Homemade Whole Wheat Cheese Crackers

Who doesn’t like snappy oyster cracker in a creamy chowder or a light saltine in a brothy soup?  Crackers are among the many fun accessories soup lovers have been adorning their bowls with since the dawn of time.  Maybe not the dawn of time, but I’m sure it’s been going on for a while.  This week I decided to fashion my own accessory in the form of a homemade cheese cracker or, Cheez-it.  I started on this project saying, “I’ll make a nice healthy cracker by using wheat flour instead of white.”  Well by the end of creating this cracker I ended up using a stick of butter. So much for being healthy.  Nonetheless, all that butter made for a delicious, light (texture not calorie) snack.

What you’ll need:  ¾ cup wheat flour, ½ cup cheddar cheese (shredded), 1 stick butter, ¼ tsp garlic salt, kosher salt, water (tsp at a time)

1.  Put all of the ingredients except for the water in a food processor and pulse until mixture looks sandy. 2.  While processing, add water until the mixture starts to bind together.  I barely used a teaspoon of water before the mixture binded together. 3.  Form mixture into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. 4. After 20 minutes, take mixture out of refrigerator and roll out onto a clean surface using a rolling pin.  You want the thickness to be less than a biscuit dough and more than a sheet of pasta.  It should resemble the thickness of pie crust, perhaps. 5.  Next, cut into any shape you want.  I did squares by cutting the mixture into strips and then the opposite direction for squares.  6. Place squares onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Sprinkle kosher salt on to each cracker before baking.  7.  Bake in a 325 degree preheated oven for about 10 minutes.  You want them to be brown but not too brown. 8.  Let cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

Crap in My Kitchen: Fried Caprese Salad

So when I’m left with the dilemma of wanting to consistently post delicious recipes on BS but have not A) planned ahead and shopped for the ingredients and B) am broke until the next day, what is a girl to do?  Well, she goes shopping in her refrigerator.  I’m the type of person that has all intentions of going to the grocery store and shopping for the entire week’s meals but just end up going everyday for an ingredient for a new recipe idea.  Because of that, I’ve acquired quite a bit of different ingredients.  So yesterday when I was thinking of something to make for today’s post I came up with a new series I like to call “Crap in my Kitchen.”  Basically, I have to make a wonderful meal out of whatever I find in my kitchen.  I pretty much think I excelled in my first CIMK mission with this lovely Fried Caprese Salad.  

Who doesn’t love fried cheese?  If you find that person, slap them for me because that’s just insane.  Anywho, I took some leftover mozzarella from the stuffed pepper post and created this masterpiece of fried deliciousness.

Ingredients

1 ball of fresh mozzarella
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ panko bread crumbs
1-2 tsp italian seasoning
1 egg
1 tbs water
1 tomato sliced
3 leaves of basil
leftover roasted red pepper sauce
oil for shallow frying

Quick Balsamic Vinaigrette

3 tbs balsamic vinegar
3 tbs EVOO
1 tbs honey
1 tbs dijon mustard
(put all of these ingredients together, whisk well and refrigerate)

1.  Slice a medium ball of mozzarella into medium thick slices.  They should look like small frisbees.
2.  Prepare your dipping station.  Prepare three separate bowls, one with flour, one with whisked egg and water, and the last with the breadcrumbs.
3.  Season the flour and breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
4. First dip your mozzarella in the flour, then the egg, and then breadcrumbs.
5. Place all of your mozzarella disks (all of which have been dipped) into the freezer for about 20 minutes.
6.  After 20 minutes, take the disks out and repeat steps 4 and 5.
7.  Heat a large frying pan with an inch of oil.  You want about medium, high heat.  Once oil is heated stick the disks of mozzarella into the oil and fry each side for about 30 seconds.
8.  Let oil drain off of disks before preparing your plate.  Heat up your leftover red pepper sauce and place a little on a plate.  Arrange mozzarella disks with the tomato and basil (i.e. Cheese, then basil, then tomato)
9.  Drizzle your dressing on top and enjoy.

Pumpkin Soup Shooters

Ingredients

½ onion chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 tbs oil
3-4 cups chicken stock
1 can pumpkin
2 tbs coconut creme
1 tsp nutmeg
½ cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the first 3 ingredients in the oil until translucent and tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Once veggies are soft, add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
3. Next, add 1 can pumpkin puree and simmer on medium, low for 10-15 minutes.
4. After 15 minutes, add nutmeg, cream and half and half.
5. Cook for another 10 minutes or so.  Next, let the mixture cool for about 5 minutes and blend in a blender or use an immersion blender to get contents smooth.
6.  Finally, pour mixture into shot glasses and enjoy!

Summer Spreads!

Whoa! It's been a hot minute since I've made a new post.  Lord knows I love having my very own place to say whatever moves me but it's a lot of work keeping up a blog.  With that being said, here's at least three posts in one.  

1. Lox Cream Cheese: smoked salmon, cream cheese, green onions
2. Cilantro Pesto: Cilantro, garlic, parmesan, olive oil, sunflower seeds
3. Olive Tapenade: olives, anchovy paste, garlic, shallot, olive oil

It's ridiculous how easy these spreads are.  Just throw the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until desired consistency.  The lox cream cheese is obviously heaven on an everything bagel. As for the cilantro pesto, my tacos have never been happier and french bread doesn't make sense without my olive tapenade.