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Can the fourth time be the charm? Cause for the fourth time in five years I am giving the GAPS diet a try. Anxiety, insomnia, and horrid digestive health… you’ve met your match. Hopefully?
For those unfamiliar with the GAPS diet, it is a nutritional protocol designed to heal the gut. It has helped our family immensely. The second time I did it was two years ago and my daughters who had 25 and 3 delayed food allergies respectively, now have none. My middle daughter was becoming allergic to new foods every few months, and one of her reactions was to get bloody eczema on the face.
I keep trying it for myself having seen it help my family so. To say it hasn’t gone well in the past…. might be an understatement.
What is the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? I am not quite sure I agree with that description because by it the “sane” thing to do years ago would be to just stop eating and going to bed trying to sleep! Or to just give up on doing anything and no longer fight anxiety to do everyday things.
But, whether that is a good description of sanity or not, there is one major difference this time, and it is what I hope will make the difference. I am doing it primarily for myself. There a lot of moving parts to the diet, and trying to do it for different people at different stages meant that my personal attempts had been somewhat lackluster.
Being the focus has helped and for the last three months I have learned that falling asleep shortly after you lay down (i.e. before 1,2,3,4,5 am) IS possible. But doing it by myself…. is lonely.
For the first time when I need to pass up all the many non-GAPS foods, I am the only one in my family who has to do so. I make them sourdough bread…. and it smells amazing. On a particularly rough day recently they ordered pizza, and I have GAPS leftovers. Our freezers are full of homemade freezer burritos and non-GAPS egg quiches that I can easily heat up for them as needed.
That might sound lame…. but it’s true. I love sharing foods with people and when I am on a restrictive expensive diet it just isn’t practical.
Thankfully, I have already done the super restrictive intro phase, so at least I can have a lot more variety. You might be surprised how much variety you can actually get on a grain-free, low starch, sugar-free (other than honey), low lactose diet with numerous allergies. While this blog has been quiet, behind the scenes has been a bustle of GAPS allowed foods and extra messy kitchens as I recipe develop.
Be on the look out for a 10-12 recipe GAPS freezer cooking plan and a chocolate cake (to name a few upcoming things).
But, I digress, on to the crackers. The star for today.
These crackers have added the occasional normality to my diet. It’s nice to eat something delicately crunchy and to serve with chicken and tuna fish salad as my family eats sourdough.
I made these crackers the other day for a date for my husband and me. We had the with brie and a peach compote (recipe for that coming soon.) They really hit the spot, for both of us, and made our after bedtime date that much more special. I knew I needed to perfect the recipe and share here.
They have a delicate crunch, are allergy friendly unlike most grain free recipes, and the onion powder gives them a unique sweetness. I hope you enjoy!
- 2 cups sunflower seed flour*
- ½ cup ground golden flax
- ¾ tsp unrefined sea salt (I use pink Himalayan)**
- 1 tsp pure onion powder
- 2 T coconut flour
- 2 T oil or melted butter or ghee
- ⅓ cup water
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. I use a seasoned stone, but if using an unseasoned stone or a metal pan line two pans with parchment paper.
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients.
- Add the water and oil or butter.
- Mix until well combined.
- Roll out on parchment paper until ⅛ inch thick.
- Use a round cooking cutter to cut circles, or a pizza cutter to cut squares. I like to do 1½-2".
- Transfer to cookie sheets. They can be close as no spreading will occur but let them touch for even cooking. Continue to roll out and cut until all the dough is used. ***
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the crackers are nice and golden and are hard if tapped on the cookie sheet. Allow to cool before eating, they continue to crisp up while cooling.
**You can use crispy seeds for better digestion. In that case, add salt to taste instead of the full amount (assuming you soak your seeds in salt water).
***I tried to bake these in one big slab (cut into crackers, but not transferred) but the cooking was too uneven. So, unfortunately rolling out and transferring to a cookie sheet is necessary. Be careful as they are very delicate.
If you make these, and are on instagram, I would love if you share and tag me @worthcooking so I can see.
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