Get crackin'!

So Forks Over Knives was great.  I recommend seeing it as I believe it is always good to be informed about the things you put into your body.  Does meat cause certain types of cancer?  Possibly.  Will you be healthier if you stop eating meat/dairy?  Most likely.  But everyone needs to become informed and then make their own decisions relating to their diet.  For our household, we are going to cut down on our consumption of all meat.  Red meat to less than once a month (we had ground beef for dinner on Friday so no beef till the New Year).  More whole grains.  More beans.  More vegetables.  More foods in their fresh and natural state.  I think we do pretty well with how we eat but there is always room for improvement.

And giving up cheese is just not an option.  Yet.

In keeping with the theme of eating less processed foods, Lee and I decided to make homemade crackers yesterday.  Do you ever watch the show Good Eats?  If not, you should.  Every time we watch that show we always get great ideas to make awesome things.  Now that we have a KitchenAid, all we needed was the pasta-maker attachment and we would be in the cracker-making business!  A quick trip to the mall for the needed supplies and we were ready to bake.

This is the recipe we used.  Alton Brown does all weight-based measuring in his cooking, which is apparently more accurate.  Good thing I have a science-loving husband and we already own a scale for food measurement!

The crackers were pretty easy to make, although making them by yourself may prove a little difficult when feeding the dough through the pasta maker.   It was nice to have an extra set of hands to turn the thickness dial when needed and to help transfer the dough to baking sheets.   A few modifications, though: we didn't have poppy or sesame seeds so we substituted chia and golden flax seeds instead.  Turned out great!  And healthy!  They taste sort of like a healthier Wheat Thin.  And with a fraction of the processed ingredients of the boxed variety. 

In thinking about the upcoming New Year, do you usually include some sort of health-related goal in your resolutions?  Yes.  I do.  In 2012, I'd like to eat less processed foods and more whole foods.  Less meat.  More vegetables.  Less sugar.  More fruit.  I can imagine that not only will I feel a whole lot more energized but I believe this type of eating will help me lose the baby weight after March!  Win, win.