Supermarket checkout lanes ruined cottage cheese for me. Back in the 70s, cottage cheese diets were the rage, the little booklets shoved into counters at the checkout line extolling the latest cottage cheese-quick weight loss diet.

I couldn't resist purchasing several. Low in fat, and high in protein and calcium, incorporating this loosely packed curdled cheese into one's diet is certainly a healthy life-style choice.

But back then (anxious to shed pubescent pounds) I'd eat cottage cheese with everything and produced some regrettable concoctions. For instance, I'd buy a container of fat-free cottage cheese and mix it with saccharine and cinnamon - that was "dessert." Understandably, I grew to detest cottage cheese and would assuage my offended palate with gooey chocolate brownies topped with ice cream.

At an early age, I determined fad dieting was no fun at all, and produced the opposite results intended. In retrospect, cottage cheese dieting was a good life lesson for my health and overall well-being.

Today I need to dress up cottage cheese to love it; it's bland to my palate. But when spiced up and served with summer tomatoes, it begs a second helping.

Yield: 2 stuffed tomatoes
Time: 15 minutes
Cost: apx. $6.50

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes, preferably locally grown, washed
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, herb-infused vinegar preferable
2/3 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup diced cucumber*
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon snipped chives

* diced English or locally grown, no need to peel skin

Directions

1. Trim off top 1/2-inch tomato and remove core. Scoop out 1/2 of the flesh to make a "bowl." Discard seeds, dice remaining flesh and reserve. Season interior of tomato shell with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
2. Whisk together olive oil and vinegar. Combine with cottage cheese, cucumbers, reserved tomato flesh and one tablespoon of the chives. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. Stuff cottage cheese into tomato shells and serve.