Creamy cottage cheese is not only a comfort food, but it’s surprisingly nutritious. Even low-fat cottage cheese tastes creamy enough to seem a little sinful, but in fact, it’s relatively low in fat, high in protein, and low in carbohydrates. Cottage cheese salad, whether it’s made with fruit, leafy veggies, or tuna, chicken, or beans is delicious, easy to prepare, and satisfying.
A simple cottage cheese salad that is filling enough for breakfast and sweet enough for a dessert is easy to compose by pairing one or more types of fruit with small or large-curd cottage cheese. Blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries sweeten up the creamy taste. Adding a few slices of banana adds another, very different, creamy texture. A tropical cottage cheese salad needs only pineapple chunks, mango slices, and perhaps a little fresh or dried coconut. The fruit adds enough sweetness, but a little honey is also an option.
Fans of pot luck suppers are sure to recognize the ubiquitous cottage cheese, gelatin, and whipped cream salad that has been an invited guest at church basement dinners across the land since the 1950s. Most versions of this sweet side dish include crushed pineapple and red or green grapes, although mandarin oranges are also popular. Many home cooks include mini marshmallows because that’s the way their own moms served the salad when it first became popular, and some insist the salad isn’t complete without the addition of whipped cream cheese.
Waistline watchers already know that cottage cheese helps shed pounds without leaving the dieter feeling deprived. Cottage cheese is one of those foods that gets along with almost everyone, and veggies are no exception. A scoop of cottage cheese on several leaves of spinach, arugula, or other greens is the foundation for a lunch salad that is as filling as it is pretty. Grape tomatoes, slices of red, yellow, and green peppers, and carrot curls remind diners that low-calorie salads don’t have to mean suffering. Cottage cheese is the perfect substitute for high-calorie creamy dressings, and many dieters insist it tastes better too.
Cottage cheese salad is sturdy enough to handle some additional protein as well. Adding canned or fresh fish such as tuna or salmon is one option; a little dill, a squirt of fresh lemon, and a few capers add interest. Chopped or shredded skinless chicken breast added to a cottage cheese salad is filling enough for dinner. Vegetarians find that sautéed or baked tempeh or a little crumbled tofu does the trick.