Cheese Crackers

With this whole journey to eating real food, I have more than myself to consider.  I am fortunate to have a son who, at 7 months, has been breastfed from day one and has only eaten a few fruits and vegetables (so, in other words, a clean slate) and a daughter who loves food and eats pretty much anything.  I, however, have a husband who is very fond of junk-food.  

After seeing Food, Inc. he is completely on board for the major changes ahead, but is a bit apprehensive of what this will look like in real life.  I cook dinners from scratch, so these will be fairly simple to change.  We will likely eat less poultry and meat, as free-range/ organic/ grass fed is expensive and it will be cost-prohibitive to eat daily.  Currently we eat at least one meatless dinner meal per week, so eating a couple more meatless meals will only be a minor change.

Breakfast is another story.  We currently eat free-range organic eggs and organic milk, so these will not be an added expense, but Eden and Brandon enjoy cereal.  I am thinking homemade granola and milk may be a good substitute.  I know there are also basic organic equivalents to the major cereals, so that would also be an option.  I am also shopping around for fairly traded coffee.  

A major concern for Brandon is, what will his work lunches look like?  Right now, he is usually taking a sandwich with deli meat or PB&J (or sometimes he takes supper leftovers), crackers or chips, fruit, and some sort of dessert (often pudding).  This will basically ALL have to change.  Our current bread brand is better than some when you read the ingredient list, not organic, though.  Deli meat may become a thing of the past, though I have found free-range local deli turkey loaf (not sliced) from Quail Cove Farms.  Anyone know how to cut it?  Peanut butter... #2 ingredient in our brand is HFCS (high fructose corn syrup... thanks Monsanto!).  I'm not sure what to do here.  I have never really loved peanut butter.  My mom made ours and made it with no sweetener and you had to stir the oil in and I just always thought it was gross.  I would be okay with stirring it if it had some sweetness.  Maybe honey?  Jelly/ jam is easy, I make it every year!

So this brings me to today's experiment!  I made crackers!  They were very simple to make and took no time.  The family really liked them and I think I can play with adding different things to get some really great flavors!  Here is the basic recipe:

2 cups flour (whole wheat if you want)
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs butter
up to 1 cup milk

Combine salt and flour
Cut in butter
Add milk until doughy (not sticky)
Roll out PAPER THIN on a cookie sheet
Score and prick with a fork
Bake at 300F for 20 min

I added 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese and 1/4 tsp cayenne to mine and they are YUM!!

Okay, enough for now.  Thanks for reading! :)