Cheese and milk ...
Cheese is one of the most popular alternates for meat. Like meat and eggs, it contains high-quality protein and is an excellent supplement for the protein in bread and such other cereal foods as macaroni, noodles, and spaghetti.
Cheese is not equal in food value to the milk from which it is made. It contains one of the milk proteins but the other is separated out when cheese is made and is left in the whey.
American Cheddar, sometimes called American or “store” cheese, is the cheese most commonly used in cooking in this country. It is sold in natural and processed forms, and varies in flavor from mild to very sharp. Other cheeses are noted for their distinctive flavors and are chiefly used for garnishing, as the grated hard Parmesan, or for eating alone, as the sweet Swiss and Brick or the salty Bleu and Gouda.
You can count on half a pound of Cheddar cheese (2 cups chopped or grated) to give you enough protein for 4 servings of a main dish, or about the same amount of protein as a pound of meat with a moderate amount of bone and fat.
Because Cheddar cheese is a concentrated food, it is generally used in relatively small amounts—less than half a pound for 4 servings. Then other protein-rich foods are added to the meal or included in the cheese dish to increase the protein content, as milk and eggs added to the cheese for a souffle or an omelet.
Cottage cheese is less concentrated than Cheddar cheese, with only four-fifths as much protein per pound. In using cottage cheese as a meat alternate, use about a fourth more by weight than you would of Cheddar cheese. For instance, it would take 10 ounces of cottage cheese (compared with 8 ounces of Cheddar cheese) to alternate for a pound of beef with a moderate amount of fat and bone. Ten ounces of cottage cheese measure about 1¼ cups; a pound measures a little more than 2 cups.
We lean heavily on milk as a source of our day’s protein. But it takes almost 7 cups of fluid milk, or about 2 cups of nonfat dry milk, to provide enough protein for 4 servings of a main dish. So, although we sometimes use a milk soup or chowder as the main dish, we are more likely to spread our milk consumption throughout the day—in beverages, custards, or milk puddings. In many recipes, we can increase the milk value by using fluid and dry milk together.