10.07.2010

Cottage Cheese Challenge

Here’s another adventure…

When I was a little kid I had an aversion to white food. Milk and Ice Cream were exceptions to the rule. But, for the most part if it was white, I didn’t eat it. No sour cream, ranch dressing, Swiss cheese, cream cheese and most definitely NO cottage cheese. As the years have passed, I’ve incorporated a few of those “white” foods back into my diet with sour cream and cottage cheese being the loan hold outs.

When asked, I find people tend to be in two camps when it comes to cottage cheese. There’s the Love It camp or the Hate It camp. Cottage cheese has a loyal fan base who will enthusiastically profess their love for the creamy white curds. But the Hate It camp typically gives a shudder when asked about it and usually explains, “It’s curdled milk… ewww.” Having always sided with the "Hate It"s, I understand their point. It doesn’t look appealing – it is white after all – it doesn’t smell appealing, and it undoubtedly has texture issues. Quite frankly, looking at it has historically made me gag. However, it is relatively low in fat and has a nice amount of protein per serving. It isn’t super expensive and can be dressed up in lots of different ways. All these factors (plus my Ultimate To DO list) prompted me to try this gag worthy food.

I decided to take the savory route for my first foray into ingesting cottage cheese. I doused it in salt and pepper and cut up lots of cucumber slices and celery stalks in an effort to add a little crunch to the curds.

For my second taste I went sweet.  I added pineapple and mandarin oranges (yes we do have FRESH fruit in the house, but I figured the syrup from the canned fruit would help sweeten my curds).
I put MORE fruit in there before I ate it, this was my attempt at "food styling"...

While I can’t say that I've joined the Love It camp just yet, I do think that cottage cheese might be growing on me. Of the two ways I’ve tried it so far, I think I prefer the salty variety. But that is no surprise since salt is kind of my weakness. I can officially say that I no longer cringe at the thought of eating it, but the jury is still out whether it will ever be a FAVorite food.

Regardless. Mission accomplished. (picture me giving a big thumbs up!)

Do you fall into the Love It or Hate It camp when it comes to cottage cheese?
If you’re a Love It member, what’s your favorite way to dress it up?