Cheese Admiration and Celebration

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  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    As a friendly reminder, this is not a junk food debate thread: There are various of those around MFP, for those inclined.

    It's a cheese thread.

    Me, I eat some cheese - sometimes multiple servings - pretty much every day. As an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and one who tends to under-consume fats if she doesn't pay attention, I find it nutritionally helpful. I almost never go over the MFP sat fat default (get a fair fraction of MUFAs/PUFAs from other foods), and the cheeses have useful protein, useful fat . . . plus they're delicious. It seems like a psychological miracle that I can (mostly) moderate them! (I apologize to those who can't for underscoring my good fortune in that way.)

    Today, I ate a goat feta - a favorite - from my local farmstead creamery. It's quirky, not a classic feta really, but I adore it. Though I don't love cauliflower rice (bigger chunks of cauliflower have more flavor), tonight's dinner was cauliflower rice with a nice garlic/tomato pasta sauce, an egg, and a portion of that good feta. Enjoyable, and a good macro/micro profile to fill out my day. I'm full and happy.
    Thank you AnnPT77. It just shows how easy it is to trigger me.
    I envy you. There is no weight-loss way I can afford to eat cheese, even if it is the only food I know of that is capable of making me feel "full and satisfied". It's just the calories that don't cooperate. And yes, feta is also a favourite of mine. One portion for me is "as much as is available". Ouch.



  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,489 Member
    edited November 2022
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    ETA another P.S.: Cornelian cherry is a near relative to Dogwood, which I think is interesting, too.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    As a friendly reminder, this is not a junk food debate thread: There are various of those around MFP, for those inclined.

    It's a cheese thread.

    Me, I eat some cheese - sometimes multiple servings - pretty much every day. As an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and one who tends to under-consume fats if she doesn't pay attention, I find it nutritionally helpful. I almost never go over the MFP sat fat default (get a fair fraction of MUFAs/PUFAs from other foods), and the cheeses have useful protein, useful fat . . . plus they're delicious. It seems like a psychological miracle that I can (mostly) moderate them! (I apologize to those who can't for underscoring my good fortune in that way.)

    Today, I ate a goat feta - a favorite - from my local farmstead creamery. It's quirky, not a classic feta really, but I adore it. Though I don't love cauliflower rice (bigger chunks of cauliflower have more flavor), tonight's dinner was cauliflower rice with a nice garlic/tomato pasta sauce, an egg, and a portion of that good feta. Enjoyable, and a good macro/micro profile to fill out my day. I'm full and happy.

    ETA: That thing @acpgee posted a while back here, with the smoked cheese plus a sweet topping (genericizing the idea) was really good, in experiments I tried. I had some with Cornelian cherry jelly (that a friend made), some with pomegranate molasses, neither of which were exactly the original concept . . . but really good on melty smoked gouda or provolone.

    @lietchi, what was the nature of the cheese in the 'postre vigilante' you had? I looked at some web articles, but they were more descriptive of the "dulce" layer (which can be quite various, it seems), and not very specific about the cheese. In your photo, it looks like it could be Halloumi-like, or queso-fresco-like, or paneer-like, or . . . ? Can you describe what you had?

    ETA another P.S.: Cornelian cherry is a near relative to Dogwood, which I think is interesting, too.
    If I am not mistaken, our red osier dogwood is edible as well, but perhaps more bitter. I have never tried it, though I can imagine it must be rather heavenly in combination with cheese.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
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    And I don’t want to see this thread go off topic either, but this article in Eating Well magazine about what happens if you eat cheese every day might make people on this list happy; https://apple.news/AF3BmSxCQRUWYSII7l5_cYA
  • knotmel
    knotmel Posts: 80 Member
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    @Sinisterbarbie1 The filo shells with cheese & toppings are a great idea! One of our go-to holiday foods these days is puff pastry baked in mini-muffin trays topped with brie covered in berries, jam, herbs, nuts, whatever. It’s like serving baked brie, but you can make many different variations at once easily. They’re always a hit. We basically use this method, but vary the toppings: https://www.wellplated.com/brie-bites/
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,193 Member
    edited November 2022
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    @lietchi, what was the nature of the cheese in the 'postre vigilante' you had? I looked at some web articles, but they were more descriptive of the "dulce" layer (which can be quite various, it seems), and not very specific about the cheese. In your photo, it looks like it could be Halloumi-like, or queso-fresco-like, or paneer-like, or . . . ? Can you describe what you had?

    Perhaps the choice of cheese also varies. And obviously, while the dessert is typically South American, I had this dessert in Spain. In my case it was a fairly standard cheese that we had seen throughout our trip through Andalucia at our breakfast buffets, a fairly hard white cheese, most likely a mix of sheep's and goats milk, fairly mild. I'm no cheese expert, but probably an iberico style cheese.

    To continue on the theme of cheese combined with sweet: for lunch I enjoyed some blue goat's cheese we brought back from Granada, on some bread with redcurrant jelly.

    Picture before I closed my sandwich to eat it 😉
    x6lu0yg066zl.jpg

    I don't know if it's because I don't have a sense of smell (since birth) but I have a weak spot for blue cheeses, as well as food that combines several basic tastes. So this combination really hit the spot flavorwise. Just a pity about the calories 😛
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
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    Lietchi wrote: »
    I don't know if it's because I don't have a sense of smell (since birth) but I have a weak spot for blue cheeses, as well as food that combines several basic tastes. So this combination really hit the spot flavorwise. Just a pity about the calories 😛
    You might like Oka, a Canadian cheese. I tend to compare it Port Salut on the less tasty end and Esrom on the more tasy end.
    And yes, too bad about the calories. If it didn't have so many calories, It'd be my number one staple.

  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
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    And I don’t want to see this thread go off topic either, but this article in Eating Well magazine about what happens if you eat cheese every day might make people on this list happy; https://apple.news/AF3BmSxCQRUWYSII7l5_cYA
    Very nice, there is one catch though:
    As with any food, eating cheese in moderation may offer potential health benefits.
    The problem is that this is true for everything without exception. Even radioactivity, in moderation, may offer potential health benefits.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
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    @sandielewis2001 and @knotmel thanks for the additional great ideas!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,371 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I bought a chunk of Cambozola.

    I am buying crackers and getting a train ticket to come help.....

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,489 Member
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    mtaratoot wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I bought a chunk of Cambozola.

    I am buying crackers and getting a train ticket to come help.....

    It's not a very big chunk, TBH. But I think that other cheese is maybe more affordable here than there? It was $31.99 a pound IIRC (not on sale) on Monday, so 5 pounds would be 'only' $160, not $180. We could pool our cheese purchasing resources. 😉😋
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    In anticipation of US Thanksgiving on Thursday, but without a specific plan in mind, I bought a chunk of Cambozola. Of course I needed to sample it today, in order to plan better.

    v7iiyjtf3lkx.jpg
    Don't sample until it's gone. I am a big lover of Cambozola.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
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    mtaratoot wrote: »
    It wasn't a weak moment.

    I had actually written "cheese" on my shopping list. So I spent some time looking and deciding.

    I had a small package of goat brie in my hand. I decided to put it back and grab a hunk of goat gouda. I have had this cheese before, and I must have liked it. But it's not "Gouda cheese," it's "Gouda STYLE cheese." At least it's made in Netherlands.

    How long will it take me to eat the whole thing? Not as long as it should, but I'll enjoy every damn bite.
    It is (almost) always Gouda style. Gouda is just a generic term to describe a type of cheese and it is not protected, unlike Roquefort or Stilton.
  • paints5555
    paints5555 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    mtaratoot wrote: »
    It wasn't a weak moment.

    I had actually written "cheese" on my shopping list. So I spent some time looking and deciding.

    I had a small package of goat brie in my hand. I decided to put it back and grab a hunk of goat gouda. I have had this cheese before, and I must have liked it. But it's not "Gouda cheese," it's "Gouda STYLE cheese." At least it's made in Netherlands.

    How long will it take me to eat the whole thing? Not as long as it should, but I'll enjoy every damn bite.
    It is (almost) always Gouda style. Gouda is just a generic term to describe a type of cheese and it is not protected, unlike Roquefort or Stilton.

    It's actually because it is made from goat's milk. True gouda is made from cow's milk.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,371 Member
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    I opened the goat Gouda "style" cheese and grabbed a plane. I think it would be better if it were a little more aged, but it was quite good. It could have had more of a "goat" flavor, but it made nice slices.

    As a bonus, I was able to eat just some of it and put it away for another time. It would have been easy to just keep going. I'll give myself a gold star for that. I saved room for some roasted vegetables.