Cottage Cheese help!!!

So I am a vegetarian and I realize that I need a lot more protein than I have been fueling myself with. Trouble is, many things such as cottage cheese have been tramatizing foods for me in the past. Maybe I'll tell you about beets and chittlings later. Anyways, I tried cottage cheese at a Valentino's Buffet a couple weeks ago and I liked it. I kinda asked myself why I had turned my nose up to it for so long. But then today after a visit to my local grocery and a purchase of my first tub of cottage cheese I found myself holding my nose and bribing myself to get the 1/2 cup down. Any suggestions on how I can make this experience more tolerable? I've seen my Dad eat it with pears? and some say pepper but I tried the pepper and I just don't know. I can't waste the tub so I have got to eat it. Any suggestions or other high in protein vegetarian proteins? :confused:

You can cook with it - use it in vegetable lasagna for example. I like it toasted on bagels instead of cream cheese.

I love cottage cheese! I buy huge tubs of it at Costco! I tend to eat it plain most of the time, or with pepper. Other ideas:

1. put a little scoop (a table spoon or so) into your scrambled eggs as you're cooking them.

2. Use on a baked potato instead of sour cream.

3. Layer with applesauce and top with honey. (applesauce, cottage cheese, honey)

4. Mash it up and use it in baking recipes.

5. Roll it up in crepes, top with raspberry sauce or fresh raspberries.

6. Stuff a hollowed out tomato with cottage cheese, and stick it under the broiler until the cheese browns a little. Or spread it on a bagel and broil.

When I was young, I sprinkled bits of bacon into the cottage cheese. It wasn't real bacon, but made from soy beans, and it came in a jar and was intended to garnish salads. The crunchy bacon taste combined with the cottage cheese was great. If that product is no longer made, then use vegetarian bacon that you cook yourself.

Currently, I like to chop sweet pickle into my cottage cheese.

Or chopped fresh tomato and green onions.

Sometimes I add sliced radishes to the above.

And I've added pine nuts and sunflower seeds.

Darcy

As far as other high-protien vegetarian stuff:
I really like tempeh, tofu, quinoa, and beans-corn-rice. (mmmmm, daifuku!) At least as a vegetarian rather than vegan you can do eggs and milk, which are always good protein back-up.

I love the Moosewood cookbooks. Lots of great vegetarian recipes, and some good nutritional info in the back of the original (first) Moosewood cookbook.

I make myself wicked toast for breakfast most days. From bottom to top, here it is:

Wholegrain bread
Honey
Peanut butter
Cottage Cheese
Banana slices

Better with raspberries, but we're not in season.

I also have it with hard broiled eggs, salt and pepper.

Mix blackberry jam into the cottage cheese. Yummm

I hate cottage cheese and refuse to eat it as is. I do use it in tons of recipes though. For me, the issue is the texture...taste is fine, but I just can't get past that texture. *shudder*

That said, if you really need to eat it, I've heard of three suggestions that might help you. 1) blend it so its smooth and use it as a topping on fruit, toast, crackers, etc. 2) mix with fruit yogurt (1/2 cc and 1/2 yogurt) or 3) mix in some apple butter.

As Knotted said, tempeh, tofu, quinoa and rice & beans. The Horn of the Moon cookbooks are also very good. Sometimes I think they're better, at least for soups.

But, at the end of last summer we went through a similar situation. Our exercise had increased and we were missing proteins. We started throwing TVP into our plain red tomato sauces and including more tempeh and flavored tofus in what used to be just vegetable stir fries. Also, I try to grab some pistachios or cashews when I feel like chips (although walnuts would be better for you). When we get tired of bean soups, my DH makes a kick-butt tomato-peanut soup (sounds revolting, I know, but it tastes great).

Sorry, no hope on the cottage cheese....when I'm eating out at a salad bar, I'll often put cottage cheese on my salad, but usually only after a ride when I need that extra protein.

Here's a link to a virtual shrine to cottage cheese - with yummy ideas:
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=23

Bon Appetit!
Julie

I love cottage cheese but not all... try Knudsen's low fat small curd. For some reason the small curd is easier to eat and look at and the low fat means it's less runny, little whey to look icky. I can eat it plain but prefer it with chopped fruit such as pinapple or peaches. t can be used in the place of riccotta cheese and as a spread on toast, bagel and potatoes. For potatoes I add some Mrs. Dashes' spice mix (just alittle).

I absolutely love my cottage cheese w/ sugar and dill. Just sprinkle in a little sugar and fresh dill, mix it up and it's scrumptious!

Also, it's good with the canned pineapple chunks.

Try Ricotta cheese!
It doesn't have slimy little curds. I can't eat cottage cheese either. Ricotta
is basically the same thing (fresh cheese) without the lumps. Spreads on bread.
great with fruit.

Mimi

oh ya.... like pam said.... brand matters! i tried the no name tub at sam's and the store branded from grocery stores and just don't care for it.... but the knudsen's (and i think it is the small curd) is good!

we mix ours with triple berry blend (comes frozen from sam's also... and i think i've read they sell it at costco, too!) fresh and frozen strawberries are good, too... but i really LOVE it mixed with triple berry blend.... if i make a meal of it.... i mix 1 cup/1 serving (140 grams) of fruit with 1 cup (2 servings 244 grams) of cottage cheese and one packet of splenda.... less than 300 calories and DELICIOUS!!!!

hubby used to mix his with yogurt (well... me, too... but i discovered the berries)..... i made him the berry blend one and now he refuses to eat it with yogurt anymore!

I love cottage cheese but alos can't eat large curd ones. Fornutelly, Friendship makes this cottage cheese 1% fat and it's in this pink jar and it's called "WHIPPED" so you dont have to throw it in the blender. It's smooth, not runny, just right and is sold in most supermarket stores.
What i do with my cottage cheese is basically add either bluberry or cranberry jam. Or sometimes a little brown sugar and throw in some dried cranberries or nuts.
If I am making it at home then i can get a little creative and take some diced banana, diced apples and throw it on the pan, top it with 1-2 tbsp of honey and glaze it for couple of minutes until fruit becomes soft. Then put this whole yummy mixture on top or next to your cottage cheese and sprincle with some cinnamon. It tastes like a really desert but still healthy and nutritious for you. I recommend to try it!!!
But these are breakfast meals, if you want something for lunch, then you could pretty much use it in everything. Try a little flat bread, top with some whippied cottage cheese, some greens on top, some spices maybe if you like and top it with thin slices of tomatoes.
Enjoy! :o

I *love* cottage cheese, but sadly I'm also lactose intolerant. I heard Lactaid makes a cottage cheese, but I haven't found it at my regular grocery store. Maybe at Trader Joe's? Can you freeze cottage cheese?

Have you tried Quark? Smooth and bland.
You can also make a "cheese" by taking youghurt and draining it of some of the whey (water). Line a colander with cheesecloth and let it drip , adding some salt to the result. (It's called Labaney in Arabic). Of course this increases the fat % accordingly.

Cottage is such a weird thing. The curd (lumps) are 0% fat and the creamy sauce-y stuff is a mixture of sour cream fat-adjusted for the number on the label.There are various schools of thought on the ratio of curd to medium but it is all a matter of personal taste.

[ex-cheese-maker and long-time vego (25 years+) speaking.]

I think people eat too much protein anyway. A friend used to quote some old FDA study which had the average (American) person eating 5X more protein than nutritionally necessary and the average vego 2X.

My Dad used to eat cottage cheese with catsup. I've never been able to do that, but I do like cottage cheese. I love it on Triscuit crackers.

I'm curious - what % fat cottage cheese did you buy? I usually go with 1% or 2%; the skim version is just a bit too dry for me.

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Originally Posted by SalsaMTB

I absolutely love my cottage cheese w/ sugar and dill. Just sprinkle in a little sugar and fresh dill, mix it up and it's scrumptious!

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:eek: :eek: :eek:

Fat free cottage cheese on Finn Crisp crackers for lunch. Not runny or slimy at all.

I know it adds sugar and calories, but I always used to like the cottage cheese that came with the little pineapple bits mixed in it already. Convenient too.
Count me as one who really prefers the large curd type. Otherwise, without curds, what's the point of cottage cheese's whole existance? :confused:

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Originally Posted by RedCanny

My Dad used to eat cottage cheese with catsup. I've never been able to do that, but I do like cottage cheese. I love it on Triscuit crackers.

I'm curious - what % fat cottage cheese did you buy? I usually go with 1% or 2%; the skim version is just a bit too dry for me.

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I bought some Organic Nancy's brand, I think. That may be my problem? Idk, I'm a memeber at a co-op! so I try organic stuff alot over the other brands. I know it is not skim

I mix it up with plain yogurt and salsa and eat it with tortilla chips. Plain it's just kind of, well, plain.

I like cottage cheese but only the low fat. The fat free doesn't have the same staying power in terms of staving off hunger and it doesn't taste as good.

I like it OK plain, but like it better w/ketchup. Also, I like it plain with wheat germ (the crunchier kind).

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Originally Posted by bcipam

:eek: :eek: :eek:

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lol...I was raised eating it that way, I guess I never even considered it strange :) Growing up, we always had frozen dill in the house just for the use. When I originally opened this thread, I couldn't believe no one had suggested this!

If you eat cottage cheese, try it! You don't need much sugar, sometimes I don't use any, but it does add a nice sweetness to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SalsaMTB

lol...I was raised eating it that way, I guess I never even considered it strange :) Growing up, we always had frozen dill in the house just for the use. When I originally opened this thread, I couldn't believe no one had suggested this!

If you eat cottage cheese, try it! You don't need much sugar, sometimes I don't use any, but it does add a nice sweetness to it.

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That's like when people look at me weird when I put salt on my sliced melon.
To me the salt is just a "poor man's substitute" for prosciutto! :rolleyes:

Again today I was at a buffet and had some cottage cheese. yum, it was fine. ate it all no nose pinching or additives. I even let it touch the rice and kidney bean salad. It's gotta be the additives! :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by margo49

Have you tried Quark? Smooth and bland.
You can also make a "cheese" by taking youghurt and draining it of some of the whey (water). Line a colander with cheesecloth and let it drip , adding some salt to the result. (It's called Labaney in Arabic). Of course this increases the fat % accordingly.

Cottage is such a weird thing. The curd (lumps) are 0% fat and the creamy sauce-y stuff is a mixture of sour cream fat-adjusted for the number on the label.There are various schools of thought on the ratio of curd to medium but it is all a matter of personal taste.

[ex-cheese-maker and long-time vego (25 years+) speaking.]

I think people eat too much protein anyway. A friend used to quote some old FDA study which had the average (American) person eating 5X more protein than nutritionally necessary and the average vego 2X.

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what are you considering too much protein? does vego = vegetarian octo?

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

That's like when people look at me weird when I put salt on my sliced melon.
To me the salt is just a "poor man's substitute" for prosciutto! :rolleyes:

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cantaloupe, honey dew and salt yummy , not on the watermelon though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SalsaMTB

lol...I was raised eating it that way, I guess I never even considered it strange :) Growing up, we always had frozen dill in the house just for the use. When I originally opened this thread, I couldn't believe no one had suggested this!

If you eat cottage cheese, try it! You don't need much sugar, sometimes I don't use any, but it does add a nice sweetness to it.

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I have some Knudsen's in the frig and some dill pickles so I will give this a try tonight.... but I can't imagine liking it... will report later!

Note it's not the dill that bothers me... it's the sugar!

I have a tub of cottage cheese in the fridge that challenges me every day. There's something about it that gives me the gag reflex just thinking about it. But, this thread is encouraging me to give it a try. I think I may have to get some dill first though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by limewave

I have a tub of cottage cheese in the fridge that challenges me every day. There's something about it that gives me the gag reflex just thinking about it. But, this thread is encouraging me to give it a try. I think I may have to get some dill first though.

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Limewave,
I am the same way. For me, I think it is the texture. The odd thing is, I want to like cottage cheese. :confused: I have tried all kinds, no luck. I stick with really good cheeses. I love cheese. Yes, it has fat, but in moderation it is a good thing (it helps me to buy the really expensive cheeses, I eat only a teeny bit at a time). :)
I am lactose intolerant, yet it doe not stop me. :o It also helps that I luuuv goat cheeses. :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by limewave

I have a tub of cottage cheese in the fridge that challenges me every day. There's something about it that gives me the gag reflex just thinking about it. But, this thread is encouraging me to give it a try...

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HOW long has this tub been challenging you? Hmmm...better check the expiration date first.... ;) ;)
(just kidding!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

HOW long has this tub been challenging you? Hmmm...better check the expiration date first.... ;) ;)
(just kidding!)

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Its just been in the fridge a few days. I'm trying to be as courageous as my one-year old who eats it by the handfulls.

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Originally Posted by freelivez2

what are you considering too much protein? does vego = vegetarian octo?

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I dunno - it was something she (my gf) had read and we never forgot it.

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I eat very simple food, as whole and unprocessed as possible and prepared at home just before eating (No microwave or little frozen food apart from corn and broccoli).We make 6/7 of our own bread (buy challah on Friday), and yog and the cheese I mentioned.

(I do also eat chocolate and some ice cream, drink gin and wine(s), and "use" nutmeg)

Very cute baby, Limewave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by margo49

I dunno - it was something she (my gf) had read and we never forgot it.

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I eat very simple food, as whole and unprocessed as possible and prepared at home just before eating (No microwave or little frozen food apart from corn and broccoli).We make 6/7 of our own bread (buy challah on Friday), and yog and the cheese I mentioned.

(I do also eat chocolate and some ice cream, drink gin and wine(s), and "use" nutmeg)

Very cute baby, Limewave

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Funny. We eat store bought bread except friday when I make challah! I have a good honey whole wheat recipe if you're interested.