Tasteful Tuesday

Today's recipe is for snack crackers. I know, you can buy these fairly inexpensively from the store but believe me, it is litteraly less than 10 minutes to get these into the oven and you know exactly what is going into them. You can use white or wheat flour. These ones were made with white flour since it was the first time I made them. But I have made them with wheat flour and they were still great. Just remember to roll until they are very thin. My kids demolished the whole pan in minutes!

Homemade Crackers

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together. Roll out thinly between a piece of parchment and wax paper(divide into 2 balls if you need to to get them thin). Leave on parchment paper and transfer to baking sheet. Cut into squares (no need to seperate, they will shrink as they bake) and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with sea salt and any other desired spices. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy. If they are getting brown but aren't crispy, turn oven off and let them sit in there for a few minutes.

Tasteful Tuesday

Today I am posting another snack recipe. I am always on the look out for a quick easy snack for the kids. This is one that they can help make. These really were very tasty. I also posted a recipe for Tuscan-Lentil Soup on my food blog. Mike and I thought it was very good and talk about a great powerhouse dinner....full of lentils and veggies. Our oldest ate it up and thought it was good...the others, not so much. Hope you have a great day!

Quick, Soft Pretzels

1/2 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons yeast

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups flour

Combine water and yeast until bubbly. Then add rest of ingredients. You want to incorporate as much of the flour as you can. Let dough rest 5 min. Divide into 10-12 balls. Roll into ropes and twist into pretzel shape. You can then use milk to paint over the top with pastry brush and then top with coarse salt or you can do an egg wash (1 egg white with 1 Tablespoon water). These are also yummy topped with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 400 for 15-18 min. on a lightly greased cookie sheet. These make a great snack or even a quick bread to go with dinner.

Tasteful Tuesday

So sorry about last week. I have been ignoring many things in my life. For some reason I have been having a very hard time getting into the spirit of Christmas this year....I haven't even really begun my shopping or decorating. As a family we are doing a service project next week and I hope that it will get me more in the mood. Hopefully I can at least begin my list of things to do before then! Anyway, since I left you hanging last week, I thought I would be nice and give you three things today. It seems like I am always looking for snacks for the kids. I have been trying to be more healthy but they don't always want to eat carrot sticks for their after school snack. These three recipes I pull out fairly often and the kids inhale them everytime. The pizza bites I often make and then put them in the kids lunches or even in the freezer to pull out for something quick to munch on. I might be one of the last people to stumble onto this way of making popcorn but I thought I would share it anyways. And the granola bars?...quick, yummy and usually gone in a flash!

Microwave Popcorn

Add enough popcorn kernals to make single layer on the bottom of a brown paper bag. Fold top over the bag and put in microwave for 2-3 minutes. When it is finished popping you can pour into a bowl and either pour on your own butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray and then shake on some butter flavoring or salt. Quick and easy and much better than "real" microwave popcorn.

Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups quick oats

1/2 cup rice krispies

1/4 cup coconut

1/2 cup m&m's or choc. chips

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all together and press into 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 18-20 min. Let cool 5 min and score into bars. Cool completely and cut apart.

Pizza Bites

(makes a lot!)

1 3/4 cups warm water

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons yeast

Mix and rest 15 min. Then add:

1/2 tablespoon salt

2 eggs

5 1/2 cups flour

Roll out or shape into small balls, then flatten

Fill with cheese cubes, pepperoni, pineapple, etc

Close dough around filling and let rise 10 min. Bake at 425 for 10-15 min.