An ode to the cracker

Here's to making things that come, perfectly formed, by the dozens in a plastic bag or sleeved into a long skinny box. Here's to figuring out how things are made, what's in them, and then making your own.

And here's to crackers. The lowly, crunchy base to glorious toppings of chevre and grape tomatoes, of chutney and cheese, of hummus and chives.

Instead of thinking of them as the afterthought, the table to my evening meal, the binding to my book, I made these crackers to shine all on their own. And, thanks to my forgetfulness (I neglected to put the corn chips in my basket this week at the market), we've been eating these little guys like chips all week. They're robust, wheaty, and full of onion and cilantro flavor.




The folks at work wondered allowed how (and why) one would make her own crackers. And I don't have a great answer, except that I saw a recipe for them and thought, "hmm, making one's own crackers. novel idea."

Plus, dear reader. When ever you make your own ANYthing, you get to make it exactly as you WANT it. Which is why I shredded onions and chopped cilantro, then replaced half of the flour with stone-ground whole wheat flour and then dumped a ton of flax seed in for good measure. So I not only feel industrious while I'm eating them (hey! I made these!) but healthy, too.