What If Cheez-Its Qualified As "Healthful"?

The proverbial baton has officially been passed in our house. Tired of bad-for-you processed foods, and longing to satisfy that salty/crunchy craving, Caelyn did a Google search yesterday and happened upon a recipe for homemade crackers. (Bless her heart. If she would have asked me, I could have shown her that I already have a few of these. Still, it was nice to return from an afternoon outing with Craig and find a batch of fresh crackers in the kitchen.)

She modified the recipe a bit and made two versions: with and without herbs. They ended up tasting a bit like Cheez-Its, only much better. I only regret that I didn't have some yummy dip or spread prepared.

Not quite a decade ago, when I first made the switch to fresh grains and started ridding our pantry of center-aisle fare, I purchased an invaluable resource that has taught me how to read labels. (I'm now experiencing a little buyer's envy since discovering that this book has been drastically updated.) It never occurred to me that I should have the rest of my family refer to this handy little book to learn how we've been poisoning our bodies with shelf-life "food". Finding that Caelyn has taken interest in abstaining from harmful ingredients, I remembered the Food Additives book and showed it to her this morning. She was shocked to see what's in those chocolate-covered Oreos Dad's been bringing home on a dangerously regular basis these days. (Please, don't ask me if I've eaten them, and I won't tell.)

When I asked Caelyn where she got her inspiration to make crackers, she answered that she had been browsing Passionate Homemaker's nutrition articles. She can't remember which one it was that triggered the "oil" train of thought, which led her to search for recipes, so I've just provided the link to Lindsay's nutrition posts. Before visiting the link, be sure to clear a space of time. There's a veritable treasure trove of helpful topics to give anyone's dietary habits an overhaul!

We arrived just as she was rolling this out.

It was such a treat to satisfy a craving with a guilt-free option.

In case you're interested, the recipe was originally found on allrecipes.com; but Caelyn modified it a bit. With her permission, I'll share it with you here (have fun personalizing yours by adding a variety of spices and such):

Unnamed Yummy Crackers

(we couldn't agree on a name)

3 1/2 C of flour (I mixed millet with white wheat)
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 cup of water
1 tsp of Salt

Mix all those ingredients together (I added shredded cheddar and herbs). Spread out to max of 1/8" thick, put on a non-greased pan, and score the dough with a butter knife, but make sure you don't cut it completely through. Then sprinkle salt over the tops and jab the dough with a fork. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min.

Enjoy!