Low Carb Zucchini Chips 2 Ways

IF there is anything I thought would KILL me about cutting out starches and sugars in my life I thought for sure it would be chips

I never had a huge sweet tooth. Granted I do get a hankering now and again like any normal person but I don't crave sweets on a regular basis....but chips on the other hand...oooh lawwdy!

I could devour an entire bag of potato chips myself.  Heck I'll even hoover a bag of tortilla chips...don't matter to me as long as it was crunchy and salty

But surprisingly I have handled a chipless life quite well.  Once you don't have them in your house you realize you can do it.  Parties can still be rough on me....because what's a party without 4 different flavors of chip? (at least in my family)  I have my strong days and my weak days at those events....but over all I do ok.

I did however think it was time to branch out and start trying a LC chip alternative besides my go to pork rind that I could possibly pack with lunches or bring to those gatherings for myself to lessen the temptation

This first recipe is not my recipe at all.  It is straight from http://yourlighterside.com/.  This site is simply amazing.  It is all about adapting your old favorites to your new lifestyle of eating and she does an AMAZING job at it!  She is the original creator of the cauliflower pizza crust! 

Here is a link to her original recipe and post for these chips http://yourlighterside.com/2009/05/zucchini-nacho-chip-recipe-2/

But I added a few steps when I made that I wanted to share

2 cups grated zucchini

2 eggs beaten

2 cups cheese

She doesn't state this in the original recipe, but whenever I make anything with zucchini that I intend to get crispy I take the extra step in trying to remove as much water as possible.  You do this by sprinkling the shredded zucchini with salt and letting it sit for about 10-15 minutes.  This will draw out all the water and then you wring out as much as you can either in a dish towel or ricer

Add your zucchini to the egg and cheese.  Scoop your mix onto a well greased piece of parchment (I used a silpat) into 6-8 inch circles

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes or so or until brown

Take them out of the oven and let cool slightly before cutting into chips

Her recipe states to put them back in a cool oven to dry out and crisp for 6-8 hours, but I decided to go another route.  I have a dehydrator so I just loaded them up in there over night.  In the morning I had perfectly crisp chips!

I made them into nachos that day at work

Here is the instagramed version of the pics. Come follow me! TheBusyBroad

One thing I did notice was some were the perfect chip thickness and some were a little thick and crackery...so next time I will be sure to spread the mixure a little more thin and even.  Otherwise they made a good hearty nacho chip

And since I had a leftover zucchini and the dehydrater was already out, I made another version of chips

Just thinly sliced zucchini, tossed with a smidge of oil and some cajun spice

Ended up with some darn tasty and spicy chips.  I think I could go wild making all sorts of flavors of these babies!

I think the first recipe is better suited for nacho or cracker type applications, where as the second one is more similar to a potato chip.  Now I have all my chip bases covered