Cottage Cheese... Please

I've been trying to eat healthier lately, and I've decided that my granola bars are probably a bit too sweet and not healthy enough for me.  I know that cottage cheese is thought of as a diet food, but it's just not that wonderful to eat plain.

I wanted to see how I could make it more appetizing to me, so I rummaged through the spice cabinet to see what I could find.  I remember putting paprika on cottage cheese when I was young, but I didn't have any in the cupboard.  My brother had purchased something called Bittersweet Paprika once upon a time, and although it didn't sound exciting, I thought I would give it a try.  All I can say is WOW!  I love this stuff.  Basically, it is like adding a smokey flavor to the cottage cheese.  What a complete turnaround my snack is getting.  I had never seen this spice before, but found it online here: Bittersweet Paprika Tin.  Now my snack was tasty, but still lacked texture.  What else was in my cupboard?  I came upon some ground up pistachios.  Perfect!  This combination of the health benefits from the cottage cheese, the smokey flavor and the crunchy nuts make this my go-to snack in the morning. It's not only filling but tasty, and a nice break from the sweet granola bars.

What you may not know is cottage cheese is low in calories, fat and carbohydrates.  And it is packed with protein and calcium.  I found an article on livestrong.com that talks about adding flaxseed oil to the cottage cheese for more benefits.  I'm going to have to try that next.