The cheese traditionally used in our house is full of calories and fats and, therefore, a healthy substitute to it is cottage cheese. Cottage cheese has become popular only in the past decade since people have started understanding the importance of their health (specifically in the past year as the covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives).
Cottage cheese has many advantages for your health besides being exactly as tasty as the traditional cheese used in our homes. Moreover, cottage cheese recipes are abundantly delicious and mouth-watering. The best part about cottage cheese is that you can use it in any way possible, you can use it in any conventional recipe, and the cottage cheese will fit right into that recipe (and I have seriously no idea how it makes the recipes so tasty). Some of the famous cottage cheese recipes include lasagna, pizza, granola, smoothies, etc. You can also use it as a dip for your nachos or can try it with your salad.
In this article, we will be exploring the advantages of cottage cheese, its contribution to enhancing your health, and some of the cottage cheese recipes that you can easily make in your houses without any hassle. I promise if you read the last of this article, you will fall in love with the cottage cheese and its versatility that you will run to your nearest store, buy it and make some amazingly delicious recipes out of it. So let’s first take a look at the benefits of cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese benefits:
- Cottage cheese abundant nutrients:
According to the USDA, 225 grams of cottage cheese contains 222 calories, less than one calorie per gram (amazing, right?). It also includes the following nutrients:
- Potassium: 234 milligrams
- Cholesterol: 38 milligrams
- Sodium: 819 milligrams
- Total fat: 10 grams
- Total carbohydrates: 8 grams
- Protein: 25 grams
- It also contains several different vitamins, iron, magnesium, calcium, and cobalamin.
- As implied above, cottage cheese is a low-fat product with an ample amount of protein (which, by the way, is very important for a person’s growth).
- Aids in losing weight:
As mentioned above, cottage cheese has a low-calorie content with a high protein amount, and this combination helps decrease weight. Moreover, it also provides you with the feeling of a full stomach so that you don’t crave the junk food while you are on a weight decreasing diet (so people surely make cottage cheese recipes your guilty pleasure, which you are not even guilty about).
- Helps muscle growth:
Again, cottage cheese is a protein-rich product, and so it helps in muscle growth. This is the main reason you can find different cottage cheese recipes in bodybuilders and athlete’s diets.
This means that you can add some delicious cottage cheese recipes in your meals, stock up your belly with these recipes, and can at the same time grow your physical strength (nothing in the world can be better than eating the food you like and that food is good for your body).
Note: Although cottage cheese has many advantages, it also contains a high amount of sodium, which can be detrimental to your health. Hence, choose wisely and eat the cottage cheese in moderation.
Cottage cheese recipes:
Now that we have talked about the benefits of cottage cheese, let’s turn our attention towards different cottage cheese recipes that you will love.
Lasagna:
This is a super fun recipe that you can make on different occasions if you want everyone to fall in love with your cooking skills.
- Ingredients (for ten servings):
- Ground beef: 1.25 pounds
- Onions: 2(chopped)
- Mushrooms: 4.5 ounces
- Cottage cheese: 16 ounces
- Ricotta cheese: 4 cups
- Parmesan cheese: half cup
- Eggs: two
- Lasagna noodles: 16 ounces
- Mozzarella cheese: 10 ounces
- Spaghetti sauce: 28 ounces
- Salt: to taste
- Black pepper: to taste
- Parsley (chopped): ½ cup (optional)
- Procedure:
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
- Take a large skillet and cook the ground beef in it.
- Add chopped onions and mushrooms to the ground beef after it becomes brown.
- Saute till the onions are transparent.
- Add pasta sauce, salt, parsley, and black pepper and leave it to cook for 5 minutes on low flame.
- In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and cottage cheese with eggs.
- Take a 13×9 inch pan, spread a layer of the prepared meat sauce in it. Subsequently, layer it with noodles, add a layer of the cheese mixture, then Mozzarella cheese, and again start from the meat sauce, then lasagna noodles, cheese mixture, and mozzarella cheese.
- Continue spreading until the ingredients run out. However, leave a half cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake it in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Take it out and spread out another layer of the Mozzarella cheese, and then bake it in the oven for 15 more minutes.
- Take it out and let it sit for 15 minutes.
- Serve hot!
Cottage cheese pancakes:
- Ingredients (for two servings):
- Cottage cheese: 1 cup
- Eggs: 2
- All-purpose flour: 3 tablespoons
- Butter: as needed
- Salt: taste
- Blueberries: 2 tablespoons (optional)
- Procedure:
- Take a bowl and a sieve, strain the cottage cheese and let it sit for an hour or so until the cheese is completely dry.
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl, add cottage cheese, melted butter, salt, and flour. Mix until its well blended.
- Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add butter to it.
- After the butter is heated, drop spoonfuls of the prepared batter into the pan. Sprinkle blueberries over the batter.
- Cook until the side is light brown and then flip to cook another side, give 2 minutes to each side.
Cottage cheese noodles:
- Ingredients (for four servings):
- Egg noodles: 16 ounce
- Cottage cheese: 16 ounce
- Onion: 8 (diced)
- Butter: 2 tablespoons
- Sour cream: half cup
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: to taste
- Procedure:
- Boil the egg noodles in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes until cooked. Remember not to overcook them as they won’t taste as delicious.
- Drain them into a bowl.
- Take a skillet, heat the butter and add onions to it. Cook the onions till transparent.
- Then, add the noodles, cottage cheese, sour cream, salt, and black pepper.
- Put a lid on the skillet and allow the noodles to cook for 5 to 10 minutes on low flame.
- Serve hot!
Now, you have all the cottage cheese recipes you might want to make, and they are delicious. I can tell you that because even while writing this, my mouth is watering, and I am going straight into my kitchen to make all of these. And you, too, fill your mouth with these amazing cottage cheese recipes. I hope you like them.