Cream Cheese

Kraft Philly Free Philadelphia Brand Free Nonfat Pasteurized Process Cream Cheese Product. $1.69 per 8-ounce tub. Also available in 12-ounce size. Bonnie: Ever notice how often the sodium and additives go up as the fat goes down in many of the new lower-fat products? That's true of new Philly Free, one of the first nationally available non- fat cream cheeses. Philly Free contains 25 calories, zero fat, and 170 milligrams sodium compared to regular Philadelphia Brand cream cheese's 100 calories, 10 grams of fat and 85 milligrams sodium per ounce.

Served from his restaurant kitchen, Rittenhouse Hotel chef Jim Coleman suggested, this dish might be called a Napoleon of Roasted Peanuts, Pureed Grapes and Marshmallow Mousse. But served up by five contest finalists, ages 7 to 10, at Haddonfield Gourmet, the recipes Coleman was judging were, plainly speaking, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. The contest earlier this month challenged youngsters, ages 5 to 11, to submit an original, "ultimate" PB&J recipe. The five were culled from more than 100 entries, some as unusual as PB&J on a bagel with salsa and goldfish snack crackers.

The cupcake craze of the last few years has brought bakers' creativity to the fore, allowing them to show off exotic and elaborate recipes on a tiny scale. But the trend also seems to have revived a taste for an old American classic: Red Velvet, a mild chocolate cake dyed red, usually with food coloring, and layered with sweet cream-cheese frosting. And, as bakeries throughout the region can attest, people go wild for it. "People are always asking for them," said Elizabeth Halen, owner of the Flying Monkey Bakery at Reading Terminal.

A microwave oven makes dandy cheesecake and teaches some valuable principles, too. For example, when you melt butter in a microwave, you should cover it with wax paper to keep it from spattering. And you should microwave crumb crusts on medium-high power, watching them carefully because sugar mixtures can brown and burn with stunning speed. Sugar mixtures (especially buttery ones) attract microwaves. Cream cheese can be softened very quickly in a microwave, but the power level should be even lower - at medium - to keep the cream cheese from toughening or separating.

Recycled but rustic Eco-friendly wine-drinkers can feel good about enjoying their favorite vino in these recycled glass goblets and the matching decanter. The glasses double as parfait dishes, perfect for desserts or fruit salad. Cream cheese with tang Goat milk producer Meyenberg has branched out with yet another new product: goat-milk cream cheese. Made with rich goat cream, it has a smooth texture, and a flavor reminiscent of chevre, a sophisticated spread for your bagel.

TOMATO SOUP and a grilled cheese sandwich make a popular meal, but its calorie count and fat content could surprise you. OliveGarden.com's recipe for cream of tomato and basil soup contains 482 calories and 34 fat grams per cup, but I slim it down by using a mixture of tomato puree, mashed potato and half-and-half in place of two cups of heavy cream. I also substitute chicken broth for white wine. My alterations to this soup cut the calories by 74 percent and slash the fat by 80 percent.

A good macaroni and cheese takes time. At least one that doesn't come out of a box. That's why, when leafing through the new cookbook Home at 7, Dinner at 8 (Kyle, $19.95), by Sophie Wright, the British chef's mac 'n' cheese caught my eye. She shortens cooking time by skipping the sauce, but keeps the result homogeneous and creamy by using Boursin and cream cheese. Creamy Macaroni and Cheese Makes 6 servings 1 pound penne pasta 5 ounces Boursin cheese 3 tablespoons cream cheese 9 ounces grated mozzarella cheese or fresh mozzarella 6 ounces fresh baby spinach 1/4 to 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan   1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of well-salted boiling water over high heat until al dente, about 9 minutes.

How's this for a film plot: As the oldest of nine children, an established actress returns home to help her aging parents transition into retirement. In the process, she rediscovers her love for the old neighborhood. She moves back and opens a small cafe that becomes the heart of the community. Kelly McShain Tyree, 40, can star in this, her life story, with her husband, Robert Tyree, 42, playing himself - the actor who puts his career on hold to become the cafe's chef. The part of the sidekick will be played by Devitt McShain, 37, Kelly's younger brother.

It's a stepchild in the dairy case. That's because dieters prefer cottage cheese, bagel fans buy cream cheese and lasagna chefs choose ricotta. But farmer cheese - a fresh-pressed curd cheese with a mild taste and moist texture - has a lot going for it. Or a little, if you're talking about calories. A one-ounce serving of farmer cheese contains 40 calories, as opposed to 100 calories in cream cheese and 75 calories in light cream cheese. It's got 3 grams of fat per ounce (cream cheese has 10)

Strawberry pie made with truly ripe strawberries is one of the best treats of spring, especially when it has a creamy vanilla filling. Unfortunately, many lovers of strawberry pie do not indulge in their favorite dessert, assuming that such a tasty sweet must be rich. Others feel they are too busy to bake their own strawberry pie because of the work involved in making the crust and filling. The good news is, you can now make a speedy, effortless strawberry pie with a nonfat vanilla filling that is absolutely delicious.

A good macaroni and cheese takes time. At least one that doesn't come out of a box. That's why, when leafing through the new cookbook Home at 7, Dinner at 8 (Kyle, $19.95), by Sophie Wright, the British chef's mac 'n' cheese caught my eye. She shortens cooking time by skipping the sauce, but keeps the result homogeneous and creamy by using Boursin and cream cheese. Creamy Macaroni and Cheese Makes 6 servings 1 pound penne pasta 5 ounces Boursin cheese 3 tablespoons cream cheese 9 ounces grated mozzarella cheese or fresh mozzarella 6 ounces fresh baby spinach 1/4 to 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan   1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of well-salted boiling water over high heat until al dente, about 9 minutes.

You've tried to be faithful. In January, you wrote a check to the farm that runs your CSA, dreaming of ripe tomatoes come July. You've exhausted the supply of corn and green beans blanched and frozen last summer. You've even tried to embrace the curly kale and cabbage at the few year-round farmer's markets. But only so much can be expected of even the most devoted locavore, especially this time of year. By March, those hard tomatoes, watery strawberries, and pesticide-coated grapes start looking pretty good.

The cupcake craze of the last few years has brought bakers' creativity to the fore, allowing them to show off exotic and elaborate recipes on a tiny scale. But the trend also seems to have revived a taste for an old American classic: Red Velvet, a mild chocolate cake dyed red, usually with food coloring, and layered with sweet cream-cheese frosting. And, as bakeries throughout the region can attest, people go wild for it. "People are always asking for them," said Elizabeth Halen, owner of the Flying Monkey Bakery at Reading Terminal.

LOBSTER & ASPARAGUS SALAD WITH TARRAGON VINAIGRETTE 2 small lobster tails 1/2 pound medium asparagus 1 head red-leaf lettuce Tarragon Vinaigrette (see recipe below) Cook lobster tails in boiling water 1 to 2 minutes until bright red. Remove from water and let cool. Split tails and remove meat from shells. Slice meat on diagonal from front to rear. Chill. Blanch asparagus 30-45 seconds in boiling water. Remove spears from heat and place in ice water to set color and stop the cooking process.

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat: Craig LaBan: Welcome to this very special Philly Food Chat! Special because I've finally gotten on Twitter (@ CraigLaBan ) wa-hoo! Now you get to see a steady stream of my deep, mercifully brief thoughts on food and drink all the time. Check out my second Tweet of the day, a picture of one of my favorite new breakfast indulgences at the long-awaited, finally opened Spread Bagelry. A note on Popeye, and why he's my Twitter pal: He was my first food idol ever, and the reason I have a deep appreciation for Stouffer's Spinach Souffle (and all things spinach)

JENNY DRUMGOOLE is done with cream cheese. And anyone who attends her show, "Real Woman of Philadelphia," which opened Friday at Moore College of Art, might be finished with it, too. Drumgoole is a video artist who graduated from Yale's prestigious master of fine arts program. Her latest project was prompted by a "Real Women of Philadelphia" contest sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Southern-fried Food Network cooking show host Paula Deen. Participants (ladies only, please)

An unfunny thing happens when the hearty home-cookery of Lancaster County goes on the road. It seizes up, morphs into a cartoon of itself. The chicken gravy on the chicken and waffles develops a scary Las Vegas tan. Pull off Route 30 near Strasburg and you see it at the tourist smorgasbords. Lunch counters botch chicken pot pie ( botboi , in local dialect), the noodles glumly heavy, dense, and sluggish. Even more-ambitious takes don't seem to fly: At Normandy Farm in Blue Bell several years ago, the ballyhooed Dutch country menu - which somehow boiled the flavor out of the scrapple, even - lasted a matter of months.

(America's Test Kitchen, $29.95)   Cook's Country, a division of America's Test Kitchen, has just published a cookbook called Best Lost Suppers as a follow up to the popular America's Best Lost Recipes . The recipes were gleaned from a nationwide contest and more than a year of testing. These recipes tell a story and, appropriately, each starts with a charming and interesting tale about the origin of the dish. Best Lost Suppers concentrates on old-fashioned comfort food, the kind prepared to celebrate a birth or mourn a loss.

Imagine an evolutionary timeline of party spreads and dips. It would show salsa eventually replacing the 1970s sour-cream-and-onion mix called California Dip and then morphing into hummus, which is now omnipresent. But "hummus" made of pureed vegetables is positioning itself to take over when the ancient Middle Eastern spread, which is made of chickpeas and tahini (sesame paste), wears out its welcome. This is not to say that the popular pita-bread accompaniment is stepping down any time soon.

TOP OFF A MEAL with Black Forest cheesecake and you might want to stay in the dark about the damage it could do to your diets. With more than 330 calories and 18 fat grams per serving, it doesn't fit into most calorie budgets. So I lightened up this rich dessert, shaving off 34 percent of the calories and slashing 51 percent of the fat. You can have a serving of my Black Forest cheesecake for 219 calories and 8.9 grams of fat. KATHY'S BLACK FOREST CHEESECAKE For brownie layer: 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 tablespoon canola oil 2 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 3 tablespoons packed Splenda brown sugar blend 2 tablespoons Splenda (granulated for baking)