Re: Vegetable Based Crackers (LSCDL Recipes)

[Guest guest]

Hi Marilyn,

I'm really considering making these. They sound mouth watering. I just wanted to

check a few things.

" Part way through the drying, you will despair of them ever becoming a good

snack, as they will seem very oily and soggy. Give them another 5-6 hours to

dry, and they will become surprisingly crispy. "

Does that mean that the full time in the dehydrator is about 10-12 hours?

" so many people on the list serve found it difficult to handle the nut flours in

the first weeks or months of the diet, yet were desperate for something with

which went crunch when they bit into it. "

I've definitely got that craving! But, even though they are crunchy, they are

fairly easy to digest for us newbies? I'll of course take it easy at first, I

just wanted to check.

Thank you!

~

Crohn's - no meds

SCD - 02/21/10

>

>

> VEGETABLE BASED CRACKERS

>

> Note: you MAY be able to do these in an oven,

> although I have not yet tested this. I use an

> Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator. (Although I confess

> that, with as much as I use my dehydrator, I'm

> eyeing the BIG Excalibur commercial one. If I

> could just figure out (a) how to afford it, and ( where I would PUT it!)

>

> This recipe originated because I wanted a cracker

> with fewer calories than the wonderful almond

> flour crackers, and because so many people on the

> list serve found the nut flours difficult to

> handle the nut flours in the first weeks or

> months of the diet, yet were desperate for

> something with which went crunch when they bit

> into it. Although amounts for fresh herbs are

> given here, dry or freeze-dried ones are

> recommended for any vegetable-based cracker as

> they will help soak up some of the remaining moisture.

>

> I did find that reducing the parsley and

> increasing the chives a bit yielded a cracker

> that tasted an awful lot like sour cream and chive potato chips!

>

>

> Zucchini Pulp

>

> 15 pounds zucchini (courgettes)

> 1 tea towel

> 1 colander

> food processor, blender or grinder

>

> Peel, deseed and slice the zucchini. Steam until

> tender in a large pot -- this is a great use for

> that big old pasta pot and its colander which you no longer use. Drain well.

>

> Purée zucchini according to your choice of

> method. I use the optional fine plate on the

> Maverick #5 grinder. Pour the resulting

> green-white slop into a colander lined with a tea

> towel. Do not try to use cheese cloth - you will

> loose too much of the zucchini. Drain to about

> half the original volume. You may have to gather

> up the edges of the tea towel and squeeze the

> zucchini to get as much liquid as possible out of

> it. Reserve the liquid for flavoring soups or gravies.

>

> What you will have is a greenish-white pulp about

> the consistency of drained yogurt. This will,

> needless to say, be quite a bit moister than almond flour.

>

> When the zucchini is drained, divide the pulp up

> into three cup portions - each five pounds of

> zucchini will yield about 3 cups of drained pulp.

> Freeze the remaining portions to cut down on

> preparation time for future batches of crackers.

>

>

>

> Herb Parmesan Crackers,

> (Zucchini Base)

>

> 3 cups well-drained zucchini pulp

> 2 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

> (about 4 ounces weight or 110 grams)

> ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped -or- 1/4 cup dry

> 1/4 cup fresh chives, finely chopped -or- 2 tablespoons freeze dried

> 1/2 teaspoon dry oregano -or- 2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped

> 1/2 teaspoon dry thyme -or- 2 teaspoons fresh

> 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

> pinch of salt

> 2 extra large eggs

> 3 Tablespoons melted butter

> 3/4 cup dry curd cottage cheese

> 8 cloves of garlic pressed

>

> Combine zucchini pulp, cheese, herbs and baking

> soda and salt in a bowl. Blend the eggs, butter,

> dry curd cottage cheese (or dripped yogurt ) and

> pressed garlic in a processor or blender

> until very, very smooth. Add to the seasoned

> zucchini pulp and mix together. You will have a moderately thick batter.

>

> To bake zucchini-based crackers, you'll need at

> least 4 twelve-muffin muffin tins. I use

> industrial size 24 muffin pans, and have four of

> them so that I can have two in the oven and two

> filled and ready to go into the oven. Mine are

> non-stick ones; if using regular ones, butter

> well. (My niece says, " Don't bother with ordinary

> ones; it will drive you crazy. I buttered mine

> within an inch of their lives and the stuff still

> stuck. Save yourself some frustration and start

> with good quality non-stick tins to begin with. "

> So you may take that for what it is worth from

> someone who tested this recipe in standard muffin

> tins.) The dough from these will be very wet,

> almost a batter consistency, but not quite. Using

> the cookie scoop, place dollops of batter/dough

> in each muffin cup. Using a moistened finger or

> the damp back of a spoon, spread the batter out

> evenly over the bottom of each cup.

>

> Bake in a very slow oven, 215 F for about two

> hours. The object is to get the egg set up and

> drive out as much of the remaining zucchini water

> as possible without burning the crackers.

>

> Remove proto-crackers from muffin pans by

> spinning them out. Arrange crackers on dehydrator

> trays, and dehydrate at 135 F until dry and

> crispy. Part way through the drying, you will

> despair of them ever becoming a good snack, as

> they will seem very oily and soggy. Give them

> another 5-6 hours to dry, and they will become surprisingly crispy.

>

> If you do not have the muffin tins, it may be

> possible to make these by placing dollops of

> batter on a flat cookie sheet and then spreading

> them out to a consistent thinness with your

> finger. It will be hard to get a consistent shape or size this way, however.

>

> If you do not have a dehydrator, it may be

> possible to dry the crackers in the oven by

> arranging them on flat cookie sheets, and

> returning to the oven at the absolute lowest

> temperature yours will go, in other words, as close to 135 F as you can get.

>

> Variations:

>

> I have so far made this recipe with the drained

> zucchini pulp, and with properly prepared bean

> paste. I suspect that it could be made with any

> vegetable which has been cooked soft, puréed, and

> drained. I will be experimenting with a Cajun

> style cracker, and a Mexican cheese crunch.

>

> The bean paste crackers are the closest to

> well-done almond flour crackers, but I think that

> because of the fact that legumes can be so

> problematical for SCDers that I would not

> recomend them for anyone who is not yet well on the way to healing.

>

> I have also made this recipe without the DCCC or

> yogurt cheese and omitting the parmesan for a

> dairy-free version. It comes out pretty well,

> although the taste is a little flat without the

> parmesan. (Maybe someone can suggest something to add?)

>

> I can't figure out how to do it egg-free,

> although there's a possibility that gelatin might do the trick.

>

>

> — Marilyn

> New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

> Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

> Darn Good SCD Cook

> No Human Children

> Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

> Recipe from Louisiana SCD Lagniappe (forthcoming)

>

[Guest guest]

At 09:11 PM 3/16/2010, you wrote:

" Part way through the

drying, you will despair of them ever becoming a good snack, as they will

seem very oily and soggy. Give them another 5-6 hours to dry, and they

will become surprisingly crispy. "

Does that mean that the full time in the dehydrator is about 10-12

hours?

Well, it depends on how damp your climate is. Sometimes, yes, it takes

about 10-12 hours. Other times, it can take a full 24 hours. Basically,

if they aren't crisp yet, keep drying them!

>> I've definitely got that craving! But, even though they are

crunchy, they are fairly easy to digest for us newbies? I'll of course

take it easy at first, I just wanted to check. <<

If you can handle zucchini, parmesan cheese, and the rest of the

ingredients, yes.

These are, btw, a great recipe to have handy when your farmer friends

start dumping bushel baskets of zucchini on you!

I've been meaning to try spreading the stuff out in a cookie sheet and

then cutting the sheets into crackers, but since I do have really good

muffin pans, I sort of feel like, " If it ain't broke, don't fix

it. " But then I worry about people who don't have the same kind of

muffin tins that I have.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

At 11:02 PM 3/16/2010, you wrote:

I think maybe cutting them after

they come out of the oven, but before they go in the dehydrator would be

best. Do you agree?

Yes. Basically bake them so they set up, and then cut them apart. I think

I would put a sheet of parchment under the cracker mix to be sure it

doesn't stick in a million places. Of course... if it does stick and come

apart in a gazillion pieces, you can just pile the pieces and crumbs into

the dehydrator, dry them, and then you'll have crunchy crumbles.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

Marilyn

Yumm,

yumm [grin]. Can’t wait to try these crackers. The zucchini base is

a terrific idea since my digestion can’t handle too large a volume of nut

flours either. But I also need to leave out the dairy.

Oh

well, I’m getting used to bland [sigh]. It will be terrific to have

something crunchy now and then.

Thanks

for the recipe.

Kim

M.

SCD 6 years

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction 6+ years

neurological & spinal deterioration 3+ years

[Guest guest]

The zucchini base is a terrific idea since my digestion can’t handle too large a volume of nut flours either. But I also need to leave out the dairy.I can't do nut flours yet, and no dairy, so let me know how your 'bland' version comes out! Maybe I'll borrow my friend's dehydrator and try them if they taste okay. Peace =)Alyssa 16 yo UC April 2008, dx Sept 2008SCD June 2009 (restarted)Azathioprine 50 mg 1x per dayPrednisone 35 mg 1x per day

[Guest guest]

At 06:53 AM 3/17/2010, you wrote:

Yumm, yumm [grin]. Can’t

wait to try these crackers. The zucchini base is a terrific idea since my

digestion can’t handle too large a volume of nut flours either. But

I also need to leave out the dairy.

Oh well, I’m getting used to bland [sigh]. It will be terrific to

have something crunchy now and then.

Kim,

Actually, you can significantly reduce the amount of cheese you use... or

possibly even go with no cheese at all if you don't tolerate it.

You know me: the original cheese-o-holic! I expect you can tinker with

the spice amounts, too.

I have also made just zucchini rounds which were crisped up, too. They

have to be kept well sealed or they go sort of rubbery after a bit... but

they aren't BAD, because you can re-crisp them, OR use them in a

casserole.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

I made them on the cookie sheet with parchment paper, when they came out of the oven I just slipped the parchment paper right off the cookie sheet and onto the cutting board, cut into small squares with my pizza cutter, and popped in the dehydrator for 13 hours or so (could have maybe gone less, but I did it over night). Let me know if anyone tries these with just the oven! I don't have a dehydrator =( Peace =)Alyssa 16 yo UC April 2008, dx Sept 2008SCD June 2009 (restarted)Azathioprine 50 mg 1x per dayPrednisone 35 mg 1x per day