Muuna Cottage Cheese Comes in Three New Flavors

My favorite cottage cheese, Muuna, has just come out with three new flavors: Black Cherry, Raspberry, and Vanilla. I think the Raspberry is my fave of the three, but I also like the Vanilla. It actually doesn't taste like straight-up vanilla, but more like birthday cake, minus the sprinkles. It's so sweet and tasty, I'm betting this flavor will be popular with kids. And like all other Muuna flavored cottage cheeses, it has only 9g of sugar, so you can feel good giving it to your little beasts darlings. (Some popular yogurt brands have up to 36g of added sugar, which is pretty crazy, if you ask me.)

The Vanilla flavor also reminds me of cream cheese frosting. You know, the insanely good stuff that sits atop a slice of carrot cake. Who else out there eats the frosting first before tackling the rest of the cake? Show of hands? I know you're out there.

It might look a little strange to frost a cake with cottage cheese, but a dollop works nicely on a bowl of oatmeal, like this carrot cake-flavored one I concocted. I didn't add any sugar to the oatmeal itself, because the carrots and Muuna offer plenty of sweetness. The method for making the oatmeal itself is a little unconventional. I didn't eat oatmeal for years because I hate the gluey texture, but I found that if you don't stir it, it doesn't turn into something you might use for household repairs. Simply bring the water to a boil, add the oatmeal, cover the pan, and allow the oats to absorb all of the liquid. If it's not warm enough for you after 10 minutes of sitting, you can turn the heat on for a few moments. Just remember not to stir more than once.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

For the oatmeal:
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup raisins or dried blueberries (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the carrots:
1 1/2 cups grated carrot
2 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons sugar

To serve:
¼ cup chopped walnuts
Vanilla Muuna Cottage Cheese

To make the oatmeal: Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. At that point, add the oatmeal, cinnamon, ginger, kosher salt, and raisins or blueberries. Cover pan and turn off the heat. Allow the oatmeal to absorb the water, 10-12 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

To make the carrots: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the carrots, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and reserve until the oatmeal is done.

To serve: Spoon the oatmeal into four bowls. Divide the carrots evenly between bowls. Garnish with walnuts and a healthy dollop of Muuna Vanilla flavored cottage cheese.

Serves 4.


* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Creamy Roasted Vegetable Gazpacho

I've been buying Muuna Cottage Cheese ever since I tried it last year. It makes a good quick snack that's a bit different from yogurt, but, like yogurt, it can be used for more than a grab-and-go meal.

I've been playing with different ways to use Muuna; the cheesecake recipe linked above is a no-brainer, but I thought why not use it in place of yogurt or heavy cream? For instance, in a dish that calls for a creamy element, but not the tang of yogurt. Heavy cream might seem like the answer there, but that stuff has 411 calories per half cup, with 2g of protein. Classic Plain Muuna has 110 calories per half cup and 14g of protein. If you smooth out the curds in a food processor (I like to use a mini-prep for this) Muuna falls somewhere between yogurt and cream in thickness, making it ideal for use in soups or pasta sauces.

My favorite warm-weather food is gazpacho, and while there are days still cool enough to deal with putting the oven on, I like to make it with roasted vegetables. In this recipe, I've roasted peppers and tomatoes plus onion for extra flavor. Muuna adds a lovely creaminess, but also protein, making this soup nice for lunch or a light supper with some crusty bread.

I'm in Baltimore, and I've found my Muuna pretty much everywhere I regularly shop: Giant; Safeway; Shoppers; Weis Market. If you're elsewhere, check out the store locator on their site.

Creamy Roasted Vegetable Gazpacho
If you're not into the whole idea of putting on the oven to make this lovely chilled soup, then by all means, do cheat with a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and jarred roasted red peppers. Omit the onion, and use the jalapeno and garlic raw. The soup will be just as delicious.

2 red, orange, or yellow bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces
1 red onion, cut into thick slices, rings separated
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, cut in half and seeded
2 cloves garlic, skins on
1 1/2 pounds cherry or grape tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
3/4 cup Muuna Cottage Cheese classic plain 4%
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Tabasco to taste
Pinch smoked paprika
Diced cucumber and tomato, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil.

Place the peppers, onion, and jalapeno on one baking sheet and the garlic and tomatoes on the other. Drizzle all veg with olive oil and salt and toss with your hands until everything is coated.

Roast for 40 minutes until soft and blackened in areas, turning pieces once halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature.

Slip off the garlic skins. Place the roasted veg in the jar of a blender and puree. Add the cottage cheese, cucumber, and vinegar and puree until smooth. Season with smoked paprika, pepper, Tabasco, and salt to taste. If soup seems too thick, add a little water or some extra virgin olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld.

Serve in cups or bowls, garnished with a little of the cucumber and tomato dice.

Serves 4-6

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cottage Cheesecake

Cottage Cheese. You all know what I'm talking about. No, not the unattractive dimply stuff in our thighs. Rather, the stuff diner menus include in what they inexplicably refer to as a "diet plate," along with a bare hamburger patty and some iceberg lettuce. Or the white lumpy stuff that my mother-in-law ate on matzoh crackers with a touch of apple butter. Cottage cheese was once a popular food, but these days, the salty curds-and-cream substance seems more like punishment. The last time I tried supermarket cottage cheese, I gagged.

Of course, I once felt the same way about yogurt, and now I eat a ton of it.

Earlier in the year, at the Fancy Food Show, I tasted a new brand of cottage cheese. I'll try anything once, even camel milk and tortilla chips made with cricket flour. Expecting the same chalky curds in mucus-y sauce that I had eaten in my youth, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the curds were tender and the sauce binding them together was more like sweet cream. It was tasty. I liked it.

So when I received an e-mail from Muuna Cottage Cheese, asking if I'd be willing to try their products and write about them, I said, "sure." As it turned out, I had seen Muuna at the local grocery store just that week and had purchased the mango flavor. It was tasty. I liked it.

Muuna sent us a great box of cottage cheese goodness - 5.3-ounce cups of all five flavors (blueberry, strawberry, peach, mango, and pineapple) plus a cup of the lowfat plain. I tucked into the flavored stuff immediately, and found that while pineapple and mango were pretty good, blueberry and strawberry were even better. However, I wasn't sure I was ready to eat the plain lowfat cottage cheese on its own. So I made cheesecake with it. Pumpkin cheesecake. Because fall. Oh, and since I only had 5 ounces of cottage cheese to work with, I made minis.

There was still a bit of trepidation involved. I am a fan of smooth cheesecakes. I don't like the oddly dry texture of ricotta cheesecake, and I have never liked the old Baltimore favorite smearcase, which was commonly made with cottage cheese. So I popped the Muuna into the mini prep and gave it a whirl.

The result was an incredibly smooth cream, the texture of my favorite Australian-style yogurt. I added cream cheese, pumpkin, and spices, poured the mixture into graham cracker crusts, and popped them in the oven.

They were incredible. Seriously. I like smooth-textured cheesecakes that aren't overly-cheesy. These little babies were perfect, IMHO. Very pumpkin-y, very smooth, not too dense or cheesy. One 4-inch cheesecake was the perfect size to split with Mr Minx.

I was so pleased with the results and the texture of the blended cottage cheese, I think I might try a version without using any cream cheese at all. Maybe even a smearcase-style cake. Maybe.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes for Two
I call for a mini prep to whiz the cottage cheese because it seems silly to dirty a big food processor with this ridiculously small amount of batter. If that's all you have, however, then use it. A blender would work, too. I find the Cuisinart Mini-Prep's 3-cup size is just perfect for small jobs like hummus and pesto, and it's small enough to leave on the counter at all times. Amazon has it for around $35, and I have more than gotten my money's worth.

For the crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used crushed Teddy Grahams)
2 heaped tablespoons toasted unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas), ground in a mini prep or with a mortar and pestle if you're old fashioned
Pinch brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

For the filling:
1 (5.3 ounce) container of Muuna lowfat plain cottage cheese
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 egg

To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the crust ingredients in a zip-top sandwich bag. Close the bag and squish the ingredients around until everything is coated with the butter. Dump the bag into two 4-inch springform pans and pat into an even layer, coming a little up the sides. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove and allow to cool to room temperature.

To make the filling: Put the cottage cheese in the bowl of a mini-prep food processor and pulse until the cheese has been pureed. Add the pumpkin, sugar, spices, salt, and vanilla and blend well. Scrape mixture into a bowl and stir in the softened cream cheese, then beat in the egg until everything is well combined.

Pour filling into prepared pans and bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes, or until puffed and set. The middle might jiggle a wee bit but should not be liquidy. If it is, bake it for an additional 5 minutes. Cool cakes on a rack. When cool, loosen the edges with a knife before releasing the sides of the pan. Wrap and foil and refrigerate until cold.

Serve topped with whipped cream.

Serves 4

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $ at no cost to you! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.