Dunkable

I’m pretty sure if I were to pick my favorite snack as a little girl, it would be graham crackers and milk. And those graham crackers needed to be dunked in the milk until they pretty much fell in to the milk. Then I’d stick my little fingers into the milk and slurp up a mushy graham cracker. Ohhh so good.

Well, here’s a delicious recipe for homemade graham crackers! Very dunkable.

Graham Crackers

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup agave syrup or honey

Preheat oven to about 300 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix the four dry ingredients together and then cut in the room temperature butter. At this point, I used my hands :) It will start to get a bit crumbly. Then add the agave or honey and get it all well combined. Divide into two mounds of dough and roll out onto the two cookie sheets. Roll out to desired thickness (they can be pretty thin). It might help to flour your roller and pan. If you’d like, draw cutting lines with a butter knife and poke some fork holes into the crackers.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and let cool completely before breaking apart.

Get dunking!

Liquid Diet: Part 2

I hope you enjoyed the fresh orange juice and Orange-Banana smoothie. Let me know if you tried them!

First up today on our liquid diet is some cran-orange juice. My mom got a bag of cranberries from her co-op and we already had a big box of oranges. So what better way to use them!

We used about 10-11 oranges to one bag of cranberries. It was a bit tart, but definitely a hit among the family at Sunday dinner.

I love the rich redish pink color.

Next stop: pumpkin graham smoothie

Yes, it is as good as it sounds. My mom even said she felt like she was eating a dessert – so I’d recommend making it some time when you are looking for a sweet treat that isn’t so bad for you! After all, pumpkin has a host of health benefits.

Start out with 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree and a sliced banana to pop in the freezer for about an hour or two.

Once frozen, get the other ingredients you will need: milk, 2 graham crackers, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.

In a blender combine the 3/4 c. pumpkin, one banana, and a cup of milk. Blend until smooth. Then add 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, and one crushed graham cracker.

Blend until smooth. Pour into a small cup (you only need about a half a cup serving, it is plenty sweet) and top with some crushed graham cracker and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

There ya go, folks! Pumpkin pie in a cup! And a whole lot healthier! (about 100 calories per cup)

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Bake On: Second Stop

After making the 1st stop, Carrot Cake Muffin Bars, I decided to try out some Graham Crackers. I had tried graham crackers in the past, but they never came out crunchy like a cracker, more like a cookie. So I gave it another go.

I took the recipe and make it my own, and this is what I came up with:

1 1/2 c. wheat flour
2 T. brown sugar
3 T. honey
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. coconut oil 
2 T. maple syrup (or molasses)
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. milk

In one bowl, combine the wheat, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the middle to pour the oil, syrup and vanilla in to. Mix the liquids together a bit, then mix with the dry ingredients.

At this point, you should just start using your hands :) Slowly drizzle the milk in while mixing the all the ingredients.

After adding all the milk, you should be able to make the dough into a ball and place it on some parchment paper.

Roll out using a rolling pin or cup until the dough is about 1/8 in thick. Then cut off the edges to make a straight rectangle and begin slicing into the size crackers you would like.

Once you have the dough cut, use a slick spatula to transfer to your cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Use the dough from the edges that you trimmed off to roll out and make some more. Just keep doing that until all the dough is used.

Since the dough is so thin it is super flimsy. So be careful transferring…and don’t be afraid of weird shapes. It will still taste great! You can fork them to look like graham crackers even more!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 14 minutes for crispy crackers (less if you want them more cookie like).

Finished product! Enjoy!