Man shall not live on bread alone

When people find out you're a Registered Dietitian, this weird kind of "food confessional" thing often transpires. I meet someone new and we do the small talk thing: where do you live, what are your hobbies, what do you do for a living, etc. But then once I say "I'm a Dietitian" they get this sheepish expression and say something along the lines of "I really like Doritos" or "sometimes I eat ice cream for breakfast." You know what? I do too! So now I have a confession: even though I'm an R.D., I don't eat super healthy. (Gasp!) In fact, entire days would go by where I wouldn't eat a single fruit or vegetable. This is practically blasphemous in the world of nutrition, but there you have it. I kind of love junk food.

Actually, I mostly love carbs. Carbs in all forms: cereal, granola bars, crackers, rainbow chip frosting, graham crackers, rainbow chip frosting on graham crackers, brownies, phad see-ew, tortillas, and bread. Oh, how I love bread. Just the thought of a warm, toasted slice of rosemary bread from Essential Baking Company makes me salivate. I think there have definitely been days when I lived on bread.

However, I now find myself in a carb-free zone. And although it's been somewhat easy to resist the donuts, scones, tortilla chips, and hamburger buns, I still miss my rosemary bread. Learning to not live on bread has been a bit of a rough transition, although I do eat quite a bit more fruits and veggies these days (but more on that later).

The recipe of the day was born of rosemary bread cravings. They taste kind of like crackers, and if you can find or make a dip from yogurt, chives, and green onion, it tastes pretty bomb. I use the yogurt chive dip from Trader Joe's.

Rosemary Cheese Crisps:

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a sheet pan with nonstick spray (I use canola spray). Top the sheet pan with a sheet of parchment paper, and spray the parchment paper with the nonstick spray. Combine 1/2 cup hard grated parmesan cheese (not the powder stuff in the green can) with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of rosemary. Make little piles of cheese mix on the sheet pan, about 1" in diameter. Press the cheese piles down so they flatten, and bake for about 7 minutes, or until they turn golden brown at the edges. Then use a spatula to transfer them to a plate. Let them cool a few minutes and they harden into a cracker-like consistency, perfect for dipping.

I think next time I make them I will mix them with a bit of chili powder and dip them in salsa. I think they would taste kind of like nachos that way. Happy snacking!