For Anyone Who Hates Cottage Cheese

[IrishAyes]

as I did all my life, until ...drum roll... I tried mixing it with vanilla whey protein powder, plus a little extra liquid pure vanilla and fruit of choice.

Chocolate was about the only thing I could ever tolerate powdered, so I'm even extra late to the protein powder. I was convinced it would make me gag, although normally I'll eat anything that can't bite back. So first I tried the vanilla whey as a (yep, powdered) coffee creamer and fell in love with it. I suppose it was only a matter of time until the cottage cheese prohibition fell. I'd read about putting it through the blender to eliminate those scary blobs, but I'm too busy (or lazy) for that.

Anyone else have alterations/additives they might care to share? I'm afraid I might turn into such a cottage cheese eater that more variations could be needed to avoid boredom.

[elleng]

1. I use it (small curd) to expand my guacamole recipe.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. So you found a way to make it marginally less nasty.

[No Vested Interest]

3. I use cottage cheese instead of milk in

my scrambled eggs.
It seems to make the eggs a little creamier.
But then, I like cottage cheese, with perhaps a little French or ranch salad dressing. One can also buy cottage cheese with shredded pineapple mixed in. Any manner of fruit will be fine. Also a dollop of fruity preserves.
Cottage cheese is really quite versatile.

[Warpy]

4. Fettucini with broccoli, walnuts and cottage cheese

The hot pasta and broccoli melt the cheese so you don't know you are eating nasty old dry lumps in goo. It's a simple and elegant dish.

Cottage cheese is also quite good in some casseroles that need enrichment.

It's a different animal when it's heated enough to melt.

[IrishAyes]

5. Thank you, everyone. You've given me quite a few good ideas.

I didn't know the vile stuff could be disguised in various cooked dishes. As long as I don't have to look at it in the finished product, that's dandy. I make soup and casseroles all the time. Living alone I tend to prefer one pot/one pan dishes. And since meat's a little pricey, especially in a remote area like this, I often get protein from other sources such as eggs, which are usually scrambled. Luckily I never met a bean I didn't love.

Speaking of scrambled eggs, in gratitude I'll share my favorite secret ingredient for that dish: for 2 XL or jumbos, add maybe 1/16 tsp OR LESS of vodka; failing that, real vanilla. In cooking they're virtually interchangeable

[The empressof all]

6. I like it with sliced bananas

I add a little honey and top with a bit of cinnamon and granola for crunch.

I also grew up eating Pot Cheese and Noodles. Cottage Cheese is great substitute. Just mix cottage cheese, hot cooked egg noodles and what ever you like. We usually added bacon or finely minced ham. Roasted veggies are a great addition as well. It may seem odd but saurkraut is also excellent as a mix in. Just drain it well, give it a rinse and blot it dry. Try it if you like sauerkraut. It will surprise you....

[IrishAyes]

7. Thanks to everyone's kind help, I've divested myself of another blind aversion.

After several days' practice I can even look at cottage cheese plain in the carton w/o retching. Believe me, that represents huge progress.

Really, it does disappear completely in a hot cooked dish. I even sneaked a little to the dogs and they love it straight. Of course what do they know? Dogs aren't usually picky eaters. They get hysterical with joy when I so much as glance toward the kitchen.

[grasswire]

8. fine chopped veggies, dill weed, cracked black pepper

celery, radishes, parsley, grated carrot, scallion, dill weed, pepper.....mix all together.

Delicious with triscuits and a glass of V-8 juice for lunch!

[grasswire]

9. I also love it with buttered whole wheat toast and a glass of milk. nt

[Nac Mac Feegle]

10. Basic Cottage Cheese doesn't have a lot of flavor

So I've sprinkled a little salt on it since childhood. Not much, just a tiny pinch.

I also like fresh fruit slices, heck, even canned peaches or pears are wonderful combinations to me.

If it's the texture, you might try to find out why it bothers you. Maybe you had some bad stuff a long time ago, or you got a curdled milk and equate that with cottage cheese.Sometimes 'going back to the scene of the crime', or pulling the memory out and looking at it from a distance in time can let you get over something like that.

[IrishAyes]

11. It was probably too long ago for me to ever retrieve the memory.

But it might not have taken much. Although I loved all other cheese even as a small kid, I once took a long stretch of refusing to eat any cheese, no matter how much I loved it. In those days parents didn't always think to ask a kid why anything. But I do remember that situation. I'd read a book where some other kids gave a horse a grilled cheese sandwich to eat and it stuck his mouth shut. The story was all about how to correct their mistake. My takeaway? That if I ate a grilled cheese sandwich, the same thing might happen to me. Children's literature can have powerful effect.

Or maybe hating cottage cheese is associated with a person I didn't like but don't remember. I'll never know. But thank goodness, now I'm past the worst of it. The globbiness disappears when heated, I've learned, and sort of like soy the taste appears to disappear in a hot soup or stew which remains mysteriously enhanced.