Summer Salad

As I was looking in my almost empty fridge today I decided to make a salad. I don't often make salads - Honestly I think they are overrated. But maybe I should make an effort to try. This is what I made today and it was Great! Now, would you please share your favorite salad with me?

1 romaine - washed and roughly chopped
Handful of cherry tomatoes halved
Handful sweet peas
Handful frozen corn
1/2 green pepper diced
1 roasted red pepper thinly sliced
Carrot thinly sliced, I do this with my potato peeler
Handful of chopped cilantro
tbsp chopped basil
Handful chopped cashews

Small amount of Katie's recommended Balsamic and it just turned out amazing.. I even had seconds ;)

Velbekomme!

Chocolate Chip Banana Pudding

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cup of ice cold water

1 (3.4 oz) Jello Vanilla Pudding mix

3 cups heavy cream

1 (12 oz) Nabisco Nilla Wafers

5 bananas sliced ( I like mine slighty under ripe)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass - I didn't have glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity.

Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding sprinkle chocolate chips. Repeat the layering two more times. Sprinkle choc chips on top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours. It will taste best within 4-5 hours of assembling it, but can most certainly be eaten the day after, the Nilla wafers will not be crunchy though.

Velbekomme!

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup

One of the best soups I have ever made at home. It seems like a lot of garlic, but once you roast it in the oven, it becomes this yummy gooey sweet stuff and loses all of the harsh garlic taste.

You will need:

6 Idaho Potatoes
1 whole head of garlic
1 large onion
1 tsp Celery Seed
Crushed Red peppers - to taste I like it SPICY
Olive Oil - just enough to cover the bottom of the pot
3 cups of low sodium chicken stock
Salt and Pepper to taste

Smother garlic in oil, and Roast garlic in oven on 350F for 50 minutes.

Dice potatoes and onion, simmer onion in oil and dash of celery seed and crushed red pepper.

Add potatoes and stock when onions are soft. Boil for 35 minutes or until potatoes are done. Grab the garlic out of the oven and carefully scoop the gooey stuff out. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and add salt and pepper to taste.

Velbekomme!

Stephanie

Cake recipe.. sharing one and in need of one..

So, Nova's birthday is coming up and I am expecting somewhere between 40 and 50 people. I have decided to make three cakes:

1. Traditional Danish birthday cake - will share my recipe below

2. Red Velvet cupcakes - In desperate need of a good Red velvet recipe

3. A Lightning McQueen cake - as he is having a Car's themed birthday, I hate themes, but my sister started it and I don't see any other way now.. I also need a good recipe for the inside of this cake

so anyone feel like sharing their favorite Red Velvet recipe and base cake recipe..In return ill share the Danish version of a birthday cake..

Danish Layer Cake

First you need to prepare the layers, you need:
8 eggs
8 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp flour
2 tsp baking powder

Separate the eggs and whip the egg whites until they form peaks. Whip the egg yolks with sugar until creamy. Add the whipped egg whites and the flour and baking powder gently to the egg yolks. Bake the mixture in a springform on 350' for 40-45 minutes. Take it out turn it upside down and leave to cool. Slice the cake in 3 slices.

Now for the filling:
there is really artistic freedom when you make this layer cake I will share our favorite:

1 small pack of pudding
Whipping cream ( some people mush up raspberrys through a sieve and add to the whipped cream to make it pink.
Vanilla essence
Bananas (change for any fruit you like)
Pineapple
Chocolate chips
Marzipan or almond paste

Prepare the pudding as per package, whip the cream with a little vanilla essence and a dash of sugar, cut the banana in slices and the pineapple. Roll the Marzipan into a sheet to cover the first layer.

We usually do this configuration:

Bottom layer:
Marzipan
Pudding
Banana's

Middle layer:

Pudding
Chocolate chips
Pineapple

Top layer:
Whipped cream
Choc chips and bananas

Velbekomme!

Stephanie


Nova's first birthday cake - I kept it simple..


Wanted to show you the inside of it..


A cake I made for my sister last year..

Nova's Pancakes

Nova is my son, he loves anything made of starch, when Eggo had their disaster last year I decided that something he eats every single day, should not come out of a box, but instead be crafted from scratch by his mommy.

These pancakes are very easy to make, come out delicious and are very low in fat..

You will need:

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups non-fat milk

2 tsp vanilla powder (can be bought at Ikea or substitute with 1 tsp alcohol free vanilla essence)

Dump everything into a bowl and whisk only to combine ingredients, maybe 30 seconds. Split batter into two batches and add nuts, berries, chocolate chip, or whatever you please to the second batch. Use a 1/8 cup or similar to measure out the batter for each pancake and fry on a non-stick pan with NO butter or oil used for cooking - they come out much better this way.

These pancakes freeze beautifully and can be reheated in a toaster-oven in 4 minutes from frozen.

Velbekomme!

Stephanie

A danish perspective..

When Katie told me she was creating this blog, I was overly excited! This is something that I have wanted to do be part of for some time.. My name is Stephanie, I am the mother of a two year old boy and the wife of a American husband with Sicilian roots, so lasagna is a big deal in our house. I came to this country almost 2 years ago from Denmark, a place that has a very different food culture than the US.

My relationship with American food is diverse, I love it, loathe it, am in awe at how courageous people are with experimenting with cooking and simultaneously disgusted at what I call the american way of assembling a meal from ready made products (Chili does not come out of a can - it comes out of a very yummy and delicious smelling pot on the stove..) I will contribute here with my take on some classic American dishes, my love for VERY spicy food - especially Thai inspired stuff, and with some low-fat versions of well-know dishes. I love hearing what people have done with my recipes and where improvements can be made!

Velbekomme!

- Stephanie