Well I just had to share this and I admit that it sounds a little strange. I am diabetic and a follower of Dr. Bernstein. I kept hearing him refer to Cheese Puffs and finally he explained what they were. This is an excellent replacement for bread to make sndwiches with, but you wouldn't believe it unless you tried it for yourself.

Take a slice of American Cheese (it has to be american, which is a water based product rather than a 'real' cheese which is based on milkfat) and place it on a paper plate that has been lightly sprayed with vegetable oil. Microwave for 45 sec to 90 seconds, depending on the power of your microwave. My microwave takes only 50 seconds, but he says a minute and a half in his (burned in mine at anything over 55 seconds). What happens is that the water in the cheese is forced out and you are left with a puffy piece of cheese that has almost a breadlike texture. I was amazed and am so happy to be able to make a sandwich again with almost no carb (.6 gram carb per slice of cheese).

Bernstein says to microwave it on a piece of freezer paper, but I don't have any and wonder if they still make it. So I had to use the paper plate with cooking spray.

A couple of trials to get the time right and I now have it perfected.

Joe

If you have parchment paper, that may work, too.
Even a silpat

What is American cheese? i don't think we can get it here in Canada?

Just use thick Kraft slices thats what it is. I like thick but the other one does it too.
You also gets nice results in the oven with grated parmesan or grated swiss cheese. It is messier because of the oil but it gets as crunchy as a cracker. I use parchement paper.

I've used any good process "slice" with a lot of success for years; Kraft Extra Cheddar (for grilled cheese sandwiches) is the best, though, with a plain Swiss running a close second. My personal approach that works every time is a piece of baking / parchment paper on a paper plate. Can reuse many times before it gets too grungy.

The original "cheese cracker" process was spelled out by the famous Barbara Pollack (of Expert Foods ThickenThin not/Starch fame) YEARS ago, before this website was even up, on the Lowcarb-List (an email list that still exists! tho there isn't much traffic these days).

Sheesh, now I feel really really old...

I'm going to give this a shot this evening and get back with you, it sounds delicious. I love cheese so I'm sure this is going to be delicious.

THanks for all of the wonderful cheesy ideas!! I love the fact that I've been able to keep losing while eating cheese daily. I will try it too. THanks to the Canucks for the extra Canadian references

Another sandwhich idea I'm liking: you can buy lettuc crisps (Loblaws in ON and Qc) that are nice crispy solid curled up big lettuce pieces, made to go in tacos. I use them AS the taco and put cold grilled chicken, hummus, red peppers, tabouli salad (by the way, don't seem to need to worry about counting the small amount of couscous in tabouli even as a carb - hasn't made a difference to my losing and I eat it a lot.....go to lebanese restos and have tons of their roasted chicken, hummus, tabouli and regular salad instead of rice). I know hummus (chickpeas) has carbs, but so far, I've only counted as a protein and it's worked (ie - I'm trying to do 1 portion of starchy carbs per day and don't count this in that), but htat's what South Beach does;you can have hummus during the first strict phase of no starchy carbs at all.

ANyway, just ideas......you can also put more taco type stuff in the lettuc taco like salsa, sour cream or plain yogurt, cheese, etc.

Latté Lover

I tried this and it was wonderful! I'm not too fond of sweets, but I love chips and crackers especially Nabisko Cheese Nips and Tidbits. So when I tried this and tasted it I then realize I had my replacement for crackers for ever. At first I used the styro plate and sprayed but then realized I would use all of my spray so I bought parchment paper, that worked out better because you do 2-3 slices of cheese at once. Note, if you want it crispy, like crackers, microwave for about 45 min. If you want it chewy where you can spread cream cheese on top of it (yummy) microwave for about 30-35 min. Don't forget if you do 2 or more slices of cheese you have to microwave longer. Also, I found out if you do use the syro plates you have to remove the cheese while still warm or it will be difficult to remove from plate (it cracked up). Believe me this is to die for (lol). Thanks so much for sharing. Did I mention it was more nutritious than crackers...Why come off LC when I can eat like this?

American cheese can also be bought at the deli department. It is sold in bulk by the pound and you order it sliced however you choose. This option has lower carbs and much less "extras" put in then the presliced versions. You can get white american or yellow american.

!!!!!

i hope you mean seconds

OH MY GOD this is brilliant! Why ever go back to empty carbs?!?!

I had no idea you could get "white american" cheese at the deli section. I've never even asked. I loathe American yellow cheese slices but I don't mind the white on sandwiches... I bet thicker slices of white, done like this, would be very... interesting. I'm determined to try this in the next couple of days, along with the microwave flax bread. It's really a pain that I have tons of stuff I can put ON bread, but no bread! I avoid gluten except a rare LC tortilla so if either this or the flaxbread are edible to me, that'd be a real treat!

I am hoping you mean SECONDS not minutes???????

Julie

Sillie me, it should be seconds!

Another great idea is to slice the cheese into squares and set them apart (I used parchment paper) before microwaving. When cool put them in a sandwich bag, they're great for snacking when you're at the park or if you're on the road and get the munchies for chips.

I love these w/ Kraft deli deluxe american slices, I quarter them, put them on a ceramic plate sprayed w/ olive oil pam. When they're done I smear them with natural peanut butter and top with another piece. They remind me of packaged cheese crackers w/ peanut butter.