Guilt Free Chips

Making these guilt free, low carb chips is more of a method than a recipe. The technique is very simple and only your imagination will limit the flavor combinations.

Begin by purchasing an assortment of your favorite low carb wraps, tortillas and flatbreads. There are some very good choices on the market. Look for a high fiber content with a low net carb. The size of the wraps you choose doesn't matter. I have used everything from 10" round wraps to 6" round wraps and long, rectangular flatbreads. Look for a little variety in flavor also. I have found a few great whole grain, spinach and even tomato in my supermarket.

To make these chips you'll need 2 tablespoons of egg whites, lightly beaten to break up, a small pastry brush, vegetable spray and an assortment of your choice of toppings like sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, fennel seeds, garlic and onion powder, dried onion flakes, dried herbs like rosemary and thyme, grated cheeses like Parmesan, pecorino romano or cheddar. You can also try a squeeze of fresh lime juice across the top and sea salt if your diet allows. As you see, the combinations are almost endless. I've even made a sweet version with Splenda and cinnamon and you could add a sprinkle of ground nuts to that, too.

So, here's what you do. Lightly coat a sheet pan with vegetable spray. Take one of your wraps and brush the top with egg white. You won't need too much. Sprinkle with your choice of toppings. When you are done, lightly spray the top with vegetable spray. Using a sharp knife slice the wrap into strips and then cut the strips into rectangles about 2" by 1". The amount you get depends on the size of the wraps. I probably averaged about 2 dozen chips from a large 10" round wrap. Place each chip on the sheet pan, making sure they do not touch. Bake in a preheated 400' oven for anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes, again depending on the wrap. I tried baking two kinds of wraps together on a sheet pan but the timing was different for each so you should make your batches accordingly. Of course, it doesn't matter if the same kind of wraps have different flavored toppings on them. They will crisp up quickly and can go from crispy to burnt very fast so make sure you keep an eye on them. Remove and try and let them cool before you begin munching on them.

To figure out the carbs in your chips just subtract the dietary fiber from the total carbohydrate on the nutrition label. This will give you the net carb amount and you may already be used to doing this for your regular meals. Now, just divide your net carbs by the number of pieces you cut from each wrap. This will give you the approximate net carbs for each chip. It does vary slightly as the size of each chip may vary but it will give you a good estimate. It will be a very tiny number. This is really easy to do. Just remember to keep track of the different types of wraps you are using as the carbs will be different. The wraps I used yielded me an average of 0.29 grams net carbs in each chip so I decided to make a serving 12 chips, which equaled only 3.4 grams of net carbs. I calculated the vegetable dip at a 2 tablespoons per serving and that has a total of 1.5 net grams of carbs. This makes the grand total for this wonderful chips and dip snack 4.9 grams of net carbohydrate. It is a very nice portion size with an ample amount of dip for the one dozen chips.

So, it's pretty easy to make your own chips and I highly recommend that you give this a try. You'll be so happy with the delicious outcome and you'll be thrilled to have these healthy, baked, low carb chips in your life to enjoy anytime.

A single serving of Vegetable Dip and Chips...