Homemade Wheat Crackers

I started baking my own bread last month and was contemplating an attempt at homemade crackers when I came across this recipe for wheat thins. I took it as a good sign, especially after seeing how basic the ingredient list was:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for topping
1/4 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

I added all the dry ingredients to my stand mixer and whisked until incorporated. Next I stirred in the butter, water, and vanilla. You will probably need more than the 1/4 cup of water called for in the recipe; I added water slowly until the dough stuck together and clung to the whisk.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, about 1/16" thick. (They key here is for all the crackers to be a consistent thickness, so they bake evenly.) Cut the dough into squares using a pizza cutter.

Transfer the crackers to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. You'll want to keep a close eye on them so they don't burn.

This recipe was incredibly easy, and the dough rolled out perfectly. I will definitely be making these again!

Carrots

Our first try at growing carrots...

We planted these back in August and I pulled them up last week, when the temperature dipped down in the teens. They may be small but they've got great flavor, very sweet and crisp.

Snow Day

It snowed last night. Zach's school and my office were both closed for the day...

and we built the creepiest snowman woman ever.

Basil ice cubes

Before the first freeze of the winter, we brought in all the basil from our garden. We made a few containers of pesto and froze the rest of it, with a little olive oil, in an ice cube tray. These basil ice cubes are great for tossing into a pot of pasta or any other dish that requires a little oil.

Journal Publication

My fourth article, On Linkages: A Multi-Institutional Collaboration to develop asthma education for school settings in South Texas, was published in the January/February 2011 issue of Public Health Reports.

Sprinkler System: Part 2

Read Part 1 here.

Determined to find the backflow box, we dug up most of the yard, from the water line at the street all the way to the house.

Notice the oak tree in the picture above? This oak tree was undoubtedly much smaller 25 years ago, and some shortsighted individual decided to install the backflow box right next to the tree. Over the course of time, the tree had grown over the box and crushed it with its roots, so it was a small miracle that we found it. The old box was in such bad condition that we abandoned it and installed a new box, a safe distance from the tree, and rerouted the main water line.

We turned the water on and crossed our fingers. A few sprinkler heads popped up but there was hardly any water pressure. It turned out that all the water was leaking from a busted pipe...which was under our deck. So, of course, we had to remove half of the boards from our deck.

Fast forward a few days. The broken pipe is replaced and we're ready to test the system again. We knew the sprinkler system had four zones because they were labeled in the control box, but water was only running to the first zone. We were left scratching our heads as to how to find the valve boxes, 4 in all, that controlled the water flow to each of the zones. First we thought a metal detector might do the trick, but after some online research, we decided to rent a wire and valve locator. You can find these at irrigation supply or tool rental stores. 

Image source

In about an hour, Zach had found all four of the valve boxes! They were buried under a few inches of dirt and all needed replaced...

Heart Throb

I just added this quirky little Valentine to my Etsy shop.