Sun Dried Tomato & Herb Yogurt Cheese

I’ve been on a sun-dried tomato kick lately which reminded me of a yogurt spread I used to make many, many years ago. I learned how to make lebnah or strained yogurt cheese from my father. When my father passed away at 82 years old he knew how to make a few of his favorite things: a fried egg, kanafeh (a sweet Lebanese pastry with cheese), kibbeh and lebnah. Yogurt cheese is very simple to make. You just strain some yogurt over night in the refrigerator and it becomes thick like cream cheese but will have a tart taste from the yogurt.

In this recipe I decided to see how it would taste with fat free Greek yogurt. As a whole I’m not really into fat free products but I’ve been playing around with the idea of doing a Paleo-ish Weight Watchers thing. The thought being that I mostly follow a Paleo diet but would have the accountability or structure of the Weight Watchers points. I’m still not sure about it but I was trying to come up with some low point snack ideas.

Sun-dried Tomatoes & Herbs Yogurt Cheese Spread

So I used 2 8oz containers of nonfat greek yogurt from Giant Eagle. I lined a sieve with a coffee filter and placed it in a large bowl. I spooned all of the yogurt into the lined sieve and placed everything in the refrigerator over night.

As you can see the yogurt is pretty thick to begin with. The next day the cheese came away from the filter very easily. I added some chopped sun dried tomatoes, crushed garlic and herbs. The 2 8oz yogurt containers yielded about 1 cup and 2 Tablespoons of yogurt cheese. Along with the tomatoes and herbs the Weight Watchers points came to 1 point for 4 Tablespoons. That’s a lot of cheese spread for just 1 point!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can use just about any spice combination you want. I think next time I will try this with a low fat greek yogurt instead of the fat free. I miss the fat personally but for 0 points per Tablespoon it is great to snack on if you are doing Weight Watchers. Let me know if you try this and what you think about fat free dairy products.

By the way this tastes great with both the Cashew Crackers or the Cauliflower Rounds.

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Sun Dried Tomato & Herb Yogurt Cheese

Author Denise Wright (MyLifeCookbook.com)

Ingredients

• 16 oz non fat greek yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed garlic

Instructions

1. Line a sieve with a large coffee filter and place in a large bowl.
2. Spoon your yogurt into the coffee filter and set everything in the refrigerator over night.
3. The next day the cheese should pull away from the filter and you can place it in a bowl.
4. Add your tomatoes, herbs and garlic and mix well.
5. Cover and use as you would any cheese spread.
6. WW points =1 per 1/4 cup