We love crackers in our house. We could eat them everyday if allowed (and sometimes I allow it). Since we love crackers, I figured it was time to make one of our favorites, Wheat Thins, from scratch.

These turned out great. Just like Wheat Thins, but better! Isn’t everything homemade better?

I do have one complaint abut these. They were gone way too fast. If my little monkeys are around, they’re gone in about 10 minutes if not sooner. I think I’ve found a solution. Only make these at night when the kiddies are asleep.

Homemade Wheat Thins

recipe from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 & 1/2 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 4 T butter, softened
• 1/4 cup plus 2 T water (and more if needed)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and paprika. Using a pastry blender or two forks cut the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. Then add water and vanilla and work into a smooth dough. Add more water if needed.
3. Split the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough until very, very thin. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into small squares (or whatever shape you want). Put the crackers on the lined baking sheet. Repeat with other dough.
4. Sprinkle more salt over crackers if desired. Bake 8-10 minutes or until crackers are done. You will want to keep a close eye on these. They burn quickly.
5. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Last week we watched The Avengers with the kids. This was the first non-Disney movie we’ve watched with them so, it was sort of a big deal. We had a fun picnic dinner and then I really wanted to make caramel popcorn. As good as it is, I didn’t want all the butter and brown sugar that goes along with it.

As soon as I saw this recipe for Salted Maple Popcorn, I was sold. It was very tasty. It was sweet without being overly sweet. It was a little bit salty. And the best part? (This usually seems to be the best part of my recipes… Lol). The kids loved it and ate it up!

I had a hard time keeping kid fingers out of the popcorn while I was taking pictures. Not a bad problem to have.

Salted Maple Popcorn

recipe from Homestead Revival

Ingredients:

• 1 cup popping corn, unpopped and oil for popping
• 1 T butter
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• sea salt

Directions:

1. Pop popcorn, put in a large bowl, and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter and maple syrup over low heat. Bring to a small boil. Take off heat and add vanilla.
3. Let cool and pour over popcorn. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt.
4. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Okay. So, these are not actually “graham” crackers. There’s no graham flour in them. Instead I used whole wheat flour. But they taste like a graham cracker. Better than a graham cracker actually. A little thicker. A little tastier.

I’m always on the lookout to make things homemade. Bread. Cookies. Crackers. Snacks. I’ve been making these graham crackers for awhile, and thought I would blog about them because they are so good.

I rolled these out to a 8×11″ rectangle. Next time I might roll them out even thinner to get more of that cracker feel. Either way they are really good.

Sometimes I like to sub out the cinnamon for cocoa powder and make chocolate graham crackers. This recipe is so versatile. You could do pretty much whatever you want to. And one of my favorite things? Honey is used in the recipe instead of white sugar. (Although I did sprinkle a tiny bit of cinnamon and sugar on top of the crackers before baking. Yum).

Cinnamon Graham Crackers

recipe from a comment over on 100 Days of Real Food

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey
• a little cinnamon and sugar mixed, to sprinkle on top of the crackers (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the butter and honey. Then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until a ball of dough forms. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of milk to get it to all come together.
4. Press dough into lined baking sheet. This time around my rectangle was 8×11 but next time I might try to get it even thinner.
5. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of dough, and bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are turning light brown and the cracker is set.
6. Immediately out of the oven, cut into whatever shape you want, and enjoy!

– Jill

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So, yesterday on Facebook, someone asked me for a granola bar recipe. Apparently, I don’t have one. I do, however, have these awesome Crunchy Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares. Wow, I forgot about those. They are so awesome!

So, I went on a quest. I wanted granola bars that were made with honey, instead of white sugar. I wanted them somewhat “healthy.” What I found were a lot of recipes with butter (which I was out of), and Rice Krispies (which we rarely have), so I continued to look. And then I found a recipe from Smitten Kitchen (love her!) that was perfect.

I tweaked her recipe a bit, using the ingredients I had on hand (and I bet you have these ingredients on hand, too!). What came out was wonderful chocolatel-y, crispy, healthy goodness.

The mini chocolate chips and craisins make these granola bars slightly sweet, but not overly sweet. These are much better than the store bought bars and my kids loved them. They ate them up, and I had no problem with that.

Make these and you will love them!

Crunchy Granola Bars

recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 & 1/2 cups oats (quick-cooking or instant work best)
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal or wheat germ
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mix-ins (I did mini chocolate chips and craisins, but you can use whatever you want.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir the oats and almonds together in a 8×11″ baking dish and bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly brown and smelling good.
2. While still warm, put the oats and almonds in a large bowl. Mix in the flaxseed. Then stir in the honey, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything is coated in honey goodness.
3. Stir in your chocolate chips and craisins, or whatever mix-ins you want. Press the mixture back into the 8×11″ baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper. You want to press it down really hard to pack it in as tightly as possible. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until slightly brown.
4. Let cool in baking dish for 1-2 hours and then cut into squares using a serrated knife. (Hmmm… I probably should have used a serrated knife. I forgot. Oops!).
5. If you want to keep your granola bars crunchy, keep them in the freezer. If you keep them at room temp., they’ll soften.
6. Enjoy!

– Jill

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We’re still doing the Daniel Fast. Caffeine and sugar headaches are gone. I’m just getting over a cold, so I’m finally starting to feel normal. I will admit though that I can’t wait for a cup of coffee! We’re almost halfway there.

When we need a snack we eat a lot of nuts. Almonds. Cashews. Walnuts. Pistachios. Oh, and we eat a lot of popcorn. A ton! Anyways, I figured it was time to add a little something to our snacks.

I saw this recipe for Roasted Cinnamon Almonds and knew that I needed to try them. I made them and haven’t stopped. They are wonderful. Full of cinnamon flavor with a touch of saltiness makes these almonds the perfect snack!

Make these and you will love them! They’re simple and very tasty. Even my kids gobbled them up and kept asking for more!

Roasted Cinnamon Almonds

recipe from Ultimate Daniel Fast

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole almonds
• 1/2 T olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, toss your almonds with the oil. Add in the cinnamon and salt and mix until almonds are coated.
3. Spread in a single layer on the lined baking sheet. Bake for an hour, stirring every so often.
4. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Last week I was on a mission for something chocolatey. Since we’re on the Daniel Fast, that means it has to contain all natural ingredients. No sugar. No honey. No maple syrup.

These satisfied my chocolate cravings, and the fact that they’re healthy and good for you is a huge bonus.

These are perfect for Valentine’s Day. If you don’t have a heart mold you can use whatever shape you want, even shaping them into a ball is fine.

I think these taste like a dark chocolate chewy granola bar. With a hint of peanut butter. You will love these!

Chocolate Covered Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites

recipe adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 1/4 oats (Sometimes I use all oats and no coconut. If you don’t want coconut, up the oats to 3/4 cup and leave out the coconut)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or cashews, almonds, or pecans)
• 1/2 cup dates (I used raisins)
• 2 T peanut butter, (melted if kept in the fridge)
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 2 T coconut oil, melted
• For the drizzle: 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup cocoa powder (if the drizzle is too dark tasting you could always add in some maple syrup)

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend the oats until they’re finely ground. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the stuff for the drizzle.
2. Shape dough into balls, hearts, or whatever you want and refrigerate for a half hour.
3. Melt 1/4 cup coconut oil and mix with 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Dip hearts into the drizzle and let set up. It shouldn’t take long to harden. I even find that the drizzle is good on ice cream, yogurt, and whatever else you like chocolate syrup on.
4. Keep hearts refrigerated, and enjoy!

– Jill

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I’ve made these like, oh, 10 times since last week. They are just too good not to share.

They’re really good. Really nutritious. Refined sugar free. And since I have the biggest sweet tooth ever, they hit the spot when I’m looking for something sweet.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Balls

recipe slightly adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Put your oats in a food processor or blender and blend until they’re pulverized. Add in the rest of your ingredients and mix until smooth.
2. Shape into balls and try not to eat them all right right away.
3. I like to keep mine in the fridge, but I’m sure they’d be fine in a tupperware on the counter.
4. Enjoy!

– Jill

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