Maybe you can enjoy this too! by nicole

Is this yogurt? Is this cream cheese? What is this delicious stuff?! It's Yogurt Cheese!

We've really been enjoying yogurt cheese in our house lately. It's cheap, it's low fat, it's delicious and it's very versatile. You may be asking yourself "well, WHAT exactly is yogurt cheese?" It's plain yogurt, with the water drained out of it. You can make dips, spreads, pasta sauces, frosting and more out of it, and it's simple to make.

Step 1:

Buy some plain, low fat yogurt. We buy Nancy's at winco.

Buy some cheese cloth (but we've read that you can also use coffee filters or paper towels as well, but the cheese cloth is reusable)

Buy a sieve (if you don't have one).

Step 2:

Put 4 layers of cheese cloth in the sieve and place the sieve in a bowl (the sieve should have a hook on the opposite side of the handle so it does not hit the bottom of the bowl).

Step 3:

Pour yogurt on the cheesecloth/sieve.

Step 4:

Place in fridge over night (or for 8 hours or so) and let the water drain.

Now you have yogurt cheese!

What should you do with it?

There are lots of recipes on the internet for what to do with it, but I experiments with some the other day. I wanted something sweet (but not frosting) to put onto apple turnovers that I had made. So I stirred some maple syrup into the yogurt cheese and mixed it up. It was AWESOME, and would make a delicious bagel topping, or topping for other desserts as well.

Last night I mixed fresh basil, sea salt & pepper into about 1/2 a cup of it and added it to some hot pasta. Tossed in some spinach, grape tomatoes, shrimp and sauteed onions, and a splash of chicken broth and we had a spectacular dinner.

WE are thrilled with yogurt cheese, and happy to have an alternative to high fat cream cheese. Plus yogurt is full of probiotics, which is a plus for everyone!

ENJOY SOME YOGURT CHEESE TODAY!