I'm Going Crackers!

One of the big bonuses of having a food blogg is that I get contacted from time to time by companies asking me if I would like to review their products. Of course I always say yes!

Last week I received a lovely Ryvita Crackers for Cheese Hamper from the folks at Ryvita! What a lovely hamper it was too, containing a sweet little wooden cheese board, three lovely cheeses (Stilton in wax, a Wensleydale and Cranberry in wax, and a beautiful Double Gloucester Cheese in wax), a tasty bottle of Country Garden Chutney and two packets of Ryvita Crackers for Cheese! (Black Pepper and Golden Rye)

We were planning on having some people over for a Family Home Evening tonight and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give them a try. The Family Home Evening fell though though and so I decided I couldn't wait any longer and Todd and I tried them out for our lunch today.



I chose to top the Black Pepper ones with some sliced Vanilla cured pears and crumbled Stilton. Oh my but they were really delicious.



I topped the Rye ones with the Double Gloucester and some of the chutney. Fantastic combination as well!



As you can plainly see they are quite sturdy crackers and held up well under the stress. They were not crumbly and stayed well together with our bites. I like that in a cracker. There is nothing worse than having a cracker that falls to bits the first time you bit into it.



All in all I was quite impressed with these crackers. Lovely flavour and texture all round. Healthy and wholesome as well, made with wholegrain flours and olive oil They are both low in fat and high in fibre. We both thoroughly enjoyed them. Another thing that I really liked about them was that they were packed in individual packets containing about half a dozen in each. That to me is a big bonus, as with there just being two of us in this household we can never use boxes of crackers up before they get stale. This eliminates that problem and the waste!



Take a look at the advertisement in this month's Sainsbury's magazine, which shows you how very adaptable they are! Some really good ideas there . . . Many thanks to the people at Ryvita for giving me this opportunity.

Oh . . . and knowing, me you just know I had to something different with them as well. Not that I don't like just cheese and crackers . . . but I do love to stretch the envelope a bit as well.



May I present Herb and Butter Toasted Crackers. I know . . . kinda takes away a bit from the low fat qualities of these wonderful crackers, but once in a while, it's nice to do something a bit different. You can use any herb combination you want . . . you can really give them some pizzazz with something spicy and hot, or you can dress them down. Add cheese, or not. You can even turn them into little pizzas by using a bit of tomato paste in the butter and pizza herbs and a dusting of parmesan at the end. It's up to you really! Enjoy!



*Herb and Butter Toasted Crackers*
Makes 2 dozen

These can be as snappy or as mild as you want. They are incredibly moreish. If you like you can go one step further and dust them with some Parmesan cheese as well. Yummily Scrummy!

24 crackers
2 ounces butter, melted (1/4 cup)
2 tsp of herb and spice mixture (I used a M&S mixture year which
contained smoked paprika, garlic, thyme, red peppers, etc. or you can create your own herb
combination)

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 5. Whisk together the melted butter and herb mixture. Brush this lightly on both sides of the crackers and place them onto a nonstick baking sheet. Bake in the heated oven for about ten minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. Allow to cool before serving.