It is indeed time to refresh some of Nora’s mainstay foods. This morning I discovered that we were nearly out of our peanut butter-butter mix. This is a quick and easy way to deliver a lot of fat and it’s perfect for delivering her crushed multivitamin (1/2 of an adult Centrum every other day. Guess what–kid’s vitamins have carbs!)

Adding the flaxseed meal adds fiber. All of the carbs in flax meal come from fiber, so adding a bit of flax doubles the fiber (0.8 g fiber per serving) without added net carbs. Sneaking in as much fiber as possible helps with the inevitable constipation on this diet. And it gives the mix a little thickness that is nice for serving.

Serve it with a few apple slivers (12-15 g gives you 2-3 thin slices, 1.5 g net carbs), or on a flacker.

Peanut butter-butter (makes about 20 tablespoons):

Recipe analyzer from caloriecount.com. Net carbs = 0.8 g

1/2 c butter (softened for easy stirring)
1/2 c natural peanut butter (I use creamy Adams)
1/4 c Flaxseed Meal

Mix well and serve. 1 Tablespoon per serving.

Net carbs = 0.8 per Tbsp

Thursday seems to be the day to refresh some of Nora’s foods, and tonight I am baking. I have had a lot of success with some low-carb recipes so far. They replace regular flour with nut meals to reduce the carbs and increase the protein and fat (Bob’s Red Mill makes all kinds of nut flours). Coconut flour is awesome because it has a light texture, nice flavor, very high fiber, and therefore low net carbs. Nut flours taste great compared to wheat flours, so you don’t miss the sugar so much. I do not add any no-carb/artificial sweeteners. Using tasty whole foods tends to result in a tasty muffin.

Keto-Pumpkin Mini-Muffins

Nora scarfed down this muffin (actually, she also ate most of the paper trying to eat the crumbs off.) Anders deemed it “too nutty.” I thought it was nice, but very soft. It’s not grainy at all.

I have had to further adapt some low-carb recipes because they are written for adults. Even on a low-carb diet, adults get far more than 10 carbs per day. One easy fix is to cut the portion size. Tonight I’m making mini-muffins for the first time.

Low-carb baking also tends to be gluten-free, but the converse is not necessarily true. Lots of gluten-free baking mixes are very high in carbs because they use things like tapioca. So feel free to use these for a gluten-free diet, but remember to check the fat and calories if you are concerned about portion sizes.

Here’s the recipe I made tonight. I don’t remember where I first found it (maybe on a keto/MAD diet website), but I have had to tinker with it to get it right.

Keto-Pumpkin Mini-Muffins (makes 24-25)

Keto-Pumpkin Mini-Muffins (recipe analysis from caloriecount.com). Note that net carbs = 0.9 (calculate total carbs minus fiber).

3 eggs
1/4 c melted butter
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c Plain Traditional Greek Yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 c Hazelnut Flour (or Almond Flour)
2.5 T Coconut Flour
up to 2 T water

Beat eggs well with electric mixer. Add butter, pumpkin, yogurt, cinnamon, vanilla.
Sift together baking powder and nut flours. Let stand for coconut flour to absorb liquids. Add water a bit at a time for appropriate consistency.
Ladle about 4 teaspoons of batter into each lined mini-muffin tin and bake at 350, ~ 15-20 min.

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When topped with 1/2 T of Double-cream-cheese (equal parts Primrose Cream Cheese and Double Devonshire Cream), nutrition breakdown:
Net carbs: 1.15 g
Protein: 1.45 g
Fat: 6.75
Ratio: 2.6:1
Perfect with a cup of tea and cream!