Good Morning! I slept until 7 this morning because I was up until 11 making crackers with the husband. WOW, these are AMAZING!!!!!!!!
I unfortunately have no photo of the uncountable number of crackers I ate last night (including 2 in dough-form) but I could not stop eating these they were so delicious. Doughy, yet crispy, and full of whole wheat nutty flavor. And VERY easy to make if you have a coffee grinder (or some way to grind seeds). Our batch made about 90 crackers, which broke them down to about 20 kcal and .5 a gram of fiber a piece. Not bad!
Get It Done
We have a lot to do today to prepare for our company and the rest of the weekend, so we decided to head to the gym first thing. I did 30 minutes on the Stairmaster, 20 on the ET and we did some upper body lifting together on the machines: chest, shoulders, pullups, dips.
I had half a potato bun with PB&J before I left. The husband is making another batch of these today. If you are a dough person, you MUST make these. They are a dough-lovers delight and are so chewy and light.
Fuel
Here’s my fuel for the first half of the day filled with cleaning, grocery shopping and non-stop chores:
Kath Classic made with a large banana, a pinch of salt (I don’t think I noticed a difference with today’s amount. I’m doing the 3 bears of salt– first too much, then too little!), vanilla, flax, walnuts, almond butter.
With hot tea –
Every Gym’s Nightmare
If you like to exercise (or hate it!), our own certified personal trainer, Kelly T, has started a blog focused on exercise. She would love to answer> some of your burning questions!
Spring Break Plans
We’re going to a breast cancer fundraising dinner tonight with my parents, who are coming in town from Hillsborough, my MIL, and my sister at Davidson. First we’re going to walk around the Davidson campus and meet my parents for a drink. Then my parents are staying the night, and we’re all going to lunch at my MIL’s tomorrow and hopefully watching DUKE play! Sunday night we’re cooking for my parents. My dad is leaving early Monday morning and my mom is staying with me for a day of mother-daughter bonding shopping and of course going out to lunch 🙂 Monday night we’re cooking for our mom’s and then on Tuesday I’m driving my mom up to Greensboro to drop her off at my dad’s office. Whew!! The rest of my break will be spent working on my 2 big projects, and of course relaxing. I’d love to do a little baking of my own!! Next Saturday we’re going out with blog friends, and then Sunday we’re planning to cook a ham!
I’m off to go grocery shopping and to Costco – trying to spend as little $$ as possible!
Hope you guys have a fun-filled Saturday!
Gemma says
How the heck do you already know what you are cooking for NEXT Sunday???
PS- Love the comment about the 3 bears…made me chuckle
Romina says
Ooh crackers! Those must have been so much fun to make. =) What better way to stay up than by baking??
Sounds like you have great plans for your break.
Kath says
Gemma,
Next Sunday is Easter!! It’s traditional to cook ham 🙂
K
Ashley H says
sounds like tons of fun!
Oh and by the way its impossible to spend a little bit of money at COSTCo we call it the $100 store bc you cant leave without spending at least $100! 😉
Sylvia says
Hi Kath. I’ve been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now and I figured it was time I posted and said thanks. You blog has given me the extra oomph of motivation to start really becoming aware of what I eat, exercising regularly again, and documenting everything I’m doing to make these changes. Plus it provides daily culinary inspiration — your classic oats are quickly becoming a morning staple!
So thank you for sharing all these tips and anecdotes and ups-and-downs. Just wanted you to know you’ve made a really positive impact on someone. 🙂
Katie F says
The crackers look awesome! I think this is the first recipe of the husband’s that doesn’t totally intimidate me, so I might need to try it! How long did it take to make them?
Ally says
Those crackers look so great! I slept in as well this morning, but my idea of sleeping in is missing my 8 o’clock alarm… by three hours!
It sounds like you have an action packed Spring Break! Since my break starts soon, I think i will attempt to make those potato buns. They just look so good and chewy!
Have a great Saturday!
Tara says
Kath,
I always hear you talk about going out with blog friends. Next time you and Matt make your way out to Napa, feel free to email me! It would be nice to meet you!
Betsy says
wow. i’ve never thought of making crackers! what a fun little project! they look perfect…and who doesn’t love a good crispy cracker.
your spring break sounds like fun…i miss spring break 🙁
Tina O. says
I call Costco the $300 store. Every time as hard as I try…UGHHH. But I love it there!
Jen says
Hi Kath,
I wanted to ask whether or not you plan to lose any more weight. I have a similar figure as you and everyone tells me i look very healthy and am lean. Sometimes i feel like i want to lose weight, but at what price? I eat healthfully and can still indulge every once in awhile. Ultimately, i am at my natural weight. Perhaps this is the kind of thing where i have to be happy with myself and accept my body-what do you think??? (The funny thing is i think you look great-i guess everyone is just harsher on themselves)
B_Hlthy says
I wish you minimal spending Fair Warrior of Costco!
NC says
Ashley & Tina– I agree that it SO hard not to spend a ton of $ at Costco. I always end up buying things that aren’t completely uh, necessary… like a 4lb container of jelly belly! But, they are great for staples (best prices by far for cinnamon, vanilla extract, spices, canned tomatoes, organic golden flax meal!) and they have great produce– the romaine lettuce hearts, kiwifruit, cherry tomatoes, avocados, and $2.99 pineapple can’t be beat!! I would love them forever if they started carrying fage 0 or 2%!!
Tara– Napa, CA??
and hey KATH– me too! I am only about an hr from CLT and I would LOVE to meet you sometime!! I would def consider it worth the drive (esp since it would put me in reach of a TJ!)
Kelly T says
Awww, Kath, thanks for the plug, your check is in the mail. kidding.
Those crackers look amazing. I bet it would be pretty easy to make flavored ones, too.
Thats so cute your whole family hangs out together. It should be a nice start to your break.
And thanks for mentioning Easter, I completely forgot about it. Gotta get some cards sent out!
chandra says
I actually plan on attempting The Husband’s potato buns today!! I’m SUPER nervous though, I’ve never made bread!! I’ll let you know how they turn out!
Oh to have spring break again… how sweet. Hopefully next year I’ll be getting one! 😀 Have a great weekend!
Laurel says
Yum, crackers! And potato bread! You guys should start a business creating baked goods.
I’m stuck in a food rut lately. I can’t stand things that I used to love, which leaves me with limited options. I’ll pack a whole bag of food for the workday and then not want to eat it because I’m bored of eating the same things all the time (e.g., yogurt with Kashi and almonds for snack, leftovers for lunch). I’m having a hard time eating produce that’s not in season and I’m also resisting apples (I’ve eaten too many lately, I guess). Any tips on filling snacks that aren’t too high in calories? (I’m trying to drop 20 pounds on Weight Watchers; eating veggies or fruit alone doesn’t really do it for me, I need a protein source also, which adds in fat and points).
I admire your organizational skills, Kath! You seem to always, always know exactly what you have to do and then you get it all done! What an inspiration.
NC says
MATT– I just checked out the cracker recipe, and I, like Katie, feel brave enough to try my hand at these… because they don’t involve yeast or poofing! Thanks for the recipe & tutorial!
Did you use regular whole wheat flour?? I only have (King Arthur) white whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour in my pantry… would it be ok to sub either of these, or even oat flour? for the regular ww??
Were the pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds raw? Would the addition of another seed, ie poppy, throw off the proportions of the recipe??
How are you and Kath planning on storing them, and how long do you think they would last??
Thanks so much in advance!!
Kiala says
I like to buy my crackers from scratch.
the husband says
I’d recommend the white WW flour, but I use the regular stuff. Don’t go for the pastry though because even though I said the gluten isn’t too important, it’s still there, and it does help hold everything together. And because the gluten is kinda important, that rules out the oat flour (though you could probably sub up to 1/3 of the wheat flour with oat)
Yep, all the seeds were raw. No need to toast them because the crackers are pretty thin.
I wouldn’t add poppy seeds without either taking out a proportional amount of some other ingredient, or adding some more flour and water. The dough already has a little trouble holding together and more dry ingredients might put it over the edge. Poppy seeds would be a good topping though!
We’re just storing them in a plastic bag with the air sucked out in the pantry. I can’t imagine they won’t be good for at least a week, and there’s no way you’ll be able to make them last longer than that!
NC says
Laurel,
I have the opposite problem!! I can never decide WHAT I want to have because there are SO many options that I get overwhelmed sometimes!! There’s no reason to eat the same foods day in and day out, unless you find some perfect combo that works for you… I am not familiar w/ the WW point system, but here are some relatively low (100-200) kcal/healthy protein + fat snack ideas I like:
* raw veg and hummus or bean dip
* MATT’S SEEDED CRACKERS and lite string cheese
* grapes, apples, or pears with babybel light or laughing cow light cheese
* cottage cheese and fruit with ground flax
* 1/2serv oatmeal and a hardboiled egg (or just egg whites)?
* egg white veg scramble in small ww tortilla w/ lf cheese
* 1/2 turkey sandwich on wheat
* smoothie with a little greek yogurt, splash of light oj or water, whey protein powder, frozen fruit, flax
* 1/2serv each kashi go lean and trail mix
* rice krispies treats made with less marshmallow and smart balance, with kashi golean instead of rice krispies… my mom used to make these for me to entice me to start eating breakfast and get some protein & fiber 🙂
* single-serv, hi-protein oatmeal jumble cookies with a dab of pb (I’ll get the recipe from mommy if you’re interested)
* 1/2 banana with nut butter
* cottage cheese, mashed avocado, little salsa mixed in to taste w/ pita chips or ak mak crackers or THESE SEEDED CRACKERS… haha I am so excited to try baking these!
There are lots of fruits that are in season year-round now, because of exports from Chile and such– I’ve recently had some really great plums!!
I hope you are not lactose intolerant because a lot of these are dairy-based. I also hope I don’t get shunned by all the real food purists for mentioning marshmallows or protein powder… WF has a great, reasonably priced vanilla whey protein powder (80kcal, 16g pro– sweetened w/ Stevia) and it helped me get enough protein when I was only getting like, <20g/day!!
Also, Jenna has some great snack suggestions in the FAQ section of her website. http://eatliverun.com/?page_id=629
And www.dwlz.com is a website that has a great resources for people on WW. I used to ref this site for restaurant info about 6yrs ago (before I found CK!)
Sorry this was so long– hope some of this helps!! Lemme know if you (or anyone else) wants that hi-pro oatmeal cookie recipe… it does involve whey protein powder or instant nonfat dry milk tho.
Elina says
NC, those snack ideas are great!
Kath/Matt, I just made the potato buns and they came out sooo well. I was really scared because I poured too much yeast and I didn’t have a mixer so the dough seems a lot more runny than Matt’s but they taste really great! Question: how do you store them? I plan on putting them in a ziplock bag, but how long will they last? Can I freeze them? They were so much work, I don’t want them to go bad and I also don’t want to have one with every meal 🙂
Thanks!
Btw, I made the squash and kale soup last night and it came out great! I asked Kath yesterday if I can mash the veggies by hand (which she said was ok) but I was able to actually use our blender and the consistency was perfect! Thank you Kath and the husband for such great recipes. I feel so domestic, cooking things from scratch 🙂
KarenR says
NC, I definitely want the oatmeal cookie recipe! I have a great regular oatmeal cookie recipe that I use at Christmas, but I have resolved to bake every Monday for my kids’ school snacks. It’s a compromise, because I don’t allow “dessert” food for snack, and they are sick of fruit and crackers and cheese! Your cookies sound perfect! I also love the healthy cereal krispy treat idea; I never thought of that!
Susa says
“* cottage cheese and fruit with ground flax”
one of my favorites! I love it with pumpkin or grated apples and cinnamon.
Sometimes I’ll switch to Ricotta cheese but that is more expensive *nag*.
I’d love to have the recipe for the cookies also! 🙂
Does anybody here have a good recipe for homemade hummus? I have the tahini, chickpeas and lemon juice here…so I should be set.
Michelle says
How bout those TIGERS? 🙂
Twinks says
Kath! I made similar crackers today…I added red quinoa to mine! Fabulous texture! They are posted on my website…saltcitysweets.blogspot.com
Laurel says
NC thanks for those snack ideas! I would also love your cookie recipe, thanks.
KarenR says
Susa, my base hummus recipe is 1 can chick peas, 1/2 can tahini (the Joya kind) juice of 1 lemon, 2-3 cloves garlic, s&p. I add a little olive oil (1 turn around the processor bowl) I stream water in while I process til it’s the right consistency. Then I add whatever spices I feel like, but usually cumin, and then I stir in my chopped herbs after I process (otherwise the whole thing turns green) usually mint & parsley. It takes about 3 minutes and you can really add anything you like.
I’ve seem people add yogurt, but I don’t think I’d want it to be creamy.
Susa says
Thank you Karen!
I love garlic 🙂
Kath says
Sylvia ,
So glad to hear the positive feedback! So glad the blog is helpful 🙂
Katie F,
The crackers were really easy. I’d say it only took 30-40 minutes from start to finish? They only bake for 15-20 so most of the time was spent grinding seeds, making the dough and rolling out and cutting the crackers.
Tara ,
I only wish we could come to Napa soon!!
Jen ,
I’m not planning on losing any more weight. I’m very happy with my body and feel that any doctor would tell me I’m at a very healthy body weight. If I do lose some more, I don’t have a problem with that but I’d have to assess when I got there. I have maintained my weight for over a year at around 120, so this seems to be a good point for me.
NC ,
Where do you live!? I’d love to meet for lunch or dinner sometime. Just send me an email if you want to plan a date.
Laurel ,
You could click on my “Snacks” category on the right sidebar for snack ideas. I usually just choose snacks based on what I’m craving at the moment so that seems to keep the variety up. Maybe you could try new kinds of trail mix or new fruits you haven’t tried before? NC’s ideas were great!
Elina ,
So glad the buns and soup came out great!! Yum!
Michelle ,
😥 Don’t remind me…
Twinks,
Your crackers look yummy too!!
Kath