Homemade Snacks...Crackers

I did it! I actually made crackers. Bonus: they look and taste like crackers! And the best part is that they are very easy to make.

Everyone around here loved them. In fact, they disappeared entirely too fast. Next time I'm going to double the recipe. Chris said they taste like Cheez-its. I'll take that as a compliment. This is definitely going on my weekly baking list. Didn't I say this was going to be a fun little challenge? It's also turning out to be a very tasty little challenge!

I had to play around with the recipe a bit to get a good consistency. This recipe calls for Parmesan but you could add or substitute with herbs like thyme or rosemary. Here's what I ended up with. Enjoy!


Cheese Crackers

1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan (I bought it whole, chopped it a bit, and threw it in the food processor to shred)
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg, beaten
cookie cutters

Whisk together cheese, flour, baking powder, and salt. Then blend in butter with your fingers, or with the flat beater attachment on your stand mixer, until it resembles course meal. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk and egg, then stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Gently knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Chill the dough in a plastic bag for 1 hour (can be chilled up to one day).

Put the oven rack at the top setting and preheat to 350 degrees. Divide dough into thirds and roll each section out to less than 1/16 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin. Cut out as many crackers as possible from the dough and transfer to a baking sheet about a 1/4 inch apart. (Don't reroll the scraps. It will make the dough tough.) Bake the crackers for about 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned*. Rotate the pan 180 degrees halfway through baking. The crackers on the outer edges may finish first. Just remove them and let the rest finish baking. Let them cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!

*I made a small cracker and a large cracker. They took the exact same time to bake to the right consistency.

He's Good In His Space

My day was open, so I decided to go to the courthouse today to watch my husband work. He walked me through the hallways showing off his space. It's a home of sorts for him and he smiled as he showed it off.

When we got to his courtroom, I slid into a bench and watched him ease into the fray. Like so many flies, the defense attorneys hovered around him vying for attention. I felt myself tense for him and wanted to swat them all away. I would have snapped and told them all to sit down, wait for their turn. But he dealt with them all in turn without a pause between. As he spoke he tossed papers into what seemed to be a very purposeful pile of disarray. If someone asked for one of those papers he could pick it out from among the other hundred without a glance down. I saw him as a master of multitasking, a skill he feigns not to possess at home.

He carried an air of cool certainty as he sorted through the lot of people. His walk was determined and no-nonsense. I watched him diffuse some issues and stand firm on others. I noted he still fidgets with pens.

He began to call out names and I found myself intimidated by the confidence in his voice. He commanded his audience. I felt my old timidness come to the surface. If I had been in there for another purpose I would have found it hard to speak to him. Though, Mr. DA was pretty attractive from my vantage, which left me restraining a flirty giggle. The lady behind me got asked to leave for that.

The whole scene is a mess of humanity. It's a lot to take in. My eyes wandered around the room at the emotions in play. I watched the defended, the guilty, the remorseful, those who felt wronged, the witnesses, the prosecutors, the deputies, and the judge. It was a hive of bees all buzzing out of sync and yet in rhythm. It's a muddle. Through the mix I listened to my husband question and object. I listened to the authority in his voice when he gave statements and the exasperation in his voice as he discredited the irrelevant or the downright stupid.

It was a morning that left me smiling in pride. He's good in his space. He's unfrazzled and comfortable there. He is action and calm. He is both intimidating and likable. We have been married for over ten years and I'm happy to say that he still impresses me.

Thanks for showing me your space my love. Oh, and in case you missed it, I still think you're a seriously attractive man. We'll be using that "Mr. DA" thing later.

Apple Picking Day

Saturday was spent in an orchard. A day before the weather decided to drop to a reasonable temperature. But also a day before the rain came.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we got there but the trees provided shade as we plucked ripe apples from burdened branches. Free roaming chickens scratched for bugs in the ground around our feet. Roosters called their disapproval at our disruptive presence. The fattest pigs we've ever seen were eating the rotten apples that people had left behind. Jokes were made about delicious apple bacon being the farmer's winter feast. The pigs were too busy eating to overhear their predicted perilous fate.

Even with the animal distraction we managed to pick two bushels of Stayman Winsaps from those trees. Tart yet sweet, and not at all grainy, just as we like them. Perfect for the pie and the butter and the sauce. Or for taking a big, juicy bite of, especially while it's still sun-hot and crisp.

We bought a gallon of fresh pressed cider on the way out and dispersed cups to hot kids waiting in a van that quickly got a pungent aromatic mix of sweat and earthy apples. We rode home in the noisy excitement that comes from spending a day on a farm. Energized by sun and dirt, animals and a little hard work. Stories told of orchard adventures and plans made for the apple goodness that's coming our way. It's one my absolute favorite ways to spend a day.

Sicily Funnies

Oh, my Sicily girl. She's a walking comics page. Here are some funny things she said this week:

Me: (pointing to her homework page) "What shape is this?"
Sicily: "An octogon."
Me: "no, try again."
Sicily: "A hexagon."
Me: "no."
Sicily: really excited, "I know, it's a pentagon."
Me: "no, it's a rectangle."


Said in complete exasperation and frustration at being the smallest, "The only reason I was born last is because the other two were blocking my way out. I should have been the first out, but they're always blocking my way."


Last night at dinner when asked what the best part of her day was, she said, "Having dinner with my family." Awwww. She followed this up with a hug for each person. Then she sat down and whispered to me, "Can I not eat my squash now?"

Homemade Snacks

I spend a large chunk of our grocery budget on snack food. I hate it. Every time I throw a box of goldfish or granola bars into the grocery cart I cringe a little. I've thought about going without them and forcing the kids to eat fruit and veges only, but that's not realistic. Our afternoons are a whirlwind of backpacks and binders as we try to get homework done. I don't have time to chop fruits and veges. The kids also have to take a snack to school and the teachers prefer a "dry" snack. I get it. I wouldn't want to clean up twenty applesauce and ranch dressing spills either. So I buy snack foods because I feel like I don't have another option.

But I do. I was complaining about this a while back and my husband suggested that I could probably make all of these snacks from scratch. I let that idea float around my brain for awhile until I knew that he was right. I really could make most of these snacks. And I could do it with real ingredients, no yucky chemical extras.

I decided to start with the easy one. Granola bars. And I did it. I made a product very close in texture to the Nature's Own Crunchy Granola bars that we love. I'm thrilled with them and so is my family.

Next week: Goldfish. Only, I don't have a fish cookie cutter, so we'll call them cheese circles. Oh, and I found a recipe for "twinkies", not that they're one of the snacks I buy, but I think it would be pretty cool to make some.

I can already tell that this is going to be a fun little challenge. My success may stop at granola bars, but that's alright. The fun is in the trying.


Crunchy Chocolate-Banana Nut Bars

2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (can substitute other nuts)
1/2 cup flax seed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup dried banana chips, finely chopped (can substitute other dried fruit)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread oats, walnuts, and flax out on a cookie sheet. Toast in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine honey, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Add oat mixture to the liquid mixture. Stir in dried bananas and chocolate chips. Turn out mixture into a prepared baking dish and press down evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Allow to cool completely. Then cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Autumn Has Arrived

Pumpkin muffins are in the oven. That must mean it's the first day of autumn, my favorite of all seasons. Yes, I believe it is. It's the first day of the season that pleases my senses in every way. And I'd like to usher it in with this lovely little piece from "the Hoosier poet".

When the Frost is on the Punkin

by James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,

And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,

And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;

O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,

With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;

But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still

A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;

The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!—

O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;

And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through

With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...

I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be

As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me—

I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Soul Straightening

"When people care for you and cry for you,
they can straighten out your soul."
-Langston Hughes


We've found we need
a little still,
a little quiet.
A little Peace,
time to think.

We've found we need
a little straightening,
a little direction.
A little silence,
time for Voice.

We've found we need
a little time,
a little touch.
A little care,
time for Comfort.

We've found we need
this to be our Sabbath way
for a little while,
for a time

We've found we need
some soul straightening.