Here is an easy cracker recipe, no need to buy plastic packaged ones.

I often think about the waste that food packaging creates and what we can do to try to eliminate or reduce certain things to make a small difference. It got me thinking about snack foods like crackers, chips, biscuits etc. Unfortunately they’re all mostly packaged in plastic, sometimes multiple layers, and nutritionally speaking very minimal to say the least. 

Convenient snack foods have never been a huge part of my life until having a toddler! They eat so much and want to snack all the time. I recently gave in to buying some packaged things to have on hand, and recycled the soft plastics at the local drop off point but I kept thinking there must be an easier and healthier way to provide convenient snacks for my family and help the planet too. 

Don’t get me wrong, by no means am I perfect, I’m just trying which is the most important part, one small step after another and there are many slip ups too. I just want to be encouraging and positive because comparisons and perfectionism gets us nowhere. Ok that’s my rant over, onwards and upwards. 

So I was searching through my cookbooks and found a seeded cracker recipe from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar book, I’ve tweaked it quite a bit and the result is pretty great. And it’s so easy. And you can purchase all the ingredients from a bulk food store to keep it plastic free. Winning on all levels.

But first here are some unsuspecting health benefits of the humble sunflower seed, which is the primary seed in this recipe.

Truthfully I forgot about how good sunflower seeds are for us. Lately I’ve been choosing chia and hemp seeds over their nutritionally abundant cousins (although they are both in the recipe too, just lesser amounts).

~Sunflower seeds contain selenium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and zinc in good amounts, they are mineral rich powerhouses. It’s great they contain Selenium which is an essential trace mineral and often depleted in soils and therefore foods. Supplementation of Selenium is often the only choice but knowing that sunflower seeds are a good source gives us another trick in the box.

~Sunflower seeds are a great source of protein, healthy fats and fiber and are low in carbs. Perfect to snack on a handful here and there if you don’t have time to make these crackers.

~Sunflower seeds are abundant in B complex vitamins such as folate and vitamin B6, plus lesser amounts of B1, B2, and B5. These are all important nutrients and have numerous roles throughout the body from adrenal health to brain health, energy production and so forth.

~And finally they are a really great source of vitamin E which is a fat soluble vitamin and antioxidant.

In a nutshell (no pun intended he he..well because they’re not a nut!) they are filled to the brim with nutrients. If we can try and remember these less popular seeds we will thank ourselves later. Plus there are so many things you can do with them like make sunflower milk, sunflower butter, sunflower ‘tuna’, sunflower risotto…pretty amazing! 

And they are an Australian grown crop with organic and pesticide free options. 

This recipe is low waste

All the ingredients can be purchased from a bulk food store, either online or locally. The source bulk foods is a great place to use and they have an online store too (Not sponsored, just really like them, they have lots of Australian grown and organic options too).

These seedy crackers are;

Low carb

High protein

Easy

Low waste

Versatile

Filled with Prebiotic fibre rich

Delicious!

You can serve these with delicious homemade hummus (recipe coming soon) or top with slices of avocado sprinkled with lemon juice, salt and cracked pepper, smother them with cashew or macadamia nut cheese or just eat them plain.

A few notes on the recipe

There are 4 main steps

1. Add dry ingredients together

2.Add water, stir and let the water absorb (Psyllium husk does this geniously)

3.Spread out mixture with hands or a spoon until 5mm thick or less on a baking tray

4.Bake

The most important part is letting the water absorb so it’s not too wet when you bake them

See pics of absorbed water and what the mixture should look like before spreading on a baking tray.

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Here’s the recipe

I’d love to know what you think?