Healthy Cream Cheese Appetizer Recipes

These quesadillas have an irresistibly creamy filling. They also make great appetizers. Make it a meal: Serve with your favorite salsa on top and a cup of black bean soup topped with chopped avocado.

Try this light spinach dip made healthier with reduced-fat cream cheese, nonfat yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese instead of full-fat cheese, mayonnaise and sour cream. It will save you a whopping 84 calories and 10 grams of fat per serving when compared to traditional versions. Serve it with pita chips and crunchy vegetables or spread it on a sandwich.

A quick fresh-made blender enchilada sauce makes all the difference in this slow-cooker recipe for Mexican cheese dip. Serve it straight from the crock pot, with tortilla chips, to keep it warm and gooey.

Spread this creamy ham and roasted red pepper dip on Belgian endive, crackers or toasted baguette or use it as a dip for vegetables.

Inspired by queso fundido--melted Mexican cheese dip--this corn and warm Cheddar cheese dip is great with toasted baguette.

In this healthy bruschetta recipe, the big, bold, salty, tangy flavor of blue cheese makes an unexpected but utterly delicious match with sweet juicy strawberries. This bruschetta recipe makes a quick, easy appetizer and is so pretty topped with chopped green chives.

Make your own flavored cream cheese by stirring in fresh, in-season cherries. We like the flavor of black cherries, but any kind will work. Spread this on your morning bagel or sandwich it between graham crackers for a cherry cheesecake-inspired snack.

If you have a garden or farmer's market nearby, there's much to be said for setting out a plate of raw summer vegetables and serving them with nothing more than a great dip. Here is one that everybody seems to enjoy, a creamy blue cheese dip that's good with crunchy radishes (provide some toothpicks for impaling them), baby carrots, broccoli and the like. Use enough of any combination of veggies to feed 4 or 5 people.

A simple egg sandwich gets added zing from whole-grain mustard and fresh dill.

Tubs of reduced-fat cream cheese come in a myriad of flavors. Chive and radish make for a particularly tasty combination atop crunchy crispbread.

The EatingWell makeover of this pesto appetizer boasts about half of the calories and a quarter of the fat of the original recipe. Serve with crostini, crackers or French bread.

Give this childhood treat a savory twist by swapping the peanut butter and raisins for cream cheese and olives. For a spicy snack, try chopped pickled jalapenos instead of olives.

These bite-size pimiento cheese balls from Jamie and Bobby Deen are a huge hit with kids (of all ages). They're the perfect appetizer to bring to a summer picnic. Jamie and Bobby share a passion for great home-cooked food with a Southern flair with their celebrity-chef mom, Paula Deen. These brothers are following in their mom's footsteps with their own TV shows, books and website. Our favorite part of what they're up to: healthy makeovers of some of Paula's recipes! Recipe adapted from The Deen Bros. Get Fired Up, by Jamie & Bobby Deen and Melissa Clark (Ballantine Books, 2011).

A perennial favorite with kids, this all-purpose dip can also be used as a sandwich spread.

Sweet pear, salty Cheddar cheese and crunchy nuts make this healthy cheese ball recipe an alluring holiday treat. Serve with an array of crudités and crisp party crackers.

This healthy copycat recipe for classic Buffalo dip cooks in your slow cooker for an easy, hands-off appetizer you can keep warm for the whole game, party or any casual gathering. Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks and tortilla chips for dipping.

Skip the standard onion-soup-mix dip and serve up this healthy caramelized onion and curry dip recipe along with your favorite chips or some crudités.

A riff on traditional spinach artichoke dip, this creamy, cheesy dip recipe is made healthier by replacing some of the cream cheese with yogurt. Serve as an easy appetizer with tortilla chips and carrot sticks.

In our healthier version of this ultra-rich dip, the crabmeat plays a starring role while a blend of pureed nonfat cottage cheese and reduced-fat cream cheese provides all the creaminess you would expect. Serve with slices of whole-grain baguette.

Delicious, easy, inexpensive; serve as a sandwich filling or an hors d'oeuvre with whole-grain crackers or triangles of rye bread.