Adrienne's Buckwheat Lentil Crackers (vegan and gluten free)

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

Black Stone Cherry ~ Magic Mountain Album

I have had a great weekend. Time spent with those I love and I feel mentally uplifted by it even if my body is protesting. ML left today for a working week in Greece so I am home alone until the weekend. Organising myself in the kitchen is a must and so I wanted recipes that I could make easily and would last the next few days. I have to eat supper for my meds to kick in at night and normally I opt for oatcakes but I confess I am rather oatcaked out. Then during a visit to Pinterest I found this interesting vegan and gluten-free cracker recipe and very quickly made my way over to wholenewmum.com to check it out. I wasn't disappointed. 

This cracker recipe is a High Days and Holidays recipe because of its use of 5 tbsp coconut oil, almond flour and agave syrup. It's certainly not one I could make often although I enjoyed the actual making of them greatly. It was so refreshing to work with a vegan/gluten-free dough that didn't break apart.  Adrienne's recipe is a fantastic one and the resulting crackers are soft/crisp and have a great wholesome flavour. I made one batch and will have crackers until the weekend..lol. But I won't complain as I indulge in the melt in your mouth beauty of them. Maybe I could make peace with the amount of coconut oil....hmmm? lol Afterall it's good for you, right?

I served my tester with a little red pepper hummus and some julienne carrot and the combination was a pure delight. For Adrienne's original posting and her options simply click here...

Adrienne's Buckwheat Lentil Crackers

Buckwheat Lentil Crackers 
(Recipe from wholenewmum.com) 

1 cup of cooked lentils, pureed until smooth
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
6 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp salt (I used low sodium)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp agave syrup
5 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Combine the lentils, flax seed followed by the agave syrup and coconut oil. Stir well. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt and baking soda. Combine dry ingredients with the wet and stir well to form a crumbly dough. 

Gradually add water by tsps until the dough is neither too crumbly nor too sticky. Cover dough and chill for 10-15 minutes. 

Divide the dough into 2 portions. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a flat surface or countertop and dust lightly with a little buckwheat flour. Place one portion of dough on the floured parchment and then lay another sheet of parchment on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to an even thickness (about 2mm) 

Cut you crackers out to your personal preference. Scraps will easily go back together to be rolled out a couple of times. Carefully transfer each shaped cracker dough piece to a parchment lined baking sheet. 

Bake crackers in batches at 150'C/300'F/GM 2 for 15 minutes. Flipping over half way through the baking time. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet to crisp up further. Be careful not to over-bake or they will get too dark and taste bitter. 

Gratuitous close up..a kinda fuzzy one..but you can see all the goodness,eh?

Enjoy! 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend has been a great one and your week has started well...

~Red~ 

NB: This is not my recipe and therefore I take no credit for it whatsoever. It is the hard work and creation of Adrienne @ wholenewmun.com and hers alone. I thank her for sharing such a beautiful recipe. ~R~ 

BBB's Crack-tastic Besan and Herb Crackers (vegan & gluten free)

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

Keane ~ Everybody's Changing
Nickelback ~ Just For
The Cranberries ~ Promise (Live)
Toyah ~ I Wanna Be Free
Buckcherry ~ These Things
Rudimental ~ Hell Could Freeze Over
The Stranglers ~ European Female
Pearl Jam ~ Just Breathe
Gin Blossoms ~ 29
Nerina Pallot ~ Halfway Home
Thunder ~ Out Of My Head
Zac Brown Band ~ Can't You See
Shakira ~ The One
Wiser Time ~ Blame It All On Me

I am escaping R & R HQ tomorrow and heading off to the seaside, with lovely Ann, to sit by the beach and take in some of those healing vibes that we both badly need. Nothing compares to being sat by the water...listening to the waves and feeling (hopefully) the sun on your skin. Not in a strip to a bikini and bake until crispy type of visit but a peaceful sitting together taking in the natural wonder that is the beach...and feeling it relax every muscle but mostly the mind. We are just hoping that the sun stays with us but to be honest I could sit under an umbrella in the pouring rain as long as I was next to the sea. But I am need of a good dose of Vit D at the moment so I am hoping for sunshine...

It is a British tradition when at the seaside to indulge in fried fish and chips...ew! It's never been a tradition for me as I've never eaten them. Ever! People find this so hard to accept for some reason even being a vegan they still ask, along with what do I eat on Christmas day...lol. People are strange. My seaside tradition was always a beach picnic which usually included various white bread sandwiches...mine being cheese up until I went vegan...mixed with tasty sand from the beach. lol Warm bottles of fizzy drinks and crisps..and some form of homemade cake which had been reduced to crumbs by the time we were allowed to eat it. Oh and an apple or two was always thrown in for good measure. I hasten to add this is what made up my childhood picnic...ah the good old days (shaking my head at the many bad things about that picnic...). These days I am thankfully strictly vegan and gluten free and I actively seek out the wonderful salads and snacks you can make freshly for yourself. Although I do miss the afternoon ice cream cone...not so easy to do it yourself, eh? lol.

I was cruising vegan dips and spread ideas online when I found today's recipe. It is from the lovely lady who writes Bakebikeblog.com and she adapted it from a recipe she had found. I enjoyed her posting and for that please click here...but please know her blog isn't vegan but still has plenty of great ideas. And the kid in me loved the name she'd given these crackers. I was channelling Marty from Madagascar all the way..lol. I love those movies...anyway....

I made one substitution when making these crackers...I used coconut oil instead of olive oil. And I didn't have any fresh thyme so used dried. I have to say they were so easy to make except for one thing..I had just finished my morning yoga and therefore my arms were a little..erm..shaky/weak. Hey! It's been a while..lol And so the rolling out of this particularly stiff dough to a thinness needed had me trembling by the end but what a sense of achievement I felt afterwards..lol..when the shaking had stopped. Ha! I chose to keep mine on the parchment paper as BBB did and use a pizza wheel to cut them in. In minutes the baking sheet was in the oven and I was onto making Kathy's Lucky Leprechaun Dip from over at lunchboxbunch.com. I had chosen this as my gluten-free wrap filling for my picnic so I feel very happy to have a tub of that stashed in my fridge now. I wanted the crackers to have in my lunch box for a snack later in the day. And they were perfectly cooked in 16 minutes and have a great cracker texture which means I'm gonna have to be very careful not to break a tooth! ;-) Just kidding BBB. They are great and there is no mistaking they are chickpea in origin but for this chickpea addict that's just fine. I enjoyed the hit of thyme and the gentle heat from the paprika and now I know how simple this recipe is I can't wait to start trying out my own additions.

BBB's Crack-tastic Besan and Herb Crackers (V & GF) Apologies for the photo..strange light today!

Crack-tastic Besan and Herb Crackers 
(Recipe from Bakebikeblog.com)

1 cup of besan flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsps fresh thyme leaves or 1 heaped tsp dried
1/4 tsp paprika 
1 tsp olive oil (I used coconut)
1/4 cup water 

Preheat the oven to 17o'C/325'F/GM 3 and make ready a baking sheet.

Sift together the chickpea flour and salt into a medium bowl. Stir through the sesame seeds, thyme and paprika. Make a well in the centre. 

Mix the water and oil together, then pour into the well. 

Stir until combined into a dough, then form a ball.

Place the ball of dough between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll out until as thin as possible. 

Remove the top layer of parchment, then cut into desired shape using a pizza cutter. Prick the surface of each cracker with a fork, then transfer the sheet to a baking tray. Bake for 16 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Remove from the oven, then allow to cool before breaking crackers at pre-cut edges. 

Enjoy! 


Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week has started well and with much sunshine. I'll be back Wednesday as tomorrow...I'll be by the sea!! Namaste. 

~Red~ 

NB: This is not my recipe and therefore I take no credit for it. It is the adapted creation of Bakebikeblog.com. I thank her for sharing such a great recipe. ~R~   

Food Product Review: Rude Health MultiGrain Crackers (Vegan & GF)

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

VAST ~ Ecstasy
Willie Nelson ~ Whiskey River (Live)
Thunder ~ Dirty Dream
Stevie Nicks ~ Rooms On Fire
The Union ~ Holy Roller
Elkie Brooks ~ Don't Cry Out Loud
Stevie Ray Vaughan ~ Leave My Little Girl Alone (Live)
JET ~ Get What You Need
Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa ~ Nut Bush City Limits
Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts ~ Things Have Got To Change
Jewel ~ Do You
Train ~ Sing Together
Neil Young ~ Harvest Moon
Dave Gahan ~ Endless

I sometimes despair at the gluten free offerings although I do admit it is better than was when I first tried to give up gluten. I shudder with nausea at the memory of the sponge bread and how awful every mouthful was. It was seriously that bad...cutting up a shower sponge and spreading jam on it would've been preferable. Yuck! OK so it's come a long way since then...lol. 

Although I am by no means fully GF I do make a conscious choice to have a gluten free option where possible. We recently invested in a bread machine and we have been experimenting with a few different vegan/GF bread mixes and recipes. Throughout all this I have discovered that I can eat, enjoy and digest Spelt. So last night the bread machine was fired up and a vegan Spelt loaf was made. I will report back on that on Saturday. Today is about GF crackers...

In my archive I have a smashing GF cracker recipe which comes from the Oh She Glows kitchen. I really enjoy them but I have to be well enough to make those. So I have been picking up the offerings from our health food shop and maybe that is what made me despair because the only ones I could get were Buckwheat or Amaranth 'air' shards. The Buckwheat variety are so crunchy that I often end up fearing for my gums...then I tried the Amaranth version and they were slightly softer but still...not enjoyable. Recently during one of our stop offs at the health food shop we found a new cracker sat next to the others.

Crikey indeed! lol

Rude Health's Multigrain Crackers at first look are reminiscent of the old style rice cakes. Well they are round..lol But they are thinner which I prefer and the taste is a good rounded flavour instead of the blandness of rice cakes. They aren't salty and they hold their shape when topped. All plus points for me...they are also slightly more filling than a rice cake which is also a good thing as with rice cakes it is sometimes like eating air. (Unless they have peanut butter and chocolate spread schmeared on them. Thanks go out to Trustworthy for introducing that concoction to me! Grrr. lol) Ahem...anyway...when I tried these I felt like pitching the boxes of the alternative crackers straight into my kitchen bin..or at least break them up and leave them out for the birds. I didn't but that is how much nicer and more satisfying these crackers are. 

Two of the many toppings I've tried so far...

My favourite toppings to date are Smooth Cashew Nut Butter with Sliced Banana and my recent find Edamame Avocado Spread with Sprouted Lentils & Beans. Delicious. lol. 

There are three other varieties in this range and they also sell a number of gluten free and vegan cereals although not all of their products are vegan! But they don't claim to be a vegan specific company. Check out Rude Healths website. Even when I am up and about full time I know I will still be buying these crackers and trying to find new and inventive ways to top them...Oh! And they are also great dipped into homemade soups...lol 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Friday is a great one...I am escaping R & R HQ for a few hours and visiting historic York whilst ML is at a meeting. Cannot wait.

~Red~

Oh She Glows Easy Vegan and Gluten Free Crackers Part 2 ~ With Toppings

Kitchen Play List: Lady Antebellum ~ Need You Now Album

These vegan and gluten-free crackers have been enjoyed and eaten! Gone..all for the sake of this blog posting..Ahem. lol. As promised I chose three recipes to try out as toppers for these crackers. 

Easy Vegan & Gluten Free Crackers with a Trio of Toppings

The first topping I chose was Lydia's Pea Spread. When Chris from Vegelicious.com posted this spread recipe I knew I had to try it out. I had been wanting to try a 'pea' dip for a long time and the closest I'd got to that was Edamame Hummus..OK..so not close at all but it was a similar principal. Chris had been served this on holiday in Germany and loved it so shared it via her blog. At the bottom of this posting is a link directly to her posting of this recipe. Chris does warn you about the intense garlic hit and even halving the suggested amount we still got quite a kick but this spread is addictive. It's fresh and very pleasing.  

Lydia's Pea Spread on Oh She Glows Crackers - Delish!

The second topping, a Chilli Bean Dip, I had found on vegweb.com many moons ago and it had been sat in my tray waiting to be tried. I added an extra 6oz cooked black turtle beans to it and it's a very mild Chilli flavour and then after swallowing you get a tiny cayenne hit. It was ok but we both felt it was missing something and maybe a little too watery. But we still enjoyed it with the crackers. 

Chilli Bean Dip on Oh She Glow Crackers - Mildly tasty

And the final topping was also found via vegweb.com but one I found on the day of baking the crackers. Broccoli Dip with Marinated Sun Dried Tomatoes and Brazil Nuts. The photo on vegweb is much brighter red than mine turned out. I was using a very dark brand of dried sundried tomatoes so maybe that was it? My Love thought this topping was delicious and thought it was quite 'broccoli and cheesey'. For me, I would definitely use a different sundried tomato next time. I felt the chewiness wasn't really to my taste. But the other ingredients were very tasty. 

Broccoli Dip with Marinated Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Brazil Nuts on Oh She Glows Crackers

As toppings for OhSheGlows.com vegan and gluten free crackers...I think they all worked really well. The crackers didn't wilt when you topped them and they were the perfect accompaniment for the toppings. My favourite combo was Lydia's Pea Spread but My Love's was the Broccoli Dip. I am now inspired to make new toppings to team the crackers with..and may be even have a go at making my own gluten free crackers.

For Lydia's Pea Spread link:
http://www.vegalicious.org/2011/08/01/lidias-pea-spread/ 


For Vegweb's Broccoli Dip:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=37951.0

For Vegweb's Chilli Bean Dip:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=41632.0

Hope you give these crackers a try...even if you don't 'need' to eat gluten-free they are a seriously delicious cracker....

Thanks to all for the great recipes..I enjoyed making and testing all of them...

Enjoy! 
~R~ 

Oh She Glows Easy Vegan and Gluten Free Crackers Part 1

Kitchen Play List: Audioslave ~ Revelations Album

I'm slowly trying to reduce the wheat in my foods as I have had to reluctantly accept that I am just not digesting wheat properly. Damn shame because wholewheat bread, pastry and general wholewheat products were some of my favourite foods. My Dad is a Master Confectioner and Baker so it was in my genes to love the stuff. Although I have eaten some white flour products in the past..they weren't my favourite. I almost always preferred the wholewheat versions of everything. Tortillas, bread, rolls, cakes and cookies..the list goes on doesn't it. 

I recently put myself on a three week detox and cut out all wheat products and found very quickly my tum was much happier and therefore so was I. I'm not allergic or even intolerant like some poor folks are but I know for me..my body is happier with only infrequent,  little amounts of wheat! So if I fancy something wheatie then that is ok..I'll have it but on the whole I shall be trying out and exploring further the gluten free world. 

Angela's Easy Vegan and Gluten Free Crackers - so easy..so tasty

Everyday I check in with OhSheGlows.com and enjoy the daily posts and photos provided by Angela who is the creator and writer of it. She, too, is also experimenting with gluten free foods and I was happy to find the recipe for these crackers the other day.  Firstly they just looked so good and I secondly I had all the ingredients in my cupboards. 

Today I made a batch and for Angela's recipe please click on the link below and it will take you straight to her blog and the recipe. This recipe was ridiculously easy to make and it was fun to get the rolling pin out and my arms got a good work out whilst getting the dough to the required thinness. I didn't have one of the pastry cutters that Angela had, so I used a little daisy cookie cutter and I got 48 crackers in total. They baked perfectly and looked so good when they come out of the oven. Smelt good too! 

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/10/17/easy-vegan-gluten-free-crackers/


I tested one straight from the baking sheet...who could wait with these? lol. They are very savoury and I enjoyed the hits of sesame, thyme and the garlic. They were perfectly crispy too! Tomorrow I am making some dip and a spread to test them properly with so check out tomorrows posting for Part 2...


Thanks again to Angela for a fab recipe..


~R~