Cottage Cheesecake

I was quite frankly skeptical of this idea but decided to give it a try anyway. My first attempt was ok, but there was room for improvement. So here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups regular cottage cheese
1 1/3 Cups non-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. flour
7 Tbsp. granulated Splenda (suitable for baking), or sugar if you'd rather.
2 Eggs
2 Egg whites
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Blackberry marmalade as needed for the topping (or any other topping you want)

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F)

First you need to reduce the cottage cheese to a thick fluid. Since I've been suing it in other recipes, I did what I always do: mix it with something more fluid, yogurt in this case, in the blender and hit the liquefy setting. It works very well.

Next mix the liquefied cheese and yogurt mix with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl and whisk them together. the order doesn't matter, but it's easier to leave the lime zest and juice for last. Pour the whisked batter into a greased baking dish and place in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

It's a bit hard to say when it's done, as it won't solidify until it cools down a bit first. By my experience, it's done when the mix on the edges of the dish begin to turn golden brown.

Let the pie cool down and spread the marmalade, or the topping of your choice, on top.

The consistency is close to, but quite that, of regular cheesecake. The flavor is very close. For low fat it's really excellent.

I want to try mixing chocolate chips in the batter next. They ought to melt nicely while it melts. Or perhaps add melted chocolate in layers. This would raise the fat content, of course, but it might be worth trying.

Berry Yogurt bake

Remember me?

Sorry. Work's been oppressive lately, to the point where a mere10-hour day seems short. I've still cooked every weekend, but was too tired to post about it. I'm still tired, but also way behind. So let's get to it:

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs
2 eggs worth of egg whites (I buy egg whites in a jar as it involves less waste for me)
2-3 Tbsp. granulated Splenda, suitable for baking
1/3 cup brandy
375 gr. plain, non-fat yogurt
a pinch of nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
400-500 gr. berries of your choice, either fresh or frozen (defrost them first!); I used raspberries and blackberries.
2 tsp. Corn starch

In a bowl whisk all the ingredients but the berries. If you used frozen berries and they released some juice as they thawed, add the juice to the mix.

Next place the berries in a baking dish. Add the batter. Place in the oven at about 180 C for around an hour or until it's cooked through.

That's all there is to it.

Coming soon more recipes. I hope sometime this month.

Sweet and sour cabbage, first draft

I thought this one up while at work late this afternoon. I've tried some sweet and sour recipes before, but was disappointed with the results. This one comes close to meeting my expectations, but it's not all it could be yet. Think of it as first draft.

Ingredients:

1/2 A head of green cabbage, shredded
1/3 Onion, quartered
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup chicken broth (Ok, I used a cup of hot water and one cube of low sodium, low fat chicken bullion)
3 Tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
4 1/2 Tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup Ketchup (I used low-sugar ketchup)
2 Tablespoons Splenda (you can use sugar in the same proportion)
Black pepper to taste
1 Teaspoon sesame seed oil
3 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

First do the sauce. In a bowl mix the chicken broth (cold or warm, not hot), ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar. Whisk until you can't see lumps of ketchup. Taste to see if it's sour enough. if it isn't, add more vinegar (carefully, you don't want it too sour). Add the Splenda and whisk again. Taste again to check if the sweet and sour balance is ok. if not, adjust as needed by adding more sweetener or vinegar. Just be careful not to mess it up, or to add too much liquid. Set it aside.

Heat the oil in a pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the cabbage, snow peas and soybean sprouts. Sprinkle with pepper, if you want, and stir well. Stir-fry for ten to fifteen minutes, or to the point where you think the veggies are soft enough.

Reduce the heat to minimum and add the sauce (it won't hurt to give it a last whisk). Stir well so everything gets coated. You may need to toss it like a salad. Let it simmer for three minutes and add the corn starch dissolve din water. Stir/toss well again, insuring everything gets well-drenched in sauce. Let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, remove from heat and serve.

I need, and I will,make some improvements. For one thing I should add sliced carrots and pineapple bits in syrup (which would alter the sweetener amounts). It might also serve for sweet and sour meats like chicken or pork.

Enjoy!