Posted in Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Snacks, Soy Free

Oat Crackers

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp pink Himalayan salt (or to taste)
  • 4 tsp nutrional yeast
  • a pinch of organic dandelion herb (optional)
  • 4 cups organic, gluten free oat flour

Instructions:

  1. Whisk the first three, wet ingredients in a large bowl
  2. Add in the baking powder, salt, yeast, dandelion and whisk them.
  3. Add the oat flour and stir with a large, metal spoon, until thick.
  4. Knead the dough into a nice, smooth little ball.
  5. Pull the ball into 4 equal parts. Since you’ll work with one ball at a time, keep the other balls covered.
  6. With a rolling pin, roll out one ball at a time between parchment paper. You want the dough to be very thin, like a cracker. Go for 1/16 of an inch.
  7. Using a round pizza cutter, cut the rolled dough both vertically and horizontally so that squares are about 1 x 1 inch. You can make them larger if you wish!
  8. I like to use a fork to quickly but gently puncture each cracker, encouraging even baking.
  9. Since your scored dough is already on parchment paper, simply move the whole thing – paper and cut dough – onto a nice big baking sheet. A professional 1/2 size pan is perfect.
  10. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit. Check the crackers at about 10 minutes. Ovens bake at varying times and I usually check mine at 13 and see that they need a little more time. But they should bake up with a nice, light color. The outsides will bake first, so you can easily remove these and then continue to bake the more centered ones, gradually removing them, getting closer to the center as they get baked.
  11. While your crackers are baking, you can roll out the next ball in the same manner.

What’s in the Cupboard: You can add other fresh herbs if you like, you may just need to add a bit of water to the recipe if you are adding a lot of extra dry ingredients. If you are fresh out of coconut oil, you can substitute olive oil although it changes the flavor to a more bitter cracker. You can also use ghee.

Dishing on this Dish:1. You can make oat flour using a food processor to grind up whole oats or steel cut oats. Grinding a few cups of oats first on low and then on high for a couple minutes each makes a really nice, soft, flour. If you spoon your flour from the processor into the measuring device you may find you need to add a couple more spoons to the recipe to be able to knead your ball. When you spoon it versus pouring it the measured amount is slightly less, so just add a bit more if your dough ball is too sticky to knead. 2. This recipe is low/no oxalate. If your looking for a cracker that is keto minded, click here.3. Crackers are really easy to make once you get all the kinks figured out. The biggest issues are rolling them thin enough. 1/16 – 2/16 of an inch is just right. They will bake quickly and crisply. Also baking them just right by removing outer squares while leaving the center ones to bake a little bit longer is key. It just takes a few times to get into your cracker baking ‘zone’. This recipe provides four dough balls so you’ll be an expert by the time you are done. This is enough crackers to snack for the day as well as having enough to box up in savvy bags and boxes for gifts or snack trays for parties. These crackers are thin yet hardy enough for topping with salsa, avocado, meats or cheeses. Air-tight containers will keep the crackers for several days.

Posted in Snacks

Easiest Keto Crackers Ever

Ingredients:

  • 1 Egg
  • 2 Tsp Pink Himalayan Salt or Redmond Salt ( or to taste)
  • 1 Tsp Black Pepper (or to taste)
  • 1 3/4 Cup Almond Flour – Finely ground variety

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Whisk egg, salt, and pepper together.
  2. Add the almond flour and stir with a spoon until crumbly.
  3. Knead the dough together with your hands until you get a nice, smooth ball.
  4. Place between two pieces of parchment paper (approx18x 13 size – or half size professional baking pan.)
  5. Roll out the dough, very thin. It will be about 1/16 of an inch. For crisp crackers that bake evenly and quickly, be sure to roll them thin. It should take up most of the 18 x 13 parchment paper.
  6. Use a pizza wheel to cut lines lengthwise and then crosswise to get squares/rectangles.
  7. Use a fork to gently pierce each square for more even baking.
  8. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
  9. After the first ten minutes, pull the pan out and check for any lightly browned crackers. They are done and will be around the edges. You can go ahead and remove them from the pan onto another plate to cool. Put the other crackers back in the oven for two minutes. More crackers should be done at this time, just use a spatula to remove them onto the cooling plate. Put in for another two minutes. Continue in this way until all the crackers are removed. If you have a really good quality convection oven, this may not be necessary. 10-12 minutes and they may all be evenly cooked. Often, however, the baking isn’t completely even, so it’s better to check them and remove the finished ones, moving from the outside to the inside. These crackers are so good, they are worth the effort!

Dishing on this Dish: Crackers are so expensive anymore! It’s driving me crazy. Here is an awesome recipe that works like a charm, tastes great, and is keto as well!

What’s in the Cupboard: I made these with eggs but I see no reason why chia eggs or egg alternative wouldn’t work just as well. If you try it, let me know how they turn out.

Posted in Gluten Free, Snacks

Pico De Gallo

INGREDIENTS

  • 16 Cups Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
  • 2 Medium Red Onions
  • 1 Bunch Cilantro (1/2 to 1 cup cut up)
  • Sea Salt 1 Tsp to 1 Tbsp (to taste)
  • 3 to 6 Cloves of Garlic (to taste)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup Lemon or Lime Juice
  • 1 to 3 Jalapenos (optional)
  • 1 Cup Black Beans (optional)

Instructions

  • Add half of the tomatoes to a food processor and pulse just enough to chunk them up. I pulse about 4 to 6 times. Dump them into a large mixing bowl.
  • Repeat with the remaining 8 cups.
  • Cut up the red onions and then pulse them a few times in the food processor and also add these to the large bowl with the pulsed tomatoes.
  • Finely cut up the Cilantro and add to the large bowl.
  • Mince Garlic Cloves and add to the large bowl.
  • Add the Salt and Lemon/Lime juice to the large bowl.
  • If adding the Jalapenos, cut off the tops and bottoms. Slice the long way and only add the seeds if you are desiring HOT Pico De Gallo. Just adding one small jalapeno without seeds will move you to a mild/medium yet spicy flavor. So, it’s very individual. I don’t add any to mine, for a mild, spicy flavor. It’s all about the seeds!
  • Add Black Beans if desired.
  • Stir and let rest in the fridge for about 20 to 30 minutes (if you can!) It just lets the flavors mix and mingle a bit before eating.
  • Serve with Organic Corn Chips or on Wraps and Salads.

DISHING ON THIS DISH: We grew a truck load of tomatoes in our garden this year so there was no shortage of Pico De Gallo. I made this constantly all summer long. It is a refreshing, cool, and spicy treat (even without jalapenos) that we enjoyed all season. Once we harvest our sweet corn, I plan to add some to the recipe as well.