Cream Cheese Three Ways

I have two daughters that work at Atlanta Bread (which is similar to Panera, if you're not familiar with it).  My youngest daughter is a manager, and my middle daughter, although she's graduated from college and has a job in her field now, still works there on Saturdays while she is saving up to buy a house.  Atlanta Bread has a couple of vegan options, and several things that can easily be made vegan.  For any of you locals out there, both of my daughters are very knowledgeable in that area.  ;)

Most of Atlanta's bagels are vegan, although if you are eating in, you are pretty much limited to peanut butter and/or jelly to put on it (their peanut butter is really good though).  A couple of Saturdays ago, I stopped in to get a drink (they have lots of good teas) and say hi to my daughters.  They had samples out of a cream cheese spread they had just made, jalapeno cheddar.  Although I wasn't going to eat it, I admitted to my middle daughter that the concept sounded good.  She commented that I could easily make it at home with vegan ingredients.  That girl's a genius I tell you.  :)  It made perfect sense in its simplicity, why hadn't I thought of it.  From there, I embarked on a journey of vegan cream cheese spreads.

The first one I made was, of course, after my initial inspiration.  I used half an 8 oz. container of vegan cream cheese (I like Galaxy brand), then I threw in some chopped up pickled jalapenos ( to taste) and part of a Daiya Jack wedge chopped into small pieces.  I mixed it all together and it was good to go.  The amount of cream cheese ended up being enough to generously cover 2 bagels and a few crackers.  It was even better the next day after the flavors had melded a little more.

Sorry, I almost forgot to take a picture of this one.  :)

My next cream cheese spread was inspired by the strawberry flavored cream cheese I use to buy before I became vegan.  This was another success.  I used this recipe and halved it, subbing vegan cream cheese and I used agave instead of powdered sugar.  Again for me, this ended up being enough for 2 bagels and a little extra.  This was even better than I remember buying at the store.

The most recent one I made was after something I think I tried at some point, but can't really remember for sure.  It was sundried tomato and basil.  Just like before, I started with half a tub of vegan cream cheese, threw in some sundried tomatoes and some chopped fresh basil and mixed it all up.  I used sundried tomatoes packed in oil, rinsed off, but I would have rehydrated dried ones if I'd have had any at the time.  This picture is what it looked like later in the day.  Initially it was white with the red and green flecks, but after sitting in the refrigerator a couple of hours, I stirred it again and it turned this color.

I'm glad I recently stocked up on vegan cream cheese, because now I'm thinking maybe a black olive spread or raspberry, the possibilities are endless.