The Trendy Take On Caprese Salad That Starts With Cottage Cheese

If you've been on TikTok recently, you might've been surprised to see a bunch of cottage cheese videos. This is because cottage cheese may be making a comeback due to its high protein value and dearth of calories. According to USA Today, the newfound popularity of cottage cheese was kicked off by an influencer who attributed her weight loss to a mustard and cottage cheese diet. While eating mustard and cottage cheese every day is certainly one way to do it, an easy way to lower your calorie intake is to replace high-fat cheeses with cottage cheese. One way to do this is by making a delicious cottage cheese Caprese salad.

Caprese salad is an Italian classic that is often made from tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, salt, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. This dish is the perfect option for a cottage cheese swap because both mozzarella and cottage cheese are mild in flavor. Using cottage cheese in your Caprese salad will change the texture but will keep the bright, refreshing flavor of the dish intact.

There are two main ways to make a cottage cheese Caprese salad, and the one that you choose will depend on how big you like your tomato pieces and how much cottage cheese you want to use.

The first option is to make a chunkier Caprese salad. This involves large pieces of tomato. First, cut the tomato into thick disk-like slices and lay them flat on a plate. Then, add a spoonful of your favorite cottage cheese over each slice and season with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of both balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This version is perfect for sharing with others and can make a great appetizer.

The second option uses more cottage cheese and is an individual meal. First, start with a bowl and then add in about a half cup of cottage cheese. On top of the cheese add chopped tomatoes, fresh basil leaves (dried basil seasoning also works in a pinch), salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. To eat, simply mix up all of your ingredients and enjoy.

If you want to add more cottage cheese to your diet, there are plenty of fun ways to do it. However, it is important to note that the cottage cheese diet which includes eating the ingredient for every meal is a new fad diet that, according to Healthline, is quite calorie restrictive and does not include all the necessary nutrients for a healthy lifestyle. That's not to say that eating cottage cheese to lose weight is bad. In fact, eating cottage cheese every morning for breakfast or a few times a week to replace other cheeses is a great way to cut back on calories and get extra protein.

So, how can you get creative with this dish? Going off of the cottage cheese Caprese salad idea, you can also use cottage cheese as a replacement for mozzarella in a stone fruit-sweetened tomato and peach Caprese salad. Cottage cheese can also be used in place of ricotta in lasagna, instead of yogurt in tzatziki dip, or even in place of sour cream or heavy cream in many soups. There are plenty of ways to use cottage cheese to get the most out of this versatile and healthy ingredient, but the Caprese salad might be one of the simplest and best.