I’m always on the lookout for delicious and healthy food. Yes, I want to lose weight (as does the handsome husband), but more importantly, we want to eat real and healthy food as much as possible. Diets that cut out whole food groups never sounded healthy, balanced or sustainable. The minute you eat a carb or fat gram, you blow up like a puffer fish. That’s not realistic, nor is it any way to live. I prefer the European mindset on eating – particularly the French. They eat amazing food that’s esteemed as the top of the culinary ladder. They drink wine with their meals. They celebrate food, family and friends. And with all of this partying, they don’t have the obesity problems, heart problems, and other health problems that we do here in the US.
So five years ago, when we started researching a diet we could live with, we focused on Mediterranean diets. After spending days looking online and in book stores, we ended up choosing The Sonoma Diet. Their philosophy is to celebrate food by eating the best foods in the proper portions, which will make you healthier and lose weight. As long as we “keep to the code” and don’t start eating processed or junk food, we have had great success with this. The recipes are delicious and we felt great and were losing weight. There have been times when we drifted for the sake of convenience, laziness, or even for Pintesting. But we always come back to the good way of eating since this is a marathon for life, not a sprint toward a number on the scale.
I LOVE Feta. Okay, I love cheese. Period. But there’s something about the salty, tangy, briney bite of Feta that makes my taste-buds dance and sing. Crumbled on a salad or pizza or sandwich… Mmm! It’s the crumble part that sometimes makes it hard to work with. So when I saw This Pin for Whipped Feta from Jessica’s blog How Sweet It Is, that seemed like it could be worked into a healthy lifestyle AND make a spreadable version, I was ready to give this a go.
Ingredients – there are two; whipped cream cheese and feta cheese. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Both need to be at room temperature. I set these out in the morning before going to my Saturday morning Zumba class. They were just right when I got home almost 2 hours later.
Mix them together until they’re thoroughly combined. In her blog post, Jessica used her food processor for this, and I totally understand why. Mine was already occupied, so I spent extra time with a hand mixer. This is why you want the cheeses at room temperature.
That’s it! Now you can spread this whipped feta onto whatever you want to make delicious. I toasted several slices of pumpernickel bread and asked my friend, who carpools with me to Zumba, for her opinion. First we tasted the whipped feta with a spoon so that we could get the unadulterated flavor. In a word – YUM! The salty, tangy taste of the feta was predominant, but the creamy smoothness of the whipped cream cheese softened it a bit. It was also delicious on the pumpernickel toast. But when we topped it with tomato slices and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, as Jessica suggested, that was beyond amazing. I can’t even tell you how good it was. Just go and make some for yourself, because I’m not sharing any more.
The results of the Pintesting are as follows:
Overview: 5 Pins
Accuracy: The creamy smooth texture with the taste of feta was wonderful. I didn’t follow the instructions precisely since I didn’t use my food processor, but the extra time with the hand mixer gave wonderful results. For those who don’t have a food processor, this is welcomed news. 5 Pins
Difficulty: Two ingredients, mix, serve. Just don’t forget to bring them to room temperature or you won’t get the same results. 5 Pins
Time: The mixing time is super quick – maybe 5 minutes with a hand mixer. Since the cheese need to be at room temperature, which takes a couple of hours, I’m giving this 4 Pins.
Cost: The whipped cream cheese and feta both came to just under $6.00, and this makes enough to use for several days. 5 Pins
Practicality: This was delicious served on the pumpernickel bread, both with and without the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. I can’t wait to try it as a spread for sandwiches, wraps, and crostini. I think it would be amazing with mix ins like dill, oregano, olives, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, or even swirled with hummus. It’s simplicity lends to lots of uses. 5 Pins