crackin' it up

Hello. So today's exploits were openly welcomed into our everyday snack family. We used a simple recipe - conceptualised by my mother-dearest - to create our lovely mixed pepper relish. The cracker recipe was borrowed - and slightly adapted - from The Real Meal Revolution. We tried these cheeky seed crisps out and they were a delightful success! They were easy-as-pie to make and we managed to devour a whole batch in one afternoon (guilty grin) They have certainly generated some excitement in our up-until-today snack-less household. 

piquant balsamic & mixed pepper relish

with crispy seed crackers & cream cheese

3 peppers (red, yellow & green)

100ml balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

80g sunflower seeds

20g pumpkin seeds

30g flax seeds

50g sesame seeds

1 tablespoon psyllium husks

250ml water

1/2 teaspoon salt

100g cream cheese

chop the mixed peppers into small squares

place the peppers and balsamic vinegar in a zip-lock bag

remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal it properly

let the peppers marinate in the balsamic for at least 30 minutes (ideally give them over 2 hours)

once rested, drain the peppers of all excess balsamic vinegar (we kept this to use next time)

heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the peppers until they begin to soften (this took us just over 5 minutes)

store the mixed pepper relish in an airtight container (ours haven't lasted long enough to be able to give you an expiration time)

preheat the oven to 160 degree celcius 

combine the seeds, psyllium husks, salt and water in a mixing bowl

rest this mixture until it is thick and pliable (this should take about 10 minutes)

thinly spread the mixture onto a greased baking tray, ensuring that there are no holes in the mixture 

bake the crackers for about an hour, turning the tray every 15 minutes

watch carefully for the next 20 minutes, only removing them from the oven when they turn a dark golden colour 

let the crackers cool before breaking them into desired-sized pieces

serve your crackers with a large smear of cream cheese and some chunky pepper relish

happy fooding!