Check out my progress on A 2009 Favorite: Rachel's Cottage Cheese
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the primary reason I have not converted to an entirely vegan diet is cottage cheese. Although several tofu-based recipes for this animal product exist, I have never been quite satisfied with the results in their abilities to mimic this salty treat. I blame a certain Rachel for making my love of cottage cheese even greater.
In recent months, Rachel’s Dairy has begun producing individual cups of (sweet and savory) flavored cottage cheeses. I have grown to love these products for many reasons, but chief among them is that they have all the convenience of individual yogurt cups but without all the sugar or artificial sweeteners. In addition, as are all of Rachel’s products, these cottage cheese cups are made with milk from cows not treated with rBGH, otherwise known as bovine growth hormone. Ideally, I would prefer to consume only organic dairy, but I will settle for rBGH-free products.
All of Rachel’s cottage cheese products are made with 1.5% milkfat, and each cup contains 110-140 kcalories, 2 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated), and 14-15 grams of protein. As mentioned above, these products are 50-75% lower in sugar than conventionally sweetened yogurts. As you might expect, the sweet varieties contain more sugar than the savory ones; the sweet flavors contain 10 grams versus the savory flavors’ 4-6 grams. Plus, each cup provides 200 mg of calcium (20% RDA). As with all cottage cheese, however, the sodium count is high–around 20% RDA for each serving.
The flavors:
-Pear Mangosteen:
- This is my favorite among the sweet varieties.
- I am not entirely sure what a mangosteen is, but I like it…especially if it has anything to do with mango:)
with chopped pear
mixed with raw cashews
-Pomegranate Orange Cranberry
- The pomegranate is sadly all but undetectable.
- Still quite enjoyable; the cranberry flavor brilliantly shines through on your taste buds.
mixed with raw almonds
-Lemon Verbena Berry
- The most prominent flavor is “berry;” a little more lemon action would be preferable
- I love how unique this variety is! As far as I know, few products feature “lemon verbena oil” among their ingredients.
Rachel's Lemon Verbena Berry Cottage Cheese with ground flax
with ground flax
-Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
- Given my recent discovery of pesto and all its tastiness, I was excited to try this…but its most prominent flavor is tomato. Good thing I love me some tomatoes too!
- This would be easy to incorporate into Italian recipes such as lasagna or stuffed pastas.
served atop a whole grain bagel with sliced tomato and olives
served atop toast with olives
-Cucumber Dill
- This flavor is my favorite among the savory varieties.
- If you like tzaziki dip, you’ll love this–it might even be worth trying as a dip for pita.
served with dry roasted pistachios
with a little extra dill sprinkled in
-Roasted Red Pepper
- This flavor was the most difficult to locate in my area. I finally found it at a local Publix.
- I loved how there were visible chunks of pepper mixed into this product.
served with red bell pepper and a toasted bagel
mixed with pinenuts
What are some of your favorite ways to enjoy cottage cheese?
Be back soon with a weekend recap. Happy Mother’s Day!
Filed under: Feature Post, Product Review
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
Caroline,
GREAT review. You know I can’t get enough cottage cheese! I can’t wait until I live near enough to a whole foods to bring back refridgerated items.
Have a wonderful Sunday darling!
With Love,
Emily
PS- I just made a deeelish pesto today that I’ll be posting soon. I bet you would love it.
my fav ways are either with kashi crackers to dip for a snack.. or with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar for a sweet treat:) i’ve never seen this brand though, i will keep an eye out
Ahh I cannot wait to try the savory rachel flavors on top of a toasted bagel!
I actually just had some cottage cheese (but not rachel’s, unfortunately) w/ lots of cinnamon, almond butter & an apple!
I usually like my cottage cheese plain with a spoonful of fruit preserves mixed in, but the savory cottage cheese flavors are intriguing (the roasted red pepper flavor especially!).
Cottage cheese is one of my favorite foods
We always have a carton of the 4% of whatever’s on sale, and my favorite way to eat it is with a granny smith apple! It *has* to be a granny smith (or something really, really tart). I find that the sourness goes really well with the creaminess
I also like it mixed with canned pumpkin. a 1:1 cottage cheese and pumpkin mix is delicious! It tastes a little like pumpkin pie.
I love how you pair the cottage cheese with more of the ingredient it themes — ie. red pepper cottage cheese on red pepper, extra fresh dill with dill cucumber :]
Love the reviews. The only one I’ve tried was pear mangosteen and actually didn’t like it too much. Maybe I’m more of a savory kind of girl! I want to try the sun dried tomato pesto now. I love tomatoes
My favorite way to eat plain cottage cheese is just over fruit with a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top
[...] I finally found the elusive Rachel’s Roated Red Pepper Cottage Cheese (see my review here). I kept the sodium count down by using toasted pine nuts rather than my customary sliced olives. [...]
seriously that snack plate with the banana and PB looks like the PERFECT BITE. I’m hungry now. haha
ohhh i have to keep my eyes out for this stuff, i have never seen it ANYWHERE. i don’t like sweet stuff in my CC but the savory blends look like they would be right up my alley. thanks for the detailed review!!
oh i forgot to answer your Q! my favorite way to eat CC is on a wasa cracker with sunflower seeds sprinkled on top with fresh ground black peppercorns. i also like to blend it and use it instead of mayo in things like chicken and tuna salads.
i’ve never tried Rachel’s cc! thanks for the review! i’ll check it out! too bad her products are so hard to find!
[...] today. I sense a wrap revolution. I used Rachel’s Cucumber Dill cottage cheese (reviewed here), and it was pretty awesome. cottage cheese wrap with cucumbers & roasted red peppers; almonds; [...]
[...] the ingredients list was short and pronounceable; low-sodium too! It turned out to be fantastic! Rachel’s cottage cheese still rocks my socks. Mango-Lemongrass-Chardonnay Vinaigrette from TJ…Maxx, that is salad with [...]
[...] gonna lie, this salad was pretty awesome. Rachel’s, you never fail me. Now I understand the nut butter-stuffed date craze–they’re [...]
[...] of my unexpectedly open schedule, I had a bit more time to prepare my breakfast this morning. These cottage cheese cups never cease to please my palate. whole wheat mini bagel with Rachel's Cucumber Dill [...]
love this page!! I have been deciding what flavor to get to try first, i think I will be going with a sweet one first!