HOMEMADE CRACKERS (scroll down for cheese spread recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark rye flour
3 1/2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tbsp kosher salt (or less if you want a more neutral cracker)
2/3 cup water
2 1/2 tbsp Nori Komi Furikake (Rice Seasoning)

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 450F.
• Combine all of the dry ingredients either in a bowl or in a food processor
• Add the wet ingredients and stir to combine
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 minutes
• Divide the dough into 4 pieces, roll each into a ball, cover and let rest for 30 minutes
• Roll the ball out to about 1/4 inch. And no, you don’t need a pasta maker to do this; a rolling pin works just fine. Continue to roll the dough out until it is as thin as you can get it while still being able to pick it up.
• Transfer the dough to a pizza stone (strongly preferred) or lightly greased backing sheet (this is all I had, so I used this)
• Use a large knife to score dough where you want to break it into pieces. You’ll need to score so deeply that you nearly cut all the way through.
• Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Watch while baking, as the crackers can go from done to overdone in about 30 seconds.
• Remove from baking surface and let cool before breaking.
• Repeat with the remaining 3 balls of dough.

-- The dough refrigerates and freezes extremely well, so feel free to set some of the dough aside for later. You can also easily halve or double the recipe. --

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GARLIC & CHIVE CHEESE SPREAD (Better than Rondelle)

INGREDIENTS:
1 package of fat free cream cheese - softened to room temperature
2 tbsp minced fresh chives
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried ground oregano
1/2 tsp dried ground rosemary

DIRECTIONS:
Mix all ingredients in bowl, make sure all ingredients get incorporated throughout the cream cheese. Once it is mixed well, refrigerate for at least an hour for the flavors to combine.

Today we took a day trip to Twin Falls, Idaho. It was beautiful and amazing! I love the rainbows!

I have a hodge-podge of fruit in my fridge this week, so.... I decided to make some fruit roll-ups.

I am making 6 different kinds. Here are the ingredients for each one.

I blended each set of ingredients in my blender.

1 apple, 2 cups fresh strawberries, 1/4 chia seeds, 1 kiwi, 2 tbsp Splenda* (I used Splenda to help cut the acidity of the kiwis)

1 cup fresh cranberries, 1 1/2 apples, 1 kiwi, 2 bananas, 2 tbsp chia seeds

2 kiwis, 1 apple, 1 cup fresh strawberries, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 cup fresh cranberries, 2 tbsp Splenda*

1/2 cup fresh cranberries, 2 kiwis, 2 cups fresh strawberries, 2 bananas, 2 tbsp chia seeds

2 apples, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp splenda*

5 ripe bananas, 1/2 cup almonds, 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, 4 tbsp splenda*, 3 tbsp milled flax seed

They are all on different trays. Temp at 135 degrees. Will check after 4 hours to see if I can flip them so they get fully dehydrated on both sides.

See you in about 4 hours :)

Update: After 5 hours, they were still a little wet on the tops, so I left them in for a couple more hours. That seemed to do the trick. I flipped them all and left in for an hour or so longer (the Chocolate Banana Nut one took quite a bit longer - about 9 hours in total - but totally worth it!)

Dehydrating times may vary depending on your dehydrator, your climate and the moisture levels of your fruits. Make sure to check on them during the process to make sure not to over dry - which will make them brittle. Have fun and Happy Dehydrating!

----------  A NOTE ABOUT SPLENDA ----------
I know most people are not a fan of Splenda and you can definitely make these without the use of Splenda, just substitute with your sweetener of choice or just leave the sweetners out completely. I personally use Splenda because I can not eat Sugar - and most of these roll ups I can only eat a little at a time because of the high concentrate of fruit sugars. I am still in the process of trying other sugar alternatives but since I live in a rural area I have to order them over the Internet since they only sell Splenda at our Lil market.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:  
Using a mixer, beat all the ingredients except the flour. Slowly mix in the flour. Knead dough well. Let rise to double in size in a bowl, about an hour or so (cover the bowl with a light, clean towel).

Punch dough down. Divide into two. Roll each piece of dough into a large circle to about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick. 

Cut the dough like pizza, making 16 small or 8 large rolls per circle.

Well I realized today that it has been a while since I posted an update about our garden. There are some things that are coming up nicely...and then there are others that are being eaten by bugs. I am getting so frustrated with those little flea beetles! They have invaded my radishes, and have now appeared up in the front yard in my containers for bok choy, arugula, and endive. I feel like I have tried every organic way to get rid of them and still I am being defeated by the little buggers. But I keep going and rejoice in the ones they haven't gotten their grubby "hands" on.

The pumpkins are doing well, as are the cucumbers, watermelons, and potatoes. The cilantro is about 2.5 tacos worth :). I still have my tomatoes and peppers in containers waiting to be put in the ground. I have a perfect spot for them, I just need to clear out the weeds and millet.

We spent the morning in the garden and then when it got into the high 90's we decided to stay inside the rest of the day. One of our good friends, who just returned from vacation, invited us over for lunch and dinner. So I grabbed the French bread I made, the Garlic & Herb cheese spread, and a jar of granola (as a gift) and headed over to spend some quality time of friendship! It was a great day! The Lord has been providing some awesome friends that have come beside me and my hubby during our loss. And we are truly grateful.

I made a meatball pizza with one of the balls of dough! It was very yummy!!

Makes 2 dough balls, enough for 2 medium pizzas

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast
2-2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups rye flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup *sun dried tomatoes (ground into flakes or powder)

Directions:
Place 2 cups of the bread flour, the rye flour, the yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix briefly on low speed.

Add the olive oil to the water, and then, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour the water mixture into the flour mixture. Once the ingredients are well combined, turn off the mixer and switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough on low speed until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. If the dough seems overly sticky, you can add the remaining 1/4 cup of bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, during the kneading process. (At this point, you can freeze half or all of the dough. Freezing directions are below.)

Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

To assemble pizzas, roll each half of the dough out into a 14-inch circle. (I use a combination of rolling with a rolling pin and stretching the dough with my hands.) Place dough on a piece of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with cornmeal, and place the parchment paper on a baking sheet. Top pizza as desired.

To bake pizza, preheat a pizza stone in a 500 degree oven for at least 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and slide the pizza and parchment paper onto the stone, using the baking sheet to help with the transfer. Bake until the cheese begins to brown and the crust edges are golden, about 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand a few minutes before slicing.

To freeze pizza dough: After kneading, divide the dough in half and form each half into a smooth, round ball. Dust each dough ball with flour and place in a zip-top plastic bag; place dough in freezer. Pizza dough can be frozen for up to one month. To use, thaw dough in refrigerator overnight, and then let it warm up on the counter for about 2 hours before using.

Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.

*I used the sun dried tomatoes that I dried this last fall. I did not pack them in oil, I figured they would last longer if I use kept them dried out.