Cottage cheese is a staple in so many of our diets, but personally, all those curds can get a bit boring for my taste buds after a while! Another site has recently updated their Cottage Cheese Page. It’s full of some great ideas on how to add some spice to this versatile food.
As Krista says: “High in protein, low in fat, easily available even in the crummiest dive of a convenience store, and great as a substitute for higher-fat cheeses or in its own right, cottage cheese is truly the food of the gods.”
Below are some of the recipes from Krista and her readers. I have to admit, I haven’t tried any of them. If you do, let us know what you think!
Happy eating!
-Tea-Vixen
Cottage Cheese Potato Topper
1/2 cup cottage cheese
Fresh herbs, chopped (suggestion: oregano, basil, chives)
Salt to taste
Splash of lemon juice (optional)
Combine above ingredients in blender. Serve over hot baked potatoes.
Bean and Avocado Salad
1 part chopped cooked green beans
1 part cooked kidney beans
1 part chopped avocado
1 part cottage cheese
Splash of lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Mix all ingredients together and serve cold.
Tuna Pasta
1/2 cup tuna and cottage cheese mix
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
Mix and heat for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring often, till flavours combine. Toss with pasta and top with grated Parmigiana. For a variation, try adding salsa.
Cottage Cheese Pasta
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup chopped tomatoes
Plenty of chopped fresh basil
1/2 clove chopped garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Mix and heat for a few minutes over medium heat till flavours combine, cheese melts a bit, and garlic becomes fragrant. Toss with pasta and top with grated Parmigiana.
Super Easy Breakfast
Mix 1 part cottage cheese with 1 part flavoured yogurt of your choice. Looks kind of gross but tastes great. Top with fruit if desired. This is a good starter dish for anyone who doesn’t really like cottage cheese.
Protein Blintz
2 eggs
1/3 cup dry curd cottage cheese
frozen blueberries, defrosted to room temperature (you can use whatever fruit you like here, but I use frozen blueberries since they keep well for long periods when fresh berries aren’t in season, and they’re not packed in syrup).
Beat eggs and pour into small nonstick frying pan heated over medium heat, as if for an omelet. When the edges begin to firm up, push them towards the centre so that the runny stuff in the middle puddles out and cooks. After doing this once or twice, spoon cottage cheese and blueberries on top. Allow the eggs to set fully. The bottom of the omelet should be golden brown (turn it up with a spatula to check). You can either roll up the omelet into a cylinder like a blintz, or simply slide it off the pan and fold it in half like an omelet. If this isn’t sweet enough, try beating a little bit of sugar or sweetener into the eggs beforehand. I don’t like it too sweet.
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
2-3 beaten eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
Honey or a couple of teaspoons of sugar, to taste (a banana will make it naturally sweeter)
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
Optional, highly recommended ingredients:
banana
a sprinkle of cinnamon
a splash of vanilla
Grab your handy blender and dump the ingredients in, in the order they appear (otherwise the mixture will get all chunky). So, eggs in first, then start the blender. As it’s blending, pour in the cottage cheese, then the banana if you’re using it, then whatever sweeteners and spices you like, then the oatmeal. Once this is nicely blended, cook as you would pancakes, in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat. I love these plain or with fruit, but you can put syrup on them too, just like regular pancakes.
Cottage Cheese Fruit Dip
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tablespoons sugar (more or less depending on taste)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine above ingredients in blender. Serve with fruit. (Also try adding Cool Whip!)
Tuna and Cottage Cheese Mix
1 part canned tuna
1 part cottage cheese
This mixture is incredibly versatile. Eat it on its own or use it in a sandwich.
Tuna Melts
Prepare tuna and cottage cheese mix. Spread over pieces of bread (nice multigrain buns cut in half work well for this). Top with sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese (old cheddar gives you the most flavour bang for your buck, and ensures you don’t need a lot). Microwave for a minute or so, or grill under broiler (watch it?these burn fast!), till cheese on top is melted.
Lasagne
Use cottage cheese in place of ricotta in your favourite lasagne recipe to reduce the overall calories and saturated fat. Regular cottage cheese works better than lowfat cheese here.
Tuna and Cottage Cheese Salad
Prepare tuna and cottage cheese mix. Toss with vinaigrette, chopped tomatoes, mixed leafy greens, and whatever other fresh chopped veggies you feel like throwing in. You can even toss in some chopped cooked egg whites if you like. Tastes pretty good on its own or topped with grated Parmigiana. As a variation, toss cottage cheese alone with some fresh chopped spinach and shredded red cabbage in a creamy dressing.
Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup olive oil or 1/4 cup olive and 1/4 cup flax seed oil
1/4 cup red cooking wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 to 1 tsp Dijon mustard (depending on how zesty you like your vinaigrettes)
Pinch of salt and pepper
Pinch of dried basil, oregano, parsley, and/or garlic
Combine all ingredients in a sealed container and shake to blend. You can adjust proportions to taste and add natural yogurt (or even blenderized cottage cheese!) for a creamier texture.
Cottage Cheese Nachos
fat free cottage cheese
cooked lean or extra lean ground beef
tomatoes/green peppers or salsa
tostitos low fat baked tortilla chips
sour cream
cheese
Combine all ingredients and you have some healthy nachos! They are awesome, high in protein, low in carb and fat… try to get as much as possible from the cottage cheese (cottage cheese is the sour cream substitute) and as little as possible from the chips
Chocolate Cottage Cheese
Take Cottage cheese and add 3 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp of cocoa for every cup. An alternative to chocolate milk!
Salsa Con Cottage Queso
Combine equal parts store bought salsa and cottage cheese as a dip for fat free tortilla chips.
Cottage Cheese Roll-Up
Take thin sliced turkey (you know, lunch meat style) and lay it out flat, put in some cottage cheese, and pickle, of course, roll it up, and eat. Quick, and lots of protein!
Stuffed Baked Potato
A healthy filling for baked potatoes. Cook the potatoes as usual and then scoop out the flesh. Mix this approximately equal amount of with cottage cheese and season with salt and pepper. Fill the potatoes back up with the mixture and dollop a bit more cottage cheese on top! Healthy, yummy and filling.
Cottage Cheese and Jello
Mix 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1/2 cup of sugar free jello. It’s yummy!
Cottage Cheese Spread
A cottage cheese topping for a bagel, or perhaps a filling for a pita or celery stalks: Drop a portion of cottage cheese in some cheese cloth & squeeze, squeeze, squeeze out the liquid. Put it in a bowl with some garlicky Mrs. Dash or your favorite dry herbs/seasonings, and mush it with a fork. This spreads easily over a toasted bagel and won’t make it soggy!
Cheesecake
2 cups dry curd pressed cottage cheese (fat percentage optional)
3 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt (any percentage of fat)
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1-2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Combine ingredients and process until satin smooth. Pour into loaf pan and bake 30 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool and refrigerate for several hours. Top with fresh or cooked drained berries or fruit of choice. Serves 8. 148 calories per serving. 12.65 g of protein, 20.5 g of carbs, 2.5 g of fat. From “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” by Elaine Gottschall.
Scrambled Eggs
Scramble some eggs and just before you are ready to take them out of the pan, add some diced tomatoes and some cottage cheese just long enough to make them warm. The cheese should just start to melt a little but still look like pieces of cottage cheese. (Sounds gross but tastes good.)
Pseudo Waldorf salad
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup ultra low-fat Cool Whip or equivalent frozen edible oil type topping
1/2 apple cut up
1 tablespoon of Heath bar or Skor bar…caramel bits
slivered almonds or walnuts (optional)
Mix it all together and eat. Leave it overnight and the caramel will blend and it will taste even better.
Take a piece of good, chewy, whole wheat/multigrain bread and toast it to your prefered shade. Layer on some cottage cheese, and then top with some well-drained crushed pineapple. Sprinkle a little ginger over the whole thing, and you’ve got a very satisfying treat.
Cottage Cheese Smoothie
In a blender combine:
1/2 cup of cottage cheese (low or nonfat)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup of milk (low or nonfat)
1 scoop of protein powder (optional)
1 packet of Splenda or sweetner of choice
For those that use flax oil, you can add a tablespoon to this and it doesn’t really change the taste. Blend for 1 to minutes, serve and enjoy!
Palak Paneer (a variation on a traditional Indian dish)
.5 cup cottage cheese (non or lowfat)
.5 cup frozen spinach (the kind that comes in a bag can be thrown in while it’s still frozen)
.5 cup organic canned lentils
1 t. curry powder
garlic powder and pepper to taste
Throw everything into a tupperware container the night before and just zap it for a couple of minutes in the microwave at lunch and stir. The cheese gets melty and I think it’s delicious. It’s a good way to get more veggies, protein and fiber, too.
Beans and Cheese
1/2 cup of black beans
1/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese
Crushed red pepper or crushed cayenne pepper to taste
Heat the beans and cottage cheese together in stove to the desired temperature, pour in a bowl and season with salt, black pepper and the crushed red pepper or cayenne if you like it spicy.
Cottage Cheese PB&C
1/2 cup Cottage Cheese (look for the Friendship 1% Whipped Spreadable as it has 16 g of protein and only 3 g of carbs)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 teaspoons of peanut butter
1 packet of splenda
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
Mix them together until evenly mixed and enjoy!
Cottage Cheese Pizza
This is delicious and kids love it, too! Each pizza is 1 serving.
Spread approx. 1 Tbsp pizza sauce over whole wheat pita. Over pizza sauce spread a heaping Tbsp fat free or low fat cottage cheese. Top that with sliced, cooked chicken breast or homemade turkey sausage. Add veggies if desired. Cook on top rack of oven at 475 degrees.
Middle Eastern Cottage Cheese Sandwich
1/2 lavash or whole wheat pita
hummus
cucumber slices
tomato slices
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil
cottage cheese
Slather your favorite hummus on the lavash (or pita if you prefer) and drizzle a little olive oil on top. Sprinkle kosher salt & fresh ground pepper & garlic powder on top. Add sliced cucumber & tomato. Glob cc in center and roll that bad boy up.
Adding a little dill and grilled vidalia onion slices might be good, too.
Cottage Cheesy Steel Cut Blues
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup
1 tsp Splenda
Mix cold cooked steel cut oats with Maple syrup. Place in bowl or container. Top with cottage cheese sweetened with one packet Splenda, add thawed blueberries. (You can also leave out the blueberries and add to 1/2 cup oats).
