If there is one dish I couldn’t live without, this cottage cheese and fruit with spinach would be it. This is my old stand-by breakfast, lunch, or snack. It’s naturally sugar and gluten-free. I never get tired of eating this salad. When I take it for lunch, someone always comments at how good it looks, and then when they see the cottage cheese they scrunch up their nose. Honestly, I am not a fan of plain cottage cheese. When it’s mixed with fruit, nuts, and Stevia, though, it is a nutritious, satisfying quick meal.
You can use any kind of lettuce, fruit, or nuts. My favorite fruits to use are apples, pears, strawberries, red grapes, or strawberries. I happen to love spinach not only for the taste and texture but for its iron and vitamin content. One serving of spinach has 70% of our daily vitamin A requirement, 25% of our daily Vitamin C requirement, 6% of our daily Calcium requirement, and 20% of our daily Iron requirement. With only 40 calories for 1 ½ cups, it’s a nutrient packed veggie I don’t want to live without. (Nutrient info conveniently from the back of my spinach bag.)
For more great recipes using spinach check out the Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E Gang! Thanks, Diance, for hosting!
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 1 – 1 ½ cups chopped fruit
- 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese
- 1/2 packet of Stevia or sweetener of choice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped nuts
Instructions
- Place chopped spinach in a single serving salad bowl.
- Place chopped fruit on top of spinach, followed by cottage cheese.
- Sweeten by sprinkling Stevia on top of cottage cheese. Sprinkle cinnamon on top, followed by chopped nuts.
gfe--gluten free easily
posted on June 26, 2009 at 8:44 am
I've never been a cottage cheese fan. Maybe I'll have to try again. This breakfast looks very appealing.
Thanks, Amy,
Shirley
[Reply]
thewholegang
posted on June 26, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thank you for sharing this on Friday Foodie Fix. This looks like a great summer meal and really quick to fix. Great idea!
[Reply]
Meghan
posted on March 29, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Just so you know, this has become a staple for me (when strawberries are in season). I LOVE it
[Reply]
tempokpr
posted on March 31, 2010 at 9:17 pm
My understanding is ALL cottage cheese has sugar in it. According to Wikipedia: “Manufacturers also produce low-fat and non fat varieties. A fat-free kind of a similar serving size has 80 calories, 0g fat (0g saturated), 6g carbohydrates, and 14g protein. (PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING)…To compensate for the flavor missing from the fat, low-fat and non-fat ones tend to have more sugar in them. Very low sodium varieties are also produced, which can be salted to taste.
My question is this: Is your 2% cottage cheese lactose free? Thanks so much.
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 4:23 pm
@tempokpr, Milks have naturally occurring sugars in them as do all plant food that we eat. That’s different from refined white sugar.
As far as I know, all cottage cheese has lactose. I’ve never seen a lactose free cottage cheese.
[Reply]
Fran
posted on November 7, 2010 at 10:20 am
Hi Amy
Do you steam the spinach for this salad? I always heard that raw spinach is very hard to digest and the vitamins/minerals are not available when it’s raw.
thanks!
[Reply]
Amy Reply:
November 8th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
@Fran, No, I eat spinach raw, Fran. I love it cooked, too. I have never heard that the vitamins and minerals aren’t available when raw. In fact, I learned in culinary school that when you cook veggies it can break down the vitamins and minerals. You can always check it out with your doctor or nutritionist.
Hugs!
Amy
[Reply]
Nicki Thomas
posted on March 6, 2012 at 10:18 am
Hi, I was just curious, I’m a HUUUUUUUUGE cottage cheese fan, I eat it a lot. But it does have quite a bit of sugar in it..so I was wondering how this was sugar free?
[Reply]