Beyond Gluten-free Crackers and Spinach Dip

This adventure with Maximized Living Chiropractic has been an uplifiting and exciting adventure. Not only are my back issues getting steadily better, also my energy levels have improved significantly and my health is the best it has been in years. And to top it off, I have lost weight over the Holidays. That proves how fantastic these changes can be!

My dilemma today was that I wanted to make a spinach dip for dinner. Sometimes I just get a craving for Spinach Dip and instead of going and buying it at a restaurant with who-knows-what ingedients, I make it myself. Trouble is, I am not eating any grains of any kind right now, so what would I use to eat it instead of chips or crackers? Then I remembered a home made cracker recipe and with a little creative adaptation I got a grain-free cracker with which to eat my Spinach Dip! So you get a two-fer here, Home Made Spinach Artichoke dip and Grain-free home made crackers.

Spinach Artichoke Dip (All ingredients organic of course!)

1/2 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
6 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 TBSP butter from grass-fed cows
3/4 cup milk from grass-fed cows
4 TBSP tapioca starch
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt or to taste
1/2 lb fresh baby spinach leaves
1 jar artichoke hearts (read your ingredients, most have soy oil in them. A good health food store should have some without soy oil).
6 oz. Halepeno pepper jack cheese (organic) shredded, or raw cheese and chopped Jalapeno peppers.

Melt butter in a sauce pan and saute onions, garlic and mushrooms until tender. mix milk and tapioca starch until well blended and add to sauted onions mixture. Heat, stirring, until thickened. Stir in salt. Add artichoke hearts and spinach leaves. Stir until spinach is well wilted. Stir in cheese until melted. Server with crackers or chips or sliced veggies.

Grain and gluten-free crackers

1/3 cup almonds
1 1/2 C Quinoa flour (Quinoa is a seed, not a grain)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 C chopped onion
3 cloves garlic


Heat oven to 375 degrees

Put almonds in the food processor and process until fine and the oils begin to come out. Add the quinoa flour, salt and rosemary and process until well blended. Add the onion and garlic and process until it begins to form a ball. Add a little water if needed. I typically do not need to add additional water. Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper, cover with another piece of parchment paper and roll as thin as possible. Place parchment paper with rolled cracker dough on a cookie sheet and cut into squares. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Check at ten minute mark and remove crackers at the edge that tend to turn brown first. Check every 5 minutes for browning crackers on the edges. Continue baking until all crackers are lightly brown.

There you have it! Two quick and easy recipes for a delicious snack with your evening movie at home or for serving guests. Definitely guest dinner-worthy!

Happy and Healthy Living to all!
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