Low-Carb Flax Crackers

So I am perpetually working on losing weight, and I will spend hours scrolling on pinterest to find healthy recipes.  But if you search "healthy snacks" or "healthy meals" on Pinterest, some of the things are such a joke! They use honey instead of sugar or add natural peanut butter and somehow that makes the whole recipe "healthy".  Example: I have the most delicious granola bars pinned to one of my boards and the recipe is called like "Healthy Granola Bars" or something-- it has butter, sugar, and honey in it and oh yeah it adds up to 180 calories for a small (regular sized) granola bar.  For those of us who are counting calories, that doesn't count as "healthy", Pinterest! 

Has anyone else had these "healthy" Pinterest experiences or is it just me?

So in finding these flax crackers, I was skeptical.  The sound of using flax seeds in crackers sounded kind of weird and gross but I wanted to try.  YUM! I'm so glad I did.  These crackers may not be the most beautiful things on earth but if you are trying to low-carb it, they are the way to go.  

These crackers are loaded with fiber, have only 6 effective grams of carbohydrates for the whole recipe! (35 total grams of fiber).  The whole recipe is 590 calories and I'd say it makes like 30 crackers or so, so let's say a serving of 5 big-sized crackers is around 100 calories.  

I've used garlic as a seasoning in these crackers but you could add anything you like! Try adding italian seasoning to make pizza crackers, a mix of various herbs, different cheeses to make cheesy crackers, or I bet some savvy baker could even come up with a sweet cracker recipe!  Top them with your favorite cheeses, meats, and spreads for a yummy crunchy snack.

Low-Carb Garlic Flax Crackers

Sourced from a recipe on About.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup flax seed meal (or flax seeds)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.  Grease a cookie sheet or cover with greased parchment paper.  
2. If you have flax seeds instead of meal, you'll need to grind them.  I found that my blender worked better than my food processor for this task.  Pour all of the seeds into the blender and blend or pulse until ground into a fine meal.
3. Mix together the flax seed meal, parmesan cheese, garlic powder (or other seasoning), salt, and water in a bowl.  It will have the consistency of a sticky dough.
4. Spoon the mixture onto the cookie sheet and put a piece of waxed paper over the top so that the dough won't stick to the rolling pin.  Roll out the dough as thin as you can, 1/8" or less; try to make all of the dough an even thickness.  If the edges are too thin they may get overcooked before the center has time to cook.  Note that it won't cover the whole cookie sheet (you can see in my photo below), and it's okay if it looks a little blob-ish, you're going to break it into pieces anyway! :) Peel away the waxed paper.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes until the center is no longer soft. After the time is up, if you find that the edges are cooked and the center is still soft, break off the cooked areas (careful, hot!) and put the soft part back into the oven for a few more minutes.  
6. Let cool, break into pieces and eat! If you are fancy, you can use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into pieces.