Cottage Cheese: Three Ways

Get ready for a guest post full of awesome information plus healthy and delicious recipes. Janetha, today’s guest blogger, is the author of the blog Meals & Moves, a blog I grew to love for Janetha’s candid writing style and real approach to living a healthy life.

Plus, Janetha’s recipes are always a hit in our house! I love her pumpkin enchiladas almost as much as I love the pictures she posts of her adorable dogs.

Take it away, Janetha!

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Guest Post: Meals & Moves

Hey Peanut Butter Finger lovers! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Janetha and I write a blog called meals & moves, where I yammer on about food, fitness and everything in between.

I am so glad I get to yammer on to you guys here on Julie’s blog today while she is exploring Europe. (What a lucky.)

One thing I am always focused on is getting enough protein into my daily diet. By getting enough protein, I have the energy to power through my daily workouts, build lean muscle AND keep that hard earned muscle around for a while!

Because it is not always practical (or appetizing) to eat a chicken breast at every meal, I like to find other ways to get my protein grams in each time it is time to eat. One of my favorite go-to types of protein is cottage cheese.

On average, 100 calories of low fat cottage cheese contains around 15 grams of protein.

The specific kind of protein that the majority of those 15 grams are made up of is casein protein. Casein protein is beneficial because it is a slow digesting form of protein. It supplies a steady stream of protein to your body long after you consume it, meaning it is a high satiety food and keeps you full for longer than other types of protein. Because of this, cottage cheese consumption is optimal to eat before a long night’s sleep or if you have to go a long period of time without eating.

Cottage cheese isn’t just amazing because of the protein content. It is also packed with other great stuff, including calcium. The RDA recommends that women over 19 years old get 1,000 mg daily. One 1/2 cup serving of cottage cheese contains 240 mg of calcium, which is nearly 25 percent of the recommended daily dose (source).

Most brands of cottage cheese also contain live probiotic cultures, just like the ones found in yogurt, which promote a healthy digestive system. Probiotics are “good bacteria” that our bodies need in order to create an environment to ward off the “bad bacteria” that makes us get sick.

In addition to cottage cheese being so nutritionally sound, it is a really inexpensive way to get your nutrients. I buy mine at Costco for $4.99 per 48 ounces. The brand is Darigold and it has 14 grams of protein per serving.

This contains twelve 1/2 cup servings, making each serving a mere 42 cents per serving. Granted, it is probably pricier in other areas (seeing as how I live in Utah, a state with very low prices), but it is all relative and you will find that the price of cottage cheese is much less in comparison to a serving of other types of protein.

Now that I have professed my love for cottage cheese, let’s talk about eating it! While I do love to eat cottage cheese straight from the container, there are lots of other ways to enjoy it. Here are three of my tried and true recipes.. all very different from each other.

Protein Pancakes

I know what you are thinking.. cottage cheese, in pancakes? Well, trust me, you can’t taste it. This is just a WONDERFUL way to add staying power to your morning flapjacks (or evening ones.. I am a big fan of breakfast for dinner!) I have found that plain old pancakes really don’t keep me full for more than, oh, twenty minutes. Add some cottage cheese into the mix and these babies keep me full til’ my next meal time.

The recipe (serves one):

• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/3 cup (or two) egg whites
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more if you are a cinnamon-crazed maniac like me)
• sweetener of choice, such as stevia, agave, sugar, etc (optional, i never use a sweetener)
• fruit, nuts or other fold-ins like coconut or chocolate chips (again, optional)

Combine all ingredients (except fold-ins) in a blender or Magic Bullet (my personal protein pancake making appliance of choice) and blend until smooth. Fold in any additional ingredients, if desired.

Pour batter onto a heated and oiled pan or griddle and cook just like normal pancakes. These will be nice and fluffy!

Serve with toppers of choice.. my personal favorite pancake topper is Mighty Maple peanut butter and sliced bananas, but anything goes. The pancakes in the photo above are adorned with agave and fresh strawberries, or you can always keep it classic and use butter and maple syrup.

Here’s a tip: triple the batch and freeze or refrigerate the leftover pancakes. When you are ready to eat them, pop them in the toaster (like an Eggo!) and you’ve got a quick and easy meal in minutes.

Approximate nutrition info for recipe base: 200 calories, 20g protein, 21g carbs, 4g fat.

One Bowl Faux Lasagna

Do you ever just crave lasagna but don’t want to take the time to bake a whole flippin’ pan of the stuff?! No? Just me? Or is it you, too? Well, if you ARE like me and sometimes just want a single serving of lasagna, try this recipe and it is sure to satisfy your Italian craving immediately. Don’t be scared of eating your cottage cheese hot. I promise, it’s tasty.

The recipe (serves one):

• 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup steamed spaghetti squash
• 1/4 cup marinara sauce (jarred or homemade)
• sprinkle of parmesan or mozzarella cheese (Optional, but highly suggested. I love cheese.)

Simply combine the cottage cheese, squash and sauce in a bowl, mix well and microwave for about two minutes or until it is warmed through. Top with cheese, if desired.

Sometimes I like to get fancy and add diced mushrooms or fresh basil to the bowl. You can also sub out the squash and use noodles instead. What makes this seem like lasagna is the cottage cheese.. it totally mimics the ricotta that is found in traditional lasagna recipes. Don’t be afraid to have fun with your ingredients!

Approximate nutrition info for recipe base: 180 calories, 18g protein, 17g carbs, 3g fat.

Triple C Mixup

The three C’s in this equation are Cottage Cheese & Chickpeas. The combination of protein packed cottage cheese and fiber filled chickpeas will keep your hunger at bay for hours on end. The different textures of the two main ingredients will keep your mouth entertained and you can always keep the dish fun and new by throwing in different add-ins. This one is eaten cold and is a great item to pack for lunch if you don’t have access to a range or microwave come meal time.

The recipe (serves one):

• 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup canned chickpeas
• 1 tsp ranch seasoning

Mix the three ingredients together and eat as is, or feel free to throw anything else into the mix.

This base is very versatile and lots of things go great when mixed in! Some of my favorite add-ins have been diced cucumbers, quartered grape tomatoes, black olives and steamed broccoli. It is safe to say that you could throw in any veggie(s) you have lying around and it would work out perfectly.

Approximate nutrition info for recipe base: 190 calories, 21g protein, 25g carbs, 4g fat.

There you have it.. three different and delicious ways to enjoy cottage cheese. As you can see, all three recipes are low in calories, so please use them as a blank canvas and add your custom ingredients to amp them up and make them a full meal. They are all super protein-packed as is.. so even if you don’t make any additions, these are all bound to fill you up.

You could always combine your cottage cheese with fruit and eat it as a sweet treat. This is a VERY popular way to eat cottage cheese, but my taste buds won’t go there so I couldn’t promote that method in my post. Hey, different strokes for different folks, right?

Hope you enjoyed my cottage cheese rambles. If you feel the urge to continue reading my randomness, head on over to meals & moves. There is plenty more where this came from.

Questions from Janetha

• Do you like cottage cheese?
• What is your favorite way to eat it?