Foody Friday: Focus on Goat’s Cheese

Since starting on my ‘healthy eating’ programme, I’ve developed an absolute LOVE of Goats Cheese so today, I’ve highlighted some of the ways I love to incorporate it into my diet.

As you’ll know from my previous post last week, I’m following a low carbohydrate diet in an attempt to REVERSE my diabetes. So far it’s working and I’m down to ‘pre-diabetic’ borderline status. https://brilliancewithin.com/2016/10/07/foody-friday-how-reducing-carbohydrates-has-helped-start-to-reverse-my-diabetes/

Cutting down on Carbohydrates meant it was important to completely change my diet and I’ve really enjoyed incorporating new flavours and foods into my recipes. The benefit of the low carb is that I get to eat more ‘good’ fats and protein, which make the food taste quite ‘luxurious’ with the added benefit that the protein and fat keeps me staying fuller for longer. I rarely experience the ‘highs and lows’ of the higher carbohydrate diet…

Goats Cheese combines protein and fat and has therefore become a firm favourite! It’s so ‘creamy’ it just feels luxurious to eat and I love adding the contrast of sweet fruit to complement the creamy flavour…

Here are a couple of my favourite ways to eat it:

Portobello ‘toast’ with goat’s cheese and pine nuts (serves 1 – 150 calories)

This recipe is another one from the 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet Book – Author Dr Michael Mosley. If you suffer from pre-diabetes or diabetes, this book is definitely worth reading (and I’m not affiliated)..

Ingredients:

• 2 Portobello mushrooms
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 30 g goat’s chees
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• Handful of chives, snipped

Method:

1. Turn the grill to high. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Place under the grill for 3-5 minutes until cooked (I prefer mine to be on the soft side).
2. Remove the mushrooms from the grill, dot on the goats cheese and sprinkle on the pine nuts. Return the mushrooms to the grill for a further 2 minutes then sprinkle on the chopped chives before eating..
3. Enjoy!

I love this for either breakfast or lunch and sometimes for a change, I add a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and some strawberries as this gives a lovely ‘sweet crunch’ which I really enjoy..

 

Lightly Crumbed Goats Cheese Salad

These are a bit of a cheat but make a delicious ‘quickie’ lunch when you really can’t be bothered to cook!

NB – This isn’t ‘no carb’ – it’s fairly low carb. approx. 7 g of carbohydrate per serving of 3 cheese rounds of which sugars are less than 1 g.

I buy Aldi Breaded Goats Cheese (I’m sure other supermarkets may do something similar if you don’t have an Aldi close by). I cook 3 for one portion or if I’m really hungry 4. Cooked in accordance with the instructions for ‘oven cook’ but I cook them for slightly longer than the recommended 8 minutes as I prefer them to be slightly crunchy on the outside..

Salad:

• Generous handful of fresh spinach leaves
• 3 Cherry Tomatoes
• Desert spoon of pomegranate seeds
• Optional – Desert spoon pine nuts or walnuts (chopped)
• Tablespoon of chopped cucumber
• 2 or 3 strawberries

Dressing: Balsamic Vinegar or red wine vinegar/olive oil and/or a spoonful of onion chutney (avoid the onion chutney if you’re being strict about cutting out the carbs..)

Method:

• Pop the breaded goats cheese into the oven and cook.
• Toss the salad ingredients together
• Once the goats cheese is cooked – add onto the salad
• Eat and Enjoy!

I also use the same salad topped just with plain goats cheese, which I heat in the oven for a few minutes. This is the even healthier option and is actually really enjoyable too – it’s just my photo’s were of the ‘breaded’ version.. Also – I don’t add the extra ‘feta’ cheese to mine either.. I could though if I wanted this to be a bit more substantial for a main evening meal..

I suspect Dr Mosley would tell me to avoid the ‘breaded version’ too!

Diabetic Tip: My husband likes the chutney (so do I) but I try and avoid it now, so I find that the balsamic vinegar dressing with the sweetness of the strawberry and pomegranate works well to give that lovely ‘sweet and sour’ combination instead..