lil carb Italian Sub Bites

Click the video above to watch me make this!

I'm always looking for new and innovative ways to take full carb foods and reinvent them to be low carb.  Sometimes it is harder than others but this idea came to me over the summer when I was trying to figure out what to bring to a family picnic.  This appetizer includes elements of an Italian sub sandwich but without the carbs! They are pretty easy to assemble too! I brought a whole plateful of these to the picnic and I make them all the time and store them in the fridge for a snack for Jason and I.  They're the perfect bite of protein and flavor without the carbs!  I never bring any home- they're always devoured.

I used salami, pepperoni, provolone cheese, pickles and 'sub sauce' as I call it. 

I found the 'sub sauce' right at the deli counter at Walmart!  It was only $2.00- economical and full of the exact flavor my lil sub bites were needing. The flavors are oil, vinegar and a bunch of herbs.

To assemble the sub bites I get my assembly line ready. I use dill pickle chips. You could use bread and butter pickles but they do have more carbs than dill. I cut a little 'hat' off the one side of the pickle circle. I do this so that I have a 'hat' to put on the top of the sub bite and also it helps the bites to stand when laying the bites on their side. - See my picture I bet that will help make sense of my babbling.

I buy deli salami and deli pepperoni, and provolone so they are already sliced in thin, big circles.

The provolone circles I cut in half and then half again so I have 4 triangle shapes for each slice of provolone. For the salami and pepperoni I use one slice of each for each sub bite. 

I fold them in half and then half again to form the same triangle shape as the provolone cheese. 

To assemble I take a toothpick and poke it into the middle of a pickle slice with the hat cut off. Then I thread a triangle of provolone cheese then a folded slice of pepperoni then a folded slice of salami then another triangle of cheese then I top with my pickle 'hat' and set it on the platter.  

Right before serving I drizzle the platter with 'sub sauce'... act quickly- I barely got a chance to take this picture- it was on the table for 2.5 seconds and theres already a huge dent missing.

Perfect for a low carb appetizer or a snack to keep in the fridge so when you're sub craving hits you're ready!