Tofu
People following a vegetarian diet need to receive minerals and vitamins for the proper functioning of internal organs.
Soy curd (tofu) can replace regular fermented milk products and become a source of nutrients. This product contains a minimum amount of calories, so it does not contribute to excess weight gain. Adding tofu to your diet helps flush out accumulated toxins from the body. Tofu has great benefits for the cardiovascular system. To give the product new taste, it is recommended to add various spices or sauces. Bean curd can be consumed even at night. It is well suited for people with diabetes.
Benefits and composition
Dairy products are among the leaders among ingredients containing calcium. At the same time, cottage cheese confidently takes first place. It’s not for nothing that parents so often convince their picky children to eat a portion for breakfast, hiding it under a layer of jam or honey.
Cottage cheese affects the formation of teeth and bones. In addition, it contains substances that have a positive effect on the process of gaining muscle mass in athletes. And phosphorus is extremely necessary for women during pregnancy.
But, if its daily use only causes you unpleasant emotions, you should think about what you can replace cottage cheese with.
Calcium rich foods
When giving up cottage cheese, it is recommended to find a worthy replacement for such a product. The main requirement is a high calcium content. It is present in the following products:
- Broccoli;
- Rice;
- Sesame seeds;
- Nuts;
- Soft cheese;
- Black currant berries;
- Tangerines;
- Sunflower halva;
- Figs
All of the above products contain a large amount of useful substances that are essential for the body.
How to replace cottage cheese in your diet
Cottage cheese is not a 100% healthy product. And oddly enough, it is nutritionists who talk about this. There are a number of nuances that determine the beneficial and harmful qualities of cottage cheese. And the first of them is safety.
Fermented milk products are an excellent breeding ground for E. coli, so when purchasing cottage cheese it is very important under what conditions it was produced.
The second thing you should pay attention to is the expiration date. Cottage cheese is a perishable product, which can easily be poisoned if consumed out of date. In this case, in addition to acute infectious poisoning, you can develop serious kidney problems.
Lactose intolerance is another factor influencing the limitation of this product in the diet.
And the last reason for refusing dishes containing cottage cheese is adhering to the principles of vegetarianism.
The main problem is to find the most effective replacement, close in properties to the characteristics of cottage cheese. If we are talking about replenishing the protein component of a diet, cottage cheese can be replaced with low-fat varieties of meat or fish. It’s different if you need a product with a similar structure, taste or appearance.
In pie filling
Cottage cheese is a common ingredient in dietary baking recipes. It is added to dough to increase its overall mass and elasticity, as well as to numerous pie and scone fillings.
Cottage cheese is used as a filling in both sweet and savory baked goods. In this case, any type of low-fat cheese is suitable as a replacement.
Low-fat Mascarpone has a soft, creamy structure and can be used as a sweet filling for open pies. It goes well with fruits, berries and candied fruits. During baking it acquires a beautiful soft golden hue.
Advice! Cheese is classified as dietary if its fat content is less than 15%.
An alternative to Mascarpone is ricotta, which has a more crumbly structure and slightly salty taste, and is therefore more suitable for savory baked goods. Another difference is the production features. While Mascarpone is made from milk, Ricotta is made from whey.
Ricotta “feels” great in combination with herbs, mushrooms, vegetables and spinach, both in small closed pies and in their open varieties. At the same time, it goes well with sour berries and fruits: lemon, orange, cherry, currant.
A more budget option is suluguni. This product contains only 280 kcal (versus 370 kcal of ordinary cheese), a large amount of vitamins A, C and E. Suluguni is often used as a filling for khachapuri, as well as the famous Ossetian pies. It goes well with greens, especially cilantro and basil, vegetables and sesame seeds.
It is impossible to imagine Greek pastries without feta, a cheese made from sheep or goat milk. Like suluguni, it is often used for savory filling, complementing its taste with herbs, dry herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes.
One of the simplest and most budget-friendly alternatives to cottage cheese is kefir. To achieve the required structure, it is mixed with flour. It is not recommended to use the wheat variety on a diet; it is better to replace it with oatmeal, corn or buckwheat.
In order to get 100 grams of “alternative” cottage cheese, just mix 100 ml of low-fat kefir and 3-4 tablespoons of flour. This replacement is often used when baking open pies or preparing cheesecakes and casseroles.
In desserts
Creamy desserts based on low-fat cottage cheese are very popular on a diet. They are distinguished by their delicate structure, exquisite taste and a large number of variations. Souffle, tiramisu, crumbles - all these types of low-calorie desserts can brighten up any diet and avoid possible breakdowns.
In these cases, cottage cheese is most often replaced with Mascarpone and Ricotta, the latter being preferable since it is lower in calories (160 kcal). Ricotta is used in the production of the famous Italian dessert cannoli, and also as a cream for cakes or a filler for crumble.
The calorie content of mascarpone is quite high - 412 kcal per 100 g. At home, you can prepare a low-fat version from kefir (0%), milk (0.5%), eggs and lemon juice. In this case, the energy value of the product will not exceed 95-100 kcal.
Mascarpone is an essential component of a dessert such as tiramisu. A low-fat version of cheese will allow you to fit this Italian delicacy into your diet.
Both ricotta and Mascarpone can be used to make diet cheesecakes, combining the creamy filling with berries and fruits. By adding agar-agar or gelatin, you can use them to make the most delicate soufflés and puddings, or prepare an English crispy crumble with oatmeal.
Comment! Low-fat Mascarpone and Ricotta fit perfectly into the Dukan nutrition system.
Kefir, fermented baked milk and yogurt can also successfully act as an alternative to a curd product. Most often they are used in the process of making soufflés or added as an ingredient to the dough for cakes and other types of dessert baked goods. During the diet, it is important to consider the fat content of these products. It is desirable that this figure does not exceed 1%.
In other dishes
Cottage cheese is often used as a component of salads or as a component of hot dishes, for example, dumplings, meat cutlets, and vegetable casseroles.
In dietary salads, cottage cheese is by default replaced with low-calorie cheese: feta cheese, feta or tofu. The latter has an unexpressed taste, so it requires the use of more spices or dressings.
Ricotta behaves well in casseroles. Dishes made from broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini will be especially tasty. In combination with delicate cheese, they acquire the sophistication characteristic of French and Italian cuisine, without becoming excessively high in calories.
The tandem of minced meat and cottage cheese is a delicate structure of the dish and moderate calorie content. By replacing the curd ingredient with kefir, you can get delicious meat pancakes (as the consistency of the mass will change). If you want to preserve the structure and classic shape of the dish, then you should add a couple of tablespoons of corn flour or oat bran to kefir. Then you can safely form cutlets and bake them in the oven or convection oven.
Be sure to check out:
Lean meat
To obtain protein, it is recommended to eat lean poultry. If you completely abandon cottage cheese, you need to diversify your diet with fish and meat dishes. There are numerous low-calorie recipes created specifically for weight loss.
Many chefs cannot imagine preparing baked goods or desserts without adding cottage cheese. However, if the fermented milk product has run out or you are lactose intolerant, you can try using analogues. We have listed the most popular substitutes that have similar beneficial properties and contain a large amount of vitamins. We recommend experimenting to find the most suitable option.
Curd surprise
Perhaps you or your family do not adhere to diets, do not suffer from allergies, but simply do not like the taste of cottage cheese. And that’s why he’s a rare guest on the home menu. This can be corrected by preparing an unusual recipe, where the cottage cheese will be simply unrecognizable. An excellent example of such a dish is brownie with cherries and cottage cheese. For preparation you will need:
- butter - 120 g;
- granulated sugar - 150 g;
- flour - 150 g;
- baking powder - 1 tsp;
- soft cottage cheese - 300 g;
- vanilla sugar - 10 g;
- chicken eggs - 4 pcs.;
- pitted cherries - 350–400 g;
- dark chocolate - 100 g;
- a pinch of salt.
First you need to beat 2 eggs with 50 g of regular sugar, a bag of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Beat the remaining eggs and sugar with cottage cheese until a homogeneous air mass is obtained. In the bowl containing the vanilla sugar, add the chocolate, previously melted in a water bath, and baking powder. We send the flour there and beat everything together.
Place chocolate dough in layers in a baking dish, then curd cream and cherries. This amount of product should be enough for 3 layers. The pie is baked for 40–45 minutes at 180 °C.
Now you know how to replace cottage cheese in your diet and baking. And your body will definitely not suffer from a lack of calcium, which it needs so much.
Pregnancy
As soon as a woman finds out that she is pregnant, the first thing she does is see a doctor who will monitor her for the entire 9 months. And the doctor, in turn, must give all the necessary advice, including on changing the diet of the expectant mother. Thus, calcium entering the body will affect not only the strength of a woman’s bones, but also the formation of the fetal skeleton. Therefore, cottage cheese should appear on your menu with enviable regularity.
It is no secret that a woman in this position may be more picky and picky. And if you are faced with a similar situation, then you should understand how to replace cottage cheese during pregnancy.
How to tell the difference?
Not every buyer will be able to distinguish cottage cheese from the curd product on store shelves the first time. Recommendations will help with this.
The buyer must:
- Carefully read the composition of the product and check the integrity of the packaging . If there are preservatives, stabilizers and dyes among the components, then it is not a real product. Natural cottage cheese contains only milk and sourdough. It may also contain salt and cream. However, not all manufacturers provide complete information about the composition of the product. Components must be written in large font.
- Look at the color and consistency of the product. For cottage cheese it should be crumbly, grainy and slightly moist. It should retain its shape and not spread throughout the packaging. A smooth structure indicates the presence of palm oil. The color of natural cottage cheese should be cream. Artificial cottage cheese has a snow-white color or a shade closer to yellow.
- Check the weight of the package. Natural cottage cheese is heavier than a cottage cheese product.
- Familiarize yourself with the cost and shelf life . On average, 1 kg of cottage cheese costs 386 rubles. The cost of the curd product is much lower. Cottage cheese of natural origin can be stored for no more than 3 days from the date of production. The vegetable semi-finished product does not deteriorate within six months. You may find natural products on store shelves that have expired.
The abbreviation on the price tag BZMZH will help in determining the naturalness of the product. It stands for “without milk fat substitute.” Also, the inscription on the package “curd” indicates that this is an artificial product. Although the curd product is a tasty delicacy, it is not entirely healthy. Natural cottage cheese brings more benefits to the body. You can make it more tasty by adding dried fruits, fruits or berries.
