Almond Herb Crackers

I've had some almond flour left from Christmas cookie baking, so when I saw this cracker recipe I could hardly wait to make a batch. Credit & thanks go to a favorite couponing blogger who shared this recipe here.

I am now out of almond flour, but after tasting these crunchy, delightfully rich & flavorful crackers, you better believe that it's on my shopping list again. Different add ins and variations to this cracker keep coming to mind, so I can't wait to experiment a little more with my next batch. My sweet tooth is begging me to add cinnamon and make them sweet...but this savory herb is so delish that I may try something more Indian...I'm thinking cumin, coriander, and black salt...will have to post other ideas once I try them!

The recipe is so simple. The result, so delicious.

Caution: highly addictive cracker. I have to portion package these so I don't eat them all!

2 cups almond flour (almond meal)
4Tbs herbs of your choice (I used a combination of oregano, basil, parsley, turmeric & coriander)
1/4 tsp salt (Original recipe called for 1 tsp. First I tried 1/2 tsp, but even that was too much.)
1Tbs olive oil
2Tbs water

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Wisk together oil & water and add to the dry ingredients. Use your hand to mix together and form a ball of dough. Put dough in gallon ziplock bag, remove air, and use hands or rolling pin to roll out the dough to fill the bag. (This was a tip I read on this blog and will be trying to make these graham crackers soon!) Once rolled out nicely, cut edges of bag, peel top layer back, invert dough onto cookie sheet (removing the rest of the plastic bag of course), and use knife or pizza cutter to cut crackers into desired shape/size. I have to admit, while doing this I felt like I was making Kashi TLC crackers. On a much smaller scale, though. I got about 50 bite size crackers from this batch.

Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes, or until desired crispiness. (I probably baked longer, closer to 25 minutes to get nice an toasty.) If you have self control, allow to cool on pan. Otherwise, if you're like me, eat them straight out of the oven & try not to burn your tongue!!

Seitan

Seitan (say-tahn) is a protein substitute suitable for vegetarians. It's made from wheat gluten- the protein from the endosperm of the wheat berry, making it an excellent source of protein--23g per 1/4 cup. That's pretty impressive! Seitan is commonly referred to as "wheat meat" but in our household we call it "wheat bajji". (A bajji is a traditional Indian appetizer, made by dipping any variety of vegetable in a batter and frying it.) I use Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten which we find at our local Marc's for an incredible price! This recipe can be improvised by using your favorite spices, but this gives an idea to get you started. It's super easy to make and is so versatile. We are always creating new recipe variations, and eat it at least a couple times each week.

1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 Tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1tsp veggie broth powder
1/4 tsp salt
1tsp onion flakes
*Spice measurements are approximate. Feel free to adjust according to your taste preference.

Mix together all ingredients to incorporate the spices.

Add 3/4 cup water. Use your (clean) hand to mix together. It will be sticky/rubbery, kind of like chewing gum. Knead for a couple minutes.

Now, to cook it. This, again, can be done in a variety of ways. Here are our two favorites.

1. Heat large frying pan on medium heat. Pour enough oil in to cover bottom of pan (will help prevent them from sticking too much to the pan). Use kitchen scissors to cut off pieces of seitan into the pan, being careful not to splatter the oil. The pieces will puff up and expand as they cook. If they stick to each other, that's ok. Cover pan with lid and allow to fry & steam until golden brown. Use fork or other utensil that makes sense, to flip each over and continue to cook on low with lid on, until golden brown.
 OR
2. Bring pot of water to a boil. Add seasonings to the water (soy sauce, veggie broth, paprika, etc). Form dough into log or a few larger chunks. Boil seitan for 30min (chunks) or 1 hour (single log). It will expand when cooking, so make sure you use a big enough pot. Cooked seitan can be stored in the broth in the fridge. Otherwise, drain it, chop it up and use for your recipe.

Saltine Cracker Cookies

This cracker cookie is simple to make, and tastes just like a heath bar. Yum! These are dangerous to keep in the house when feeling like you have poor self-control :) I recently made these without chocolate chips for a plain toffee-like cookie. So addictive!! Next time I may try sprinkling toasted almonds on the top...for added delight!!!!!!

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Line an 11 x 17 pan with aluminum foil.
Cover the tray with single layer of saltines.
(1 ¼ sleeves of crackers)
Put 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter in a saucepan.
Bring it to a boil then boil 3 minutes.
Pour this mixture over the saltines. Bake 7 minutes.
Take out of the oven and sprinkle a bag of chocolate chips evenly over the top.
After a few minutes spread the melted chocolate with the back of a spoon to cover evenly. Cool until
chocolate is set. Break or cut into pieces.

Pie Crust

1 cup flour (whole wheat is fine, but you may need to add a little extra water)
½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup shortening (butter)
Cut in the butter(food processor is great) until it looks like cornmeal crumbs
then add
2-3 Tbs. ice water

Combine to form smooth ball of dough. Roll out on floured surface to desired size/shape according to your recipe requirements.

Veggie Pot Pie

This is a basic recipe for pot pie. The veggies listed are the ones I add as a minimum. You can toss in anything else you want to use up. I've added mushrooms, green beans, & corn. For a pot pie, I say, the more the merrier. I even threw in some rice that needed to be used up. A couple notes: I typically make this with seitan as the protein. Seitan recipe is posted here. Also, if you don't have poultry seasoning, you can add marjoram. In my opinion, that is the signature flavor of poultry seasoning. If you don't have marjoram, don't sweat it. Add any seasoning you like-basil, oregano, turmeric, black pepper, etc. or simply omit it.

1 Tbs. olive oil
½ cup onion slices
½ cup carrot rounds
* 2 cups extra veggies if omitting the protein substitute.
Sauté vegetables. Cover and cook 8-10 minutes on low until tender.

Add ¼ cup flour. (Sprinkle over the top of the veggies and stir to combine.)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Add 2 cups milk or broth or a combination of both (As you stir, it should start to thicken, thanks to the flour)
*Add 2 cups of protein substitute
¼ tsp. poultry seasoning
1 cup peas

Allow this to simmer for about 5 minutes or so. It should be creamy, but not too liquidy.

Put in a casserole dish. (I've made it in a 7x11 baking dish, but I'm sure you can put in whatever size you have 8x8, 9x13 etc)

Top with pie crust.

Bake 375° for 35 minutes.