Make crackers, PopTarts & cinnamon toast crunch

So I'm reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and loving it! The basic premise of the book is eating local is good for your health, bank account, community and the planet. I believe in that and want to do what I can to eat more locally farmed and made foods. To that end I've been shopping at stores that carry local produce and meat and give back to the farming community (like PCC). I've been avoiding fast food altogether as that industry fuels the worst farming practices. And I've been trying to reduce our consumption of pre-packaged foods.

That last one has been a bit of a problem where the kids are concerned. They LOVE their goldfish crackers, pop tarts, granola bars, cereal, etc. and although they love fruit, they don't feel like that's an acceptable substitute for their packaged treats. So today, I thought I'd try my hand at making some of these on my own. I ended up making crackers, Parmesan crackers, cinnamon toast crunch crackers/cereal, pop tarts and chocolate pockets. This is the basic cracker recipe:

Crackers
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 C Flax Seed meal

1/2 C wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, wheat germ, flax seed meal and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Pour in the vegetable oil and water; mix until just blended.
3.On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough as thin as possible - no thicker than 1/8 inch. Place dough on an ungreased baking sheet, and mark squares out with a knife, but don't cut through. Prick each cracker with a fork a few times, and sprinkle with salt.
4.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and light brown. Baking time may be different depending on how thin your crackers are. When cool, remove from baking sheet, and separate into individual crackers.

That makes the basic cracker. Parmesan cheese on top for the Parmesan crackers, cinnamon sugar on top for cinnamon toast crunch. For pop tarts I cut 2 3x3 squares of dough, put some jam in the middle, put second piece on top of first piece and sealed the edges. Then for chocolate pockets I put chocolate chips in the middle of a 2x2 square of dough then bunched up the edges into a little chocolate kiss shape.

I think they are a success! I've tasted them all and they are pretty darn good. Just make sure to make the crackers really really thin. The thinner the better for a crisp cracker. Maybe with this recipe I'm one step closer to being a locavore!