I made a tasty spread today for an appetizer for a few friends.

I took some lower fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), spread about a third of an
8 ounce bar of it out on a big sheet of plastic wrap in a small dish. On
top of that, I spread on some sun-dried tomato and balsamic vinegar
condiment that I had picked up at Trader Joe's last year, it was just
sitting in my cupboard all this time. I think it's meant to go on pasta.
sort of a pesto-type thing. Really tasty. Maybe 2 tablespoons on top of the
cream cheese. Sprinkled some dried basil on top.

Then I made another circle of the cheese on some plastic wrap inside another
identical dish, and lifted it onto the sun-dried tomato sauce. Spread it
with more tomato-pesto-stuff and sprinkled more basil. Then topped it with
the last of the cream cheese (also shaped into a circle). I wrapped it
tight in the plastic wrap and let it sit for several hours in the fridge.
When it firmed up, i unmolded it onto a plate and then spread a teaspoon or
so of the sun-dried tomato stuff and more basil on top and let it come to
room temp.

I served it with home-made bagel chips. I bought day-old bagels at the
supermarket (they aren't "real" bagels, so they were still pretty soft) and
I asked the bakery guy to run them through the bread slicer. The bagels
were like, 50 cents for 6. When I got them home, I set them out on a
greased baking sheet, brushed on some oil, and then sprinkled with garlic
powder and grated parmesan and romano cheese. Then I baked them for about 15
minutes or so at 350 degrees. They were really tasty! I toasted half of
them, the rest are in the freezer for another time. We all really enjoyed
them and they were equally good with hummus and the other cheeses I served.

I rediscovered gouda cheese tonight.
I found some at Trader Joes, it was reasonably priced, so I figured, let me
try it, I don't think I've had it in years. Very mild, smooth, creamy, and
seemingly low in lactose. (So far so good) I'm always happy to discover
cheeses I can tolerate. Cheddar, swiss and provolone I know are ok. now I
know Gouda is, too.