This and That

Our local (round the corner) Tom Thumb has chuck roasts on sale. So up we go, pick out several for grinding in to ground meat and a couple really pretty ones for pot roast.
As I walked in the door ( pushing my wheel chair), I was struck by just how odd Fall is here in North Texas. There sitting right inside the door were big, round, green watermelons that look like they had just ripened over the weekend and beside them, great big, round, orange pumpkins.

While much of the country is experiencing cooler weather, trees that are just starting to turn color, birds migrating and other early signs that Autumn has come to call. Here the air conditioner is blasting, my grass needs to be mowed and could use a good watering.

Which all led me to think, do seasons overlap this much in other parts of the country, or the world? Who came up with all these symbols for fall? Did they really have colored leaves, acorns and apples falling all over their yards? Were their scarecrows really decked out so cute? Why isn't a big fat raindrop a symbol of Autumn too? That's what it does here, rain, rain and more rain until all the leaves drown and just fall off all at one time.
So tell me about Autumn in your neck of the woods.

Icebox soup a tribute to my Nanny

As I was putting together this soup, I was thinking about my wonderful grandmother and all the things I learned from her.

She grew up in the first part of the 20 century and was raising a family during the Depression. She could create anything from next to nothing.

I have a pair of my fathers baby shoes she sewed for him out of an old pair of my grandfathers wore out overalls. The souls were cut from the tongue from my grandfathers work boots. She used whatever fabric scraps she could find to piece quilts to keep her family warm.

As each of her 15 grandchildren were born, she made cloths for them and every Christmas she made matching dresses and shirts for all of us. Our Christmas present from her and my grandfather was always a granny gown for all us girls and jammies for the boys. The highlight of every Christmas eve was when we opened the packages and all ran squealing to put on or new granny gowns; which we wore for the rest of the night. I'm sure the boys weren't nearly so heart broken as we girl were, when it got to be too much for her and the granny gowns stopped. But you ask anyone of use granddaughters about Christmas with Nanny and they will tell you about the granny gowns.

We all looked forward to summer when we all got to go spend a week with Nanny and granddaddy. My dad had 3 sisters, each of them had kids within a year or so of each other, 3 different times. My aunt Marie and Uncle Fred had a spare and had the oldest and youngest in the older group, so there for 5 of them.
Each group got to spend a full week sometimes two. We all waiting with great anticipation for our time to go hangout with our cousins and spend time with our grandparents.

They didn't have much but it was always so much fun! She had dolls and toys all stored in the spare bedroom. Our room. She made all the dolls had underwear made from the foot of an old sock with holes cut for the legs and then sewn together over the shoulders. Nanny hated naked baby-dolls. She passed this trait on to me. All the baby-dolls in my classrooms were required to be dressed before putting away, and several of them had Nannyware. :o)

When I was 7 my grandfather passed away and the big summer visits stopped. They were afraid Nanny couldn't handle us in big groups by herself, she had had a major stroke and heart attacks before I was born. So we went two at a time for a few years.

She was an amazing woman and I miss her dearly. Even after her health had deteriorated enough that she needed to live in a nursing home, she still set up quilting bees with the ladies there, taught crocheting, helped set up activities and led outings. She was very very active until the last 6months of her life, and lived on her own until the last 2. She was 90 when she passed away on a cool Sunday morning in October.

While Nanny could bake anyone under the table, she wasn't a particularly good cook. This recipe if you call it that, is one I got from spending weekends with her. She simply called it soup, but the rest of us called it Icebox Soup. Simply stated, whatever was in her fridge went into the soup pot. You might find ham, turkey, chicken, beef or all the above in your bowl. Sometimes there was corn, mac&cheese, spinach, beans or okra floating in it. The only negative thing I remember about staying with Nanny and Granddaddy was this soup and her mashed potatoes, which I later found out were turnips...giggle (I really like turnips now)
I have found that with the right ingredients Icebox soup is very very good and a great way to use up little bits and pieces of left overs. Nanny never threw out anything, with prices like they are now, I'm finding making this soup for lunch, very wallet friendly.

Icebox Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• any little pieces of raw veggies you have left in your veggie draw
• tbsp butter or oil of your choice
• Chicken or beef stock, water, wine or whatever liquid you like
• Left over beef, pork OR poultry ( unless your like Nanny and like them all mixed up)
• Left over veggies
• Seasoning of choice if needed

Method:

1. Saute onion and garlic in butter or oil. Add any bits and pieces of raw veggies you have on hand. I had a zucchini nub, 1/4 of a red pepper and 1/2 plum tomato. Saute until tender.
2. Season. I only used salt and pepper because the meat was already seasoned.
3. Add whatever meat you have left over, I used left over taco meat Saute a few minutes.
4. Add stock, water, wine or whatever liquid you've chosen to use. I used chicken stock and a little red wine I had hanging out that needed to be used. Let come to a boil and then lower to simmer.
5. Add left over veggies turn off heat and let set just long enough to heat veggies. You DO NOT want to over cook them.
6. Ladle into your cup or bowl top with grated cheese, fresh grated parmesan, dollop of sour cream or whatever will go well with your combo. I used a little shredded Mexican blend.

This is great way to re-purpose left overs into something completely different and absolutely delicious. The trick is just cook until everything is hot. Most of your ingredients are already cooked. You just want to gently heat them. No one wants a big bowl of over cooked, mushy, bitter vegetables.

So fix you a nice bowl of Icebox soup and think of all the fond memories you have of your grandparents.

Capella flavor drops

Thanks to my friend Jeri Kay, I ordered a couple of bottles of Capella flavor drops to give them a try. Here's the blurb off their page about the drops:

Our Products
No one compares to Capella's Flavor Drops! With over 50 unique flavors, all containing NO calories, carbs, fats, sweeteners or preservatives, it’s no wonder why our customers tell us we’re the finest and most unique product on the market. Capella Flavor Drops are perfect for virtually any application: Diet Shakes, Oatmeal, Pudding, Espresso–based drinks, brewed Coffee and Tea, Martinis, Smoothies, Italian sodas, Desserts and more.
* Capella Flavor Drops are PURE Flavor, without sweeteners. * Add flavor to already sweetened ( pre-sweetened ) beverages without adding additional sweetness. * Flavor Drops are stronger than extracts, requiring only drops to flavor. * Flavor Drops will NOT change the consistency of your recipes since only drops are required. * Flavor drops is NOT a syrup, and contains NO fat, calories, or carbs.

According to Jeri you can make your own s/f syrup using the Capella drops. Since the floor in my pantry is half full of s/f DaVinci syrups I thought I'd try a couple because they would take up much less space and because they had some interesting flavors.
So far I've only tried the drops in water, I just got them yesterday. But I have to admit I really like the two flavors I've tried.
The pear sold specifically for water is very refreshing, I added the 4 drops recommended plus 2 drops of sweetzfree to a glass of ice water. It was an unusal flavor but it really did taste like a pear. And it made for a very enjoyable glass of water. Next I tried the strawberry cream, and reminded me of a piece of s/f lifesavers strawberry cream candy. It was ok in water but I think it would be excellent in a cup of Hood milk, yogurt, ice cream or protein shake. I can hardly wait to give the rootbeer float and vanilla cream a try.
I just thought I would share this find with you. If your looking for something to use for flavor, but you don't want the added sugar or sweeteners these are perfect. If you just want to try something different, then maybe Blueberry cinnamon crumble or graham cracker is what your looking for. They have 54 flavors plus the water flavors.
If you try them or have used them let me know what you think. I can't wait to try them in other things.

Cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sammiches

As a kid and own into adult hood one of my favorite comfort food combo's has always been a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of Cambells cream of tomato soup. What's not to like? The sandwich is ooey gooey cheesey on the inside and buttery toasty on the outside. The soup is rich and creamy with the addition of sweetness to off set the saltiness of the cheese. You ladle up the soup in a big cup set in the middle of your sandwich plate with your grilled cheese cut diagnally into two toasty triangles. The best part is dipping the sandwich in the soup. Oh my goodness makes me all warm and cozy just thinking about it. I decided that since I'm not counting veggies on my new plan the soup would be doable IF I made it myself. Never having made tomato soup I figured the simpler the better so I grabbed a big can of tomato sauce. What goes better with tomatoes than basil, so I grabbed it too. Into the pot went the tomato sauce, the top sprinkled with basil. Cambells soup is sweet and since I wanted to relive that comfort food from the past, into the pot went a few drops of sweetzfree ( cambells is to sweet so I didn't add that much sweetzfree) as it started to heat I added a cup of Hood's count down milk. Oh imagine my delight when it turned the exact color of Cambells and a finger dipped in the pot told me it was perfect. I let it heat through while I toasted a couple of cheese sandwiches made on Joseph's Lavash bread. In less than 20 minutes I had soup and sandwiches ready for mom and I and they were absolutely wonderful. The lavash bread toasted up wonderfully buttery and just slightly crisp with lots of gooey stringy cheese. Perfect for dipping in the soup. MMM MMM Good!
Forgive me, I got so caught up in make and eating, I forgot to take a picture. Next time. There's at least another bowls worth of soup in the fridge and I always have lavash and cheese.

First full day on the new plan

I have to say it was fantastic. I'm motivated again. I'm excited and energized. I ready to tackle the challenges a head to find that thinner me.
Yesterday, I got up at 1:15-1:30 am. Yep sleep pattern is steady but on a whacked out time table. Dr. Stevenson gave me some tips to get it where I want it. It's just going to take some time.
Anyway, I got up at around 1:30 am and headed to the kitchen for what I call meal 1. Yummy pork roast and a big bowl of cabbage. New counting system is 0 carbs. Several glasses of iced tea sweetened with splenda (liquid) and stevia also 0 carbs.
At about 5:30 I had a couple of cheese sticks and a ounce of roasted almonds. That set me back a whopping 4 net carbs, but it held me until 8:30. Had a cup of coffee with cream and a slice of Cranberry Orange flaxbread with cream cheese, with mom. We just kind of hung out at the kitchen table over our coffee and bread and talked. Something we don't do nearly enough.
Round about 12:30 I made grilled cheese sammies and cream of tomato soup. Oh my gosh it was so good! It was like having the real thing, only better. I will post my simple recipes next. But believe me it's next to nothing. So I had a great big cup of soup and sandwich for lunch ( another 6 carbs). The creamy tomato soup was very filling as well.
Then just before bed I had 1/2 a chocoPerfection bar.
I drank around 32 oz of iced tea, 48 oz vinegar water and a couple small glasses of Diet Dr. Pepper. ( ok I tried but I have cut down from 4 liters, not too bad right?) The bloat is just about gone, my bgl's are in the 80 but my bp is up. Not what's going on with that, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.
I also got in about 25 minutes of core, resistances and flexibility exercises in. And boy am I sore after just 2 days of this. But it's a good sore...giggle
So that' my first Full day on my new plan. I know it's early but it does seem to be working for me. The test will be to see if I can break through this stall.

Sleep study follow up

Well I had my follow up appointment yesterday, and everything seems to be what I expected. Dr. Stevenson, says that they thought my pressure could come down a little, but that if I was comfortable where it was, we could just leave it. YES!!!! I really didn't want to have to change it.
Being on medicare and all their nit-picky rules meant I didn't get my new machine yesterday while I was there, but rather have to have them deliver it today. Tell me that makes in since?
One odd thing though, Dr. Stevenson didn't mention it, but when I went to order my new machine, the tech there told me it's a V-pap. Which is specifically for central apnea patients. Central apnea being your brain forgets to tell your lungs to breath. So the machine will have to stimulate my brain some how or other. My concern is that Dr. Stevenson didn't say anything about central apnea, nor did my doctor from before. So I guess I best call today and make sure there isn't a mistake.
If I do have central apnea, that means it will most like improve as the weight comes off, but I will never be without the machine. If I don't, then there is no reason to pay the extra money for a machine with bells and whistles I don't need.
Time to make a phone call.
But yeah! I get my machine today.

Some changes

I started my new low carb eating plan in May of 2007. By October I had lost roughly 60 lbs. Since then it's been up and down never going below my lowest. I'd like to say I'm great at counting and recording all my meals and watching my counts like a hawk. I'd like to but then I'd be lying. I've cheated, gone completely out of control, and skimmed by. But even when I'm doing great. Keeping my carbs low, drinking all my water, avoiding diet cokes, seemingly everything I should be doing. I just can't break that number on the scale.

So, I've decided that since I'm not losing anyway, I'm going to make it easier on me. From now own I will cut my carb count down to between 10 and 20. BUT I'm no longer counting any carbs from non-starchy veggies. Yep your read that right, in my book veggies are now free foods. Of course I'll still not be eating potatoes or other starchy foods. But in my book they aren't veggies anyway, they are starches.

When I was a kid growing up, we had a protein source, a starch and a veggie at almost every dinner. Corn and potatoes did not count as vegetables. My mom called them starches, just like rice and pasta. So to me that's what they are, not vegetables at all, just merely starches.

My reasons for doing this are simple. 1) I'm lazy and this will mean less to count. 2) This will ensure that most of my carbs come from healthy nutritious non starchy veggies. 3) It just seem wrong to me to limit vegetables. I know some people say we could live without them, but what kind of life would it be with out cabbage, okra, salad greens and spinach? Not a life I want to live anyway.

So that's the way I'm going to play it from now on. With things like dairy, nuts and seed are anywhere from 1-4 net carbs per serving, or 1 serving of lavash bread being 4 net carbs. This new plan will make it impossible not to get the bulk of my carbs from veggies and that's a good thing right?

I'm so hoping this will work, but the only way I know to find out for sure is to put it into action. So far so good, but I only started yesterday.
Yesterday I had
Breakfast 1: Pork roast ( I know but I just wasn't hungry)
Snack: an ounce of roasted almonds (2)
Lunch: ChocoPerfection bar (2) and 1/2 ounce of walnuts (1) I've almost never eaten a whole bar at once before. But it was just what I wanted. Not the best lunch but it's what I had.
Dinner 2: A bowl of left over chili ( new system net carbs 2) with cheese ( 1) sour cream (1) and lettuce (0) lavash bread chips (4)
So I stayed down to 13 carb + veggies. The chili had squash in it, plus I had a good bit ( at least a cup) of romaine lettuce with it.
Not exactly what I was hoping I'd eat, but I know my carbs were low and I drank a ton of water and tea, no coke at all and even got my 30 minutes of strength training in.
This morning I started my day out with a bowl of cabbage and more pork roast... nummy nummy We'll have to see where I go from there, but if I can stick with my plans for the day, I should have more veggies, and better carb choices, at least that's what I have planned.

Christmas Prezzies

Just thought I would show you how my new plan to create a recipe book for family this Christmas is going. Here's one of the recipes. I sure hope it doesn't come out too fuzzy.

Hurricane Ike and Vikki's favorite Breakfast

My heart goes out to all those that lost so much this past weekend. While many in Houston, Galveston and other Southern Texas cities struggle to put their homes back together after the devastating winds of Ike ripped through last Saturday, other find themselves homeless, helpless and having to start over. I send up my prayers for them, and wish there was more I could do.

We were very fortunate to have been spared the heavy rains and high winds that had been predicted for this area. We got rain and a little wind, but nothing like had been predicted.

We were able to get through to all our family both here in the Dallas area and those living in East Texas where high winds ripped up trees, downed power lines and damage roofs and out buildings. Thankfully everyone was ok and no one sustained too much damage.

While there is no getting around the devastation done this weekend, it did blow in cooler weather. We have had temps in the 80 most days, a far cry from the near 100 degree temps we were seeing.

Which brings me to one of my all time favorite breakfast, which I was able to enjoy yesterday for the first time since April. It's been much to hot to enjoy this tasty breakfast of toasted Cinnamon Pecan Flax bread, spread with cream cheese and big cup of Chai tea with cream and a tbsp. of coconut oil. Very very filling, just over 5 grams of fiber in a slice of bread. The cream and coconut oil in the tea are very satiating. This breakfast has always kept me going for hours, and I was very happy to get to enjoy it again.

So tell me, what will you be enjoying now that cooler weather is just around the corner?

Sleep Study

My sleep study was last night. I have to say it was one of the most miserable nights of my life. The bed was sooo uncomforable. The poor tech was used to a different set up and couldn't quite get all the electrodes attached to me to work. She started about 9:30 to get me set for bed and it was after 10:30 before the lights were turned off with a good night. I was so sleeping after having taken my Trazadone about at 8: 30, I dozed in and out the whole time she was trying to get me set. Then things were not hooked up right, or not working and they kept coming in to reattach things, turning on lights and awaking me until after 12:30. By 3 my back had had all it could handle and I was awake. She told me I needed to go just 45 minutes more to complete my study. I got up and went to the bathroom(down the hall)just to get out of the bed and walk a few minutes. She told me it wasn't necessary to got to sleep, but I needed to be hooked back up and wear my mask. I knew I had no way home before 6 am so I layed back down and prayed I could go back to sleep at least for a while. Next thing I knew it was a few minutes after 6 mom was calling to see if I was up. Thank you God for such a blessing.
I got up, unhooked myself and went to the bathroom to try and clean some of the goo off me. I went back to my room, got dressed and my tech showed up with my after study paper work. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I was so tired and so sore it was unbelieveable. My first study was a breeze. This one was horrible. But it's over! I have my follow up with Dr. Stevenson on Wednesday, at which time I should get my new bi-pap. That part I'm excited about, but boy am I glad this is over with.
The good news is it looks like my pressure might be lower. Of course from where I started the only place to go was down.

never forget

Tuna patties

Today I made a quick and simple lunch of tuna patties and bacon green beans. It took only about 2o minutes it was tasty, filling and something different.
Tuna Patties

• 3 cans tuna, drained well
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 2 tbsp. Carb Counters Instant Mashers

Just mixed it all up, pattied them out in silver dollar sized patties and fried in coconut oil. They were crispy on the outside, moist and yummy on the inside.

I cooked a couple of cans of green beans cooked in bacon drippings. One of my favorite ways to cook green beans. The left over beans will be ready for another meal when I want them.

Next time I will double my tuna patty recipe and see if they hold up in the fridge. These would be perfect to nosh on when your hungry or to even pack in a lunch.

Update on Mom

We'll we finally got some answers for mom. But they sure we're what we were looking for. As most of you know, she's slowly suffocating because she has a heart valve that's just given out. It needs to be replaced.

When they were running all the tests to find out if she were healthy enough for the surgery, they found she has Pulmonary Hypertension. So the search for the cause began. First of, did she have sleep apnea, one of the major causes of P H. So off she goes to see an specialist in sleep disorders. They found she had a slight case and gave her a cpap. But the PH didn't improve. So then it was blood work, an echo,cat scan, and and a few other things. The only thing they found was that she really needed to get the valve replaced soon.
Next they sent her off for an MRI and more blood work. She got all the tests down except the MRI, they bruised her up pretty good trying to get her in, but it was too small. They finally got it reschedule at a different place last week, and she saw a rheumatologist to see check for lupus.
This week she saw the number one Pulmonary Specialist in Texas. Well all the test were in and after 6 months the answer is.... the weak valve is what is causing the PH and they will not do the surgery because of the PH and her weight.
This latest super specialist ( that's what her Cardiologist and Pulmonologist call him) says he thinks he can get her through it. It will be very risky, but if he can find a doctor that will do the surgery, he thinks he can help her pull through.
He had a meeting with the doctor he has in mind this evening, and mom is suppose to call him back again tomorrow. All prayers, will definitely be welcomed and deeply appreciated.
He told her not to exercise too much, nothing that would exert her to the point of panting or gasping. Of course at this point just going to the bathroom can cause that. But she needs to keep moving as much as she can.
Anyway, that's where we are right now. Thank you for all the prayers up to this point and any your willing to send up on her behalf now.

Dijon Fried Pork Chops

Once upon a time Dijon Mustard was all the rage. Commercials, print ads, bill boards the works. But it seems it's day has come and gone. It's a shame too. It's one of those simple things that can inject a lot of flavor while adding next to no carbs.

I really like the combined flavors of Dijon and pork chops. Since I had pork chops in the fridge that needed to be cooked I was already thinking Dijon pork. I was thinking of a simple marinade of Dijon, red wine and a few spices, then grilling them. However mom has a hard time chewing grilled pork sometimes. She asked me to fry them, which is wonderful but I already had my heart ... and taste buds set for Dijon pork.

This is exactly how new recipes come in to being...giggle trying to meet every one's needs and wants. This is the what I came up with to fill mom's need for fried, tender pork chops and my need for moist flavorful Dijon pork.

Dijon Fried Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• Pork chops, pork steaks or whatever cut you like


• 1 tsp. Dijon Mustard per chop


• 2 tsp. Instant Mashers


• 1/2 cup Parm/bread crumb mix


• 1/2 cup crushed pork skins

Method:

1. Mix instant mashers, parm/bread crumb mix and crushed pork skins in a large zip bag


2. Wash pork chops well.


3. Smear each pork chop with Dijon; front and back


4. One at a time shake each chop in the breading mix.


5. Fry in your favorite oil, I used coconut but peanut would also work well.


6. Drain and enjoy!

Sorry for the bad photo. My phone is the only camera I have and it's not taken very good pics these days.

Weekend plans

We've not been too hot this last week sticking to plan. Ok if I tell the truth we've gone out of our way to go as far off as possible. The last few months has been a real struggle with as many off days as on. So the decision was made, not exactly what I wanted, to indulge in the things people were really hungry for, and then get back to it full force and strict come Monday. So my plans for this weekend were to get some things made up we would need to get back with it. I wanted to get some flax bread made, some oopsies, baked and in the freezer, thaw and cut up a package of Joseph's Lavish bread, so it's ready to grab and go. Get a menu and grocery list made up, so that there is no excuse not to cook and get us back on plan. Oh yeah and of course there is always laundry.



Well that was the plan anyway. So I slept right through Friday more or less. I did manage to get the laundry done, all 8 loads.



Today I've done a little better, I made Cinnamon Pecan Flax bread

It's cooling as I type. Once cooled, I'll cut into 15 pieces and store in a zippy bag with a paper towel lining the bottom. It will be good for a week.


I also managed to get double batch of Cleo's Oopsie Rolls made. They too are cooling. I'll bag them up 2 to a bag and freeze for burgers and bbq sammies. Now if I can get some meatballs, ice cream and maybe a couple batches of Vikki Ann's Flaxies, and some peanut butter cream cheese spread, I should be all set. Not to bad so far, but I still have quite a bit more to do. I have several recipes floating around in my head I want to try. I'm thinking a Cordon Bleu chicken dish and maybe an unstuffed Cabbage roll recipe. If they turn out well I'll post the recipes to my spaces blog Vikki's Kitchen

Life without Bloat?

Is there such a thing? Or is it only a dream? I often wonder. Between being a perimenopausal woman, sleep issues and stress I have few days each month where I'm not fighting the demon know as bloat.
I'm sure it's my bodies way of fighting back for the things going on with it, some of which I'm sure I'm responsible for. Sleeping in short catnap stages isn't fair to my body... but believe me, I'd much rather sleep a good 6 straight hours. But most of the time I can't and my body pays me back by swelling up like a balloon. My feet and tootsies look a lot like stuffed sausages by end of the day.
Then of course being a woman at that "age" my hormones have decided they've been good little guys long enough, now it's PARTY TIME!!!! They are having all kinds of fun, wonderful things like growing hair where it shouldn't be and causing it to fall out where it should be, setting me up on emotional roller coaster rides with enough twist and turns to make any thrill junkie jealous. Of course they had to play around with everything so now I have the climate control from hell. One minute I'm shivering the next I look and feel like I took a nap in a bar-b-que pit. And then of course there is the ever popular BLOAT. Puffy face, swollen fingers, poochy belly... awww aren't I just too lovely for words.
But I dream of a time when I can have two full weeks with out looking like a puffer fish. Is that too much to ask? 14 whole days where my shoes aren't tight, my cloths hang loosely, toes that look like toes and a face that doesn't look like I have the mumps. Aww what a dream. When I was younger my dreams were more fanciful. I dreamed of being a teacher ( which I was for over 20 years), seeing the world, and of working in the art department at Disney. Can you even imagine being part of one of the old animated movies?! But I sure wanted to be. When I was a little older fresh out of college I wanted nothing more than to be a great teacher, to make a difference. I hope in some small way I did that. But now I've hit middle age and I just want my body back. It was never perfect, and I don't expect that now. All I want is just to deflate. Now tell me is that really too much to ask?

Joseph's Pita Bread

I've never done a review of low carb products before, but I simply had to review these. They are perfect low carb bread for that toasty, crispy, crunch pita sammy you've been craving.

My favorite is BLT. I oven fry some bacon til it's nice and crunchy, chop up some romaine lettuce, a little onion and a fresh tomato in a bowl, dollop on some mayo, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a quick drizzle of the bacon dripping ( just a tiny 1/4 tsp) and then stuff it in the toasted pockets... so so good.

They make great chips too as my friend Jeri will deminstrate here. http://jerimartinez5011.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B5F9DBFA22B6E857!920.entry

But they are perfect for all different kinds of yummy sammies and at only 4 net carbs for the entire pita loaf.

As you can see I had a choice to make here tuna or egg salad?