Vegetable cream cheese, it’s my favorite schmear!

It’s 11am on Sunday morning and if I was back in New York right now, I would be standing on line at a bagel place behind someone drinking coffee, maybe texting or talking on their cell phone, hair unkempt (lots of hats on Sunday mornings!) reading the Post patiently (or maybe not so patiently – it is NY after all). Standing there in the warmth of the store I would inhale the aroma of Sunday.

Chances are if you are one of my neighbors in Columbus, Ohio – you are not having this kind of experience today. It’s challenging to say the least to get a good bagel here but even more challenging to get vegetable cream cheese. Northeast friends, brace yourself and take a deep breathe… we don’t have bagel places like you do! The closest we have to a NY bagel is Bruegger’s Bagels https://www.brueggers.com/ (a 25 minute drive from my house) or we can get a bagel delivery from Sammy’s Bagels http://sammysbagels.net/  but we certainly don’t have vegetable cream cheese!

So today instead of standing “on line” –  yesterday I went “online” and placed my order for a dozen bagels which were then delivered to my doorstep at 4am this morning! I ran downstairs like a little kid and opened the front door to my house, only to find a big brown bag filled with bagels! I opened the bag and breathe in… Sunday has arrived!

So after all of this, you are probably wondering if there a recipe somewhere in here? Yes! I like to eat my bagel with a vegetable cream cheese schmear but it’s not sold in Columbus – so, I make it myself.  If you have never had vegetable cream cheese before it’s a must. It’s creamy and has crunchy little gems of carrots, green onion, radish, and celery. It’s so easy to whip up and to adapt the ratio to your liking. The real bonus is that I can make it lower in fat by using the reduced fat cream cheese. Next time you have a bagel try it with a vegetable cream cheese schmear. You’ll thank me! Enjoy!

This recipe is open for adaption. If you don’t like carrots, skip it or add red or green pepper instead. The same goes for all the other ingredients. Listed are what is traditionally found in vegetable cream cheese and how I like it. Recipe fills a little bit more than a 16 ounce container. In my house, that’s enough for one breakfast!

2 packages of 1/3 reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese close to room temperature
6 tablespoons finely sliced green onions (scallions)
4 tablespoons finely diced carrots
4 tablespoons finely diced radish
3 tablespoons finely diced celery (place on a paper towel after dicing and pat it dry)

Dice all of the vegetables very finely. I have seen some recipes suggest grating the vegetables. I don’t recommend that. It makes for a very different texture and flavor.

With a hand mixer, cream the 2 packages of cream cheese until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the vegetables and blend just to incorporate. That’s it! If you don’t have a mixer, you can use a food processor to whip the cream cheese, then fold the vegetables in by hand. Enjoy!