A few years I had an offer from a company to earn prizes and money by keeping track of every thing my household purchased by entering in the item's SKU number to a website after I returned home from each and every shopping trip. At the time, as a full time Mom in a family of five who loved to cook and purchased on average 300 items at the store, entering each barcode was not high on my list of 'fun things to do with my afternoon' and passed it up. Later they improved the process with a barcode scanner to make it a bit quicker but even with a scanner, 300 items for a few measly points or a couple dollars just wasn't worth the hours and hours I would log entering all our household purchases.

I like to make recipes on a whim and have the ingredients on hand, or at least something that works well as a substitute. On any given day you'll find my kitchen stocked with caper's, saffron, caraway seeds, curry powder, oysters, artichokes and lemon pepper. We also love cheese in almost every form so it's not unusual to have 15 kinds of cheese on hand, from blue cheese to Velveeta and feta to brie.

If you bought blue cheese for the holidays and need a recipe to 'use it up' on, how about a cheese log for New Year's? This one is from Southern Living back in March of 2004. If you have cheddar and blue cheese on hand as well as some leftover pecans from your holiday baking and perhaps some Worcestershire sauce in the cupboard, give it a go. You can make it today and freeze it or refrigerate it until New Year's.

Blue Cheese Log

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, cubed
2 (4-ounce) packages crumbled blue cheese
1/2 small onion, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 cups finely chopped pecans, toasted and divided
2 cups finely chopped fresh parsley, divided
Crackers

Process cream cheese, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, onion, worcestershire sauce and 1 cup of the pecans in a food processor 1 to 2 minutes until combined, stopping to scrape down sides.

Stir together cheese mixture, 1 cup pecans, and 1/2 cup parsley. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Shape cheese mixture into 4 (7-inch) logs.

Combine remaining 1 cup pecans and 1 1/2 cups parsley. Roll logs in parsley mixture; cover and chill until ready to serve. Serve with crackers.