Cooking with Philadelphia - good idea? Cheating?

[msrisotto]

I've been looking on their website for recipes [[//www.philadelphia.co.uk]] but in light of the cooking from scratch thread.....is it cheating? Is it unhealthy? It looks gooooood!

oh I messed up that link!
www.philadelphia.co.uk/Recipes/Philly%20Lemon%20Chicken%20Pasta?r=45665

Cheating what?

Of you mean it's not 'from scratch' then what is the alternative, making your own cheese?

If it looks good do it

Nope. Not cheating. Ie made the green Thai curry. Yum. and frequently use Philly as a pasta sauce. Makes great almost carbonara.

Except for when you accidentally use the smoked salmon one instead of plain....ick

Good point, I don't often make my own cheese!
I don't much like white sauce so it looks like a nice alternative.

Not a fan of smoked salmon Captain?

The garlic & herb one stuffed in chicken breasts, wrapped in prosciutto or Parma ham is gorgeous.

I use it regularly in pasta sauces, or whisked with a little milk to substitute for soured cream in tex-mex food, or mixed 50:50 with mayo for potato salad or coleslaw.

I've used it quite a bit, it may not be "cooking from scratch" but I really don't care!

You can also get actual Philadelphia sauces in sachets too now, which I sometimes buy (especially when they're on offer), they are that bit gloopier and more saucy whereas the actual cheese is sometimes still a bit thick, and there are several flavours now - mushroom or peppercorn as well as garlic and herb. Dead handy to have in the fridge for emergencies, as they keep quite a while and only need a minute or two to heat up (and are very tasty too!).

Is it unhealthy?

Not cheating at all IMO. Then again I am an owner of the Philly cookbook so perhaps am biased

I was looking at it in the works today pregnantpause! Most of the recipes appear to be on their website too.

Its a great go to for quick sauces -my favourite is - mushrooms/bacon/ shallots all gently fried than philly used for sauce to put on pasta - and I agree the stuffed chicken breast one is lovely - though I just use the plain one and add spring onions and some dried herbs

msrisotto no I love smoked salmon. If I could if eat nothing but. And the salmon cheese is tasty. It just didn't work when I accidentally threw it over pasta bacon and tried to make carbonara. Not quite right. Still ate it though. We don't waste food in our house.