Honestly, I’ve been holding onto this recipe for over a year. A year! But yesterday seemed like the day to get crackerin’ (sorry) and make these crunchy little crackers. It’s super easy and tastes a heck of a lot better than buying a box of sesame crackers in the store. Let’s do this.

Easy Homemade Sesame Crackers
Adapted from NY Times

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 TB olive oil
1 TB toasted sesame oil (or another TB of olive oil)
5 TB water

step one: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine flour, seeds and salt. Then, add the oils and water, kneading until all is combined well.

step two: On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick. (I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I rolled out by hand, but this takes longer, and the crackers will look more rustic.) Using a shot glass, cookie cutters or a knife, cut out circles, squares and shapes in the size of cracker you desire. Place onto the baking sheets with at least 1/2 inch in-between. (The crackers won’t get much bigger than they are as dough.)

step three: Bake for 20 minutes, until slightly brown, switching the pans halfway in between (front to back and top to middle).

Enjoy these nutty, crunchy little gems!

Happy eating!
Laurel

~Laurel~

Ever been to this site: Tastespotting?

It’s a self-described “community driven visual potluck.” I like it! The beautiful pictures and ideas make my mouth water a little, even when I’m not hungry.

Ever participated in a potluck?

You know, the event where everyone brings a dish and, without much organization, you have a smorgasbord of homemade (and some store-bought) delights? As a girl who grew up in a Baptist church in Texas and with deeply Southern roots, as you can imagine, I’ve been to my fair share of potlucks. I see them going one of two ways…awesome or butter-filled blah.

You see, some potlucks are around a theme, like “breakfast” or “Mexican.” For example, at a “Thanksgiving” themed potluck, you’ll see:

http://www.whattomakefordinner.org/potluck-dinner-ideas

Turkey, ham, dressing, veggies, rolls and lots of desserts.

The fun in the potluck is that it takes very little planning and, as dear old Forrest says, “you never know what you’re gonna get.” On the long table of “Thanksgiving-themed” prepared foods, you could have one kind of turkey, three kinds of ham casseroles, no stuffing/dressing, 5 kinds of potato dished and 12 pies. Yeah, it happens.

Potlucks are rarely healthy (because Grandma doesn’t know how to cook without butter) but usually so delightful you won’t even notice your bulging belt. I’ve always enjoyed them, but this week brought some clarity that I hadn’t thought of before.

At my internship–you know, the one at a Baptist church–they have a chef on staff to prepare weekly meals for normal meetings, Bible studies, plus the occasional funeral or other event. He mentioned at our last staff potluck (once a month) that it was almost sad when they hired him because that took out the need for potlucks, those times when everyone brought a dish to the dining room and they all shared together. The chef went on to say, once he understood the importance of the potluck, he’s made an effort to provide the main course/meat and allow others (when they’d like) to participate in the potluck.

You see, it wasn’t about making his job easier because he’d have to cook less, but there’s something really wonderful in a potluck. People from all different places and situations bring an offering of nourishment to a collective table and break bread together. Sometimes the dishes are family recipes passed down to generations, while other dishes were from a box or a mix that were thrown together last minute. Some people prepare their most famous casserole or their prized chocolate cake for the occasion, while others experiment and risk it all with a new recipe.

Stay with me here, but I think potlucks are holy. Potlucks symbolize the smorgasbord of people that come together and worship God in certain places. You try things you might never have touched before because someone you love made it. You are surprised by some tasty things and turned off by some creamy looking vegetable that surely would give you heartburn even if you look at it twice. But you gather around the table of dishes with other people and you come together and eat. 

Potlucks were originally documented by Thomas Nashe in 16th century England, with the “luck of the pot” of whatever food you had around to prepare for an unexpected guest or traveler. It evolved into what it is today by the 18th century. Bring your self, your love and your care, and set it on the table. That is kind of our mission, isn’t it? Even if all we have is a basket of burnt biscuits or dry mashed potatoes, set it on the table because someone else will bring other things to add to the meal.

So, when you think of planning your next dinner party or function, perhaps forego the caterer or the restaurant where you usually all meet, and think about having a potluck instead. It never goes out of style. Please do be careful to label your dish, if it isn’t instantly recognizable. 🙂

Happy eating! Laurel

~Laurel~

 I have a beautiful habit of charting out and setting incredible goals and then spending so much time and energy on the planning that the execution is tired and a little lacking. Okay, so “beautiful” inserts a little sarcasm, but one of my goals of 2012 is to set more realistic goals in 2012. Ha, did you get that?

One of the things I’ve learned as a seminarian and student of social work is that goals are not only 1)an awesome way to organize your hopes and dreams, but 2) they give a person purpose and meaning when there isn’t much purpose or meaning. For example, I’ve talked about my chronically homeless client “Bob” before in this blog. “Bob” (not his real name) is an incredible soul who has been homeless for 23 years based on a seriously complicated and colorful series of events in his life. In the end, when you think that someone like Bob-no house, no car, no lapto…wait, he does have a laptop, but that’s another story for another day-anyhoo, Bob–with a life that very few Americans would describe as “normal and fruitful”–is an INCREDIBLE GOAL-SETTER.

Bob has a little handheld tablet and a pen and writes down his goals for the day, week, month, year, and even decade. Being homeless can strip any sort of purpose or meaningful life from a person, but this dude has a vivacious attitude for life and growth and meaning!

Why can’t we all be like Bob? 

I sit here at lunch hour in my cozy desk in my heated office with all of the potential in the world to make something out of myself. Bob is without a ton of the rich (in quality, not $$) resources and wise people that I have the opportunity to be around each and every day and, yet, he still finds the purpose of his life! Surely you and I can do the same.  

Not only is this particular entry helpful for my goal-setting, I hope it helps you (continue to) set goals for your own life. They help us discover our purpose and see the incredible joy and mysteries that happen when life goes according to plan and when it…doesn’t. 🙂

GOALS FOR 2012:

1. Live a healthy life.

• Food: I do eat pretty darn well for an American (prob a 75-80% vegan diet), but I eat too much! Tasting my food-versus devouring-and eating smaller portions and less sugar-based desserts are starting to become part of my daily routine.
• Fitness: Working out 30 minutes 5 days a week. It’s definitely doable with this awesomely flexible schedule that I have this semester (only 40 hrs of work a week!!), but I have NEVER exercised regularly in my whole life. Even when I was 7, I was more concerned about getting my multitude of solid-colored Keds dusty than whether or not I won Freeze Tag on the playground.
• Reflection: This is a big one. It includes quiet time, reading for personal growth, prayer, just alone convos with God. It is hard to set aside time to do it. Oh, but when I do, the benefits of stopping everything and being in a time of connection is holy and so valuable for the rest of my day…and night…and the next day…and on and on. This is an area that Muslims take very seriously (in general) and that other faiths could learn alot from. By the way, I’m talking about consistent, daily time. I can’t say it will happen every morning at 7am because I don’t operate that way, but it WILL happen each day at some point.
• Home: Our dwelling place, our home, is such sacred space. I don’t have to tell sports fans this, with the TV arranged just so to get the best angle of picture during a football or basketball game, the surround sound at the perfect angle for hearing pleasure while plopped our and reclined on the cushy couch or recliner with a perfect angle for a mad dash to the kitchen for salty and sweet snacks during commercial breaks. Home is awesome. Matt and I are down from a 3-bedroom townhouse to a 1-bedroom apartment. It’s a bit of a change, but I take so much more pride in wiping down the bathroom sink (daily) and sweeping the kitchen floor (every 3 days). Home needs to be safe, clean and comfortable and, without those things, other areas of our life suffer. It’s taken me a while, but I’m finally getting that. So keeping up with cleaning and organizing and inviting are all a part of this year’s goals.

2. Give all that I can.

• If Bobby down the hall needs a cup of sugar, alright! (Although we don’t have any white sugar at the moment, just agave syrup.)
• When there’s an extra five in my purse, why not give it to a high school band washing cars down the road?
• After 3+ years as a grad student, I’ve given a lot of my time and energy to my future career. However, my giving of other resources to real needs right now has been a little lacking. But this semester and this year is a time when some of that energy has been given back to me, and I see this as an opportunity to help in different and creative ways than I have lately. This might be through my simple presence in a hospital room, a listener to someone who needs to vent, a shoulder to cry on when a coworker is just having a rotten day. I also have the opportunity to get back in touch with old and new friends and spend more time with my bestest friend, my husband.

3. Be open to the changes.

• I am convinced that everyone breathing on this Earth has incredible commitments, activities and general “busy-ness” that consumes them at times. This year will be no exception for the hubby and me, as we finish school, move to an unknown but probably far-off land, start/continue careers, possibly do some more school, look at budgeting for kids and a home, and all of those exciting things that come with it. My goal is to go with these changes with an open mind, heart and spirit as things so very out of my control will take over and things within my control will respond.
• While Matt and I have a desire for a new place in possibly the Northwest area of the U.S., we have to be open to a place and situation that wasn’t even on our radar. Now, that could still be in the Northwest, but what I mean is that God tends to point me in surprising, unexpected ways and places that I can’t even begin to predict. And we’re giving God the lead on our next step, scary as that can be.
• Graduate, take and pass my social work licensing exam, find a job that fits really well, move to said place/job, transfer social work license to that place, thrive in the learning and the giving. Look at the next steps in our life, as we move from being married students to married people with resources to grow our little family.

4. Enjoy the moment.

•  Embrace each day–stressful or otherwise–as a real gift. Some days suck, and I’ll admit that, but let my eyes rise above the junk of a day or a society and see that there’s a lot of good, too. And when I can’t see any positive parts of a situation, I want to know that there’s always the potential of good things coming out of a horrid situation and that there’s always another clean slate in a new morning and chance to start over.

5. Blog 3 times a week. (AKA 3 new recipes a week)

• You know I love this blog, but I don’t blog about what color shirt I’m wearing today, or who I saw, or throw up a slew of pictures of me and friends/family. I don’t mind it on others’ blogs, but I don’t think you care about all of that. So, while the general format will be the same, we’ll keep to what is more fun–food and stories. 🙂
• Included in this is reading some fun books that I now have more time to read. Now don’t you worry, there’s a list.

So those are my goals. Some are concrete and others are not so much, but such is life.

I do hope you have a wonderful weekend! Matt and I have had some serious fun exploring Dallas these last two weeks and look forward to more cheap eats and activities around here!

Here’s what we did yesterday:

  I took Thursday as my day off this week, so we had a L-A-Z-Y morning and ended up at Cafe Brazil for a 3:30 lunner. I’ve heard it’s a good place for get-togethers but hadn’t tried it. A 2-for-1 coupon sealed the deal, and Matt & I headed to the one nearest our house. He ordered an ultimate quesadilla with spinach, cheeses, chx, and bacon. I ordered the veggie tacos with egg whites, bell pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, cheddar & feta cheeses and breakfast potatoes on the side. The cafe has a really extensive menu, cozy atmosphere, and the food was tasty. A BLT with salmon sounded like a must-try next time, as well as a fancy coffee, of course. And maybe the chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, too. Yum. It was a fun little place that we’ll def go to again.

Then we went to:

As you might know, there’s a little competition between my hometown of Houston and Dallas. It’s mostly Dallas’ doing, of course. Either way, it’s all silly. But, Houston, we have a problem. Dallas’ Museum of Art (DMA) might be better than Houston’s. Maybe not, but Matt and I were pretty blown away by the huge spaces and extensive European art. (We only had the energy to go through two of the four floors, and not even two whole floors.) It was pretty awesome.

On Thursday nights, it’s free for all students, so we had a free date night (except for the pricey parking, argh). Right now, they have a Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit, which was an extra charge. Sighing, as I passed up the chance to see Madonna’s famous cone-bra corset, I certainly didn’t feel deprived as the general collection is incredible. Included was an awesome collection of Mark Bradford’s recent works, including the ENORMOUS ark that sat in 9th Ward New Orleans post-Katrina. Each piece was heavy on the social justice and American advertisement side, and it was really neat. There was one piece about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, where the wealthiest African American community in the country was burned to the ground, 35 blocks total. It brought tears to my eyes in its power of how hurtful people can be to each other and in the hope that nothing like this will every happen again as we move to get to know people better and open our minds and hearts to all.

The other thing that struck me the most was some of the Greek art. There was a lovely collection of gold jewelry circa 2nd century B.C. and up to the 2nd century A.D. It was awesome to see necklaces and bracelets with clasps and design that you could find in a department store today! It just shows the genius of construction and incredible fashion sense that ancient artisans had, even before Jesus walked the Earth. Craziness. I asked Matt to pick up one of those pairs of dangled earrings for my upcoming birthday, but he informed me that the 2,000 year old pieces weren’t for sale. Darn.

  Okay, enough typing. Enjoy the weather (hope it’s sunny and not too cold wherever you are). If you’re ever in Dallas, check out the Museum of Art…what a gem.

Happy weekend!
Laurel

~Laurel~