Who doesn’t like a nice crispy, salted tortilla chip? They can be a diet disaster unless you read the nutritional labels. The first thing to check is the serving size of course. Usually it is for one ounce. The two brands of store bought tortilla chips that we like are Trader Joe’s Stone Ground Yellow Corn Tortillas or Tostitos Brand Baked Scoops.
Trader Joe’s Salted Tortilla Chips
1 ounce serving, about 13 chips, 130 cal, 4g fat, 21g carbs, 4g fiber, 3g protein, 45mg sodium. WWPP 3
Ingredients: Stone ground yellow corn, Sunflower oil or Corn oil, Sea Salt, Water, Trace of Lime.
These are my all time favorite chips. Everyone in our family eats them. They have a wonderful yellow corn flavor, just the right amount of salt and crispy crunchy. They are sturdy for dipping but also have amazing flavor all on their own. Yum!
Tostitos Baked Tortilla Scoops
1 ounce serving, about 14 chips, 120 cal, 3g fat, 22g carbs, 2g fiber, 2g protein, 125 mg sodium. WWPP 3
Ingredients: Whole Corn, Vegetable oil (corn, sunflower and or soybean oil) and salt.
These are okay for a baked chip. The scoops are nice for dips. They don’t have as much corn flavor as the TJ’s brand and I do find them to be a bit salty for my taste. These are available at most grocery stores in the U.S.A. I don’t know if you can get them in Canada. We have found that everyone at a party will eat these with salsa or a dip. However they aren’t so good on their own – gotta dip this one! Not my favorite chip – but it’s okay.
R.W. Garcia Classic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips
1 ounce, 15 chips, 140 calories, 4g fat, 45 mg sodium, 22 carbs, 4g fiber, 3g protein. WWPP 3
If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s nearby I have also found this tortilla chip at the regular grocery store (Safeway) that tastes exactly like the Trader Joe’s one. I don’t have a bag of them here right now for a photo – sorry. The photo above is from their website. Here is a link to their website R.W. Garcia. They have a store locator so you can see if these chips are sold in your area.
Lesson Learned
Don’t always assume that the baked variety of chip is going to be the best nutritional bargain or the lowest points products if you are following Weight Watchers. Reading labels is a must! When the fat is reduced in a product often times the sodium and or the sugar is increased to make up for the lost flavor. There are some foods that I would prefer to have a smaller amount of the real thing over a larger serving of something that doesn’t taste as good.
If you prefer not to have a whole bag of chips around you can have portion control by baking your own chips. It is super easy and fast. I will post about that real soon!
A color bath just for your enjoyment!
I love seeing Daffodils bloom, it is a sure sign that Spring is coming!
NUTMEG NOTES
Over the weekend I was grocery shopping and I decided to buy myself some flowers! It has been so rainy and cloudy here and I felt the need to have a little “sunshine” in my kitchen. When the weather is like this my Mom always says, “We will just have to make our own sunshine.” Well Mom, I took your advice and these flowers are bringing me lots of sunshine. 
I did some cooking over the weekend. On Saturday hubby Tom fired up the gas grill and grilled chicken breasts and legs. I made pot luck potato casserole, honey chipotle baked beans and oven roasted broccoli. It is one of my favorite meals! It made tons of food so we have leftovers for this week – you know how happy that makes me. Insert a smiling face here! It will free me up to work on the new blog and that will make David happy!
We have a couples book group going with three other couples. We are reading Coming To Our Senses, Healing ourselves and the world through mindfulness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Of course lots of what I am reading can be applied to weight loss and eating! We had some good discussion time and lots of different points of view on what we had read. We all bring something different to the group based on our history, personality and the filter through which we see the world and ourselves. Has anyone read this book?
We hosted the book group yesterday after church. I made Beef and Bean Chili in the slow cooker, had two kinds of uncured hot dogs and whole grain buns for chili dogs, made a cabbage -jicima slaw and cornmeal muffins. The other couples brought guacamole, salsa, chips and a chilled fruit soup for dessert. The food was awesome. I have to get that fruit soup dessert recipe as it was outstanding.
I had best get busy on my blog homework!
Tami
Add Your Thoughts
Do you have a favorite chip?
Any signs of Spring where you live?
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13 comments
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Jody - Fit at 53 says:
March 21, 2011 at 11:47 am (UTC -7)
Hi Tami – I am not much of a chip person anymore… used to be though!
I much rather have my bread or something else. Baked chips, now that could be dangerous in my house! I am going to try a new recipe for baked sweet potato fries soon & will let you know how those come out!
Beautiful flowers!!
Here in southern CA, spring has started with a cold & rainy storm! Supposed to be like this on & off all week long. What is with that!
Ann says:
March 21, 2011 at 12:16 pm (UTC -7)
Daffodils always remind me of my great-grandmother. I love them and they are, for me anyway, THE signal spring is here.
Karen says:
March 21, 2011 at 12:29 pm (UTC -7)
Just today I noticed buds on the trees:) It is very warm here, well above average, today. I pretty much have given up chips. Lately, however, I have been toasting whole grain flat breads and eating them with a little margarine (the kind that lowers cholesterol) spread on top.
Dawn Hutchins says:
March 21, 2011 at 12:46 pm (UTC -7)
Gorgeous flowers Tami!
The Stacy’s pita chips are my favorites but I can’t have them in the house as I go through them too fast. (On that note I shouldn’t have the Salty Sweet Emerald Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate nuts either then).
Spring is here as well. All the trees are starting to turn green!
Judi says:
March 21, 2011 at 3:21 pm (UTC -7)
Hi, Tami. Thank goodness chips are not my weakness, since they seem to always be in the house! I have had the Baked Tostitos..I can leave them! Wish we had a Trader Joes around here. When visiting in California, I try to stop in and pick up some things. We are getting a Whole Foods….I’m so excited since healthy grocery shopping is very limited.
Spring has come to Oklahoma! The trees are in bloom (ah-choo!!), the grass is turning green, the wind is blowing and storms are in the forecast!
Tish says:
March 21, 2011 at 5:16 pm (UTC -7)
Thanks for this review, Tami! Every once in a while I need a good chip and we do have a Trader Joe’s nearby. I’ll definitely try it. I like the reduced sodium count, too. My favorite full (fat, salt, all bad things) chip is the lime tortilla (by Tostito, I think).
We had daffodils blooming, Virginia bluebells up and showing their buds, blooming deciduous magnolia, an ornamental weeping cherry (a volunteer to our yard about 20 years ago that has pride of place in the back bed), and the rose bushed have all survived the February pruning and are start to leaf out on every branch. I love spring!
Helen says:
March 22, 2011 at 4:59 am (UTC -7)
I don’t like any of the “baked” products at all. Not to mention that they make terrible nachos if you happened to want something like that. I would rather have the smallest amount of the real thing over that. But we do have a brand here – Snyders – that makes a white corn tortilla chip with similar nutritional values to your Trader Joes’ brand. Even my Mr. requests them over other brands.
Jan says:
March 22, 2011 at 8:01 am (UTC -7)
I don’t “do” chips any more, but I preferred Terra Chips, especially the ones made from veggies – still lots of carbs in them though.
Your flower arranging skills make me envious – OK, it’s Lent, so call my reaction “appreciative”
Here in the green desert of Tucson wild flowers are popping up, ocotillo are turning green, most trees are leafing out (except for those at higher elevations that got nipped in the freeze), and everyone has horrid allergies. Yep, spring is here and summer will follow in, oh, about 2 days.
renee@mykitchenadventures says:
March 22, 2011 at 8:55 am (UTC -7)
I really used to like the guiltless gourmet brand…but have not been able to find them anywhere locally for a long time. I agree on the TJ’s ones…I also like the archer farm organic ones you get from target…not sure how they stack up nutritionally though. making my own is what I often do.
oh daffies….my favorite. They scream spring, don’t you think!
megi says:
March 22, 2011 at 11:16 am (UTC -7)
Tami, the flowers look gorgeous!
I am not a huge fan of chips so I am usually not tempted by them, but nuts, toasted, raw, salted or unsalted, nuts are definitely my nemesis, I can never have one serving! It was snowing here yesterday so I am really looking forward to Spring.
Dr. J says:
March 22, 2011 at 12:55 pm (UTC -7)
I try to spend my calories carefully. If I want crunch, I have salt free pretzels. I never have chips. I have un-addicted myself to the now bitter taste of salt.
Roz says:
March 22, 2011 at 4:39 pm (UTC -7)
Hi Tami, GORGEOUS flowers! They would certainly brighten ANYONE’S day! Thanks for the product review. We get the baked scoops here in Canada, but have to pop over the border for TJ’s. I can’t wait to get back to TJ’s! It’s so worth the road trip. have a great day.
Andrea@WellnessNotes says:
March 22, 2011 at 5:32 pm (UTC -7)
Great points about the need to read labels! Things that sound healthier may not be a calorie bargain after all…
I like Trader Joe’s unsalted tortilla chips. I used to like salt a lot, but since I cut it way down, I can’t stand salty foods anymore, including most chips (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing…).
The book you guys are reading sounds very interesting. Glad you had such a good book club meeting.