Going Crackers

Sophie loves to help out in the kitchen and so the other day when it was too rainy to go to the park, I decided to make some homemade crackers for that night's chili. of course Sophie had a ball making and then eating the crackers. We used cookie cutters instead of cutting them into traditional squares. the hardest part was probably getting the dough thin enough. The ones that were too thick didn't crisp up like the others did.

Here is the recipe that we used:

Whole Wheat Crackers

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.

2. Add the wet ingredients and mix well.

3. Roll out as thin as possible and cut into desired shapes.

4. Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for about 12 minutes

5. Let them sit in the oven until they cool. this helps crisp them up.

Food and Clothing

See what Sophie is wearing? I made it. Forget the fact that it was supposed to be a dress and the fact that I totally neglected to finish the arm holes and all in all, not a bad first effort.
We got another delivery from the organic farmer. It is always a surprise what our box will contain, but this week we got green peppers, long, green onions, spinach, burdock root, sweet potatoes and taros. I always enjoy the challenge of figuring out what to make with what we get.
Dinner, or in this case, breakfast for dinner, is served. I found a recipe for hamburger gravy that had sage in it which made it taste a lot like sausage gravy. Hash browns and scrambled eggs rounded it out.

An Experiment In Butter

I had some leftover whipping cream from when I made crepes for the kid's snack the other day and I had just finished up the last of the jar of mayonnaise, so I decided to try making my own butter yesterday. I was also motivated by the fact that I could use the buttermilk that separated from the butter for biscuits or pancakes.

Really clean jar- check. Really cold whipping cream- check. A little elbow grease and I was set. I shook the jar until my arms hurt and then rolled it back and forth on the floor with my feet. I opened it and found- whipped cream. I was tired so I just put it in the refrigerator and forgot about it until after the kids were in bed. Then I brought out the big guns- my hand mixer. It took a while but I finally got a butter like consistency and I put the butter in cheesecloth and squeezed out the buttermilk.

Today's delicious breakfast was worth all the work- buttermilk whole wheat pancakes with homemade butter and maple syrup.