It's Greek to Me

I realize that I am way behind the band wagon on this one, but I finally tried Greek yogurt. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long, but I think the main reason was that I did not want to admit that my current favorite yogurt (that I ate almost daily) was not that healthy. Anyway, I finally decided to go Greek :)

I first bought the Oikos plain greek yogurt to try. I wanted to know what plain greek yogurt tastes like without any added sugars or flavors. Let's just say it's not my favorite and was a little hard to eat even with fresh strawberries and granola. On the back of the large container there is a list of recipe exchange ideas. They suggest using greek yogurt in recipes that call for sour cream, cream cheese, or mayonnaise. That sounded like a better idea to me than just eating it plain.

I first tried swapping greek yogurt for sour cream in a corn casserole dish. I love baked corn casserole, but can you really call it a vegetable it all you do is cover corn with sour cream and butter? Swapping greek yogurt for the 2 cups of sour cream that the recipe called for saves about 250 grams of fat and adds protein. When it was all said and done, you couldn't even tell a difference. I also tried greek yogurt in banana bread and mashed potatoes = success. I'm convinced that using greek yogurt is a good alternative to sour cream in recipes.

I still wanted to be able to eat greek yogurt plain so I bought it sweetened with strawberries. And although it is about twice the price of my regular yogurt, it is very good and I could see myself switching over - I'll have to watch for some coupons and sales :)

Have you gone greek yet? What kinds of greek yogurt have you tired? Have you used it in any recipes? Anyone brave enough to try Creamy Yogurt "Cheese" Cake found HERE and can you really call it "Cheese Cake" if you don't use any cream cheese?