HERBED CHEESE SPREAD

"The flavors of garlic and herbs are fantastic. Your guests will never realize that this is a reduced fat version of a traditional Boursin-type spread. It's actually better made a day ahead to let the herb flavors permeate the cheese. Good served with wheat crackers, the spread also makes a fine topping for baked potatoes."

2 cloves fresh garlic
1 (8 oz.) pkg. Neufchatel cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Peel the garlic and cut the Neufchatel cheese into 4 pieces.

Drop the garlic cloves 1 at a time through the feed tube of a food processor with the machine running and finely chop. Drop in the cheese pieces and continue processing until the cheese is smooth.

Add the cottage cheese, thyme, basil, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce and process until smooth, stopping once or twice midway through to scrape down the side of the bowl.

Refrigerate the cheese spread until ready to use.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups
Source: Desperation Entertaining by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross