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.

Sent from my iPhone

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!

Sent from my iPhone

Happy New Year and a Green Smoothie Recipe for You

Kale Citrus Sunrise (Green Smoothie) for Jess

This is perfect for winter, taking advantage of California’s plentiful citrus during this time of year, as well as giving you tantalizing tropical imagery and smells when prepping.  You don’t have to be a raw vegan or hard core juicer to enjoy this.

 

Makes about 40 oz.

Fill your Vitamix with:

• 3-4 oz organic dino kale (it about 2 handfuls)
• 2 oz spring mix or herb mix (just under 2 handfuls)
• 4 oz of frozen pineapple
• 1 small lemon (Cut it and peel it and omit seeds, rind, and pith, using pulp and juice for the mix.)
• 1 peeled organic orange (I segment it too to remove seeds)
• 16 oz water

 

Tropical smoothie variant – for sweetness and a creamier texture, I also add frozen mango chunks, about one cup.

Hit the auto setting on your fancy Vitamix, or if you have an older one, puree for a long time, maybe 90 seconds, check for texture and then keep going if necessary.

Ingredients - purchased and readily available at Trader Joe's.  I manage to get organic greens and citrus for the smoothie (the lemon comes from my tree) but haven't found a convenient source for organic pineapple or mango.

Kara Thrace is a Cylon

anyone watch BG? I'm totally addicted.  I am convinced now that Kara is one of the 5 unknown Cylon "skinjob" models. 

People have commented on the wine.  I joined the Ridge wine club and I think their Petite Syrah is fabulous.  The 2001 was my fave.  Ridge is a local vineyard and since real estate is so frackin' expensive here, the Cupertino grapes make the Monte Bello--a mere $200/bottle.  Yikes!  The other grapes come from Sonoma and Paso Robles and that's where my Ridge wine is from--not the fancy stuff.

And, back to the knitting content.  Have tried my hand at some lace--the Argosy.  It's the perfect pattern for the West Valley Alpacas handpaint that had been marinating in the stash since Stitches West 2004...

Say goodbye...since I found a random wonky tendril that I knit accidentally.  It's going to the frog pond and then I'll wait for some quality time with the chart to start over.

As for sweater news...it's been 80 degrees of late.  Of course, this has motivated me to work on my 100% wool sweater.  We have a right front done!  This was my first foray into the Japanese Short Row shoulders on the theory that I will do a 3 needle bind off after I complete the back.  Wish me luck.  Thank goodness for Nona's tutorial.

In the real world

I had a birthday some months back and my gift arrived a few weeks ago.  It was one of my favorite things:  homemade white cake with chocolate frosting.  Of course, my friend is a fancy baker so it's actually a white velvet cake (with citrus) and the fudgiest most excellent dark frosting.

One slice is enough to fell a mere mortal and I had a whole cake.  Here it is.  "Cake on Wedgewood"

In knitting news, I have completed yet another washcloth.  I think I may be nearing the end of my present obsession with those handy square objects.  I am feeling that old baby hat mood again.  Yes, I have now mastered two items for tv watching/knitting--the baby hat (my first love) and now, the Peaches 'n Cream dishcloths.  Next project involves denim.  Can you tell that I've been channeling Kay?

Fancy Foreign Things

I have been getting gifts.  Yay for birthdays.  In addition to some marvelous knitting books (I can hardly describe the joy I've had reading these of late), I have received a lovely Yixing purple clay tea pot and teacups from my cousin Alice.  They are so stylish, and the green tea that came with (rose silver needle!!!) the teaset is so fragrant and fabulous too.

Equally delightful--fancy chocolates from Paris.  Ganache, you are so rich and tasty.  You are so OOH LA LA and nearly gone.  It wasn't me gorging.  Can you believe it was DH? Yes, he ate most of it.  He says he was doing it to help me out since I'm still nursing and the baby is sensitive to chocolate.  Sure.

Brach's Candy

Do you remember Brach's candies?  When I was a kid, Safeway had these candy bins where to you could scoop and weigh your candy.  The bins were usually filled with things like candy corn, licorice and Brach's candy.

I was knitting away at my first Dulaan hat, trying to use up all the fluffy nice La Gran mohair stash bits I had.  Turns out I had lots of pink.  How perfect for Project Spectrum!  As I am knitting, there is some pink, some offwhite and then some cocoa.  All of a sudden, I am reminded of a Brach's candy that I used to like.  It was pink, then white, then chocolate-y. 

But I can't remember what the name of the candy so I google it.  I (heart) the internet.  I found it online...it is the Sundaes Neapolitan Coconuts.

The hat, in its layered fluffiness is turning out rather random, mostly because I so worried about warmth for Mongolia that I am foregoing my usual color/texture considerations.  A case of form follows function, I guess.

I got skillz

Do you have something that you have mastered?  Something you just always get right, every time?  I used to cook (pre-baby) and I had "the company dish" that I made a dozen times and it always turned out.  It was risotto, grilled sausage and string beans with lemon juice and olive oil.  Anytime anyone came over, I made that. 

I went through a brownie phase and a chocolate chip cookie phase.  I must have made several hundred of those from scratch, perfecting my technique, timing, etc. to get the desired chewyness and chocolate-to-flour ratio.

While I make pasta sauce often, I still do not have a recipe that is "perfect" and so I vow that once I can eat tomatoes again (when these food restrictions of breastfeeding are finally over), I will quest to make THE bolognese sauce I have always wanted.  There will be a great shaving of carrots, purchasing of veal and pork chops and shredding of pecorino, I tell you.

So, apparently my obsessive behavior with recipes is transferrable to knitting because I have one thing that I usually get right.  Hats.  I seem to be able to make hats without thinking, and without screwing up.  Now nearly complete with my first Dulaan hat.