Crumbled Goat Cheese

You probably know this by now, but I love cheese! I love macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, cheese on pizza, tomato and mozzarella salads, cheesy dips…you get the picture. Basically any dish with cheese tickles my fancy! (Unless it’s one of the few cheeses I don’t particularly care for like blue cheese and brie.)

One way I really enjoy cheese is on a salad. When out for lunch I often get a Greek salad with feta cheese or if I’m at one of those “create your own salad” places I usually add beans and feta or Swiss cheese to my salads in place of an animal source of protein like tuna or chicken. One of my favorite types of cheese is goat cheese. Unfortunately I never really see goat cheese as an option at salad bars. So a few weeks ago I was extremely excited to find Crumbled Goat Cheese at Trader Joe’s.  

I have mainly used the crumbled goat cheese in my salads (picture below), but you can use it in quesadillas, on top of pizza, tossed with roasted beets, and sprinkled on pasta. It is so much easier than buying a log of goat cheese and having to crumble it yourself! 

One thing to keep in mind with cheese is that a little bit goes a long way both in flavor and in calories and fat. As far as cheeses go, goat cheese is one of the more moderate ones in terms of it’s nutritional profile, but if you don’t watch your portion sizes you could end up taking in more than you bargained for! One ounce of TJ’s Crumbled Goat Cheese has 80 calories, 5 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 105 mg sodium, < 1 g carbohydrate, 3 g protein, 20 mg calcium. There are many low-fat and fat-free cheeses available these days, but often the flavor isn’t as great so many people end up eating more of it and taking in more calories than they would if they enjoyed a smaller portion of the full-fat version. So as I’ve recommended in the past, look for low-fat varieties of cheese that are flavorful, otherwise enjoy the real deal but be mindful of your portions. 

Do you like goat cheese? How would you use crumbled goat cheese in your kitchen?

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.