Put your hand up if you love snacking!

One of my resolutions these past few months (I don’t make new year resolutions. I actually set my goals for the different aspects of my life every three months, that way I am more accountable because the time frame is shorter and I get to celebrate the little achievements and forgive the mistakes more easily.) For this quarter “that actually started in Nov” one of my goals has been to snack smarter.

I love to snack and despite the fact that I do try to keep my choices healthy, I have realized that I tend to buy most of my snacks as opposed to making them. No matter how careful you are in reading labels and making choices, store-bought snacks are highly processed (even the ones that claim to be healthy and good for you)and they have more than their fair share of additives and preservatives. That’s why I have decided to make my own snacks this quarter or at least most of them.

For the month of January, our MFBC was to cook or bake with olives. I personally LOVE olives in anything and everything  (bialy, salads, focaccia, quick cakes, soups and the list goes on)so when I the challenge for this month was announced I knew I was going to make a snack featuring olives.

Oat crackers have always been high on my list of favorite snacks that I used to buy regularly. I love spreading one or two with hummus, labneh, muhammara or roasted pepper dip. They are also great with soups and salads or simply munched on their own when you are in a hurry and need a snack on the go.

For this month’s challenge, I decided to tweak my go to oat cracker recipe to make it an olives and herbs oat cracker. These crackers are gluten-free, vegan and super easy to make. They literally require less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I have included my favorite dip that I serve with these but feel free to use your favorite dip, top them with cheese, vegetables, pesto or serve them next to a big bowl of soup and enjoy the nutty earthy tones of the olives and oats, beautifully complemented by the herbs. If you love savory snacks, you need to give them a try!

Oat crackers with olives and herbs

2 cups  oats
2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons olive paste
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence (you can use a mix of oregano, basil and rosemary instead)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional, see notes for substitution)
1/3 cup water (you may need an extra 1-2 tablespoons)
Salt & pepper

Place oats in a food processor and blend into a flour.
Add remaining ingredients (coconut oil, olive paste, herbs, nutritional yeast, water and  salt and pepper) and blend until thick dough forms.
Sprinkle a clean surface with oat flour and roll the dough out evenly until it is  1 cm in thickness.
Cur out 16 oatcakes and place them on a lined baking tray.
Bake in the oven for 15 mins on 180 degrees Celsius.
Remove, leave to cool completely

Labneh, olive and sundried tomato dip
1 cup labneh
1 tablespoon olive paste
1 tablespoon chopped green olives
1 tablespoon chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)
1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
1 tablespoon roughly chopped walnuts

Instructions
You can mix all the ingredients in your serving bowl or you can place the labneh in the bowl and use the rest of the ingredients as a topping.

Notes:

• Nutritional yeast is a form of deactivated yeast that is added to boost nutritional value. On average, two tablespoons provides 60 calories with 5 g of carbohydrates (four grams of which is fiber). A serving also provides 9 g of protein and is a complete protein, providing all nine amino acids the human body cannot produce. While fortified and unfortified nutritional yeast both provide iron, the fortified yeast provides 20 percent of the recommended daily value, while unfortified yeast provides only 5 percent. Unfortified nutritional yeast provides from 35 to 100 percent of vitamins B1 and B2.
• You can replace the nutritional yeast in this recipe with oats

To see my wonderfully talented fellow bloggers entries for this month, please check out the link