I'm excited to share my Old Fashioned Cinnamon Graham Crackers recipe with you today. My son Ben and I were in the kitchen together, and we decided to make this healthy and tasty family recipe. They're better than store-bought graham crackers since they are made with whole-grain flour and a healthy sweetener.
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If you have my bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, this recipe will look familiar. (In fact, it's in Chapter 13, "Sweets and Treats.") I have various tutorial videos showing you how to make many of the recipes in my cookbook, but I realized I didn't have a video for my family's graham crackers recipe.
So, when our son came home for the Christmas holidays, I thought it would be the perfect time for us to make this recipe and reminisce on the times he enjoyed them with my mom. If you have children or grandchildren with you in the kitchen over the holidays, try making graham crackers with them too! It's fun to make the dough, roll it out, and sprinkle the cinnamon sweet topping together. You'll make even more memories when you enjoy them out of the oven!
In this newsletter, I also talk about our recent wedding anniversary. Plus, be sure to enter the special giveaway before it ends on Sunday! (See below for more information.)
Newsletter update: Did you get more than one of my newsletters this week? I sent out a special edition of the newsletter on Wednesday featuring a chat with my son, but my email provider said it didn't go out successfully. They sent it out again on Friday, and it appeared to complete successfully, so hopefully, you received it.
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Old Fashioned Cinnamon Graham Crackers
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Pro Tip: Once the graham crackers come out of the oven, use your pizza cutter to run along the scored lines just as you did before baking the dough. Once cooled, the graham crackers will be very easy to snap apart, thanks to this second scoring!
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You'll love these recipes for chewy Molasses Cookies and my mom's Italian Ricotta Cookies. They make delicious gifts or a dessert to serve after a holiday meal.
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If you've already ordered my book, thank you! And if you can leave me a book review where you bought your book or on GoodReads, that would help tremendously. Booksellers will use your five-star reviews to recommend my cookbook to others, which will help them learn about traditional foods and techniques for their home kitchens. Thanks so much!
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Thank you for Being a Sweet Friend
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Well, it’s hard to believe, but Ted and I recently celebrated 26 years of marriage! I know it can sound like a bit of a cliche, but it does feel like yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day here in central Texas, with temperatures hovering in the 60°Fs at 10:00 am when we were pronounced man and wife. We were married in the cutest little church that, at the time, was the only one out here in the area where we still live to this day. With Christmas approaching, the church was decorated with a charming tree and lots of poinsettias all around the altar.
It is bittersweet looking back on that day because when we were married, all of our parents were living. Both our dads were there to join in on the festivities. My dad walked me down the aisle to give me away as my father-in-law looked on with pride. Both dads were so happy that Ted and I had found each other and decided to tie the knot. And our moms—they were simply beaming with joy!
Our ceremony was quite intimate, with just a small gathering of family and close friends. Once the church wedding was complete, we headed over to a charming champagne brunch reception. It was just perfect! And I loved it when Ted and I walked into the dining room. The person who opened the door said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Shrader!” At the time, my girlfriends teased me and said, “Are we going to have to call you Mrs. Shrader now?” I smiled and said, “You bet!”
I was thrilled to be able to take Ted’s last name. It might seem old-fashioned to some, especially those of us who grew up, like me, during the women’s liberation movement. But I have an old soul, and I was delighted to take my husband’s last name. I would not be keeping my maiden name, nor would I be hyphenating anything.
Ted is actually 10 years younger than me, so he has great respect for working women, and he was thinking I would probably want to keep my maiden name since that was what I was using in my work life. When I told him I would be taking his last name, he was thrilled. And so, for the previous 26 years, I have been Mrs. Shrader, and, God willing, I will continue to be Mrs. Shrader for 26 more years and beyond!
If you have not had a chance to hear the unusual story of how Ted and I met, I have shared that in a video for you. Plus, I share a second video where Ted and I sit down and talk about our courtship and our married life together.
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You may recall I married a little later in life and was blessed with our sweet son Ben in my early 40s. I will share that once I made the decision to hand my life over to the good Lord and follow his plan for me, not my own, my life changed dramatically. I met Ted, gave birth to Ben, and now we are celebrating 26 years of marriage. And we got to celebrate our anniversary this year with our sweet son and both of our moms over a lovely lunch together. And best of all, we attended Mass before lunch and received a blessing from one of our parish priests. It all couldn’t have been more wonderful!
As we all know, you never know what life has in store for you—what God has in store for you. And yes, life is never perfect. There are plenty of ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change God’s plan for me in a million years. My life with Ted and Ben has been beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of and has been the happiest time of my life.
If you're married, I hope you'll reminisce on your sweet memories (and make new ones!) at your next anniversary. If you're single and are looking to get married, I hope that with God's help, you'll be able to find someone wonderful to share your life with. I wish you and your family the best this Christmas season! 😊
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Love and God Bless,
Mary ♥
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Subscribe to Mary's Nest YouTube Channel
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If you haven't already done so, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel—and click the notification bell so you'll learn about new videos. This way, you won't miss a thing!
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And have you visited my Mary's Nest YouTube Community? I frequently share pictures of the recipes and projects that I'm working on. You can share your comments too, so come join me in our YouTube Community.
Thanks so much for being a subscriber and viewer! 😊
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Promotion Codes and Discounts
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Giveaway Ends on Sunday: Don't miss this opportunity for a free holiday bundle from Lehman's, which includes a selection of their products and a signed copy of my cookbook! The contest ends this Sunday, 12/10/23 at 11:59 pm EST. Visit their Facebook page for complete entry rules.
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Discount Codes: Check out the latest discount codes on my shopping guide page for up to 15% off products from Lehman's and more for Mary's Nest viewers.
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You'll also find discount codes from Survival Garden Seeds, GreenStalk, Masontops, Farmhouse Teas, US Wellness Meats, Northwest Wild Foods, Redmond Real Salt, Cultures for Health, and more. So find the products and services you need for your Traditional Foods Kitchen and save money at the same time.
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Download Your Free eBooks
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As a Mary's Nest newsletter subscriber, you have access to free eBooks to help you learn more about traditional foods, create warm and cozy meals, and stock your kitchen pantry.
If you haven't already done so, be sure to download the following eBooks and add them to your traditional foods library.
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The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum
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The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum is a comprehensive set of lesson plans to teach traditional foods recipes and kitchen skills to students in grades K-12. You can use this curriculum in conjunction with the recipes and text in my bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook. This curriculum resource is over 250 pages, and you can download it for free.
Latest Curriculum News: If you liked Old Fashioned Cinnamon Graham Crackers, you'll be glad to know it's one of the lesson plans in my curriculum. The lesson plan for this recipe is geared to students in grades 5-8, but you can adapt it for any grade level.
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Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
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If you're looking for more in-depth videos about traditional foods, I encourage you to join my Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy on YouTube. (We call members of my academy Kitchen Pioneers.) In addition to my public videos, I also publish member-only videos for my wonderful Kitchen Pioneers. 😊
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If you've not had a chance to join our Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy, please consider doing so.
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The following members-only video is a replay of a previous live stream for my Kitchen Pioneers.
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The Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy membership community is optional. But don't worry if you can't join the community right now. I'm still publishing detailed instructional cooking and conversational videos on my public YouTube channel that you can watch for free, including my Green Goddess Salad Dressing Recipe Using Simple Ingredients video. (Thanks so much for being a Sweet Friend and subscriber!)
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