Have you ever been in this situation? You’re in the grocery store, buying your nutritional supplies for the week and you’re looking over the cracker selection. Crackers are great. Fantastic snack, versatile, and that crunch! Yum. So what’s in most of our store bought crackers? Corn, soy, and canola are usually high on the list of ingredients, all of which are almost always genetically modified, grown with heavy use of pesticides and insecticides. Processed flours devoid of most nutrients and sugar additives which decrease our immune functions and increase systemic inflammation are usually up there too. At this moment food corporations are not required to label genetically modified ingredients so half the time what’s really in the product is not written on the package. Not to mention the sheer list of ingredients! Does it really take 20-30 different things in order to make a simple cracker? There just has to be something easier and better.

So what are we to do? Naturopathic Yogi and I set to work scouring far and wide for ideas, and finally putting together a healthy cracker that you can bake in your oven! They’re gluten-free to boot too.

Quinoa Rice Crackers were born! Check out these wholesome ingredients:

*Note on quinoa and rice – measure 1 cup uncooked, then cook using your usual method. Use all the cooked rice and quinoa for the recipe. Once the dough is made you can separate a portion and either refrigerate some (will keep for a few days) or freeze it (will keep for up to 6 months).

1 cup quinoa
1 cup brown rice
1/3 cup flaxseeds – soak for 20 minutes
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 tbsp hot sauce – I used Sriracha
1 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
1 tsp salt – Himalayan if you can swing it
2 tbsp soy sauce – light sodium or gluten-free version available
1 organic onion bouillon cube OR 1/8 cup shredded onion

These delightful healthful treats are just that simple to make.

Pre-soak the flax seeds for at least 20 minutes and drain them. Then combine them with the sesame seeds.

Cook the rice with the turmeric powder to give it that beautiful yellow colour, not to mention all the added health benefits. If you are using an onion organic bouillon cube combine it with the quinoa to cook.

Now ready? Set? Get blending!

Combine all the ingredients together in your blender. If you don’t have a large blender mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl first, then blend smaller amounts of dough together at a time.

Once all the dough is blended together, taste-test it and adjust the seasoning to your and your family’s personal preference. The dough will at this point be very sticky, take your time removing it from the blender.

Grab an empty wine bottle for a roller and apply oil to it, this will decrease how much your dough and roller stick together. Apply oil to the cookie pan or your baking form of choice before spreading out the dough to avoid sticking on that end too.

When spreading the dough remember, the thinner the better. Once spread, score it with a plastic or wooden spatula in the shape you desire your crackers to be and garnish with nuts/seeds of your choice. I went with another sprinkle of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. The scoring will make it easier to break your crackers apart after you’ve baked them.

Bake your crackers at 350F for 20-30 minutes until the edges begin to curl in.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool. Then separate along the scored lines and voila! Your very own home-made, healthy crackers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Eat them on their own, with a nut butter of your choice, dip into a healthy spread of garnish with fresh avocado.