Enjoy cooking with and eating cheese without guilt as long as you use it in moderation and maybe switch to cheeses made with milk from goats and sheep.
I am lucky to write this blog in beautiful Ithaca, New York in mid October, where the leaves are turning colors and it is breathtakingly beautiful. Equally enjoyable is the food in the Finger Lakes region. I will talk more about this later in this blog. The cover photo showcases a variety of goat cheeses from Lively Run Dairy Farm which will make a great charcuterie board with berries and toasted slices of organic sourdough bread when I get back home. The cutting board I found at the Ithaca Farmers Market.
In this blog you will find recipes for
- Boiled potatoes with goat cheese sauce
- Goat cheese dip
- Goat cheese flatbread
- Goat cheese pizza
as well as some impressions from restaurants in Ithaca, NY, and Lively Run Goat Farm
Cheese! I don’t know how to begin. For any cheese lover, the mere thought of not eating cheese to improve heart health is disturbing. I did not eat cheese for a long time to lower my cholesterol and now I am very careful and consume cheese in moderation, mainly staying with different varieties of goat and sheep milk cheeses.
Goat cheese has become my most favorite cheese. It contains less cholesterol, often less sodium and does not have the A1 casein protein that is harder to digest and causes digestive problems in some people. Goat cheese contains the A2 casein protein which is easier to digest. For me it is hard to pinpoint which change in my diet helped my digestive system most, but I do feel better when I do not eat any cow’s milk cheese and stay with the occasional goat cheese varieties. Many supermarkets now offer sliced cheeses like mozzarella or gouda, even feta made with milk from goats or sheep.
A1 vs A2 casein
There are numerous studies available (i.e. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24986816/ ) that show the negative impact of A1 casein on the digestive system of some people. It can cause bloating, cramping and other symptoms, which A2 casein does not cause. Many people who think they are lactose intolerant actually have a problem with A1 casein which is found in cow’s milk. Milk from goats, sheep and water buffalo contain the easier to digest A2 casein.
Goat Cheese Flatbread (Flammekueche)
This tasty flatbread is typical in the region of Germany where I grew up. Originally from the Alsace region of France, it is also widely available in the Black Forest. For this recipe I usually buy a good, if possible organic whole wheat pizza crust. There are also many recipes online, but a prepared crust makes this very fast and convenient.
Ingredients:
- 1 package prepared whole wheat pizza crust or your own
- 16 oz creamy goat cheese
- 1 small onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp cornmeal
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425℉. Divide the pizza crust into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece out as thin as possible, either round or oval. Spread ¼ of the goat cheese on top and spread with ¼ of the sliced onion. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal and bake each pie for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust starts to brown at the edges.
You can add sundried tomatoes or capers or any other topping to taste. Instead of the crumbly goat cheese I have also used a sheep milk cream cheese or even goat cheese mozzarella.
Goat Cheese Pizza
For my pizza I also prefer to use a pre-made crust for convenience. This is a fast meal that can be prepared in less than an hour and can satisfy a craving for pizza and still be healthy. A recipe for pesto will follow soon. Most important is that it is made with extra virgin olive oil rather than an inflammatory vegetable, soy or granola oil.
Ingredients:
- 1 package of a good organic whole wheat or white crust
- 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil pesto or good organic tomato sauce
- 8 oz of soft goat cheese or goat mozzarella
- ⅓ cup sundried tomatoes
- 1 avocado, sliced
- ⅓ cup of greens to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven at 425℉. Cut the pizza dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each piece as thin as possible. Cover with tomato sauce or pesto. Distribute ¼ of the cheese on each pizza and add the other ingredients. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the outside of the crust has a golden brown color. Sprinkle with fresh greens.
Boiled Potatoes with Goat Cheese
These potatoes make a great side dish for a nice piece of 100% grass-fed steak or a juicy burger (see my recipe of a German burger https://foodiewithpurpose.com/best-ground-meat-recipes/). Waxy types of potatoes are healthier because their glycemic index is much lower than that of Russet potatoes. If I eat an occasional potato it is usually a Yukon Gold.
This dish is a very typical German dish made with quark, which is not very easy to find in the United States. Quark is made with cow’s milk, so the goat cheese version of this dish is a great and healthier alternative. My grandmother used to make these potatoes as a light lunch with a mixed green salad, which might be too much potato for a meal. I prefer to eat a waxy potato as an occasional small side dish.
Ingredients:
- 2 lb. small waxy potatoes, scrubbed
- 16 oz soft goat cheese
- 3⁄4 cup minced chives
- 3 tbsp. goat or oat milk
- 2 tsp avocado oil
- Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Wash and scrub the potatoes, then boil in water for 15 to 20 minutes until soft. In a bowl, crumble the goat cheese and whip with the milk until smooth. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve the goat cheese cream over the potatoes. You can add more milk if you want a more liquid sauce. This also works well with baked potatoes.
Goat Cheese Dip
A creamy soft goat cheese makes a great dip to serve as an appetizer or a satisfying snack. Serve with organic whole grain crackers of toasted organic sourdough bread.
Ingredients:
- 16 oz. soft goat cheese
- ¾ cup minced chives
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- 1 Tbsp goat or oat milk
- 1 Tbsp lime juice (optional, you can substitute with more milk)
- 2 tsp. avocado oil
- Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Crumble goat cheese and whip with milk and lime juice until smooth. Add all other ingredients, mix well and add salt and pepper to taste.
Impressions from Lively Run Dairy Farm in Interlaken, New York
One of my favorite goat cheese producers is Lively Run Dairy in Interlaken, New York, which is a 25 minute ride from Ithaca. The goats are adorable and the cheese is amazing. There are also several cheeses available from cow’s milk, but I always stick to the wide variety of goat cheeses.
A special treat awaited my friend and me this weekend when Lively Run had a fiber festival with good food, live music and a goat shearing demonstration as well as several vendors from the region. We arrived hungry and were not disappointed.
Stone Bend Farm (https://www.stonebend.com/) had set up a wood burning oven to make fresh pizza with Lively Run cheese, other locally sourced ingredients, many from their own farm like fresh peppers, tomatoes and greens. It was so delicious that I am definitely planning to visit the farm on my next trip up here.
A few other culinary impressions of Ithaca, NY
I have visited here many times and have seldom had a disappointing meal. This time it seemed to be hard to find a table without a reservation, many restaurants were closed during the week due to staffing shortages which was a blessing in disguise because we ended up trying a new restaurant located outside the Ithaca Commons, Mix.
Mix is phenomenal, offering mussels in three different broths, and my friend assured me that the lemongrass broth was outstanding. My swordfish curry on rice noodles with vegetables were an explosion of tastes and more than expected. The wok fried cauliflower in an Indian inspired sauce was delicious, just, unfortunately, like in most restaurants, cooked with soybean and canola oil. Still, it was worth the small oil indiscretion.
South Hill Cider, where we stopped to buy an alcoholic present for home, turned out to have delicious food. We arrived hungry, as usual, and were surprised with a small menu of delicacies. My small plate included Kraut, a variety of olives, curry pickled egg, roasted beets, tahini sauce and toasted home baked bread. Not a combination I would have ordered from a large menu, but it seemed a healthy option. It was outstanding! I would order it again any day.
Asia Cuisine in the Ithaca Commons, which is a typical college student hangout, never disappoints. No visit to Ithaca is complete with at least one visit to Asia Cuisine. It is always delicious.
Thai Basil is another one of those small places that are always consistent with their food. We went for a quick bite to eat and the flavor was excellent as always, be it red or green curry.
Unfortunately, there was one major disappointment. After many years of wanting to go, we finally decided to get a table at Moosewood restaurant, a very popular vegetarian eatery. The multigrain bread and olive oil were good, but the entrée, for which both my friend and I chose the red curry, was very underwhelming. Not only was it bland for our taste, it was loaded with corn and it did not specify on the menu being non-GMO. The Italian bean and butternut soup was rather bland and watery and arrived right after the entrée was served. Considering the already enormous pressure on any restaurant staff at the moment and that it is not their fault, I accepted it, but in normal times I would not have done so. All in all, compared to the curries at Thai Basil and Mix Moosewood fell quite short.
This time it was a rather short visit and we could not visit more restaurants, like some of our usual favorites Hawi and Dolce Delight, but there is always a next time. We made two new finds that are definitely worth more visits (South Hill Cider and Stone Bend Farm). Wegmans had venison steaks, so tomorrow it will be home cooking. One more item worth mentioning is Wegmans own brand creamy extra virgin avocado oil. I used it for a hollandaise sauce and it came out perfectly with a rich taste and a deep color.
Of course, Collegetown Bagels (CTB) is always consistent with delicious healthy sandwiches, which made a perfect “Brotzeit”/picnic food for one of our gorge hikes.
Happy cooking and exploring great food! 🙂