Lunch muffins

This is a super easy recipe, and the muffins works great as a supplement to salad and soup, or as a good addition to everyday lunch.


For the dough you'll need:

• 4 dl flour, I recommend 50/50 regular flour and wholemeal flour 
• 1 dl muesli (plain without fruits)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 50 gr butter (soft but not melted)
• 2 dl low fat milk
• 2 dl cheese, I used mozzarella in small cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt

 Mix together the flour, muesli, baking powder, salt, butter and milk. Mix in almost all of the cheese and the dough is ready!

Then add the filling you like, or follow my example:

• a couple of slices of ham
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 table spoons of pickled peppers
• a couple of leaves of basil, cut in small pieces
• 3 table spoons of black olives, sliced 

Mix the filling with the dough, and put it into a muffin pan (the baking tray thingy with holes in it). I think ten muffins turns out the best in size and shape. Sprinkle over the last of the cheese, and bake for 20 minutes on 200 degrees (400 degrees farenheit)

When the muffins are done, let them rest for about five minutes before removing them from the tray (the cheese will be melted and not cooperative) and then let it cool of on a rack. And done!

Sugarfree icecream

A big portion of icecream is just the best treat. I stumbled across this way of making icecream some time ago, and I was not convinced. But yesterday I desided to go for it (mainly because I did'nt want to go out to get some) and I must say it surprised me! The texture is super, and it is so rich and sweet. This version is with strawberry and chocolate and is enough for one big portion.

Step 1:

Roughly chop two bananas and put them in the freezer. I froze them in a small plastic bag, so that I could keep them separated (so they don't stick to each other) This will take 1 - 2 hours.

Step 2:

This is the fun part. Put the bananas in a blender (that can handle icecubes) and add the flavour of you're choice. I added a handful of frozen strawberries and a few bits of 70% chocolate. If you blend it straight away it might be a good idea to add some milk to get the right texture. But it can be left out if you are patient enough to wait for about ten minutes so the fruit will melt a bit and get more moisted.

Blend until smooth and delicious. And that is it!

For this chunky monkey inspired version, do step 1 as above.

Step 2:
Put the bananas in the blender and add two teaspoons of cocoa powder and a few of bits of 70% chocolate. Blend it (and again, add milk if the texture is'nt perfect) and garnish with roughly chopped walnuts and chocolate.

Super simple low-carb lunch

I consider my selfe very lucky, because I don't have any serious food allergies. So I can eat everything, and can get inspired by anything! This time it is the low-carb lifestyle of my uncle that inspired me to make this very easy lunch.

For one person you'll need:

• 1 avocado
• about 4 inches of cucumber
• 1 boiled eg (very smart to boil several for later lunch projects)
• 1 handful of chichpeas (I use the canned ones, so I don't have to soak them in water befor use)
• good olive oil
• salt and pepper
• parsley

Chop the avocado, cucumber and eg roughly. Put them on a plate or in a bowl, add the chicpeas and sprinkle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper, garnish with parsley and you're done!

Wonderful carrot soup

Healthy and easy to make, this deliciously full and spicy soup is a perfect rainy-day treat!

I love this as a carrot soup but I often make it with whatever I have in the fridge, adding a bit of bell peppers, chili, broccoli, cauliflower or turnips.

For the basic carrot soup, you'll need:

1 cube Chicken or vegetable stock.
300g Carrots
One large Onion.
2 tsp Madras Curry
1/2 tsp Fresh ginger (1/2 - 1 tsp powdered ginger)
20g Butter (optional)
Salt and pepper
- - -

Set about 1/2 liter of water to boil in a large pan. Add the chicken stock, followed by the carrots (and other vegetables), and onion. If you use fresh ginger, add it to the pan as well.

Cook the carrots/vegetables until they're soft and mushy.

Process the carrots/vegetables with a hand blender to make a thick puré.
(Sometimes I drain a bit of the water, keeping it to the side while I process the vegetables and adding it bit by bit to better control the thickness and texture of the soup.)

If you're using powdered ginger and butter, add it now along with salt, pepper and curry. Keep tasting as you go along until the flavor is just right.

Garnish with a bit of sour cream and a cilantro leaf (parsley if you don't like cilantro).

Serve with toasted black bread (dark rye bread) and butter and/or cheese.

Yum!

Almost seamless baby helmet

When my friends startet to pop out babies, I off course started knitting tiny and soft stuff for the newborns. I base everything I know about babies on what I learned from my seven years younger brother, and he always had the cutest baby helmets. I found a couple of patterns for knitting helmets, but after knitting several I found that they never turned out as I wanted them to. So I had to make my own, and here it is. The pattern is knitted sideways and is really simple (if I have explained it properly). The point is to get a good fit, with as few seams as possible, and I think it worked out really good.
I am sorry about pretty bad pictures, and I will update them as soon as I find a cute baby model...

The pattern will fit 2 - 4 months old. I will come up with other sizes later.

Cast on 36 sts on needle 2,5 (Gauge: 28 sts = 4 inches)

• R1: (front towards you) S1, K2, YO, K32 (one stitch left on left needle)
• R2: K36
• R3: S1, K2, YO, K32 (two stitches left)
• R4: K36
• R5: S1, K2, YO, K32
• R6: K36

Repeat row 5 and 6 until there is 15 stitches left "unknit" (row 30)

Row 29

Row 30

•  R31: (front towards you) S1, K1, K2together, K33
• R32: K36

Repeat row 31 and 32 until there is 36 stitches left in all.
Repeat row 5 and 6 until there is 12 stitches left "unknit"
Repeat row 31 and 32 until there is 36 stitches left in all.
Repeat row 5 and 6 until there is 15 stitches left "unknit"
Repeat row 31 and 32 until there is 36 stitches in all.
Bind of.

Sew the helmet together in the back, and add strings (photos will be posted soon)

Drops slippers with a twist

 The base for these slippers was the pattern from Drops found at http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=111&d_id=31&lang=us
They are knitted from the toe and up, but instead of knitting back and forth as the pattern said, I used five needles. Doing so, I could add a nice pattern on the top of the foot.
Around the ankle I switched two stitches on each end from purl so stockinette.

When it was about one inch left before BO, I made the heel like this:

R1: K10, K2tgh 9 times, K11
R2: K10, P10, K10
R3: K10, K2tgh five times, K10
R4: K10, P5, K10
R5: K10, K2tgh, K1, K2tgh, K10
R6: K10, S1, P2tgh, pull the slipped stitch over the last knitted stitch

Fold the knit so the two needles is parallel to each other, with the inside of the slipper facing out. Take a third needle and slip the last knitted stitch (from R6) over on it. Knit (using the third needle) the first stitch on EACH of the two needles together. Slip the first stitch from needle three over the second. (It is a normal BO, but in the same procedure you knit the heel together.) Continue this until there is no more stitches on the two parallel needles. Cut and pull the thread through.

 

Paella

Strongly inspired by Jamie Olivers trip to Andalucien, and his fantastic paella for 500 people (!), I decided to try to make one (a tiny bit smaller portion) today. I have never made it before, and picked up some hints on the internet. Of course I  checked out Jamie Olivers recipe at http://www.jamieoliver.com/ The biggest deviation from this, was that I wanted to make a kind of everyday paella, and went easy on the seafood. That will get tossed in there when ever I make this for a weekend come together. Also, I added white wine and switched the safran with turmeric.

Ingredients:

• two chorizo sausages, chopped in thick slices 
• 300 gr pork, in 1 x 1 cm pieces, I used pork chops and put the bone in to give extra flavor 
• one green and one red pepper, roughly chopped
• five cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• one onion, roughly chopped
• a handful of parsley, the stalks chopped nicely 
• about 3/4 teaspoon of turmeric 
• one tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 dl frozen shrimps, no shells 
• 300 gr paella rice (I used "Risotto rice", worked perfectly)
• 2 dl dry white wine
• 6 dl chicken stock  

 Start of with frying the sausage and pork in a good amount of olive oil over medium heat. Fry it for about ten minutes. The fat from the chorizo will melt and cover the pork with a redish color. 

Add the peppers, onion, garlic, parsley stalks, turmeric, salt and pepper. Fry it on medium heat until the vegetables soften, about ten minutes.

You never know about wine, so it is important to taste it. Just in case...

After frying everything, it is time for the rice. Jamie Oliver said over and over, that it is important that every tiny bit of rice gets the same kind of love and care. Therefore, after adding it, I carefully mixed everything until every rice was covered in the delicious moist from the sausage and vegetables. 

Then add the wine and the stock. Make it boil, and turn the heat down a bit. It is important to stir regularly, so that the rice won't stick to the bottom and burn. Continue giving the rice some love, for about 15 minutes. The rice should be soft on the outside, and still have some chewyness in the middle. 
Put in the shrimps and the rest of the parsley, and keep on stiring until the shrimps are heated all the way through. 

If I hadn't forgot to buy it, I would have served this with some good bread. If you like, sprinkle it with lemon just before eating.


I strongly recommend this dish! This was an easy version of the Spanish classic, but I will for sure develop it further. A new favorite!

Chunky Man-Cowl

Also, check out the NEW Chunky Man-Cowl!

My boyfriend wanted a warm, chunky and masculine scarf in “military-ish” colors.
I looked at various knitting patterns for scarves and cowls but ended up buying a bunch of yarn in nice colors and improvising.
The result is a long scarf, with Drops Karisma Superwash in gray and Drops Classic Alpaca in brown knit together in a waffle pattern, making it chunky and soft. I sewed the ends together to make a cowl that can go around twice to fit snugly around the neck.

What you'll need:
At least 6 skeins of DK weight yarn (I used 3 of the Karisma and 3 of the Alpaca) and a circular, or two 5.5mm pins.

CO 52 stitches with double yarn (one thread of each) and knit the following back and forth.

Row 1: K to end.
Row 2: P to end.
Row 3: *K2, P2*
Row 4: *K2, P2*

Repeat rows 1-4 until you have a scarf long enough to wrap around your neck twice. I used all the yarn, there was a little more of the Karisma so I used only that for the sewing.

BO and sew the ends together.

Voilà!

- - - - - - - - -
Update:

I was asked to upload a pic of the two yarns together up-close. Here's one I took when I was in the middle of knitting it - hope it helps!