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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easy cheese crackers - a fun snack


Easy Cheesy Crackers

Ingredients
  • 1 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into tablespoon size chunks
  • 4 oz. or 1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese…the sharper the cheese the cheesier the crackers
(Yep, that’s it…only 3 simple ingredients!)



Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine all three ingredients in a food processor and blend. The mixture will eventually turn into one big ball chasing itself around the bowl. Be patient because it can take a few minutes.
  3. Roll the ball into a log about 1 ½” in diameter. At this point you could refrigerate the dough until later.
  4. With a sharp knife slice ¼” thick pieces off the log (pictured) and place each one flat on an ungreased baking sheet. Try to rotate which side you are cutting down on because the top of the log does start to flatten a little. It is like your very own homemade slice and bake!
  5. If you want your crackers to look a little fancy (as pictured above) take a fork and gently mash down the top of each one before baking.
  6. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes or until golden brown.
These crackers can be stored in the freezer so double the recipe and save some for later!
Yield: Two dozen

 

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Long time no post!

I recently watched some documentaries on food and health.  It got me to thinking that some of my many migraines lately might be due to all of this baking.  White flour and sugar ...apparently not the best for you.  I often use whole wheat flour and raw sugar but rarely do I exclusively use these alone.  I read something about 60 percent of our diets should be raw whole foods.  Totally makes sense but it's actually not easy to do in America.

My solution was to purchase a juicer to add in the nutrients of live whole raw foods.  It came last Wednesday and I have to say I'm impressed.  Within minutes I was drinking 6 carrots and an apple.  My skin feels tingly and I actually don't think I needed blush (after two days) for the first time in my life. 

Now I'm on a quest to try everything as juice.  Carrots are delicious when juiced.  I never really loved carrots but would eat them because I knew they were good for you. Throw in some spinach...doesn't really taste different but now I'm getting the vitamins from spinach.  Wow.

So Easter is coming.  Why not grow wheat grass to display the eggs and then juice it when done?  I am very skeptical that I will like drinking wheat grass but I'm am positive I can throw in an apple or pear and it will taste great!

Choosing a juicer...I wish I could have found one a little cheaper but I'm positive I made the right choice in purchasing the Omega 8006.  The juice yield is quite high, it's quiet, and best of all, super easy to clean.  The 8004 is $50 cheaper but it was white and some people said that the carrots can stain it.  I rarely get juice on that part of the machine so I wouldn't worry about that, now that I have one.

Omega 8006 Juicer

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
  • 4 cups all purpose flour (I use 3.5 and .5 cup whole wheat flour)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom or coriander (optional)
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and cardamom until blended.  Cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly.  Beat egg into buttermilk and mix into dry ingredients until blended.  Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth.

Divide dough in half and shape into a smooth round loaf in a greased cake or pie pan.  Cut crosses into top of loaves.

Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly browned.




Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes and Carrots cooked for 12 hours in a crock pot

Shamrock Cookies

Hello Dolly Dancers from 2 years ago...the kids have grown but it still makes me laugh