Lori Lange of RecipeGirl.com writes:

Caryn Ross is one of the four women who won the Real Women of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cook-Off with Paula Deen earlier this summer.   I met Caryn and tasted her Sassy Tailgate Sandwiches when I helped judge the contest in Savannah, and they were melt-in-your-mouth good.  I had a chance to catch up with Caryn and ask her a few questions…

What inspired you to create your winning recipe?
I was inspired by a recipe that my friend and I had made years ago for her husband’s 40th birthday party. I tweaked it quite a bit and came up with my Sassy Tailgate Sandwich. I knew sliders were a hot thing on menus and thought this little sandwich was just the thing that they might love. So, I got to experimenting and came up with my combination of King Hawaiian rolls, black forest ham, Gruyere cheese with Philly chive/onion cream cheese spread. The combination was heavenly! I originally tested it on my neighbor Kathleen, her sister in law Christine and of course my hubby, Jack. Everyone loved it!! So, with that response I decided it was time to turn in the recipe to be officially judged! And well...the rest is history.

What’s next for The Real Women of Philadelphia?
I get to be the head appetizer cheerleader for the site. For the next 16 weeks I will be there encouraging and inspiring everyone to create new and exciting recipes using Philadelphia cream cheese for the Real Women of Philadelphia Cookbook contest! I am super excited to see the cookbook that all of these amazing recipes will be in! It will essentially be the "cream cheese" bible. Now that sounds like my kind of book.

What’s your task as one of the hostesses on the Real Women of Philadelphia Website?
As winners we are here to show you recipes that we created for each category and then to moderate and encourage the community! We are here to help you in any way! Just feel free to email any of us with a question or comment and we will try to find you an answer. I have even gotten mail from members who just want to bounce some ideas off of me. I love that! I am naturally a very curious cook so I am always up for a good culinary challenge. I am basically your Philly hostess here to help in any way. So do not hesitate in contacting me!

What does it mean to be a part of RWoP and its community of cooks?
Being the host of this awesome community is such an honor. I love that I get to be the silly cheerleader encouraging everyone to get their Philly on! I love all the emails I receive and hearing about the different stories of the participants in this RWOP community. It is shocking that a little ‘ol block of Philly cream cheese has brought us all together! Kind of a creamy miracle if you think about it!

How do you come up with new ideas for appetizers using cream cheese?  Where do you find your inspiration?
Most of my inspiration comes from places I eat or things I read. I am constantly scouring books and blogs looking for interesting recipes that I then can tweak and make my own. For example this week I ate at an awesome tamale stand and now I am looking for a basic tamale how to recipe so I can then play with the flavors!! The possibilities are endless!

Since my win I am using those "investigative" skills to do the same thing but with new and different appetizers as my focus! It is amazing how well Philly can be subbed into a recipe! Almost always making it robust in flavor! Philadelphia cream cheese is maybe the most versatile food I have ever found. Perfect in savory or sweet dishes!

You can see more of Caryn and the other Philly hostesses on the Real Women of Philadelphia website, where you’ll also find all of the recipe submissions for the cookbook contest.  It’s a great resource for interacting with other home cooks and discovering new recipes, and perhaps it will inspire you to create your own recipe using cream cheese.  Enter your recipe on the RWoP site for a chance to win $500 and have your recipe published in the Real Women of Philadelphia cookbook.