I love setting up a “bar” when I’m hosting a relaxed party on the weekend. It is seriously low stress. You can prepare the toppings in advance and just set everything out and the guests serve themselves! Today we’re partnering up with Arla to create an epic Bagel Bar! We love using Arla cream cheese because it doesn’t come with artificial flavors or preservatives. (The original flavor is only made from 4 ingredients: cream, milk, cheese culture and salt!) It’s also better for you than other bagel spreads – 2 tablespoons of the light cream cheese has just 60 calories! Click through to see how we did it.

We picked up a dozen bagels and provided three kinds of Arla cream cheese: Original, Blueberry and Herbs & Spices.

For the toppings, we included: lemon curd, sliced strawberries, pistachios, graham cracker crumbs, honey, basil, sliced red onion, sliced cucumber, sliced grape tomatoes (makes the tomato easier to eat than the giant slices you usually get), bacon, and and avocado.

Our favorite combos are :
– Original cream cheese, honey and pistachio
– Original cream cheese with lemon curd and strawberry
– Blueberry cream cheese with the graham cracker crumbs (for a play on cheesecake!)
– Herbs & Spices cream cheese with bacon and tomato
– Original cream cheese with cucumber, avo, and red onion
– Original cream cheese with basil, tomato, and red onion.

This post is sponsored by Arla: Simply Better. 

Styling by Billy Green