Ideas for using up cream cheese?

[AngelDog]

My 16 m.o. DS is obsessed with cream cheese but we always seem to have lots left over by the time it needs throwing out. Anyone got any bright ideas for interesting ways to use it up?

Apart from having it plain on sandwiches/rice cakes/crackers/breadsticks, I do cream cheese & herbs, cream cheese & tuna/salmon/sardines, and... er, that's about it. Oh, and I sometimes use it in a broccoli or tuna pasta bake too.

I've just had turkey steaks, cooked on a griddle pan and topped with cream cheese. Popped them under the grill for a few mins... delicious :) You could put some on some salmon too.

Cut open a chicken breast, stuff with cream cheese, wrap in bacon. Cook through.

Lovely, easy midweek supper.

Make smoked mackerel pate with it yummmmm

I often cook rice with dried tomatoes and add a spoon of cream cheese and chopped fresh tomatoes right at the end to make a warm tomatoes salad.

I often stir it into risottos it gives them a lovely creamy texture. Philadelphia have a website with recipes, here

Lovely in a baked potato.

Make a pasta sauce from it? Add it with a bit of milk, some sun-dried tomatoes & some chilies (perhaps not for the DC!)

Of course, there's always cheesecake!

buy smaller pots and if unopened it'll last ages - take no heed of the BBD.

Make a carrot cake and make cream cheese frosting - that needs loads of cream cheese. Or spread it on toasted bagels or bread and eat with smoked salmon (and lemon and capers and slivered red onion if you want to get all fancy).

Or stuff dates with cream cheese and put a walnut half on top! We used to have this as a snack after school.

Makes a lovely quick sauce for filled pasta (eg spinach and ricotta tortellini): melt down a tablespoon with some frozen chopped spinach and a spoonful of pesto, and simmer for a few mins till thick. Mix with cooked drained pasta, top with grated Parmesan and serve. Takes ten minutes max - probably my favorite quick fix supper recipe.

you could make spagetti carbonara with it. Or stuff red peppers with it - yum yum!

Added to mashed potato. Great with sausages, and then instead of gravy do a onion, garlic, tomato & herb sauce. Mmmmmm.

Like the idea of adding to mash, okay cheesy mash tonight here. :)

Cream cheese frosting for fairy cakes - is yummy especially on chocolate cake.

i make a sauce using cream cheese and a stock cube if it needs thickening i add a couple of teaspoons of chicken gravy granules, delicious over chicken breasts with new potatoes and low fat if use low fat cream cheese!! or as a base sauce for pasta, steak etc

Mix it with an equal weight of smoked mackerel, a bit of dill and a squeeze of lemon if you have it - quick mackerel pate! (homemade pate always seems impressive to guests too!)

Thanks for all the suggestions - some great ideas here. :)

love this one

Nothing better for a hangover than slices of cucumber and cream cheese.

Ooh, cocoa. :)

DS did have cinnamon on his today - and ginger on another bit. He ate it all too. He had a plain rice cake in the pushchair today and it was only after a lot of plaintive 'Dee dee!' [cream cheese] that I could persuade him it was still edible without cream cheese on top.