I have nothing against Carbquik other than the off taste that it has in some recipes. It's just that I've never missed bread at all since I started low carbing so after trying a few Carbquik recipes I just lost interest in it. I also try to avoid as many specialty processed low carb foods as possible. The focus of my website has always been to show that anyone can make tasty low carb food using only the foods that you can get in any grocery store and I try to stick to that mission as much as I can. However, I do enjoy experimenting in the kitchen so I do occasionally try out some of these products just for fun and also because I know that other low carbers DO miss having bread and bread-like foods.

I haven't used yeast to make anything low carb. I was involved in a lot of experimenting with Carbalose flour when it first came out and was tempted to try making yeast bread. However, the carb savings over regular flour wasn't enough for me so I never bothered. It made no difference to me if a slice of bread had 8 carbs or 12 carbs, it was still to many. I guess if I really missed eating bread it might have been a different story.

It's funny that you should think that I limit my fat intake because I get accused of making extremely high fat recipes over at LCF. Although I don't go out of my way to eat extra fat, I definitely don't limit my fat intake. Most days I eat between 100-130 grams of fat!

If you're looking for a cracker recipe, these are very nice and you could easily add some cracked pepper:



BUTTERY SESAME CRACKERS
3 ounces almond flour, 3/4 cup
2 teaspoons granular Splenda
1 egg white
3/8-1/2 teaspoon salt *
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
3 teaspoons untoasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons butter, softened

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl. Chill dough about 30 minutes. Drop dough by 1/4 teaspoons onto a parchment-lined 12x17" baking sheet making 24 little piles leaving at least an inch between them. Pick the pieces of dough up one at a time and very gently roll into balls. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (you can use a small piece and move it around as needed) and take a baking powder can, that has about an 1/8" rim around the bottom, and press down firmly over each ball of dough. Be sure to press all the way down to the baking sheet. Peel off the plastic wrap and repeat until all the crackers have been shaped. Prick them with a fork.

Bake at 325º for 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature or freeze for longer storage.

Makes 24 crackers
Can be frozen

* I've decided that 1/4 teaspoon salt is not enough and 1/2 teaspoon is a bit too much for my taste. I use 3/8 teaspoon, which I think is just about right.

Per Cracker: 32 Calories; 3g Fat; 1g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; .5g Net Carbs

You can use any sweetener you like in the crackers and you can leave out the sesame seeds. That recipe evolved from this one: Almond Thins. My friend came up with the idea of rolling the dough into balls and pressing them and it was so much easier than rolling out the whole ball of dough to an even thickness. They bake so much more evenly too. Of course you could press the dough balls thinner than I do but I haven't found anything in my kitchen that would give me a thinner cracker and still give me a consistent thickness. If you're able to eyeball it by pressing them with something flat-bottomed, that would be great.

I'm using MasterCook 6. I received it as a gift and I see no reason to upgrade to a newer version because this version does everything I need.

Are you asking how I include photos in my posts on this forum or on my website? To add them to your posts, copy the URL to your photo to the clipboard then click the button that says "IMG" in the message window and paste it in the box. To get the URL for your photo, right-click on the picture and choose "Properties". In the window that pops up, look for where it says "Address: (URL)". Use your mouse to highlight the URL then do a copy and paste. Sometimes the URL is so long that part of it goes off the screen. So, make sure that you start highlighting the URL with the HTTP part of it and drag your cursor until it reaches the end of the code. It will scroll so that you can get the whole thing. Of course all of this information is assuming that you're using Windows. If this is done differently on a Mac, maybe a Mac user will chime in here and let us know how it's done.

From what I've read, canola oil isn't a healthy oil to use but it is what I use. I don't care for the taste of extra virgin olive oil and the light olive oils aren't any better for you than other vegetable oils because they're refined which damages them. I try to use butter whenever possible but I've made the choice to use canola (or other vegetable oils) occasionally simply because there aren't any other affordable options for me. There are worse things I could be eating so I try not to worry about it too much.

I've never seen cheese powder over here. What type of cheese flavor it is or does it come in a variety of flavors? Actually, I've seen some that is for putting on popcorn but it's loaded with chemicals and sugar. What you found sounds much better.

The photos that I link to are on my website so I don't need to use an online photo service. Since I have my own site, I can also upload any pictures that I like to the server even if they aren't on my site. Yes, you will have to upload your photos to one of those sites if you want to post them in your messages. If you don't want to bother signing up for one of those photo service sites, I wouldn't mind uploading a photo now and then to my server for you. Just send it to me by email and I'll send you the URL so you can post it.

I'm sure that's very true, Valerie. I just don't care for the strong flavor of olive oil in most of my dishes. It's fine in many Italian, Greek and other Mediterranean dishes but I find it too overpowering for most other things. I also can't afford the better olive oils on my budget so I just do without. Well, I do keep a small bottle of the cheaper stuff in my pantry but it rarely gets used.