When I first came across a recipe for a meatloaf made out of cottage cheese, I was quite flabbergasted. "How can anyone tamper with the sacredness of a meatloaf by taking out the meat?", I thought. On further reading, this so-called meatloaf also contained corn flakes. What?!?! In spite of the superficial weirdness of the recipe, I had to give it a try to see what actually happened. You can find the original recipe at Food.com (Connie K), and I will detail my first experiment with this recipe below.
A comment about the corn flakes: Because the flakes vary in size, it is impossible to always get the same amount of flakes from one cup to the next. Therefore, I have converted the cups to grams based on the package nutrition label, stating 1 cup = 28 grams. Also, a recipe that is vague about a portion by stating 1½ - 2½ cups is never going to be correctly duplicated. If this recipe fails, then, it is their fault, not mine. To have a starting point on which to base future tests of this recipe, I will use ≈2 cups, the weight being 55 grams. {I shaved 1 gram off the calculation because the scale I am using goes in 5-gram increments.}
Another vagueness in this recipe is the term "chopped." There are several degrees of chopping. Which one did the originator of the recipe use to get to ¼ cup of volume? For me, I took an onion and cut it in half, yielding a 2¼-ounce chunk of yellow onion. I peeled this and did a ⅛–inch dice. This resulted in 1¾ ounces of chopped onion, but only 1¼ ounces would fit into the ¼ cup. Rather than wasting the remaining onion, I tossed it all in.
Next, I washed my hands with antibacterial soap and hand kneaded the mixture.
Here is what it looks like. Not very appetizing, is it? It is also very runny, so I was not able to make balls with my hands, as I did with the meat recipes. Instead, I used a disher {When we were kids, we called this an ice cream scoop.} to scoop the mixture into my muffin tin.
Did I get them even? The pan is waiting to go into the oven, which is being preheated to 350°F. The original recipe does not give a temperature option. Based on previous meat-muffin incarnations, I can reduce the cooking time by about one-third. Hence, the cooking time for these cheese-muffins is going to be 40-46⅔ minutes. I will post a results page when the cooking is done.
The pictures on the page appear smaller than they are. To see them larger, simply double click on the picture. Also, I always welcome your constructive criticism. Click on the Comment link below next to the icon of a pencil; it may say "No" or have a number in front of it.
References:
Connie K. "Cottage Cheese Roast Vegetarian Meatloaf." Food.com. Scripps Networks, LLC, 9 Apr. 2004. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.food.com/recipe/cottage-cheese-roast-vegetarian-meatloaf-88753>.
©2014 Karl Arthur Haefner
| Ingredients | What I used | Equipment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 lb. cottage cheese | Kroger 4% milk fat large curd cottage cheese | Mixing bowl, scale, spoon |
| 4 eggs, beaten | 4 large eggs | Another mixing bowl, fork |
| ¼ cup vegetable oil | All Natural Crisco Pure Vegetable oil | Measuring cup |
| 1 oz dry onion soup mix | Kroger onion soup & dip mix | Scissors |
| 1 cup finely chopped walnuts | 4 ounces Kroger walnut pieces | Scale, Ninja® food chopper, measuring cup |
| 1½ to 2½ cups corn flakes | 55 grams Kroger corn flakes | Scale |
| ¼ cup chopped onion | 2¼ oz. yellow onion | Cutting board, chef knife, measuring cup |
| Cooking spray | Kroger vegetable oil cooking spray | Muffin pan |
A comment about the corn flakes: Because the flakes vary in size, it is impossible to always get the same amount of flakes from one cup to the next. Therefore, I have converted the cups to grams based on the package nutrition label, stating 1 cup = 28 grams. Also, a recipe that is vague about a portion by stating 1½ - 2½ cups is never going to be correctly duplicated. If this recipe fails, then, it is their fault, not mine. To have a starting point on which to base future tests of this recipe, I will use ≈2 cups, the weight being 55 grams. {I shaved 1 gram off the calculation because the scale I am using goes in 5-gram increments.}
Another vagueness in this recipe is the term "chopped." There are several degrees of chopping. Which one did the originator of the recipe use to get to ¼ cup of volume? For me, I took an onion and cut it in half, yielding a 2¼-ounce chunk of yellow onion. I peeled this and did a ⅛–inch dice. This resulted in 1¾ ounces of chopped onion, but only 1¼ ounces would fit into the ¼ cup. Rather than wasting the remaining onion, I tossed it all in.
Next, I washed my hands with antibacterial soap and hand kneaded the mixture.
The pictures on the page appear smaller than they are. To see them larger, simply double click on the picture. Also, I always welcome your constructive criticism. Click on the Comment link below next to the icon of a pencil; it may say "No" or have a number in front of it.
References:
Connie K. "Cottage Cheese Roast Vegetarian Meatloaf." Food.com. Scripps Networks, LLC, 9 Apr. 2004. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.food.com/recipe/cottage-cheese-roast-vegetarian-meatloaf-88753>.
©2014 Karl Arthur Haefner
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