Wednesday, July 11, 2007

What I Do For Love

I'm the odd one out in my house. The rest of my family loves blue cheese. It's my husband's first pick for salad dressing. It's a treat to my kids crumbled in a salad. To me it is food gone bad. Come on, people, it's riddled with mold!

I have serious issues with mold. It grosses me out. Nothing gets my gag reflex going as much as finding the lurker at the back of the fridge. You know what I'm talking about. The Tupperware container that you didn't label, knowing you'd use it in a few days, but it got something juicier and more tempting put in front of it and it gradually migrated to the back of the fridge. You forgot all about it, until a fit of cleaning made you gingerly remove it, carefully peeling up the lid (if it hadn't already self-popped). You reel back in horror, the noxious odors assaulting your nose, the fuzzy blue, green, and red puffs threatening to crawl out of the container, and you rush to the sink to stuff it down the drain and let the sewer gators take it on.

Mold smells nasty, looks frightening, and makes me gag. Yet some people enjoy it and even go so far as injecting an innocent cheese with it. And then eating it. On purpose. The mind boggles.


In order to maintain a happy marriage, my sweet husband and I have reached a compromise. He deals with the nasty mold from the fridge and I try not to retch when he enjoys his blue cheese. When he got a chunk of blue cheese for his birthday from our daughter, I took it as an opportunity to score good wifey points and made him a blue cheese dip. My daughter did the crumbling of the blue cheese and the stirring in so I wouldn't be overcome by the fumes.


They said it was delicious. It's easy to make and you don't have to wait to enjoy it, although my husband said the next day the flavors had melded into a somewhat different, but equally enjoyable blend. If you like blue cheese, by all means try it. Just don't make me watch.

Chunky Blue Cheese Dip (adapted from Taste of Home)

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup minced fresh chives

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, pepper and salt until smooth. Gently blend in the blue cheese and chives. Serve with crackers, apple and pear slices, and / or pecans. Makes 1-3/4 cups.


18 comments:

  1. whine whine whine whine! It is pretty funny to watch you freak out if you pick up a piece of bread with mold on it. You scream like a spider crawled on you *evil laugh*. I love you mom, and all your weirdness.

    Sarah

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  2. I do like blue cheese, but only really the white bit without and blue near the rind!

    I totally get the gag reflex. My hubby loves really rank blue cheese, and it's way too much for me!

    Thanks for the relish information in the chicken salad, I've printed it off to try!

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  3. When I saw that first picture I knew I was looking at one of my all-time big loves....bleu cheese. I need to go get some crackers now.

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  4. ooohhh, I love smelly blue cheeses. You wouldn't like a cheese they do here called Stinking Bishop. It would really gross you out, Lynn! The thought of cilantro grosses me out. Yuk!

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  5. I was always amazed at the wide variety of colors that the mold in our fridge could be. The pink sour cream will always hold a special place in my heart. Hopefully it has not evolved into a race of super monsters.

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  6. Or a great guilt God from our fridge.

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  7. You make it sound so yummy! When we lived in France, we ate a lot of molding cheese. It was an entire Course. The ribbons of blue proved how wonderful it must be. Close your eyes, pinch your nose and burn your tongue; then taste. Voila!

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  8. I actually don't mind blue cheese even though I'm not big on smelly cheeses! The problem is that my French (!!) husband hates cheese! Any type of cheese - unless it's on a pizza! So, cheese has been banned from the house unless it's a matter of utmost urgency!
    The dip, although very tempting, will unfortunately never hit my lips :-(

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  9. I didn't liked blue cheese until very recently and totally understand you, Lynn!

    The recipe sounds wonderful!

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  10. I am totally in the same boat as you. My better half loves Roquefort which is the king of blue cheese and goat cheese. We have a rule in our house, he can't kiss me after eating these cheese.

    WokandSpoon, it's like mine, he's French and he doesn't drink wine at all.

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  11. Sarah - Love you, too, hon,

    Kelly-Jane - I hope the chicken salad works out for you.

    Cheryl- Enjoy!

    Melinda - I've heard of Stinking Bishop. Who ever thought to name a cheese that?? Do you like it?

    Sean - Just so long as the pink mold doesn't hold a special place in your bowels you should be OK.

    Sarah - Yes, Douglas Adams rules!

    Dianne - You are so French! But why eat Bleu when you could eat Brie?

    Wok and Spoon - Your French husband hates cheese? Is that even allowed? Well, that's what girlfriend time is for. Indulging in all the foods the hubbie doesn't like.

    Patricia - Way to broaden your horizons! I commend you for getting to like it. I don't know that I'll ever get there.

    Cooking Ninja - Ha ha! I like that rule!

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  12. Oops, I'm one of those...harming the innocent. Just bought some blue cheese and loving them with crackers. I used to dislike this stinky though...

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  13. I know what you mean. I'm a vegetarian who loves to cook and is married to a guy who loves to eat meat. So, I have had my share of squeamish moments. We'll do a lot for love, won't we?

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  14. mmmm. yummy.
    I love blue cheese dressing.

    Did you hear? Starting July 16th Longaberger is accepting credit card orders online!!! At check out people just write in their consultants name if they have one, if not... no biggie. I am excited! I can finally order the x-large mixing bowl that they brought back online. :-)

    XOXO

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  15. Hi Lynn, I don't like blue cheese too. But I am trying to learn to like it by having it in small doses. I think that I may even like this dip that you made for your husband because it has cream cheese and sour cream to reduce the overpowering flavour of blue cheese.

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  16. Made this last night when the kids were off with their dad and all the blue cheese lovers here said, YUM! I didn't have quite enough chives growing, but that didn't stop us from enjoying it.

    We'll pass on the obviously special recipe for pink sour cream. I think I've made it already, although not as a Valentine's Day dish.

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  17. Aww you're definitely a good wifey! :) Both my bf and I love blue cheese and this looks like a great recipe for the big block of blue cheese I just purchased!

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  18. Tigerfish - I won't report you to PETC (People for the Ethical Treatment of Cheeses).

    Susan - Oh, what a good wife you are to cook outside your food comfort zone!

    Jackie- I heard. I love the XL mixing bowl and was so sad when I broke mine. I'm so glad they brought it back.

    Nora - Good for you to try!

    Diane - I'm glad you enjoyed it!

    Amy - Thanks! You're so sweet!

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