Spicy Nut Mix

Here is my first contribution for a sweet, salty, a little spicy, and crunchy treat. I modified it slightly from the Southbeach.com. I needed something to snack on during the day.

2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 large egg whites
1 cup unsalted soy nuts
1 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup walnut halves
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 granulated splenda

1. Preheat oven to 225. Mix first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Whisk in spice mixture. Add nuts and splenda and toss to coat.
2. Spread mixture evenly on two nonstick cookie sheets (I used a large cookie sheet that wasn't nonstick and it worked just fine). Bake 1 hour until nuts are dry and toasted stirring every 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.

Serving size is a 1/4 cup (20 servings)
You can substitute any cup of nuts for what ever you like.

South Beach Crackers

I thought I'd share a South Beach trick that's been pretty helpful...

On nights that I don't want to cook, Matt makes tuna or egg salad. It grosses me out to eat it all by itself and we can't have crackers, so what's a girl to do? I'm pretty sure I read this in the book, but if you slice up cucumber and sprinkle on some salt, instant fake crackers. It's the salt and the crunchy noise that does it for me, so make sure to cut them thick!

I'm still looking for a substitute for tortilla chips. I don't think salsa on cucumber crackers would be that good! As for tortillas themselves, then you get into Phase 2, Mission has a whole grain tortilla that is actually pretty tasty!