Flax to the Max

It's been three full weeks since I started my raw diet.

Why, yes. I am quite proud of myself. Thanks for asking.

Has it been hard? Well, sorta. Being a vegan made the transition much easier. It wasn't like I was trading in donuts for breakfast and Wendy's for lunch for an all salad regimen. As with any life-change, the smaller steps you take the better your chances your success. Being flexible about certain things (dessert while dining at a 5-star restaraunt; popcorn at a basketball game) has helped me some and having an obsessive-compulsive personality has, for once, been a definite help.

One of the tougher parts, though, has been the absence of bread-stuffs. No grain-based pastas or rices, no cereal, no crackers, no bread. It's not that I was "carb-addicted" prior to going raw, but I certainly showed some of the warning signs. Hell, I'll admit it, I'm not proud: I've eaten an entire box of cooked pasta, straight from the pot, by myself. I once ate 3/4 of a box of HoneyNut Cheerio's with spoonfulls of CoolWhip. Ah, those were the days!

Anyway, there are all kinds of things you can make raw to serve as substitutes for the grain stuff (and lots of wonderful sprouted grain foods to serve as transition food between cooked and raw lifestyles). I've been making noodles out of zuchinni and yellow squash; rice out of jicama and parsnips, and of course, eating a ton of nuts. At this point, what I miss the most is not so much the grain-food itself, as the convenience of a box of crackers or a bag of pretzals. Especially when I'm on the road with the Roomie's crew.

So last week I pulled out my dehydrator to whip up something bread-like. One of my raw cookbooks suggested that flax crackers are the easiest place to start because of the "Goo." And boy was it right! I've never seen such Goo! as when I soaked the flax seeds for crackers. The Goo! is so gross and awesome that even when I'm talking about it outloud it's capitalized and punctuated. "Hey, this flax turned into Goo! on me." "Touch this Goo! Roomie." "Eeew! Goo!"

So here's how you get the Goo!:

1. Mix water and flax seeds in a 2:1 ratio (2 cups of water for every cup of seeds)

2. Let sit for at least three hours.

That's it. While you're off watching a movie or cleaning the house or creeping on Facebook or other such productive activities, the flax seeds are releasing their magic Goo! particles into the water. The Goo! is ready when it reaches a consistency of horrible-head-cold mucus. Seriously, this stuff has the viscosity of like, rubber cement.

Turning the Goo! into crackers, though, is a bit more involved - at least for me. Because I don't have the fancy-awesome dehydrator I'd like, I only have one plastic Teflex sheet. Also, my dehydrator is circular for extra inconvenience. This means that I spend about half an hour tracing and cutting circles of parchment paper to fit in my dehydrator trays. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use wax paper. The wax melts or something and your crackers will stick to the paper and be horrible and you will have to throw them away.

Once the dehydrator trays are lined, spread the Goo! evenly (about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick) over the sheets. The first time I made these I tried to keep them in little circles so I would have cracker-shaped crackers. This does not work very well as the Goo! has a tendency to spread. It's much easier just to slather the Goo! over the whole sheet and then break the giant cracker into pieces later. Not as pretty, still delicious.

Put the trays on the dehydrator, turn the sucker on and...wait. And wait. And wait. Dehydrating takes a long time. Usually 8-12 hours depending on what you're dehydrating. I almost always have my stuff dh-ing for 12+ hours. I'll set up some seeds soaking after lunch, cut papers and spread Goo! when I get home from teaching, and then check the crackers when I get home from the gym the next morning. I do occasionally rotate the trays on my dehydrator. This allows for a more even drying time, since whatever is closer to the heat source/fan will dry faster.

These are very versatile crackers. The first ones I made were just plain, brown flax seeds. I crumbled them over salads and ate them plain. Kinda bland but still tasty. In the next batch I whipped up, I substituted 3/4 cup of water for 3/4 cup of left-over Raw Teryaki Sauce . Roomie says these tasted like beef jerky. I thought they were a bit oily so I recommend reducing/omitting the oil in any marinade you might want to soak the flax seeds in. You can pretty much blend any kind of herb or spice into the soaking water to change the taste of the crackers. I think I'm going to experiment with carrot and tomato juice next time. In the batch I made Monday, I used golden flax seeds (thank you bulk foods section at Kroger!) and before I put the trays on to dehydrate, I sprinkled each cracker with sea salt and black sesame seeds. Scrumptious would not be an uncalled for adjective for these crackers.

They may have required more energy than opening a box of Triscuits, but I like to think that means they're better for you. They travel well, taste pretty excellent with raw almond butter on them, and last for at least two weeks in a sealed Tupperware. For all I know they may last longer, but two weeks is the longest they've lasted in my house before being devoured.

Small caveat, raw readers: be advised that flax seeds are a natural laxative. A little oil on your salad or a few seeds tossed in your oatmeal probably won't do much to your digestive system. But if you eat a half-dozen or so crackers on top of an already 100% raw day, well, let's just say it gets the mail moving ahead of schedule.

Ending a post on poo. It doesn't get raw-er than that.