Love snacking on crackers but don’t like all the “extras” in store bought options? Why not make your own at home! This homemade Ritz copycat cracker recipe is perfect.

We all love snacks, better yet, we love snacks with wholesome ingredients. When you make your food from scratch you know exactly what you are eating and you can feel good about that!
​
These crackers are perfect for snacking, whether it's cheese and crackers or peanut butter and honey, try them for yourselves.

1 cup of flour
½ tsp sea salt
4 tbsp cold butter cut into small pieces
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cold water
Flakey salt for sprinkling 
1 egg beaten for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400°F
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add flour, sea salt and butter to food processor and pulse until small balls form.
Add honey and slowly add water until combined.
Form a ball on lightly floured surface and roll out, use a cutter to cut out the crackers and use toothpick or fork to poke holes.
Place crackers on lined tray and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with salt. 
Bake 8-10 minutes
Store in container for up to a week. 

It’s very easy to test your soil at home to get an idea what you have. This is how to do it:

The Jar Method - sedimentation test - adapted from https://deepgreenpermaculture.com 

1. Fill jar 1/3 full with dry soil, break up any clumps or clods.
2. Fill the jar with water to about 2.5 cm (1”) below rim.
3. Place the lid on the jar, shake vigorously to mix the soil and water well.
4. Place the jar on level surface, use marker to mark level of soil sediment on side of the jar at the following times:
   

•After 1-2 minutes this is the SAND layer.

•After 1 hour this is the SILT layer.

•After 24 hours (or until the water is relatively clear, may take several days) this is your CLAY layer. Anything left floating is just organic material.

Note, if the water from your water supply is ‘hard water’, use distilled water or rainwater for this test instead. Hard water is high in dissolved minerals, mainly calcium and magnesium, which will affect the soil in the water.

The above image is an example of a soil sedimentation test, showing the layering of the various components of the soil, with clay at the top, silt in the middle and sand particles at the bottom of the jar.

For more information or other tests you can do at home, check out this article: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/2020/07/23/three-simple-soil-tests-to-determine-what-type-of-soil-you-have/

Once you know what is in your soil, you then can make adjustments to help your desired plants grow! 

If you want a more in-depth analysis of your soil you can send it away to be tested. These are the places in Southern Ontario that will test soil:

A&L Labs, London Ontario

Stratford Agri-Analysis, Stratford Ontario 

Guelph - Agriculture & Food lab

Should you use squash instead of pumpkin in a pie recipe? Why not try Sarah's Butternut Squash pie recipe and let us know what you think!

In our mini episode all about Winter Squashes, Sarah said she makes her pies with...squash! Heidi said no way, so here we are determining if squash is a good substitution. 

This is Sarah's recipe, including how to purree your homegrown squash!

Maybe you can make both a pumpkin pie and a butternut squash pie and do a taste test to see which turned out better. Either way, homemade is always best!

Ingredients
Butternut Squash Puree

• 1 butternut squash approx 3 lbs (to make about 2 cups of squash puree) 
• Squash puree: cook whole squash in the oven at 350C for about an hour, or until you can stick a fork through it. Cool, cut open and scoop out the seeds. Peel off the flesh and place it in a food processor. 
• I often used puree that I had frozen earlier in the season. Works great. 

Pie Filling

• 2 cups butternut squash puree
• 1½ cup whole milk. I use farm-fresh milk. (About 5% fat, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Condensed milk is a great alternative too.)
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch or white flour depending on what I have in the pantry 
• 1¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¾ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt

Pie Crust 

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 8 TBSP unsalted butter cold
• 4-5 TBSP water ice cold

Directions
Pie Crust:

1. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar to a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine.
2. Cut the butter into tablespoon size pieces and add to the dry ingredients in processor. Pulse until combined, will look like a coarse meal.
3. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between. Stop adding water when the pie dough starts to clump together. Pulse until you have a ball of dough.
4. Spread flour onto a clean, flat work surface. Remove the dough from the processor and place in the flour. Carefully work the dough until it is a smooth ball. Flatten gently to form a disc shape.
5. Spread flour on a rolling pin and roll the dough out into a circle shape to fit into a pie dish.
6. Carefully fold the dough over your rolling pin and lift off the counter, place in the pie dish. Flute the edge as desired and remove any excess pie crust.
7. Set aside until ready to use.

Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, add squash puree, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Stir to mix. 
3. In a medium size mixing bowl combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Stir to combine.
4. Add the sugar mixture to the puree. 
5. Slowly add in the milk while stirring.
6. Pour the pie filling into the prepared pie crust.
7. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the center is no longer wobbling, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  I find the time depends on the squash. Some years they are more 'watery' than others. 
8. Serve with fresh whipped cream on top and enjoy!

​
Let us know if you try this recipe and what your preference is!