Homemade Cheese Crackers

My sister needed a babysitter for tonight so I thought it would be the perfect time to make these homemade crackers, because who can resist 2 kids who love to help out in the kitchen?

For both of them being under the age of 10, it was a fairly easy (and entertaining for them) experience and they got to help with practically everything.

Little hands using mini cutters make this part a breeze, just sit back and help when needed 

(when the dough got stuck in the cutter)

The ingredients are simple and basic:

8 oz package of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons water and a half stick of unsalted butter (4 Tablespoons)

Dump all the ingredients into the food processor and pulse until it's all mixed and looks like sand then add the water and pulse some more until it's all mixed in.  Pop in into a plastic bag and toss it in the fridge for about a half an hour, or a little less if the little ones are getting a bit impatient to start cutting.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Roll out the dough until it's nice and thin and use mini cookie cutters to make fun shapes or just use a pizza cutter to make squares.

Place the pieces onto a lined baking sheet and pop them into the oven for about 10 min or until they start to get a nice golden brown color.

Fun shapes ready to go to the oven

Fresh from the oven, some were thicker than others but still yummy

The kids really liked the end result and my mother and sister both said that they were better than goldfish and cheese-its. The big kid in my household, aka John, likes them as well. By slowly having him try these homemade versions of his favorite snack foods I'm getting him to eat more healthy alternatives to processed store-bought foods. Plan on making another batch soon and giving him some that are all made using the heart cutter for Valentine's Day.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we are,

Jessa

Seared mahi mahi with spinach ravioli and fresh broccoli

I had planned on making a family favorite for dinner tonight but while we were out John spotted some fresh fish. Once I spotted what fish he was looking at I decided to throw my original plans out the window. I'm not a huge fan of most fish but absolutely LOVE mahi mahi. It had a wonderful natural flavor that's not overpowering. Once I realized how he was planning on cooking it (throwing it in the oven in some tin foil and lots of spices and veggies) I promptly took over. 

I heated up a large frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and let it get nice and hot before throwing both huge fillets in. Once seared on the one side I flipped it over to sear the other side. Turned the heat down to medium-low and let it cook all the way through. I sprinkled a pinch of kosher salt over each and some fresh ground pepper and let it simmer away while I cooked the rest of the food. 

The oven got preheated to 350F and went to cut up some of my homemade bread for the garlic bread. Just spread a little butter on the bread, generously sprinkle garlic power over the top, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and 10-15 min later it's done and delicious. 

I found some wonderful organic spinach and cheese ravioli that I cooked up to go along with our dinner and because I was in a veggie mood I steamed some fresh broccoli as well. 

John wanted some sautéed peppers and onions to go with his fish so while everything else was cooking I pulled out a second frying pan, added a little bit of olive oil and sautéed the peppers and onions he had chopped for me. 

I made up his plate and one for me that had the peppers and onions on the side and tucked in to my yummy meal. Before John could try a bit with all the peppers and onions I gave him a bite of my plain fish and sat back and enjoyed as his eyes went wide and he exclaimed "Wow, that tastes really good!!" He also enjoyed the fish with the added veggies as well. 

I have a feeling that sometime soon he will be surprising me with more Mahi Mahi to make for him for dinner. 

He laughs at the fact that I'd look at him strange if he ever brought me flowers but get happy over cooking and baking ingredients and cookware and accessories. It's part of what makes me who I am and neither of us would change that one bit. 

As always I look forward to hearing what you have to say. 

Until next time,

Jessa

Southern style Breakfast- Biscuits and gravy

John loves biscuits and gravy, so this morning I decided to spoil him a bit and make him his favorite breakfast.  It was fairly quick and easy and hearing that it was the best biscuits and gravy he's ever eaten basically guarantees that I'll make it for him again.

Homemade Buttermilk biscuits and Sausage Gravy with dippy eggs

The first thing I did was take the sausage and throw it into my large cast iron skillet and let that cook up on med heat while I prepared the biscuits.

Buttermilk biscuits:

Preheat the oven to 425F.

In large mixing bowl, add 2 cups of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and whisk together.  Because I was using powered buttermilk (it was all I had on hand at the moment) I put 4 Tablespoons of the powered buttermilk in the flour mixture at this point and whisked it together.

Next you add 1 T of cold butter and 3 T of shortening (I use the Crisco sticks for easy measuring) and cut it into the flour mixture.

Gently mix 1 cup of water in and stir until mixed, be sure to gently mix it or the biscuits can end up hard and tough.

Put the mix on a floured surface and gently pat it down until it's about an inch thick, then using a sharp cutter (or if you forgot where you put them like I did, use a sharp knife) and cut the biscuits without twisting the cutter.

Transfer to well greased baking sheet and pop it into the oven for 10 min.

They came out a nice golden color while being soft and moist in the middle.

While the biscuits were in the oven I once again turned my attention back to the gravy.
The sausage was all nice and cooked (I would pause in the biscuit making to quickly turn the sausage so it would cook all the way through and not burn) so I cut it up into crumbles and then using a slotted spoon removed the crumbles from the pan.  If you have a lot of grease in the pan drain it until you have aprox 1 Tablespoon left then mix in 1/4 cup flour and using a whisk combine the two into a fairly smooth paste.  Next step is adding 2 cups of milk and cooking the gravy over med heat, whisking it constantly so it doesn't burn or clump.  After a minute I added an additional Tablespoon of flour and continued to whisk so it was combined with no clumps.  This step takes about 5 minutes or so and you keep whisking it until it starts to thicken up.  When it gets thick, turn off the heat add a pinch of salt and about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of fresh-ground pepper, I use a lot because John loves pepper in his food. Add the sausage crumbles and the gravy is ready for the biscuits that should be done now.

John's new favourite sausage gravy

Crumble the biscuits on a plate and pour the gravy over it and breakfast is ready!


I made enough biscuits that there are enough left over to make a yummy desert with them tonight, if they last that long.

Hope you enjoy this as much as John did

Jessa