Homemade Crackers

Inspired by the film Julie and Julia I began thumbing through my cookbooks. This morning the kids and I tried out the Moosewood Cookbook's homemade sesame crackers. I couldn't find the tiny animal cutters but the big circle cutter inspired a few moon and crescents...then an "O" and "Z". The recipe was simple tasty. Bye-bye overpriced organic store bought crackers...

Back in December once the cookies came out of the oven I set them on the counter, packed the kids into the car and headed downtown to Paul's office for their holiday party. When we returned the cookies were gone and our dog Glacier sheepishly greeted us. Since raisins/grapes are toxic to dogs it was off to the emergency vet. It was a stressful week of an overnight stay at the emergency vet and many trips back to our family vet all the while hoping she wouldn't develop kidney failure. Needless to say, in all my excitement about starting this blog I forgot to push the cookies far enough back on the counter and nearly lost my dear Glacier. Now, months later I begin again while remaining more mindful of my surroundings as well as my joy in sharing what is happening in our lives.

The whole purpose of the original batch of cookies was to test out the recipe prior to the kids second birthday cookie decorating party on the morning of Christmas Eve. Yes, poor kids not only have to share a birthday with each other but a major holiday as well. The second time around we used dried blueberries for eyes. With four dozen cookies baked are ready for decorating we rolled up the rug and filled up our home with a dozen kids and nearly twice as many parents all equipped with icing and sprinkles.  It was the perfect combination of mess and fun. In lieu of the typical birthday cake candles we lit the kids' birthday ring and everyone ate the cookies they decorated...seemed like a great start to a birthday celebration tradition.

This morning after playing in the rainy backyard for a while, Oliver and Zala decorated gingerbread people for the first time. It turned out to be a great recipe for the kids. The dough was easy to roll, the raisins (cut in half) were easy to push into the dough and the cookies remained soft when cool.

http://babyparenting.about.com/b/2009/11/21/making-gingerbread-men-and-houses-with-toddlers.htm