Tangled

My 3yr old is o b s e s s e d with the Disney movie Tangled.
She luvs it. We've seen it 3 times in the theater. It was released
on DVD today and I sent my husband to Walmart this morning
before work to pick up a copy for her. Its 8 in the morning
and we're watching Tangled and eating popcorn :) Anything for
my girls..

Cookbook heaven

I took my little monsters to the mall today for
some shopping. My girls grow like weed (seriously,
Abbie is 36lbs.. 36! And Kennis is like 20!) and
they both needed some new outfits. I got some great
deals at Macys and Abbie found a pink, sparkly purse
that kept her busy for a good 20minutes.

On the way to the car we walked by a new bookstore,
at a closer look I realized it was a DOLLAR bookstore.
Sweet! I browsed through the cookbook section and
quickly came to the conclusion I was gonna need a forklift to get
all the books I wanted out to the car. I narrowed it down to
7 and I got back to the car with a big smile on my
face (and 2 screaming girls in the backseat).
Cant wait to start looking through these and try out some
of the recipes :D

Sweet smell of home made bread..

My sweet Mr. Viking bought me a bread hook for my
kitchen aid a couple of days ago and OF COURSE
I had to break it in! On Thursday I spent a
couple of hours at the dr's office, found out I
have a bad sinus infection and my ears are
ringing like CRAZY and driving me nuts. To get
my mind off of my puffy face and ringing ears
I decided to spend some time in the kitchen
and made some bread, and cinnamon rolls and
swedish sunny buns. Lol. To top it off I also
made a meatloaf. I think I spent like 7hrs in
the kitchen that day. OMG. Lets kick it off
with some great TEKAKA. Its swedish and means
tea cake. Its not a cake, and you dont have to
eat it with tea. I love mine with a little bit
of butter and a slice of cheese.. mmm.



10 Tekakor

5 dl (2 cups) milk
4 dl (1.7 cups) oats
0.5 msk (tbs) salt
1 msk (tbs) light baking syrup (they have it at IKEA)
150 gram butter (one stick is 113 gram)
1 envelope yeast
8-9 dl (3.5-4 cups) self rising flour



Heat milk to 100 degrees. Mix with oats, salt and syrup.
Let stand for 20mins.

Melt the butter and blend with the oatmix.

Blend your yeast with a little bit of the flour and
mix it with the oatmix (make sure the oatmix is warm enough for
the yeast to activate!)

Mix in the flour, a little at a time, intil you have a sticky
dough.

Cover and let rise for 30mins.

Kneed your dough on a floured counter top, cut into 10 pieces
and roll out to round 'cakes' (about 0.5 inch thick)

Place your tekakor on a waxpapper covered cookie sheet,
let rise for 30 mins

Bake on 440 F (225 C) for about 10mins.

Cupcakes

2 days ago I whipped up some cupcakes and frosting.
I need to practice my piping skills before Abbies birthday
so I just made some plain vanilla cupcakes and some
white chocolate frosting. I used some Marabou Vinter (winter)
chocolate from Sweden. Its a white chocolate with a small hint
of vanilla. I dont like the chocolate at all, so I dont know what
I was thinking making frosting out of it. It was YUCKY!
At least the cupcakes looked cute and Im pretty proud
of my first attempt at piping :) I call them my diet friendly
cupcakes, cause I dont like the taste and therefore will
not eat them lol.


But aren't they puuurtey? :)

Homemade pizza

I've had pizza in Italy before, and to be honest.. its not as great
as you'd expect it to be. But I guess I haven't tried every single
pizza in Italy, maybe I just had bad luck w/ my pick of pizzerias.
The best pizza I've ever had I got in London. Every single
time I've been there we've been lucky enough to find some
aaamazing pizza. I guess the Brits must love their pizza pie, cause they
sure know what they are doing ! :)

In my family in Sweden it was a tradition to order pizza every friday.
The pizzas in Sweden are quite delicious if I might say so
myself and its one of those things we have to stop and pickup
on the way home from the airport whenever I go back to visit lol.
They are individual pizzas, but usually they are pretty big and 2ppl
could easily share it.. but we never do. Cause the best part about
the pizzas are the left overs that you can reheat the next day..mmm.
The crust is paper thin and the toppings range from
the most basic cheese to full on crazyness (french fries, fried
eggs, ice cream anyone?). I like mine with chicken, bananas
and curry or a calzone w/ mushrooms and ham. Mmmm.

Where did you have the best pizza ever and what do you put on your pizza?

Last night I was craving some swedish pizza and made
some cheese pizza for my plain hubby, some mushroom and
ham for my capricciosa daughter and a calzone for myself.
I had some leftover dough and made some pizzabread. Yum.

You will need.

1 package fast rising yeast

3 dl (1.2 cups) water

2 tsp sugar 1 tsp sea salt 2 tbs olive oil 1 dl (0.5 cups)durum wheat (semolina flour) 5-6 dl (2-2.5 cups) wheat flour

+ whatever toppings you want.

Mix yeast with sugar, salt and durum wheat. Follow instructions
on yeast package (mine said heat liquid to 120-130 F). Mix your
hot water with flour mix. Make sure yeast dissolves. Mix in
olive oil. Add flour, a little at a time. Mix until you've got a smooth
dough. Cover and let it rise for 45mins-1hr. Divide dough in 4
pieces. Roll out on floured workbench. Add your favorite
toppings and bake at 485 F (250 C) for 5-7mins.

German Pancakes

I saw a recipe for these a couple of weeks ago and have been thinking
about making them ever since. This morning one of my friends posted
the exact same recipe on Facebook and I took it as I sign that I HAD
to make these.

I had never heard about these or seen one until a couple of weeks ago
when I saw one on one of my fav. food blogs, so I didnt really know
what to expect. It's kind of like a souffle/pancake/omelet.

I served mine with powdered sugar and blackberries. Yum!



3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 (1dl) cup milk, room temperature
1/2 (1dl) cup sifted bread flour or all-purpose flour*
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7 teaspoons butter
Powdered (confectioners') sugar

*Bread flour is a high-protein flour. The high protein helps the pancake rise. All-purpose flour may be substituted but the results won't be as spectacular.

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. NOTE: It is very important that you preheat your oven. Place oven rack on the middle rack of your oven. Place a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan or a cast iron skillet (I like used my 10-inch cast-iron skillet), in the oven until hot and sizzling. While pan is heating, prepare your batter.

NOTE: Use a shallow pan, not more than 3 inches deep (pie pans, cast iron skillets, oven-proof fry pans, baking dishes, paella pans). Like I said before, I prefer using a cast iron skillet or pan because it acts as a heat reservoir, retaining the heat and distributing it evenly.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy; add milk, flour, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; beat for 5 minutes more. The batter will be thin, but very smooth and creamy.

Using a pot holder, remove the hot skillet from the oven; add the butter; tilting the pan to melt the butter and coat the skillet.

3. Pour the prepared batter into the hot skillet, all at once, and immediately return the skillet to the oven.

4. Bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown (bake until the pancake puffs up around the edges - it may puff irregularly in the center).

It turned out really yummy. Next time Ill top mine w/ apples or
strawberries and I would probably add a little extra cinnamon.

Happy st Patricks day!

Happy st Patricks day everyone! Today I took the kids
to a green potluck in a big park. I brought some
cakepops, swedish bundtcake and caramel chexmix.
The cakepops turned out GREAT, I used home made
frosting (O M G i will never buy frosting in a can
ever again!).

I have a teeting baby and she's been fuzzy all day
and all night thats demanding my attention right now,
so Ill write more about my pops tomorrow.

Gonight!

Irish or Thai?

Today I made 2 equally good things. They are worlds apart,
but they are both super delicious and you have to try them out.
First I made some Pot of Gold Chex Mix. OMG, why have I never
made this before? Its for a saint Patricks day potluck we're going
to on Thursday, but Im scared it wont last that long ;)

Pot of Gold Chex Mix

4	cups Lucky Charms cereal
2	cups Corn Chex cereal
1 1/2	cups broken mini-pretzel twists (about 65 twists)
1	cup dry-roasted peanuts
1/2	cup packed brown sugar
1/4	cup butter
2	tablespoons corn syrup (I refuse to cook w/ corn syrup so I used swedish syrup)
1/8	teaspoon baking soda
1/4	cup green M&M's

Put cereal and broken pretzels in a microwave safe bowl, set aside.
In a microwave safe bowl, mix syrup, butter and brown sugar.
Cook for 1-2mins until melted. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until
evenly coated.

Microwave uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring and scraping bowl every 30 seconds, just until cereal begins to brown. Cool 5 minutes; stir in candies. Spread on waxed paper to cool; break into bite-size pieces.



And for dinner I made this A M A Z I N G red curry soup. Hmmm,
Im drooling just thinking about it. Im so excited I have some leftovers
in the fridge for tomorrow.

Red Curry Chicken soup. 4 servings.

1-2 shredded chicken breasts
1 can (14 oz) of chicken broth
14 oz water
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin bite-size strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red curry paste
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup crinkle cut carrots

In 4-quart nonstick Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and mushrooms; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add bell pepper and garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat; stir in curry paste until melted. stir in chicken broth and water.

In small bowl, stir cornstarch and 2tbs water until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture and coconut milk to soup mixture; heat to boiling. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.

Stir in spinach and cilantro. Cook about 1 minute or just until mixture is hot and spinach is wilted. Serve soup with lime wedges

Domestic Viking vs. the perfect Brownie

I love Brownies. Thats like my one and only food obsession. I've
been one of those ppl that don't mind baking it from a box, cause they
always turn out great! But now I put my foot down and decided Im
gonna find the perfect brownie recipe. Last week I made a batch
following a recipe from Leila Lindholms A piece of Cake. They turned
out ok, but not great. So I actually ended up making a second
batch, following the same recipe but took them out of the oven 5mins
sooner than the recipe tells you. They were still just so-so. Which surprised
me, cause all other things I've made from this book has turned
out amazing.. So, Im still on the quest for the perfect brownie and
yesterday I tried a recipe I found online. I doubled the cocoa powder
and they turned out pretty darn good.. but still not perfection. Ill try
southern livings recipe next week.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 2/3 cup dark organic cocoa powder)
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook

Karsbader wreath

I've been working on this almond paste filled wreath all afternoon.
The first dough didn't rise, not sure what went wrong, but I
ended up trashing it and made a second one. This is a classic
Swedish pastry and I know you'll love it. You'll find almond paste
in the bakery aisle at your local grocery store (I live in so.cal and
buy mine at Ralphs or Whole Foods).

For the Karlsbader Wreath you will need.

1.) 100 gr butter (1 stick is 113grams)
2.) 2 dl (0.8 cups) milk
3.) 25gr (fresh) yeast. Read the instructions on the package if using dry yeast (I had to use 2 envelopes).
4.) 1 pinch of salt
5.) 1 dl (0.5 cups) sugar
6.) 2 egg yolks
7.) aprox. 7 dl (3 cups) flour (I use organic)

Filling:
1.) 100gr almond paste
2.) 50gr butter

Melt butter, add milk. Mix yeast with a little bit of the liquid. When
the yeast is a little bubbly add the rest of the liquid. Mix in salt, sugar,
egg yolks and flour (a little at a time). The dough is perfect when it isnt
sticking to the bowl anymore. Cover and let rise for at least 30mins.
Roll out dough to a large rectangle. Grate the almond paste and mix
with butter. Spread the mixture on the dough. Roll it up and make
a wreath . Use knife to score the dough. Cover and let rise for 30mins.
Bake at 390 F (200C) for 15-20mins.

Yuuuum!

Ruffle Cake

Im planning on making this for Abbie for her B-day.



Looks easy enough.. huh? I better start practice tomorrow
or we'll end up with a BIG ruffle mess. Not cute.

Spring is in the air.

.. and its time to bake. Picked up some baking supplies from
JoAnn's today on my way home from the gym (where my
kids are finally starting to enjoy the kidsclub so I can get
a full hour workout. hooola!). I absolutely adore that store.
And their coupons. 40% on any item. Eee, yes pleaze!
I got a 12 piece cupcake decorating set that contains piping
bags and tips. I want to make a ruffel cake for Abigail for
her birthday next month and I need to practice.

When I got home I took out one of my favorite cookie books.
'Seven types of cookies' from Sweden. I'll bake something
from it tomorrow.

Pizza time!

My 3 yr old daughter loves pizza, and hotdogs. So last night I made her hotdog pizza. For everyone over 3years old I made upside down pizza w turkey sausage, sweet pepper and zucchini. Yum!

1 zucchini
28 oz diced tomatoes
1 sweet red pepper
3 pieces of garlic
1 onion
5 turkey or chicken sausage links
1 package refrigerated pizza dough
1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella (I used less cheese to make it healthier)
1 tsp salt
1 tbs pizza or italian seasoning
0.5 tsp black pepper
Dice onion, garlig, veggies and sausage. Brown onions, pepper and grated garlic. Drain dices tomatoes and put them in your pan. Add zucchini, sausage, salt, pepper and half of italian seasoning. Let simmer for 6mins. Meanwhile roll pizza dough on wax paper or floured surface and cut into strips. Take sauce off of heat. Mix in parmesan and half of the mozzarella cheese. Poor into casserole dish. Top with remaining mozzarella. Place the pizza dough strips in a pretty pattern on top of the sauce. Top with remaining italian seasoning and bake for 30mins at 350F.

Payback time..

Its payback time.. eee.. I mean, time to return a favor. My birthday
was a couple of weeks ago. One of my friends was super sweet and
baked me a oooey goooey swedish(!) sticky cake (kladdkaka.. kaka
means cake in swedish, no joke). I will make it for you guys some day.
Ok back to my birthday.. she brought over a whole freaking kladdkaka,
even though she knows Im on a diet. Of course I had to break my diet
to eat the deliciousness that is a kladdkaka and I felt bad about it for
daaays (ok, for like 2 seconds.. then the chocolate hit my mouth).
So, today it was my sweet friends birthday and of course I had to
bake her something to return the favor (aka. payback.. she's been
doing a sugar detox, sorry girl, no sugardetox for you today!)
and I made her some fudgy chocolate brownies. Yum in my tum!

You will need.

350 g soft butter
6 dl (2.5 cups) sugar
3 dl (1.25 cups) good quality coco powder
1 dl (0.4cups) molasses or swedish light syrup (its NOT pancake syrup, you can buy it at IKEA's foodmarket)
0.5 tsp salt
6 eggs
3 dl (1.25 cups) flour.

Beat butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Mix in coco powder, salt and syrup/molasses. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Fold the flour into the batter. Poor batter in buttered pan and bake at 350F (175C) for 30mins. Cake should be sticky in the middle.



ps I only made half a batch, thats why Im using a smaller pan

Hot n spicy pulled pork

When we moved from our apartment to the house a couple
of months ago my husband (yes, I actually CAN blame this
on him!) forgot/lost/threw away the lid for my crock pot.
Even since I've been trying to get him to buy me a new one.
Last week he finally surprised me (gave in) and bought
me a brand spankin new crock pot! I've been super excited
to try out a couple of recipes I found online, and last night
I made Spicy Pulled Pork from Martha Stewart,


You will need..

1 medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 dried bay leaves
1 chipotle, in adobo sauce, minced
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14.5 ounces) whole tomatoes in puree
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 3/4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and halved crosswise (I couldn't find a pork shoulder smaller than 10lbs in the store so I bought tenderloin instead)
Flour tortillas, lightly toasted, for garnish (optional) (I used toasted pitabread)
Grated cheddar cheese, for garnish (optional)
Sour cream, for garnish (optional)

1. In a 5-quart slow cooker, combine onion, oregano, bay leaves, chipotle, adobo sauce, tomatoes (and purée), salt, and pepper. Add pork; toss to coat with sauce.
2. Cover; cook on high setting until meat is pull-apart tender, about 6 hours (do not uncover while cooking).
3. Transfer meat to a large bowl; shred with forks, discarding any gristle. Return meat to pot; toss with sauce.
4. To serve, discard bay leaves; if desired, garnish with tortillas and cheddar or sour cream.

Original recipe Spicy Pulled Pork - Martha Stewart Recipes

Me and Mr.Viking really enjoyed the dish. It was spicy, but not toooo spicy
and I put the leftovers in the freezer.

Yeehaw!!

For dinner tonight I made Cowboysoup. I would probably
describe it more as a stew than a soup, but I guess you could
put more water in it to make it more soupy..

So lets giddy up and get us some cowboy grub.

COWBOY SOUP

500 g / 1lb groundbeef/or turkey
1 yellow onion
1-2 carrots
1-3 st pieces of garlic (I used about 1 tbs of grated garlic)
Beef bullion
6 potatoes
1 red pepper
1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
2-3 dl (1 cup) shredded cabbage
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
2 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 cups of water

1.) Dice carrots and potatoes. Shred cabbage (I used a bag of coleslaw
veggies, so no shredding for me) and red pepper. Cut onion into small
pieces.

2.) Brown the meat w/ the onion and garlic

3.) Put remaining ingredients and the meat mixture in a big pot.
Let simmer for aprox 20-25mins (until potatoes are done) Taste and adjust the
spices after your liking (the recipe I followed didn't have any specific measurements
for the spices but this is how much I used).

Apple of my Eye

Meet Mackenzie, or Kennis as I call her. Abigail, my soon 3yr
old little princess, had a really hard time saying Mackenzie or Kenzie when
she was born, so Kenzie became Kennis. Kennis will be 8 months
next week and Abbie now knows how to say Kenzie,
but I still call her Kennis.. Im the only one that still does.
People might think it sounds funny, but I can just blame it on my
Swedish background. I can pretty much get away with anything over
here.. people just smile and say 'oh, she's Swedish'.

Mr.Viking's (who really isn't a Viking at all, he's from the midwest..
as far away from a viking as you can get) bff is getting married
in London in May and my baby brother (not technically a baby..
but you know) will marry the love of his life in Sweden in June.
I had a baby 8months ago and I need to get my butt in shape
(evening gown shape), so the recipe I'm about to post is nothing
I will make at the moment. But I wish I was, because these
muffins and to D I E for. Or atleast break-your-diet-worthy.
I made them after I had Kennis and my extended family came
over to see her. I made them for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.
I made them for my birthday and I will make them for Abbies
birthday. I am obsessed with these darn muffins. I can't have any
at the moment, but YOU can. So go make them.. NOW!!

Cinnamon Apple crumble muffins

You will need:

Muffins
100 100 g butter
2 2 organic eggs
1.5 1.5 dl (0.6 cups) granulated sugar
1 1 tsp vanillasugar (or vanilla extract)
2 2 dl (0.85 cups) organic milk
4 4 dl (1.7 cups) all purpose flour
2 2 tsp bakingpowder
1 1 pinch of salt

Filling:
2 large apples
1 1 tbs butter for pan
2 2 tbs sugar
2 2 tsb cinnamon

Crumble topper:
75 75 g cold butter
2 2 dl (0.85 cups) oats
1 1 dl (0.6cups) flour
1 1 dl (0.6 cups) sugar

1. Turn your oven to 350F (175C).Whisk eggs, sugar and vanillasugar (or vanilla extract)
until fluffy. Mix in melted butter and milk.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Fold your flour mix in
the batter. Make sure not to mix to long. Use a spatula, NOT an electic mixer.
Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan.

3.Peel and slice the apples. Put sugar, cinnamon and butter in a hot pan.
Sear the apples until brown and soft.

4.Mix the apples with your cake batter. Save some apples for topping.
Poor the cake batter in the cupcake liners.

5. Cut the butter into small pieces and pinch it together with the oats,
flour and sugar in a bowl.

6.Top your muffins with the crumble mixture and 1-2 pieces of apple.

7. Bake for aprox 20mins.

Easiest lunch ever..Pizza Rolls

I found this recipe while browsing the internet for healthy kids lunches. I wouldn't call the original recipe that healthy, but I changed some of the ingredients to make it healthier. These pizza rolls are super easy to make and it takes aprox. 3mins from start to finish. Yeay for speedy kids lunches. I actually dont serve this to just my kids, I eat it myself too and its my favorite lunch right now (beats a plain old turkey sandwich any day!).

You will need

- 1 tortilla (I use low carb)
- Pizza sauce
- 4 slices of turkey (or salami or ham or whatever meat you have on hand)
- shredded cheese (I use whatever kind I have in the fridge, for a
healthy alternative use low fat)

Put tortilla on microwave safe plate. Spread pizza sauce on
the tortilla. Put the meat on the tortilla and spread some
cheese on top. Heat in the microwave for about 1min
(until cheese is melted). Let it cool a little bit and
make a roll. Cut into bite size pieces and enjoy :)