Sesame Socca Crackers + Creamy Tahini Salad

March 1, 2011 By Leanne Vogel July 21, 2015

Holy moly! It’s March already, can you believe it? Let’s kick it off with some awesome eats. I rarely enjoy raw veggies during the winter [its too darn cold!], but today is an exception. Some days a girl just needs her raw veg. And other days, she needs hemp. Lot’s of hemp. Lucky for me, I’ll never run out of hemp thanks to Sarah over at Manitoba Harvest!

Manitoba Harvest was kind enough to send me a package [of my dreams] of:

Shelled hemp seeds [organic]
Hemp oil [organic]
Hemp pro fiber [organic]
Packages upon packages of single serving hemp protein vanilla & dark chocolate [organic]
Coupons!

I’ve tried their Hemp pro fiber, so I was excited to get another batch as mine is getting quite low and I’ve been craving more of these. PS: look at how much FIBER there is! Why I like their products:

High quality, minimally processed hemp, directly sourced from local hemp farmers
Affordable
Fair trade ingredients
Environmentally conscious: hexane free products, packaging is made from recyclable and/or reusable materials, and they offset 100% of their production facility’s electricity with renewable energy credits (RECs) like wind power.
Organic-certified [Canadian, USA, and European]
TASTY!

Hemp is a clean protein, high in fiber and omega-6 essential fatty acids. I usually use it to increase the protein in my cookies, homemade crackers, muffins, and bars. Heather tells me that their protein powder can even replace flour in a recipe. I’ll have to test it out…

Just 1 draw back…

There’s cane sugar in the dark chocolate and vanilla protein powders when it really, really doesn’t need to be. Although it’s a small amount, we have enough sugar in our foods as is. Since protein powders are normally added to shakes, or with milk, I don’t think the sugar would be missed.

I’ve tried many a hemp oil. A lot of them are gritty and have a funky taste to them, but not this one! I found it really easy to work with in the kitchen [check out the recipe below], and was able to add 1 tablespoon of it to my morning smoothie today without any nasty aftertaste. I’d say that’s a win! I added hemp seeds to a batch of apple fiber bars and they turned out pretty good. In their raw form, I found the Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds to be oilier than other brands I’ve tried. I take this as a good sign, the more oil, the more omegas! I haven’t tried the dark chocolate or vanilla protein powders just yet, but I’ll let you know what I think of them later this week when I do! *All of the opinions above are my own and were not influenced by Manitoba Harvest*

On with the eats…

Nom, crunch, wowza. That’s all I have to say here.

Creamy Tahini Salad

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan, Gluten free, Dairy free

Prep time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2 entree sized salads

This salad dressing is creamy, light, and high in healthy fats. Enjoy as a dressing on this chickpea salad, as a veggie dip, or in a rice wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers! Inspired by: Oh She Glows

Ingredients

Dressing

½ avocado
1½ tablespoon Manitoba Harvest Hemp oil
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
3 tablespoon chickpea reserve water – you can add extra, depending on how thin you want your dressing
2 teaspoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon herbamare

Salad

4 cups romaine mix
1 cup chickpeas – reserve liquid for dressing
cucumber
yellow pepper
carrots
celery

Instructions

Combine all dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
Place salad ingredients in a medium sized bowl and top with dressing. Toss until coated and serve.
Use sesame socca crackers in place of croutons!

View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down)

Sesame Socca Crackers

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Vegan, Gluten free, Dairy free

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 22 mins

Serves: 20 crackers

The lemon in these crackers goes perfectly with the lemon of the salad above. Enjoy on their own, or dipped in hummus. If you’re planning on making these for lunches, hide them from everyone. They will not last in your house for more than 15 minutes. Trust me. Inspired by: Edible Perspective

Ingredients

¼ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup chickpea flour
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon coriander
5 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper across both sides for easy lifting.
Whisk dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until all the lumps are gone.
Pour mixture into prepared pan, pushing the mixture to the sides so that it’s evenly spread across the pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until dough begins to crack and corners brown.
Remove from the oven and slide the dough to a cutting board. Cut dough into desired cracker size.
Place cut crackers on a cookie sheet [I used a pizza pan and it worked perfectly!] and place back in the oven.
Bake for 4-6 minutes, flip and bake for another 4-6 minutes. Watch them closely so they don’t burn!
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down) It’s not getting any warmer here. The forecast is telling us it will be a chilling -15F today. So, If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? I would chose… Costa Rica! I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful, and most importantly, warm!

This entry was tagged: crackers, salad, salad dressing, sesame, socca