sharp cheddar. I recommend Tillamook or Cabot. Add 6-7 ounces chopped pimientos or roasted red pepper, a couple tablespoons grated sweet onion such as Vidalia, a quarter teaspoon salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, a dash of cayenne, and 2/3 c. mayonnaise. I like Hellman's. Duke is good, too. Mash it all together with a fork or your hands. Chill it a couple hours if you can wait that long.