15+ Favorite Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is one of those foods that people tend to love or hate. I have been a huge fan since first discovering its healthy diet food status back in the 1970s.

It is a great source of protein with about 14 grams in a 4 ounce serving and low in calories provided you choose a lowfat or nonfat variety. (You’ll want to use non-fat cottage cheese if you are following Weight Watchers Simply Filling /no count program.)

Here are 15+ of my favorite ways to enjoy this classic diet food staple…

Easy + Healthy Ways To Enjoy Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is much more than a boring diet food. It can be enjoyed in so many ways – on its own, with fruit or salad, on toast, as a vintage Weight Watchers “Danish” and in a wide variety of both sweet and savory dishes.

How Do You Make Homemade Cottage Cheese?

As a lazy cook, I’ve never considered making cottage cheese myself.  You can find it at most any grocery story. I’m sure the fresh homemade version tastes amazing. So if you’re curious here’s a Quick Cottage Cheese Recipe from Alton Brown at the Food Network.

Are you put off my the texture of cottage cheese?

To give your cottage cheese a smooth consistency, give it a whirl in a food processor (affiliate link) or blender. Then it becomes a healthier alternative to sour cream in your favorite dip recipe or as a tasty topping for baked potatoes. This was a popular low fat alternative back in the “old days” before Greek yogurt came into vogue.

This smooth whipped cottage cheese is also delicious slathered on a bagel, or pancakes, with jam.

More Favorite Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese

#1 Serve it with fruit. One of my favorite ways to eat cottage cheese is with fruit. It’s a match made it heaven.

I love it for both breakfast and lunch during the summer. Just about any fruit will work – fresh, canned in fruit juice, or frozen. Delicious options include:

• Sliced bananas
• Crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks
• Berries – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination
• Melon chunks or balls
• Fresh or canned peach slices
• Chunks of apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon
• Applesauce or apple butter
• Or get fancy and make this cottage cheese banana split.

#2 Mix it with nut butter. Stir a tablespoon of your favorite nut butter into a half cup of cottage cheese. Use it to stuff celery or spread on whole grain toast or crackers.

#3 Add it to smoothies. Blend it into your favorite fruit smoothie or green smoothie recipe for an extra boost of protein.

#4 Add it to pancake batter to make Cottage Cheese Pancakes, which are much higher in protein than regular ones, but taste just as delicious.

#5 Make muffins. Stir into muffin batter to make blueberry cheesecake muffins like Kristina did over at Love and Zest.

#6 Stir it into pasta. The cottage cheese gets warm and creamy and is especially good with lots of freshly ground pepper.

#7 Or use it instead of ricotta cheese in Lasagna, Baked Pasta with Zucchini and Cottage Cheese in Casserole Dish or Mom’s Easy Baked Ziti.

#8 Or try this tasty low calorie Orzo with Cottage Cheese and Peas recipe:

4.41 from 5 votes

Print Recipe

Orzo with Cottage Cheese and Peas Recipe

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

One of my favorite ways to use cottage cheese with pasta with less fat and more protein - simple, healthy and delicious!

Course: Side Dish

Servings: 6

Calories: 229 kcal

Author: Martha | Simple Nourished Living

Ingredients

• 2 cups low fat cottage cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup minced scallions or chives
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Black pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound orzo (rice shaped pasta)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Cook the orzo in plenty of boiling salted water until tender. While the orzo is cooking, place the peas in a colander in a the sink.

2. While the water boils and orzo cooks, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the cottage cheese, salt, scallions, lemon zest, and black pepper. Mix until well combined.

3. When the orzo is done, drain into the colander right onto the peas.

4. Shake off the excess water and dump into the bowl with the cottage cheese mixture.

5. Stir gently and sprinkle with grated parmesan.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature.
   

Recipe Notes

Serving Size: about 3/4 cup

Weight Watchers PointsPlus: *6

Weight Watchers SmartPoints: *7

Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints *6

Nutrition Facts

Orzo with Cottage Cheese and Peas Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 /6th recipe)

Calories 229 Calories from Fat 20

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 2.2g 3%

Total Carbohydrates 34.7g 12%

Dietary Fiber 2.9g 12%

Protein 16.4g 33%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

#9 Serve it on a baked potato with salsa. For an incredible quick, easy and healthy lunch or dinner, one of my favorite ways to eat cottage cheese I learned years ago from Weight Watchers.

#10 Spread it on toast. for a vintage Weigh Watchers “danish.” I love cottage cheese spread on toasted raisin bread, then sprinkled with cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Or make this vintage “WW Danish”.

#11 Spread it on thin slices of apple and sprinkle with cinnamon. Perfect for breakfast or a healthy after school snack.

#12 Add a spoonful while you’re making scrambled eggs. It’ll give you the cheesy flavor you crave with an extra dose of protein. Or try this light + healthy spinach and feta crustless quiche.

#13 Use cottage cheese as a substitute for sour cream. First buzz it in a blender or food processor (affiliate link), with the tiniest bit of boiling water to make it make it creamy and then you can use it to make all kinds of skinny dips.

#14 Season it with your favorite spice blend. Lemon pepper, Mrs. Dash, Old Bay and Herbamare all work well. Spread on vegetables or whole grain crackers of stuff into celery or hollowed out tomatoes.

#15 Stir in some pesto with it. Then enjoy as a dip or spread for vegetables or crackers or stuffed into hollowed out cherry tomatoes.

# 16 Mix it with chopped vegetables or tuna or shrimp to make a salad. Makes another great dip or spread perfect with toasted whole grain bread, crackers, or vegetables.

A Simple Spread: Cottage Cheese with Olive Oil and Black Pepper

Food doesn’t get much faster than this. This is best with large-curd cottage cheese, preferably organic. Put some on a plate, season with sea salt and coarse freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the top. Enjoy with whole grain bread or crackers.

*PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT Weight Watchers Zero Points fruits and vegetables using the WW Recipe Builder.

More WW Friendly Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese

Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Cottage Cheese Recipes
Baked Pasta with Zucchini and Cottage Cheese
Cottage Cheese Waffles (SnackGirl)
Healthy Sour Cream Substitute (TheYummyLife)
Tuna, Cottage Cheese & Avocado Salad (RecipeDiaries)
25 Uses of Cottage Cheese (Devour the Blog)
Cheesy Guacamole (The National Dairy Council)

WW has also updated their program to SmartPoints from PointsPlus – click here to learn more about SmartPoints.

Weight Watchers Makes Changes for 2018

Learn more about the WW Freestyle Plan in this short video…

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