Almost Virtuous Cheese Crackers

Ingredients

• 1/3
  
  cup flax seeds
  
• 2
  
  carrots (about 6 ounces), peeled and chopped into chunks
  
• 1
  
  tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
  
• 
  
  several sprigs fresh oregano
  
• 1
  
  cup fresh parsley leaves, packed
  
• 1/2
  
  cup lightly toasted almonds
  
• 2-3
  
  garlic cloves
  
• 4
  
  ounces grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
  
• 2
  
  cups cooked quinoa
  
• 1.5
  
  cups cooked brown rice
  
• 1/4
  
  cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
  
• 1/2
  
  teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1/2
  
  cup rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, minced
  
• 2
  
  teaspoons dried red chili flakes (or to taste)
  

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper (the paper does not have to be oiled).
2. In a small bowl, soak the flax seeds in 1/3 cup cold water for 20 minutes.
3. In a food processor, add the carrots, herbs, almonds, cheese, and garlic and pulse several times until you have a fine meal. Add the quinoa, rice, soaked flax seeds, olive oil, and sea salt and process until very smooth. You will probably need to scrape down the sides several times during this process to make sure everything gets well processed to an almost uniform consistency. Once it’s well processed, stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and chili flakes.
4. Put about 1.5 cups of the mixture on top of the parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of that and roll the dough out to a thin layer, about 1/8-1/4-inch thick. Score the dough into squares (or you can leave it be and break them into more rustic shapes later if you prefer). Brush the tops with a bit more olive oil and and grate more parmesan cheese on top.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Watch them carefully and pull them out just as they start to brown. If they get too brown they’ll start to turn bitter. If some of the outer crackers are browning, but the inner ones are still pale, I will often just turn off the oven and leave the crackers inside for another 30 minutes to an hour and that’s usually enough to finish them off.
6. Allow to cool completely and then break them into crackers. If any of them are still soft, just pop them in the toaster oven for a few minutes longer to crisp them up.