Fall is in the air?

Its been crazy warm here in So.Cal for the past couple
of weeks. C R A Z Y ! A steady temperature of 96-100
degrees. We are all melting! So, obviously we are still
in summer mood, even though the retail industry want
us to get into halloween/thanksgiving/even CHRISTMAS
(have you guys seen the christmas decorations at Costco?)
mood and the stores are overflowing with halloween
candy, pumpkin spice candles and heavy sweaters.

I got a couple of magazines last week, all FULL of
fall recipes. Cant wait to try them out. Applecider
cinnamon rolls, pot pies, pear cobbler and a million
more recipes. Yum.

Ive been horrible at taking pictures lately and
I apologize. But heres a recipe for something I made
last week for my inlaws and it was delish!

1 pork loin
Butter
1 red pepper, chopped
0.5 leek, chopped
0.5 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup creme fraiche
0.5 heavy cream
1-2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste. You find it in the Asian aisle)
1 tsp curry
1 tsp paprika powder
Salt
Pepper
Shredded cheese

Slice pork in half inch thick slices, and cook in pan with butter.
Put meat in ovenproof casserole dish. Add onion, garlic, leek and
red pepper to pan and cook until soft. Add creme fraiche, cream,
tomato paste, sambal oelek, curry and paprika powder. Add salt and
pepper after taste. Let simmer for a couple of minutes. Pour sauce
over meat, top with some shredded cheese (I used mozzarella).
Bake @ 440.f. for 15mins. Serve with rice. Yummers.

My new favorite dessert.

So, mr.Viking is c r a z y about banana-pudding so when
he asked me to make some dessert to take along to
a pool party last night my choice was easy. Something
bananaish. I've been wanting to make a trifle for a while now,
so.. there we had it. Banana trifle. And O M G it was aaaamazing.
I think I gained like 10lbs last night from eating all that darn
banana-goodiness. But oh was it worth it. I didnt even have
time to take picture and the hubbster ate the letfovers
today. I think this might be my new favorite dessert
and Im drooling just thinking about it :)

You will need:

1 loaf of pound cake (I used 1 box of yellow cakemix)
2 packages of instant banana cream pudding
4 cups of milk
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
Vanilla extract after taste
0.5 cups confectioners sugar
2 bananas
0.5 cup crushed vanilla wafer cookies

Mix pudding with milk and put in fridge for a couple of minutes
(until it sets).

Whip cream until peaks begins to form. Poor in vanilla
and sugar. Blend.

Slice bananas.

Cut cake in cubes. Line trifle bowl or other glass bowl with the cake.

Spread half of banana pudding mix on top of cake. Spread half
of sliced bananas on the pudding. Top with half the whipped cream
and crushed cookies. Repeat all the layers. Chill until ready to
eat. Yummmm!

Tortellini chicken soup

Made this amazing soup last week and I know I'll make it
again. Its super easy and healthy. Try it!

1	tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1/3	cup chopped green onions (about 5 medium)
1/3	cup julienne carrots (1 1/2x1/4x1/4 inch)
1	teaspoon finely chopped garlic
6	cups chicken broth (from two 32-oz cartons)
2	cups shredded deli rotisserie chicken (from 2- to 2 1/2-lb chicken)
1	cup frozen small cheese-filled tortellini
1/4	teaspoon ground nutmeg, if desired
1/8	teaspoon pepper
3	cups chopped fresh spinach

In 4 1/2- to 5-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions, carrots and garlic in oil 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are softened.

Stir in broth and chicken. Heat to boiling. Stir in tortellini; reduce heat to medium. Cover; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until tortellini are tender.

Stir in nutmeg, pepper and spinach. Cover; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until spinach is hot.

yumyum!


picture from bettycrocker.com

Banana Tacos

This sounded so weird I just HAD to try it. And you know,
it wasn't that bad. Not bad at all actually. However, I do like
bananas in my food (like on pizza. mmmm). If you don't,
this probably ain't for you (and thats the reason I made this while
I was in Sweden without the hubbster.. who resents warm bananas).

1lbs Ground beef
Oil for pan
0.5 cups water
1 banana
1/5 cup unsweetened grated coconut
Taco shells
Burrito spice mix
Pineapple salsa
Shredded cheese
Shredded lettuce

1. Brown meat in oil.
2. Add spicemix, water, coconut and (mashed) banana.
   
3. Heat your taco shells
   
4. Put meat mixture and other toppings in the shells.
   

Dinner this week.

So, I know I've been MIA for a couple of weeks. My excuse?
I've been visiting my family in Sweden. We spent 6 wks in
Sweden and then we stopped in Indiana on the way home
to spend some time with the inlaws. I've been gone for a total
of almost 8 weeks and its so nice to back home. Oh how I've
missed my house :)

What are you guys making for dinner this week?

I went to Ralphs yesterday, with 2 crazy kids and I felt like
I needed a strong drink when we finally left..
Anyho, I managed to get food to get us through the week. Phew.

Dinner this week includes

Taco soup
Easy chicken pot pie
Chicken tortellini soup
Vegan gumbo
(lighter) Enchilada Pie

To kick things off I give you Hobo packets that I
made in Sweden. Yum.



You will need

1lb Ground beef
Spices for hamburger patty (I need garlic, Worcestershire sauce,
garlic powder, black pepper and little bit of sea salt).
1 large onion (sliced)
4 carrots (sliced)
5-6 potatoes (cubed)
Favorite bottled marinade (I used garlic)
Aluminum foil

Make your patties. Take a piece of foil (big enough to fit
your patty and toppings). Place patty on foil and bend the sides
to make a small bowl. Top with onion, potatoes, carrots and
2tbsp of marinade. Wrap up your package and bake on
350f for 45mins. Voila!

texmex chicken

Im crazy about Mexican food and this Tex Mex chicken and
rice casserole was a real hit in our house last week. It reminds
me of King Ranch chicken, but not as heavy. I'll make this
again for sure!

You will need

1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 6.9oz package chicken-flavor rice and vermicelli mix
1 14 oz can chicken broth
2 cups cooked chopped chicken
1 can diced tomatoes
4 tablespoons canned diced green peppers
1.5 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon ground cummin
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded mexican blend cheese
Fresh cilantro

1.) Preheat oven to 425f. In a medium saucepan cook onion in hot oil
over medium heat until tender. Stir rice and vermicelli mix (inc seasoning).
Cook and stir for 2min. Stir in broth and water. Bring to boil, reduce heat. Simmer,
covered, for 20min.
2.) Transfer rice to large bowl. Stir in chicken, tomato, chili peppers, chili powder,
basil, cumin and black pepper. Transfer to an un greased 2 quart casserole.
3.) Bake for 25mins or until heather through. Sprinkle with cheese. Let stand
for at least 5min before serving. Top with cilantro.

Cookiepops

I was up until midnight baking these darn (good) cookies
last week. My daughter wanted to take them to
her music class so what am I mom to do..??

I got a special 'cookiepop pan' from Target and used
half the batch for that, they turned out soooo bad. Well,
they tasted good but were just way to thick!
So, I had to lick my wounds and try to make 10 decent
cookies by hand (note so self: BUY SOME COOKIE CUTTERS!!).
Anyho, the cookies turned out really cute and yummy
and the kids loooved them. Abbie was so proud :)
This was my first time making Royal Icing btw and
I think I did a pretty good job if I may say so myself!

Royal Icing
1 pound powdered sugar
5 TBSP meringue powder
1/2 c. water

Combine the meringue powder and water with a whisk attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) If using an extract, add it then beat for a few more seconds to incorporate.

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a little at a time until it is the consistency of syrup.

Sugar cookie (makes aprox 30 medium/small cookies)
recipe from Sweetapolita.

6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter (softened for about 2 hours at room temperature)
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1. In large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla and lemon extract.

---

4. Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.

5. Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2″ thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough.

6. Chill both discs of dough for about 45 minutes.

7. Remove one disc and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of parchment paper , then place 2 wooden dowels on either side of your dough, then another sheet of parchment paper.

8. Roll dough so it’s flush with dowels–they will ensure that your dough is even thickness.

9. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

10. Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters of your choice

11. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Then bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

12. Cool sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling.

To make the cookiepops. Follow step 1-10. Press a cookiepop stick in
the cookies and cover with dough. Flip over. Then follow step 11-15.

Mini Meatloaves

Mr.Viking is crazy about meatloaf. Its like the only thing
he asks for. Whenever I tell him Im in the mood for
baking he tells me to bake a meatloaf (seriously honey?!?).
I used to make my meatloaf with the help of one of those
meatloaf-mix-baggies you get from the supermarket -shame on me!!-
but the last couple of times I've made it I've tried a bunch
of different recipes. This one was GOOOD, so you have to
try it! Its kid and husband friendly and the roasted potatoes
makes it look really fancy ;)

Mini Meatloaves w/ roasted potatoes

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking sheet
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon honey mustard
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 pound ground beef
  
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound potatoes, scrubbed and quartered

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with oil. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons mustard and ketchup.

2. In a medium bowl, combine beef, egg, panko, 1/2 cup cheddar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper. Form into four 2-by-4-inch loaves; place on baking sheet. Brush with mustard mixture; top with remaining 1/2 cup cheddar. On another rimmed baking sheet, toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper.

3. Transfer meatloaves to upper rack of oven, and place potatoes on lower rack. Bake until loaves are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets after 10 minutes. Remove loaves from oven; continue to roast potatoes until tender, about 5 minutes.

Birthday Part

Abigail turned 3 a couple of days ago and yesterday we
threw her a crazy birthdayparty. I baked for D A Y S
and here are some sneaky peaky pictures of our desser table.

Of course Ill post some recipes. AND I still have those dinner
recipes to post. Phew. Ill get to it tonight.. promise :)

Roasted marshmallow cupcake

I have sooo many great recipes to share with you guys. I finally got over my sinus infection and feel like cooking (and eating) again. Woopdido! This past week I made some great dishes and of course I'm going to post all the recipes here.

Lets start with these Roasted Marshallow cupcakes that I'm making for my daughters birthday party on Saturday. I'd never made them before and wanted to try them out before serving them at the party. My husband (aka the marshmallow hater) did not like them and even told me he wouldn't even bring them to work cause 'people might think its weird to have a marshmallow
on a cupcake'. My daughter however loved them and even told me while I was editing the pictures in Photoshop that she wanted to eat them. So sweet :)

• For the Cupcakes

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 18 cupcake liners

• For the Topping

  • 1 bag of jumbo marshmallows
    
    
• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.

  2. Whisk cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, warm water, milk, sour cream, butter, and vanilla, mixing until smooth.

  3. Fill each muffin cup half way (about 2 ounces each). Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes.

  4. Let cake cool slightly and change the oven to broil.

  5. Make the topping: Place one marshmallow vertically in the center of each cupcake. Put the cupcakes back into the oven (careful not to knock any marshmallows off) and watch them closely, as the marshmallows will roast in a matter of seconds.

  6. When the marshmallows appear golden brown on top and puffed slightly, take the cupcakes out of the oven and carefully press the marshmallows down, using your hand or a spoon, to cover the whole top of the cupcake.

Dino Eggs

These eggs are so cool!! I just can't get over it haha.
I took them out of the fridge this morning and kept
telling the hubbster to look at my eggs. 'Babe look, this is amazing! Im serious.
These are incredible. They are the coolest thing I've ever seen..' etc. The hubbster
managed to hide is enthusiasm pretty well but had to
agree that they indeed were pretty cool.

For the dinosaur eggs you will need water, hardboiled eggs
and food coloring. You will also need a plastic container w/
lid.

Boil your eggs and let them cool (yesterday I googled how
to cook the perfect egg. It said to put eggs in cold water
on the stove. Let boil for 1min. Take of heat, cover and let
stand for 12min. Put eggs in water w/ ice. And the eggs
came out pretty darn perfect..). Fill container with water,
put in a few drops of color (I used 20 drops of neon purple).
Crack the eggs (like you are going to peel it), but leave the
shell on! Put in water, make sure the water is covering
all the eggs. Cover container with lid and refrigerate over
night. When you peel the eggs they will look crazy amazing
and the kids will LOVE it :) HAPPY EASTER!

Brownies 1.1

So, Im at it again. My body was screeeaming for some brownie
action and I just had to make HALF a batch a couple of days
ago. My hubby is doing p90x so he was a debbie downer
and wouldn't have any, so I ended up eating 2 pieces
and ditched the rest in the trash (I HAD TO!! Or else I would
have ended up eating the whole darn thing!!).



This time I tried a recipe I found online. The recipe calls for
1 stick of butter and the frosting another 3tsp so I ended up
skipping the frosting.. I didnt want to cheat on my crappy diet
too much (can't wait for these darn weddings to be over so I
can get off my no-carbs-diet grrr).

Makes 16 servings

0.5 cups butter (1 stick/113gram)
1 cup (2.3dl) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cups (1dl) cocoa powder (I used Trader Joes, my new fav!)
0.5 cups (1.2dl) flour
0.25 tsp salt
0.25 tsp 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 butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook!

BBQ season

The weather has been kinda off here in so.cal this spring.
It goes from 95 to 55. Crazyness. But yesterday the weather
was really nice and it finally felt like summer is on its way.
We decided to get some steaks and cook them up on the grill. Mmmm.
I made oven baked potatoes and garlic bread. Delish!
Im on a no-carbs-diet but I've had the flu and yesterday
was the first day in forever I actually felt like eating and
cheated on the carbs :) So worth it!

For the potatoes you will need

Potatoes
Garlic
Carrots
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Rosemary
Garlic powder
Black pepper

Cut potatoes in wedges and rinse under cold water (the water
removes all the starch that will otherwise stick to the pan).
Put in casserole dish or on baking sheet. Mix in diced carrots
and grated garlic (I also put a few whole garlic cloves in my dish).
Sprinkle with oil and the spices. Bake at 440 for 40mins.

For the garlic bread you will need

French bread
Grated garlic
Olive oil
parsley (preferably fresh)

Mix garlic, oil and parsley. Slice bread and cover them
in the oil-mix. Cook at 200 F for 10mins.

Giant chocolate chip cookie

I got one of these cookiezilla cookies sent to my hospital room
when Abbie was born 3yrs ago.I think it tooks us 2 weeks to finish it, lol.
Today was the hubbsters B-day and we celebrated by
going to Knotts Berry farm and by making this ginormous cookie.
He's taking this to work tomorrow for their monday meeting, yeay
for you workmates that get to chomp down this goey chocolate
deliciousness!

You will need

1 Cup (2 sticks or 225gram) softened butter
3/4 Cups (1.8 dl) sugar
3/4 packed cups (1.8 dl) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups (5.3 dl) flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (4.5 dl)

Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well.
Gradually ad flour, salt and baking soda
Cover a pizzapan in waxpaper. Put dough on top and put
waxpaper ontop. Lightly press down on paper and use rolling pin
to make a round pizza size cookie. Pull off waxpaper.
Bake on 375 for about 30mins.

Let cool and eat as is or decorate w/ your fave frosting.

Chicken drumstickelishious

Im not a big fan of drumsticks. But these were amaaazing!
You just mix all the ingredients, dump them in a bag,
throw it in the oven and taaada Amazing Chicken drumsticks.
They are totally kid/party/potluck/picnic friendly. We like.
For example we are going to Knotts Berry Farm tomorrow
and I'll bring some of these for my daughter for lunch.

For 8-10 drumsticks you will need

marinade:
0.5 cups of canola oil
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs wing sauce (I used mild to make it preschool friendly)
1 tbs grated garlic

Some creole seasoning for broiling

Mix ingredients in a ziplock bag. Add chicken
and coat well. Bake on 350 for 30mins. Every other 10min
flip the drumsticks over and coat w/ marinade.
After 30mins turn on broiler, sprinkle creole seasoning on
the chicken and grill for aprox 8-10min. I think this would have
gone great with some tsatsiki but unfortunately I didn't have
all the ingredients for it at home when it was time to eat,
maybe next time :)

Pink, Smoked pork chops

In Sweden people eat smoked pork chops like crazy.
In salads, pasta, casseroles and whatever other way
imaginable. Its kinda pricey over here in the states,
maybe thats why its not as common? Anyway, go out,
buy some smoked pork chops and make this meal.
Its crazy easy (4 ingredients. HELLO!) and so good.
The leftovers are amazing to (yep, had some today).
Please enjoy.

You will need

Smoked pork chops (I'd say 2-3 slices/person)
1 can coconut milk (the original recipe calls for heavy cream,
I used coconut milk due to lactose intolerance and
because I'm on a diet and CM has less calories and fat.
If you use coconutmilk the sauce will be a little watery.
But if you substitute heavy cream you'll get a thicker
creamier sauce)
Chili sauce
Cherry tomatoes

Put pork chops in oven safe casserole dish.
Mix coconut milk with chili sauce (No exact measurements
needed, just poor and mix until pink).
Poor sauce over pork.
Cut tomatoes in half and put them in the dish
w/ the pork

Cook on 425 for 20mins.

Serve with pasta/rice/potatoes.
Mmmm



Of course I had to take some pictures of Abbies lunch to :)

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? :)