Cheese Crackers

A while ago while I was browsing through some recipes I came across this recipe and I thought why not?! My kids love crackers for a snack and if I can make them far cheaper and preservative free I'm all over it. I used a small flower cookie cutter but if you had a fish cookie cutter you could make them to resemble those fish crackers that kids love so much.

The big test came after they had cooled and I asked my kids to taste one, well one quickly turned into as many as I would give me, lol.

The recipe said to cool the dough for an hour but I didn't have that sort of time so I baked them right away and they turned out really well. I also used only half the recipe because I was low on cheese but really wanted to try them, I was impressed with how many crackers I got with such little ingredients. In fact I might continue to halve the recipe, that way the crackers are always fresh. I also found the dough to be incredible easy to work with, rolled like a charm and cutting them with the cookie cutter went really quick.

Cheese Crackers

1 stick butter
1/2 lb cheddar cheese
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt

Drop all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until everything is blended. I just let it run for maybe 30 seconds, it actually started to form a dough on it's own. Remove and press into a ball of dough, you might find it a little crumbly but it should still form into a ball. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough to about 1/8" thick, you don't want these too thick. Use what ever cutter you want to cut your crackers. Bake at 325F for about 11 minutes.

*Note: I didn't have any cheddar cheese in the house so I used marble and they tasted great, they still definitely had a cheesy taste to them.

Enjoy!
Tina

Party Pickles

My Mother-in-law gave me this recipe a few years back and it's still a great recipe for canning pickles. We use this as a side dish (instead of a salad) to a broiled chicken recipe that I'll post one of these days. This recipe has a lot of resting time in it, so while it make take you all day to make, it's not hands on the entire time.

Party Pickles

6 litres sliced fresh pickling cucumbers

6 medium onions, sliced

1 medium cauliflower, chopped into bite size pieces

Sliced carrots ( I would do about 2 or 3 but you can adjust to your family's liking)

1-2 red bell peppers, sliced

3 garlic cloves

3 trays ice cubes

Mix and let stand for 3 hours, drain in a colander for 2 1/2 =3 hours

Pickling Juice

5 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp turmic

2 tbsp mustard seed

1 1/2 tsp celery seed

3 cups vinegar

Boil together for a few minutes then add to pickles. Bring this to a boil. Ladel into sterilized jars and seal in a water bath.

Enjoy!

Tina