Wayward Knitting

Low Carb (Keto) Parmesan and Rosemary Ham Muffin Recipe

 

Great for portable breakfast or a little snack, or in our case, brunching at the park.

 

Makes 12 muffins.

Preheat oven at 400.

• 5 eggs
• 8 oz of parm (I used Parmesan Gouda, a soft young cheese from Trader Joe’s), grated
• 2 oz of rosemary ham
• 1 ½ stick of butter (melted)
• Diced dried onion (I eyeball this)
• ⅔ c. of coconut flour
• ½ tsp of baking powder
• 1 TB of flax meal
• 1 TB of olive oil
• ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Pinch of salt and pepper.

 

Microwave the butter, let it cool so it doesn’t cook the egg.

Squeeze out moisture of the ham.

Tear ham into small bits.

Mix wet ingredients and and dry ones separately.  Fold in the dry mix slowly to the wet.

Butter the muffin tin well.

 

Bake on the mid to lower rack for 13-15 minutes, watch for golden brown tops and crisp looking sides.

 

Allow to cool and shrink 15 min before removing from muffin tin.

 

Excellent treat, great bread crumb texture.  Low carb, fast to bake.  Helpful for me and my friends who are trying a ketogenic diet.

Also, somewhat Paleo modified if you are having some dairy.

Microwave Paleo Sandwich Bread

Sometimes you just want a sandwich.  Also, if you're like me, you can't handle all the tapioca and potato starch that is in the commercially available gluten free bread.  Desperation is the mother of invention, at least for me.  Enter the microwave Paleo sandwich roll.  It's wheat free, dairy free and low carb.  Winning!

Microwave Paleo Bread

I used a soup bowl.

3 TB almond meal

1 TB coconut flour

1 TB flaxmeal

1 egg

1 TB cashew butter

2 TB olive oil

pinch of salt

1/4 ts of baking soda

Mix, pat, cover with wet paper towel, microwave for 1 minute.  (For me, I prefer to set microwave power to level 7, microwave 1 min and 20 seconds.)

As it cools, it will shrink.  Then turn over onto a board and let it cool and slice.  Some people toast it on a pan to get it crispy.  I don't bother.  I just stack on some rosemary ham, baby kale, smoked gouda and mayo with mustard.  All done.  Took less than 5 minutes total to get it all done.

It is substantial enough you can hold it in your hand and eat it like normal.  However, it's probably more floppy feeling than a normal dinner roll.

Here's what it looks like out of the microwave:

 

It's still a bit soft to touch but not fragile.  The egg and cashew butter are pretty good binding agents.

Ginger Turmeric Microwave Cake in a Mug!

1 Minute Microwave Coconut Turmeric Ginger Cookie in a Mug

 

Really? Yes! Well, actually a little less than a minute in the microwave.  A friend asked me to make this recipe https://www.facebook.com/freshnwholeexpose/photos/a.1580600908850908.1073741827.1577830982461234/1706050586305939/?type=1&fref=nf&pnref=story

- which looked great but required me to turn on the oven.  Not happening in a hot August.

He wanted a nut free, grain free, dairy free, dessert.  Those are not that easy to come by since most grain free recipes use a nut base like almond flour.

So I tried this instead.

 

I used a soup mug.

1 TB coconut flour

1 TB coconut butter (I use Artisana)

1 egg

¼ ts turmeric

⅛ ts baking soda

1 ts chopped dried ginger (if you have fresh, you should zest it)

¼ ts coconut sugar

¼ ts vanilla

sprinkle of cinnamon

Mix with fork.  Set power level 7 and microwave for 45 seconds.  Color comes out a fiery orange.  It smells heavenly and I made to my taste, which is not too sweet.  For those with a sweeter preference, I would suggest adding a little maple or using more sugar.  

Other than that, if it weren’t for my nut free friend, I would use half and half on the almond meal and coconut flour because I think it’s more moist that way. Texture is like a flat, thin cake.  Not exactly a cookie, but still a nice end to a meal.

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Paleo Microwave Banana chocolate chip Mug Cake

I had a hankering for something sweet.  I couldn’t handle the thought of actually turning on the oven as it was 111 degrees today according to my car (no joke).

Desperation is the mother of necessity.  Ripe bananas? Best use ever.

Here it is, gluten free, dairy free, soy free and takes 2 minutes...possibly 3 min. max to make.

Microwave Chocolate Chip Banana Mug Cake

1 soup sized mug

1 banana (ripe)

1 egg

3 TB almond meal

1 TB coconut flour

¼ ts baking soda

1 TB coconut milk

choc chips of your preference

cinnamon to taste, maple or sweetener of choice (I omitted any since the bananas and choc chips were sweet enough for me)

¼ ts vanilla

Power level 7, microwave 2.5 min.

Edges should come away from mug. Top of mug (bottom of cake) will look a little wet.  Flip over onto plate, cool off and slice.  I meant to make it pretty and garnish with the raspberries and coconut whip cream but I ate them too quickly.

Texture is fluffy and the recipe is low sugar.  Win!

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Oldest Stitches Stash Yarn

Finally, I have completed the 29(!) leaves bordering this shawlette. And now I finally have the Cedar Leaf Shawlette completed, and in a yarn from the DEEP stash. I think this yarn is Tess wool and silk from Stitches West circa 2002.

Chocolate Cherry Acai Berry Smoothie - Perfect

I took a break from my kale smoothies today to return to my objective acai berry smoothie recipe experiment.  Today's was fantastic:

1 package frozen acai berry (Sambozan)

1/2 c. frozen organic blueberries

1 c. frozen organic cherries

1 banana

12 oz organic almond milk

4 oz coconut milk 

3 T raw cacao powder

Blend in vitamix.  Drink happily.

I was sharing this recipe with my friend and she suggested some raw unfiltered local honey would make it even more magical since I use all unsweetened items above.  

As always after starting the day with acai berry, I feel energized and it also acts like a bit of an appetite suppressant for me as well.

 

Sometimes you just have to knit a ruffle yarn scarff.

This Lion brand ruffle yarn is a pain to knit but does produce a fun, ruffly bit of knitted amusement.

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Lever knitting and the Noro scarf

I'm pretty sure if you want to improve your knitting productivity that you should NOT use Noro. The silk garden is lovely but it brings out my OCD yanking out all that vegetable matter.

The lever knitting definitely makes one by one ribbing fly. I'm going to run a time trial tonight to compare the speed of my lever knitting versus good old continental.

Felicia of Sweet Georgia has a really great post here describing the Yarnharlot's class on Lever Knitting (aka "Irish Cottage Knitting")

The main issue I've had has been that while trying to anchor the working needle under my right armpit, the needle keeps sliding around.  Aside from not wearing fleece (which enhances the slide factor!), I learned from another Raveler to tuck a kitchen towel under your arm to prevent the sliding around.  Interesting.

 

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The No Sew Baby blanket

Janice's pattern is clever and if you are a fan of mitering, this is a must knit baby blankie for you.

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Hello Kitty Crochet hat

I'm not that proficient with crochet but this pattern was easy to follow and super cute.

I couldn't get my son to model this.

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