We truly live in the age of special diets – vegans, vegetarians, lactose-intolerants, raw foodies and who could forget our low carb, high fiber, high protein friends. The list of specialized diets goes on and on especially in this city. How can we please them all?  I thought I'd step up to the challenge and at least give it a shot. Here is a snack that I'm obsessed with that will be sure to win them all over –  Raw flax crackers! These are tasty and nutrionally sound. Plenty of Omega-3s, loaded with fiber and protein and since it is dehydrated at 105 degrees, the living nutrients and enzymes are preserved. Besides being loaded with health benefits, it is loaded with tons of flavor. It's no Buffalo Cool Ranch Dorito I'll be the first to admit, but I'd choose flax crackers over Doritos any day. Convinced yet?

Flax Cracker Ingredients

I chose golden flax seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds and black/white sesame seeds as my cracker base – all raw of course. I soaked everything in water for a few hours, until the flax seeds became gelatinous. Once this happened, I peeled the skins off of the almonds. This part is not fun. It's downright tedious, but sorry guys, you don't want those skins in your cracker. Now pulse them in your food processor. We're not looking for almond butter here, so just get them to about the same size as the sunflower seeds. Now time for the fun – the flavor.  I washed up some beet greens, celery, carrots, parsley, tomatoes, onions and garlic. I threw everything into the food processor. I mixed up the cracker base ingredients with my "flavorings" and added about 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. I spread the mixture onto the Teflon sheets of the dehydrator and by the next day, they were ready for my taste testers.

Getting Toasty

I brought them to work with me today and they were received kindly – by a very diverse group of eaters I might add. I work with 65 people so we have everything from health nuts to couch potatoes. To my surprise even the fast food junkies didn't turn their noses up at it. Of course, I didn't tell them what was in it until after they had already tried it and praised it. I think that is the main trick. As kids, our parent have to cover our vegetables with Velveeta or transform our green beans into airplanes in order for us to eat them. Not much has changed since then. Here is a more sophisticated, adult way to sneak those vegetables in. I chose vegetables which I had on hand, but it certainly is not limited to that. A basil, sun-dried tomato flax cracker would be awesome topped with fresh mozzarella or hummus. I usually enjoy mine plain, but love it with Trader Joe's Italian Truffle Cheese or even a dollop of salsa. Crispy, crunchy and full of flavor, these snacks will leave you wanting to experiment with more flavor combos.

Snack Size Crackers

Seasonal Vegetable Raw Flax Crackers
2 c flax seeds
3/4 c Raw almonds
1/2 c Sunflower seeds
1/2 c White sesame seeds
1/2 c Black sesame seeds
2 Carrots
1/4 Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
2 Stalks of celery
1/2 c Italian parsley
2 tomatoes
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 bunch of beet greens(Make sure to wash these thoroughly, since they can be very dirty)