Say Cheese!

Here are a few Ways to Incorporate Cheese into Your Vegetarian Diet

Vegetarians need to pay close attention to how to get adequate amounts of protein into their diets. By eliminating meat from the menu, a vegetarian has to replace the protein found in meat with protein from other sources. Cheese is a good source of protein, but it is unfortunately also a good source of fat. Adding cheese to a vegetarian diet involves careful choosing of the right cheeses and the right applications in order not to add too much saturated fat to an otherwise nutritious meal. Following are a few guidelines and ideas on how to successfully make cheese a valuable part of your vegetarian meal plans.

Low Fat Cheeses
An easy way to incorporate the protein and flavor of cheese without adding all of the fat is to buy low fat cheeses. Low fat cheeses come in selected varieties in the regular cheese aisle. You probably won’t find reduced fat fancy cheeses. Use these cheeses on salads, but don’t melt them in places that they will be featured. The texture will be rubbery and a little unappetizing. Anywhere you would use cold full fat cheeses is an appropriate place for low fat cheese. Also, if you will be mixing the melted cheese with another food, the low fat cheese will work just fine. For example, add shredded low fat cheese to your chili. Using low fat varieties is not the only way to include cheese into your diet in a low fat way.

Strongly Flavored Cheeses
To get the biggest bang for your buck, use strongly flavored cheeses. You won’t have to use very much, and so you won’t be adding much fat. Consequently, you also won’t be adding much protein. That isn’t always important though. If you are just preparing a snack of cheese and crackers, a little protein is all you need. Try spreading a small amount of goat cheese on a few whole grain crackers. The flavor will be intense, but the fat content will be minimal. Other strongly flavored cheeses include parmesan and blue. Even if you only use a little bit of cheese at a time, or even if you are using low fat cheeses, you still should be aware of the fat content you are adding to your meals.

Choosing Carefully
Not every meal, and certainly not every dish, requires the addition of cheese. There are some meals and dishes that benefit beautifully from a few crumbles, shreds or slices though. By adding cheese only to the meals that require it, you will limit your cheese fat intake but still enjoy a variety of cheesy dishes. Pizza is one meal that almost always includes some cheese. Cheese is also a great addition for baked potatoes and salads. If you already have plenty of protein and flavor on those items however, skip the cheese and use it on another food that would benefit more.

Cheese is a versatile food that you can use to dress up your vegetarian dishes. It is packed with protein and even more flavor. As long as you use cheese sparingly and wisely you can enjoy its good qualities without having to worry about the bad. Cheese is a great addition to any vegetarian meal plan.