My Best Friend

My best friend is brown, flat, 7 inches in diameter and called a whole-wheat tortilla.

I have to admit it - I have an obsession with food! Nowadays, its an obsession with juggling my daily totals of 7 grains, 3 fruits, 3 veg, 2 milk, 2 meat and 2 fat (serving sizes) and I do really well with all but one - grains/carbs!

I LOVE pasta, bread, spuds, rice, oh yeah, and beer ... all to my downfall!

I choose a tortilla over ANYTHING else at mealtime. I know that there's only 1 1/2 serving of grains in there (a serving size is 15g), so then I can eat a few bites of something else, ie, spuds, rice, chips.

I serve them a variety of ways:

1. Microwave them with spinach & cheese & salsa
2. Toast them and folded with the same ingredients for quesedilla
3. Toasted, rolled up with deli-meat and cheese - on my George "Formby" (Foreman) grill. You Brits will understand the George Formby reference, but for you Americans, look him up on YouTube - he's one of Northern England's heros (if you're over 70 yrs old).
4. Toasted to resemble an Indian pappadum
5. Toasted and cut up to resemble dipping chips
6. Individual pizza bases
7. Baked with ground turkey breast and enchilada sauce - only if I'm feeling extravagant though!
Nothing is off-limits as tortilla filling - so long as it doesn't get too wet when being heated. They're great for using up leftovers and making food go further
8. Cold with PB&J which is great for school lunches and picnics

Craig jokes about my 101 ways to serve tortillas - I can get very creative in the kitchen. There are only 2 choices for my family at mealtime - take it, or leave it and the family always seem to clean their plates and serving dishes:) I always make plenty of food - they help themselves - and eat more than I do.

My kids call me the 'Food Nazi' too (all in fun), but I worry about them and the amount of sugar they consume in a cookie here, chips there, soda or juice ... which, by the way, probably isn't any more than YOU consume. I worry because its in their genetic make-up, both my grandmothers, my mother, me ... they were both big babies when they were born ... so the odds are stacking up against them.

I only wish I could buy these tortillas from the 'used bread shop' as my friend Allison calls it! The bread outlet sells white, but not whole wheat tortillas (me and my short arms and deep pockets again). BTW, they sell cheap Tullys coffee too, Bobolli pizza bases and sugar-free cookies.

If you have invented other ways that you eat tortillas, or have a good recipe to actually make them from scratch, please send me a comment, or if you'd like more information on the diabetes guidelines, drop me a line.