The $3 High-Protein Breakfast I’m Eating All Month

There are a few things you should know about me. For starters, I love breakfast. Not only is it my favorite meal of the day, but there’s also a good chance I’m planning out tomorrow’s morning meal in my head while still eating breakfast today. I’ve always been this way. I also seek out breakfast options that are supremely satisfying to me, both in that they taste really great and also do a good job of filling me up. And given the amount of time I spend thinking about breakfast, I admit to finding small, easy ways to make mine look pretty on occasion.

You should also know that I love toast — fancy toast, specifically. And I found the most delicious way to marry it all together for a filling, fast and fancy, Instagram-worthy slice of toast that keeps me going until lunch and is easy enough to pull off on a busy weekday morning.

If you’re not whipping your cottage cheese, you’re not doing it right. Which couldn’t be more true if, like me, you’re just coming around to cottage cheese and still have a hard time wrapping your head around the texture.

While researching and developing recipes for my cookbook on probiotic foods, I spent a lot of time experimenting with cultured cottage cheese (a probiotic version of the classic that tastes and acts exactly the same). The curd-like, creamy texture is close enough to ricotta that it got me thinking: If I could whip ricotta (even feta cheese!) into a lush, cloud-like spread, surely cottage cheese would behave the same way.

The result was this: an impressive slice of fancy toast with a blanket of smooth and creamy cottage cheese that’s both dense and airy at the same time, kissed with a dollop of jam for just a hint of sweetness. It’s impossibly delicious, packed with ample protein to keep you full, a breeze to pull together, and, to top it all off, costs just a few bucks to make at home (whereas it might cost $12 at that fancy cafe down the street).

An amped-up version of this is in my cookbook, The Probiotic Kitchen, but I’m sharing the basics with you here, because everyone deserves to have whipped cottage cheese toast in their life.

While you can technically whip cottage cheese in a traditional blender or with an immersion blender, I think a food processor is the best choice. It blends up cottage cheese with the smoothest, creamiest texture. To make this toast topper, blend 1 cup cottage cheese (any kind) continuously in a food processor for about 1 minute. This gives you enough for four servings, and it lasts in a covered container in the refrigerator for about a week. Swipe a generous layer over a slice of toast, then top it off with a dollop of jam or drizzle of honey, and any combination of nuts, seeds, or lemon zest for good measure.

Buy: The Probiotic Kitchen: More Than 100 Delectable, Natural, and Supplement-Free Probiotic Recipes, $7.48 (originally $24.99)