{raw food recipe} Crax, Cheez & Salsa ~ for Canasta or Football!

I started playing canasta with my mom when I was just about 9 years old. Decades later, it never got old. Oh, how I love a good game of canasta!

Gotta tell you, though, NOTHING beats (get it? ) that my mom and I both are now up for healthy and tasty treats. The fun we have in the kitchen right before we play, is almost as good as the fun at the dining table with the cards!

BASIC FLAX CRAX INGREDIENTS
2 cups whole flax seeds, soaked in 2 cups water for 2-8 hours
1/2 cup flax seeds, ground
1 cup finely diced garden veggies
Sea salt, Herbamare, or Trocomare to taste

SALSA INGREDIENTS
2 tomatoes, pretty finely diced
1/4 medium white onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 green chili pepper, very finely diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lime, juiced
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sea salt to taste

CASHEW CHEEZ INGREDIENTS
2 cups soaked cashews
1/2 cup water
1 capsule probiotic (optional — open it up and pour it in — no need for the outside of the capsule!)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 clove garlic

FLAX CRAX INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, then taste test the amount of salt or other spices, adding more until it is to your liking. Keep in mind these may just be a “carrier” for your cheez and/or salsa so do not have to be spiced up enough to stand on their own!
2. Spread onto a Teflex sheet up to about 1/4-inch thick. This amount should make 2-4 trays of crackers depending on the size of your dehydrator.
3. Dehydrate for 8 hours or until you are able to flip the crax and then remove the Teflex sheet from them.
4. Dehydrate for another 6-8 hours or until the texture you desire is reached. The longer you dehydrate, the longer your flax crax will last!
5. Break off into the sizes you want, then store in an airtight container for up to a few weeks. If you are in a humid area, you may want to dehydrate the crax again after a week just to get them crispier again. The more airtight your container, the less likely you will need to do this. If you even have them left after a week!

SALSA INSTRUCTIONS

Chop your ingredients as needed, mix it all together in a bowl, then voila!, you have your salsa. Store in an airtight glass jar in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. A note on the tomatoes: I personally don’t mind if there is a bit of extra liquid, but some of you might want a thicker salsa. In that case, a funny little tip is to first dice your tomatoes, then put them into a salad spinner to remove the excess liquid. It’s actually kind of fun, but of course it is an extra step. I’m not a fan of extra steps if I can avoid them… but I wanted to share that just in case it’s a help to ya!

CHEEZ INSTRUCTIONS

Blend your ingredients until smooth and creamy, and you are DONE! A little note on the water: start slow, then add more as needed depending on the abilities of your blender. This will work best in a high-speed blender but will be juuuust fine with an alternative blender if you just make sure it has enough water to blend. You just don’t want to make it watery in the process! This will store in the fridge for up to 4-5 days in an airtight container.

---

 
And that’s it… Simple as a bit of chopping and blending, and we have some lovely dips to go along with our flax crax. I like to make sure crax or bread are pretty much always on hand so that the temptation to run off to the store and buy something already made and wicked bad is just not there. Why bother buying The Bad Stuff when I have all the crunch and cheez carriers I need to be satiated without being let down?! Because honestly… the letdown and lack of clarity are just not worth it!

---

 
WHAT DO YOU HAVE ON GAME DAYS OR WHEN YOU HAVE FAMILY GET TOGETHERS? ANY FAVORITE RECIPES OR TRADITIONS YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE? WOULD LOOOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

---

You might also like: