Chocolate Graham Crackers

Guess what? It's still raining. I feel like March and April just blurred together into a long string of rainy days. Once a week we'll get a perfect spring day with sunshine and flowers blooming, and then just when we start to hope that spring has arrived, we get another 6 days of rain and lows in the 30s.

This has not conducive to running outdoors, doing homework (I'd rather nap), or spring cleaning, but it's certainly good baking weather, right? My mom used to make homemade graham crackers with us and I occasionally get a craving, but hadn't tried a gluten-free version yet. Now I have!

This recipe makes a tiny batch of graham crackers: just 20-24 rustic crackers. Perfect to snack on as I finish my homework.

Chocolate Graham Crackers

1 cup almond flour
1 Tbs ground flaxseed
1/2 cup unsweetened cacao powder (cocoa powder would probably work as well)
2 1/2 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 Tbs almond milk (as needed)

Pour the almond flour, flax, cacao powder, honey, vanilla, and salt into a food processor and blend until a thick dough forms. If the consistency remains crumbly, add almond milk in small increments until a dough forms.

Roll onto parchment paper (the dough will be sticky) until you have a single sheet about 1/4 inch thick. Score lightly with a butter knife and poke several holes in each cracker with the tines of a fork.

Bake at 350 for 6-10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for several minutes. While they are still soft, run a pizza cutter along the scored lines to separate the crackers. Allow to cool.

More graham goodness on the interwebs:
Elana's Pantry
All Day I Dream About Food
Joyful Abode
Simply Healthy Living

Happy Happy Happy

28. Yep. In a way this birthday seems kind of anticlimactic because 27 was such a whirlwind year. Last year was the first year I didn't always know my exact age when people asked... I somehow already considered myself to be 28 for most of the year, so this year year will just be a bonus, right?!

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This was much better than last year's birthday. Last Thursday, a few friends TOTALLY surprised me with gluten-free brownies at our bi-monthly meetup. It was so sweet and thoughtful. Then I got to go to lunch with a friend on Saturday before going to see most of my precious primary patients in all their toddler glory at the NICU reunion! Oh I miss thoses babes... There were a lot of sweet moments and a lot of moms asking me why on earth I left the NICU, but I think the highlihght of the reuinion was a sweet 2 1/2 old giving me a fist bump when she was too shy to give me a hug.

Sunday was my actual birthday and it was a pretty good day in my book. I got to work out, go to church, and then go to lunch at probably my favorite restaurant ever (Cafe Gratitude) with some sweet friends who I didn't know a year ago, but wouldn't trade for the world now!

Thanks to all who helped me celebrate!