Good replacement for cheese?
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Back in after giving substitution advice, because my practice is like most: I eat the cheese, in reasonable portions. To eat in featured roles, the good stuff: Good goat cheese (Cypress Grove cheeses are way expensive, but make me deliriously happy), brie, good feta (brands vary a lot), real parmesan (I buy blocks, grate, freeze).
I think 2% mozzarella type tastes fine, and in the string cheese formulation prefer its seemingly slightly chewier texture. Paneer (unsalted!) or farmers cheese are lower calorie and good, too. Mozzarella "pearls" are also pretty good. Part-skim ricotta is good in some contexts, too.
I will use other reduced-fat cheese in non-featured roles, but haven't found a fat-free that is worth the calories to me (taste and protein-wise . . . plus if I'm low on any macro, it tends to be fat). Occasionally, I'll use a pre-shredded 2% "Mexican blend" (so-called) as a melting cheese on top of stuff (I keep some in the freezer).
Cabot makes an extra-light cheddar (hard to find) that has around 60 calories per ounce, and 9g protein. It's texture isn't great for cold-eating on its own (very chewy, for cheese), and it melts less than fattier cheese as a shredded topper, but it tastes good to me in sandwiches or in cubes in soup/stew, for example. I wouldn't call it super Cheddar-y tasting, but it does taste like cheese (unlike some reduced fat options).
Personally, I don't care for the reduced-fat flavored things like Laughing Cow wedges, though the Babybel waxed ones are OK.0 -
Less cheese
lower fat cheese
stronger flavored cheese (e.g. sharp rather than mild cheddar) so you don't as much to get the flavor
less of something else so you can have your cheese and eat it too!
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If you don’t have them, a good thing to invest in is a cheese planer, and a micro grater for thinly sliced and very finely shredded hard cheeses and a vegetable peeler for shaved cheese. Weigh it out on your food scale. You may be surprised to discover how little you need and the calories are less than you may think.3
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Eatlean cheese like normal cheese but less calories and more protein can be expensive though2
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bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
One note...most of things often recommended to replace cheese (hummus, guacamole, etc.) have similar calorie counts. Hummus is one that gets a lot of people because it seems like it should be low cal until you consider the ingredients (chick peas, tahini, olive oil). Ditto guacamole because what fruit is high in calories and fat?5 -
Cream cheese is something you could use, they have lots of different flavors and it's generally lower in cals than other cheeses.1
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Sour cream is good and less calories. Along with plain yogurt. Sometimes I put a tiny sprinkle if cheese for the meltinessand then sour cream as well. Salsa is another option. Light italian dressing.2
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Wisconsin born, so I'll never give up cheese. I fully support some of the statements above about using a stronger or sharper cheese in smaller quantities. 0.5oz (14g) of some good cheeses go a long way.2
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I replace some full fat cheese or salad dressing with fat free cottage cheese, which has a similar mouth feel to cheese, but for far less calories. (And a protein bonus!)
For example, for a salad, instead of 2 T salad dressing, I have 1 T dressing plus 60 - 80 grams of cottage cheese (generally whatever the weight of the lettuce was.)
For a chicken lettuce wrap, I would like 1 T ranch or Caesar dressing, and would experiment with the amount of cottage cheese as the above amounts would be sloppy.1 -
As a couple of folks have already noted if you like cheese flavor top quality is the best choice because you get more flavor for less volume. If it's texture that's a different matter. Personally I like a good aged sharp cheddar for flavor or a really good quality parmesean. If you want volume the low fat cheeses are ok. They do tend to be more chewy.1
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bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.1 -
bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.
Thank you I suggested this further up but I got wooed -_- not sure why2 -
bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.
Thank you I suggested this further up but I got wooed -_- not sure why
Must have upset the cheese purists who don't believe in compromising other than quantity3 -
thank you! I haven't woo'd anyone, the suggestions have been great. I love parmesan, and we have this regular in the house, I think ill give that a shot seeing that it allows me to have the flavour without calorie overload.
But i hadn't thought of the bocconcini which is super yum too! I think I've got my winter lunches sorted for this season thanks! 2 -
Keto_Vampire wrote: »bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.
Thank you I suggested this further up but I got wooed -_- not sure why
Must have upset the cheese purists who don't believe in compromising other than quantity
That'll explain my 2 then :laugh:2 -
bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.
Thank you I suggested this further up but I got wooed -_- not sure why
Lots of people think Woo means "woo hoo!" a positive, rather than its actual meaning, which is negative.
Because of this ongoing confusion, this reaction experiment has failed, and we should get rid of it.1 -
Feta is the lowest calorie cheese, and since it's so salty and creamy, in cold applications you need very little. Flavour wise in a wrap, you can probably make do with half the feta as opposed to cheddar.2
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kshama2001 wrote: »bluesheeponahill wrote: »I love wraps. They’re easy to put together and quick. They can be toasted in winter so it’s an easy all round meal.
Except the cheese! The calories in cheese! 25 grams of grated cheese can be easily 100 calories.
What’s a good replacement for it? I was thinking hommus, but for example I do like a simple ham, cheese and tomato wrap. Ham hommus and tomatoes don’t really gel well.
Maybe other wrap filling ideas that aren’t cheese?
TIA
What about Eatlean protein cheese. 50% less fat.
Thank you I suggested this further up but I got wooed -_- not sure why
Lots of people think Woo means "woo hoo!" a positive, rather than its actual meaning, which is negative.
Because of this ongoing confusion, this reaction experiment has failed, and we should get rid of it.
^^^exactly!👏
Why don’t they replace it with the thumbs down symbol, everyone gets that.
OP, eat cheese in moderation. It’s too delicious to avoid. Lots of suggestions here for moderating amounts. It’s sad to think of totally abstaining 😢0 -
Ham and cheese is classic. Cheese is wonderful but there are other flavors too. How about ham lettuce and whole grain mustard. Mustard is a very low cal very flavorful ad to sandwich.
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How about vegan cheese or cashew cheese?
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