jeff + alysse

Woo hoo! Loved this couple. Jeff and Alysse were both so sweet and obviously in true love. Thanks for reminding me why I love what I do, you two!

OK, don't you just love their expressions here?
"Here we go!"

5-Ingredient Cheddar Crackers

I love cheesy, crunchy stuff. Cheetos, Doritos, all that good stuff. Unfortunately, all of those yummies have ingredient lists a mile long filled with all kinds of things I can't pronounce. Plus they have tons of fat. And, oh yeah, they're expensive. Fail on so many levels.

 I've been wanting to find a good cheesy snack recipe. After searching the internet, I realized that I would need an air puffer to make my coveted Cheeto cheese puffs. So, I figured cheese crackers would be the next best thing. I modified this from another recipe I found online, one which I wasn't too impressed by but felt had some potential. I'll continue to experiment with it until I am sure it has reached perfection, but until then, enjoy some Here it is!

You'll need 1 cup of wheat flour, 1/2 t salt, 1 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, 5 T of cold buter, and 3 T of milk. Sharp cheddar cheese is the only way to go! If you use mild, it just won't taste very cheddary. The sharper it is, the cheesier it tastes! Also, you don't need to use salt. I didn't for this example, and they tasted fine. But next time, I'll be adding salt.

Mix the first four ingredients in a food processor. I don't have a food processor, so I did this in my blender. I wouldn't recommend it, but it will still work. When it gets all nice and crumbly, you're ready to add the milk.

Slowly add the milk and continue mixing until it becomes a big ball and has the look and feel of Play-Doh.

Now you're ready to roll the dough out. You don't need to flour your countertop, just start rolling! I rolled mine pretty thin. Not paper-thin. Think of a nickel. That is about how thick you'll want these.

Once the dough is all rolled out, start cutting out the crackers. To get a nice cracker-sized circle, I used a lid from one of my spice jars. They're the perfect size!

Arrange the crackers closely on a cookie sheet.

Then take an identical cookie sheet and put it directly on top of the crackers, as shown below. This will help the crackers to get crisp on both sides and keep them flat while baking. Otherwise you'll have dome shaped crackers that are crispy one the bottom and not-so-crispy on the top. Not cool.

Bake in the oven for 9-11 minutes. I baked mine for 10 minutes and thought it was just right! Resist the urge to open the oven and pull up the top pan to check. Even if you leave these in for a couple more minutes, they shouldn't burn. They'll just be extra crispy.

Once they're done and you pull them out of the oven, you'll hear them sizzling. When the sizzling stops, you can pull off the top pan. Let them cool slightly and voila! Your very own non-processed healthy cheddar crackers!

5 Ingredient Cheddar Crackers

1 cup wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
5 T cold butter, cut into pieces
3 T milk

1.   Preheat oven 375 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, cheese, and butter in a food processor until it's crumbly.
2.   With the processor still on, slowly add the milk and continue processing until the mixture has pulled away from the sides and has turned into a big ball.
3.   Roll the dough out onto an unfloured surface.
4.   Cut out crackers and arrange on a cookie sheet. Place a second cookie sheet on top of the crackers so that they bake flat.
5. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Remove top cookie sheet after sizzling sound has stopped.

Real Food!

This week, I'm going to try to cut out all processed foods from our family's diet. I just finished planning this week's meals and I am overjoyed to think that I don't have to go to WalMart for groceries. Nope! The prices may be a bit cheaper, but is it really worth the additives, pesticides, chemicals that will eventually make us sick? Not to mention the jam-packed parking lots, "people of WalMart", absent customer service, etc. No sir, it is off to the natural foods grocery store for me. We are turning over a new leaf! Although we have a family of five, we try to keep our expenses low. Like, $75-per-week-on-groceries low. It's always been pretty tight and often feels like there's no food in the house, but we'll see what we can do. I expect that this new diet will cost a bit more, so we may be increasing our grocery budget soon. Just gotta talk the hubby into it first! Here's to a healthier us!

Forgiveness

It's the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don't deserve
It's the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real
It takes everything you have to say the word...

Forgiveness

It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It's always anger's own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
 Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It's the whisper in your ear saying 'set it free'

 Forgiveness

 Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness

Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness

 It'll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what its power can do
So let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you

 Forgiveness

I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what
Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me

Forgiveness

<i>lyrics by Matthew West</i>

Bug Day

Somehow today became "Bug Day" in the DeMotte household. Remember John the frog? Well, we let him go because Mom was tired of driving to the store to buy crickets. His tank has since seen several temporary residents. Today I woke up to find a cricket and a dead butterfly. I got the butterfly out, but the cricket was a stubborn little guy who held on for dear life to the screened top. So I left him in there, which turned out to be good, because later that morning I found a praying mantis. Mom score of the day. I got on my big girl pants and with Carter's help we got him safely inside his new home. Complete with tasty cricket goodness.

Later that day, Elizabeth was picking up little pieces of garbage and bringing them to me. It always cracks me up how toddlers bring everything they find to you. Yes, I did need that piece of lint! How thoughtful of you!

I wasn't paying attention, just holding my hand out for her, when she suddenly exclaimed, "Bug!" I looked into my hand and saw a red cockroach squirming around. Everything I was holding went flying. I ran to the laundry room to get some carpet spray. We don't own insect spray and I don't squish bugs if there's any potential of a crunching sound. So I usually resort to carpet spray. It foams up so the bugs can't get out, and that's the end of that.

When I turned around, Elizabeth was right behind me, holding the little critter up to me.

"Bug!" she said.

I swatted it to the ground and sprayed the living daylights out of it. Satisfied, I returned to the living room and back to what I was doing.

"Bug!" I hear for the third time. Elizabeth had pulled the cockroach out of the foam and was showing me. Again.

"Elizabeth. Drop it!" So she did. And then there was a half dead cockroach on the ground. Unsure of what to do, I looked at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth. Go throw the bug away," I instructed.

"Bug?" She pointed at it.

"Yes. Go throw the bug away in the trash."

Some incoherent babble, then she picked it up, and ran into the kitchen.

A few seconds later, she's back, roach still in hand.

"Bug?"

"YES, Elizabeth. Throw the bug AWAY."

She ran off and I heard the garbage can lid open and slam shut.

In conclusion, we have a dead butterfly on our doorstep, a praying mantis and a cricket in our tank, and a half dead cockroach in our garbage can.

Like I said. Bug Day.

The Balancing Act

It's always a good day when:

-your computer gets a memory upgrade
(yay for a blazing fast computer!)

-a wide angle lens comes in the mail

-grocery shopping gets done

-Elizabeth comes home from her weekend away

-you get butter croissants from Costco
(I'm fat just thinking about them)

-you get a nap


Let me tell you about naps, man. They are God's gift to mankind. I used to feel guilty about taking them, but no longer! It's all about balance. Work hard, play hard. Or take a nap. Whichever suits your fancy.

I've been thinking a LOT about balance lately. Something to do with trying to have a photography business while also being a good mom to three kids? Yeah. That's rough. There are days where I think I need to abandon photography completely and devote my entire self to my kids. But then a little part of me gets sad thinking about letting that dream go.

Yesterday I went to a park to think about it and I came across a helpful little article by M. Russell Ballard called Keeping Life's Demands In Balance

*click* You can read it here! *click*

Sorry People!

We took a break this last week.

We also like to refer to ourself in both plural form and third-person.

Be back Monday!!!