homemade flavored goat cheese

I think by now everyone knows I LOVE goat cheese. I spread it on toast and top it with a fried egg. I put it in my sausage and goat cheese egg muffins. I spread it on crackers. I even make paninis with it.

Recently I found myself with three (THREE!) 11 oz. logs of plain goat cheese. What to do?

I also recently started growing herbs outside:  parsley, rosemary, sage, lavender and basil. While the others are growing nicely, the basil plant has pretty much exploded with leaves. That's normally great, but I typically only use basil when I make caprese salad. Since my tomatoes aren't ready yet, and I don't want to spend a small fortune on buying grape tomatoes and mozzarella (and there's really only so much caprese salad I should be eating--very caloric because of the oil and cheese), I decided to Google and see if there are any recipes for making flavored goat cheese. Of course, there are many.

I found a recipe similar to the one below; however, it's supposed by be a coating for the goat cheese log, not really a mix-in. (I prefer the cheese to be flavored throughout.) But I wanted to use this one, because I could use up some of the lemon I have in the fridge as well as some of my basil. It calls for fresh oregano, though. I loathe buying fresh herbs, because I never use them all before they wilt. However, our neighbors up the road, who moved in last year, have a huge garden and are selling their harvests. Guess what they have this week? Fresh oregano! They also have dill and cilantro; I bought both.

I made two goat cheese spreads with the herbs I got today. One is based on a recipe I found online and the other I just made up and totally guesstimated the amount of lemon and dill. You'll need to taste and see what works for you. I'd say there's a strong lemon tang in both of these, so if that's not your thing just use less lemon. Also, if you want to use dried herbs instead, that's fine. Just use roughly 1/3 of what the recipe calls for below and let the finished spread sit longer in the fridge.

Goat Cheese with Basil and Oregano

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 to 12 oz. of plain goat cheese, room temperature
(if you like the herb flavor really strong, use 6 oz. of cheese; if you like it less potent, add more cheese)

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a bit to develop the flavors. Spread on crackers, crusty bread, etc.

Goat Cheese with Lemon and Dill
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 TB chopped fresh dill
6 oz. plain goat cheese, room temperature

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a bit to develop the flavors. Spread on crackers, crusty bread, etc.

Lemon and dill on the left (make sure you chop your dill a little more than I did.); basil and oregano on the right.