Snack Time

My family loves snacks, and when we take road trips we always pack plenty of drinks and goodies - not just for the car but also for nights at the hotel. (Have you seen how much a can of pop is at a hotel? You could buy a 12-pack for the price of one. It's like dining at the airport!) Our favorite munchies include chips, crackers, and cookies - none of which are good for my waistline. So, before departing on our next adventure, I whipped up some weight-friendly alternatives.

First up - cheese "crackers." I found these little gems on Linda's Low Carb Recipes http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/cheezits.html when I began counting carbs. They were a sensation with my parents - especially my dad - and even one of the guys he works with. My dad even helped streamline the cooking process to make it go faster. ("You know, Punkin', if you cut a second circle of parchment paper, you could prep one piece of cheese while the other cooks." - Now, why didn't I think of that?)

 Use Deluxe Cheese Slices which are actually made with cheese rather than being processed cheese food. Cut each slice into 16 pieces (triangles, squares, etc. - the shape is unimportant).

 Arrange the cheese pieces around the outer edge of a piece of parchment on a microwave-save plate. (I just use the glass turntable in the bottom of the microwave and cut the parchment to fit.)




Place the plate in the microwave and cook for 55 to 65 seconds (depending on your microwave). Mine takes one minute per batch, but my mom's did the job in about 50 seconds. In addition, as the plate heats up, it takes a little less time, so adjust as necessary.

 Here's what happens after a minute in the microwave. Allow the crackers to cool for a few seconds. They will get crispier as they cool off.

 If we're having munchies in front of the television, I just toss all the crackers in a bowl.

 Individual snack baggies are the perfect size for lunch box snacks.

 Since we're hitting the road, I put today's batch in a more protective container so we wouldn't be eating crumbs.


These little crackers are excellent alone or with dips (especially guacamole). In addition, many flavorings can be added by sprinkling herbs, rubs, etc. on the cheese slices prior to cooking. I have used some excellent Pampered Chef combos (like Ginger Citrus and Spicy Tangerine) on the Swiss cheese slices - which seem to marry with the flavors better than some of the other kinds of cheese.

In addition to the small cheese crackers, my hubby requested some Parmesan rounds. These are easily made by simply melting grated cheese in the oven on parchment paper. Parmesan takes about 9 minutes at 350 degrees. Pile up about a tablespoon of cheese several inches apart to allow for spreading and bake until they're brown around the edges. Allow them to cool on the pan before removing them. These can be a little greasy, so placing small squares of paper towel between each one will help keep them crisp.

Of course, some sweets are required to balance out the crunchy-salty snacks, so I made three flavors of gummy candy using Sugar Free Jell-O and small ice cube trays from the dollar store.

Finally we have sugar free chocolate chip cookies. These tasty little morsels are lighter and a little more delicate than regular chocolate chip cookies, but not to the point of being crumbly. I simply used the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Chips. The only substitution I made was using Carbalose flour instead of the white flour called for. The recipe said to expect about 4 1/2 dozen cookies (54), but I only got 39 out of my batch. The cookies did not spread much (as you can see in the photo of the first dozen I baked), so I smashed the dough down a little, which helped. Overall, these are good cookies with only 1.6 net carbs each. However, if I were to make them again, I might use a mixture of real sugar with the granulated sucralose to give them more of the sweet cookie taste I like. Of course, I'd just have to eat fewer.

Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

(from the package)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I used carbalose flour with 19 net carbs per cup. In the future, I might use half carbalose and half almond meal or some other combination to get a little denser texture.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup granulated sucralose sugar substitute (I think the cookies might be better, though higher in carbs, with a mixture of sucralose and sugar - perhaps 3:1.)
• 1/3 cup granulated sucralose brown sugar substitute (Another option is to use the full amount of sucralose for the white sugar substitute, but use a 3:1 mixture of brown sugar.)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 8 ounces Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup nuts (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Cream together the butter, sugar substitutes, and vanilla.
• Add eggs and beat well.
• Add sifted dry ingredients a little at a time, beating after each addition.
• Drop cookies on to ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 7-9 minutes.
• Allow cookies to rest on baking sheets for several minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.