Truck sandwich

My son's lunch today. I made him a truck sandwich made with ham, cheese, salami, and olives. Something he loves, anything with wheels. Also a slice of my homemade breakfast cake, slice almonds, and cucumber. 

Here are more fun sandwiches I have made. Feel free to click and check out.

http://sorieyahomemadecooking.blogspot.no/2012/03/fun-sandwiches-i-made-for-my-kids.html

http://sorieyahomemadecooking.blogspot.no/2012/10/more-of-my-kids-fun-lunches.html

The googly eyes baguette

Googly eyes baguette I made for my son's lunch. Sliced fresh baked baguettes on the side and stuffed with roast beef, salami, mayonnaise, cheese, and lettuce. Eye's were made with white cheese and nori cut into circles. Salami for it's tongue.  

Blueberry Oats Coffee Cake

Today is such a beautiful day. It was warm outside, birds were singing, sunshine shining on the snow and I didn't have to button my jacket. I drove with my windows down. Took a couple deep breath. Smell the fresh air, beautiful scenery. It's not so bad living in Oslo. My cold is tampering off. My favorite seasons are spring and autumn. Not a big fan of winter and summer. It's either too cold or too hot. I'm glad I'm not in New England right now with all the snow.

After work I went into my kitchen in my kantina and baked Blueberry Oat coffee cake and chocolate chip muffins.

What inspired me to make blueberry coffee cake 
http://whatmerrymakes.com/2013/02/24/a-healthier-blueberry-almond-coffee-cake/
&
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/granite-steps-country-blueberry-coffee-cake-recipe/index.html

Ingredients for blueberry oat coffee cake

2 medium eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup greek yogurt or vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup vanilje kesam (optional)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup AXA Great. Blueberry Apricot Havregrøt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup frozen blueberry (I would of used fresh blueberries but they are out of season)

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

slices almonds

chopped peanuts

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

honey

In a large mixing bowl combine and whisk well the first 5 ingredients. Set a side.

In another mixing bowl sift flour, havregrøt, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt. Then pour in the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Whisk to combine well until moistened, then toss in blueberries, fold into the batter.

Pour batter into a cake form.

In a small bowl stir together flour, brown sugar, sugar, sliced almonds, chopped peanuts, ground cinnamon, and drizzle some honey.

Then sprinkle over batter.

In the oven at 190 degrees C, bake for 45 minutes until center is cooked through.

Remove from oven, let cool for 15 minutes. 

My homemade chocolate chip muffin batter

Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 different rice noodle dishes

During the weekend I didn't want to go grocery shopping. I find it very stressful shopping on Saturdays. I just hate waiting in LONG lines and crowdedness. On Sundays most stores are closed just the little grocery stores are open. My husband would do the shopping on the weekends and I do the shopping during weekdays. Anyways I used what I had in my kitchen at home. 3 ways to use rice noodles. I made a simple chicken broth using whole chicken, herbs, seasoning, vegetables, fish sauce, soy sauce......With the cooked chicken in the soup pot I made into Chicken soup with rice noodles, cold Asian noodles with chicken, and fresh spring rolls with chicken, rice noodles, and with homemade dipping sauce.

1 whole chicken, skin remove, cut into pieces
2 clove garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes
4-6 cup water
2 pieces thin fresh slice ginger
2 star anise
1 whole cinnamon
1/2 or 1 tablespoon sugar
couple tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon seasoning sauce or soy sauce

In a large bowl seasoned chicken with salt, pepper, seasoning salt, paprika, and drizzle a little Worcestershire sauce, mixed well with my hands, and set aside.

In a soup pot I add in a tablespoon vegetable oil, just covering the bottom of my soup pot, then add slices of onions, chopped celery and chopped carrots. Place seasoned chicken on top of the vegetables, top with more onions, and add in chicken bouillon, slice ginger, star anise, and cinnamon. Place soup pot on medium to high heat for about 3-4 minute then pour in water, cover, and let boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat, add in sugar, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Let soup simmer for half hour to 40 minutes. I remove cooked chicken from soup. I had about 1 1/2 cup of cooked shredded chicken..............

 ..........With left over chicken I made chicken soup with rice noodle topped with green onions. Taste almost like Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup). Could top with fresh basil, cilantro, chopped chili, and fried garlic.
I would buy Pho Ga at this Japanese take away at Sandvika Storsenter or I would buy Mama's noodle Pho Ga at the Asian Market near by cost only 12krs- when I don't feel like making this.

2nd dish I made was Fresh Vietnamese Spring rolls. I made about 5 of these, with fresh bean sprouts, rice noodle, chicken, lettuce, shredded cucumbers, coriander. Serve with homemade sweet fish chili sauce. I got the dipping sauce recipe from my mom.

The last thing I made was cold Asian noodles with shredded chicken, peanuts, lettuce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, sweet chili sauce......

Vegetable Ramen Soup

 This winter has not been easy, caught another cold symptoms. Now I have another ear infection and sore throat. I need to go somewhere warm and away from all this sickness. It's an on and off with these cold flu since December. I didn't feel like cooking something big and needed something quick so I made vegetable ramen soup which helped soothe my sore throat.

This also reminded me when I was in elementary school in ESL class, it was Thanksgiving week and each of us should bring 1 ramen package, we would prep to make this big pot of vegetable ramen noodle soup (chopped vegetables, big soup pot) that's all I can remember. It was so long ago.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tablespoons vegetable bouillon drikke (powdered vegetable drink you can find in the soup/broth section at Meny)
salt & pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup frozen snow peas and corn, defrost
3 cups chicken broth
2 packages ramen noodle
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon chili oil
Couple tablespoons lime juice from fresh lime
teaspoon sesame oil

Chopped cilantro and 2 greens onions.

In a large pot over medium heat add in a tablespoon vegetable oil and chopped onions, carrots, and celery saute for 7 minutes until soft, then seasoned with salt, pepper, and bouillon drikke. 

Add diced tomatoes, corn, snow peas, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

Add soy sauce, chili oil, ginger, and lime juice.

 Add in noodles, stir to break up noodles. Reduce heat to medium. 

Simmer, uncovered for 3-5 minutes.

Stir in sesame oil

Serve immediately (topped with chopped cilantro and chopped green onion)

could also top with sliced boiled eggs, smoked slice ham, or left over chicken.

A special day

Today is my husband's birthday! What he wanted to do on his big day was just relax, have cake, and watch Mad Men Marathon. My son and I made him Boston Creme Pie and a mini chocolate chip cookie brownie cake which tasted like kvikk lunsj, with some berries, chocolate, and kvikk lunsj. Plus we got him 4 root beer (his favorite soft drink). It took me couple hours to make the custard cream which came out great but took a lot of whisking. The cakes were gone so fast because of our 3 little kids. 

 For my husband's birthday dinner (he requested)was my homemade chili (ground beef, bacon, sausages, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, 2 kinds of beans, beer........, topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and shredded cheese. 

Hawaiian BBQ chicken

Today for dinner I made Hawaiian BBQ Chicken. I came across Hawaiian BBQ Chicken on pinterest. I wanted to try making it because I love pineapple and chicken. It tasted awesome. I added few more ingredients to it. The smell of the marinade and chicken cooking.......amazing! It's still cold out side (not grilling season) so I used a grilling pan. I'm going to make this in the near future.

In a bowl I added in 1 cup light brown sugar, 1 cup seasoning sauce, few tablespoons Worcestershire's sauce, few tablespoons oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon ginger paste, 1/2 cup pineapple juice, couple tablespoons squeezed orange juice, a teaspoon orange zest.........

 Whisked everything well and added in 6 clove garlic, minced.............

 Add the sliced onions

Add in 8 pieces of skinless chicken thighs seasoned with salt, pepper, and  paprika. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or so. Grilled or bake. Serve with steamed rice or fresh strawberry salad.

Marinade Salmon

This past week has been a bit stressful, all 3 kids with the flu and myself (with stomach ache, ear infection, sore throat, stuffy nose, and coughing. I had been making soups, drinking a lot of ginger ale, taking Dayquil and NyQuil, and a lot of Vick's vapor rub. I was advised to try some Norwegian ginger ale. Which I have to say I like it a bit more than the Canadian ginger ale. It has more ginger and helps with stomach ache and it doesn't cost me my arm. Today we are doing much better.

 I wanted to try making rice balls with salmon I bought the other day. Salmon tasted great after marinading and cooking in a pan. Can't wait until grill season time. 

Marinade Salmon

4 pieces salmon fillet

salt, citrus pepper, black pepper, seasoning sauce, old bay seasoning, lemon juice, (2 clove) minced garlic cooking oil

In a container with salmon fillet add in all ingredients, covered, shake, and refrigerated for 4 hours. Grilled, bake, or fry in a skillet.

With the salmon I made into rice balls (cooked salmon, avocado salad, sushi nori, rice)

http://video.about.com/japanesefood/How-to-Make-a-Japanese-Rice-Ball.htm

Apple Pie filling.........

Happy Valentines Day! I have not been feeling great. I have caught yet, another cold. A flu every other week it seems. I can never catch a break. It's annoying and I would love to take a vacation away from Norway and head to my parents because I could use some of my mom's homemade soups. 

I had the strength to make homemade heart shaped apple pies for my husband and my 3 kids. They deserve a treat for putting up with me. 

Ingredients for Apple Pie Filling

6-8 apples diced into small bite size pieces

2 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 to 3 cups water

Wash apples, slice each apples vertically, close to the core into 4 pieces, throw away the core. Place each pieces of apple, flat side down on a cutting board and cut into strips, then cut into small pieces.

In a large bowl, add in the apples, orange juice, and orange zest, mix well, and set aside.

In a  medium sauce pan add in water, then combine and whisk in sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Stir well and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add in apples to the warm mixture and return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer until apples are tender for about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for half hour.

Croissant dough recipe http://sorieyahomemadecooking.blogspot.no/2013/02/homemade-cinnamon-rings.html

I made heart shape apple pies with my pie fillings.  Will be serving pie with vanilla ice cream later this evening.

Chocolate Crepes with marmalade sauce

Homemade chocolate crepes with orange marmalade sauce was for breakfast this morning. This was perfect for a lousy Monday morning. After a relaxing weekend, then comes Monday morning. It seem that mostly every weekends goes by fast when living in Norway. 

Ingredients for crepes

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 large eggs

3 tablespoon melted butter

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients, with an electric whisk on high speed, whisk all ingredients for about 2+ minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Heat up non-stick skillet over medium heat, lightly coat with Pam spray. Add 1/3 cup of batter, swirl to completely cover skillet. Cook for about 2-4 minutes until underside of crepe starts to become lightly brown, loosen the edge of crepe with a spatula, lift up, flip over, and cook for another 2 minutes. Repeat until all crepes are done. Sprinkle powder sugar on top of crepes and drizzle orange marmalade sauce. 

Orange Marmalade Sauce 

In a bowl combine 1/2 cup heavy cream, 2-3 tablespoons sugar, 4-5 tablespoons orange marmalade. Whisk well until slightly thickens. Drizzle over crepes. 

Homemade Cinnamon Buns

 I had this recipe for 6 years, I haven't made them since but the other day I wanted to make them and so I did. My kids never had them before ( the one that I made), they gave them a try and loved it. I'm not a fan of cinnamon buns and I'm not into so much sweets, cake....even though I make them but I make them for my family.  

I  mix 3 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 cup of sugar in a large saucepan, just heat until boiling. Removed from heat, set to cool for about 15 minutes. 

Then added in 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast, waited for about 5 minutes.

Add in 5-6 cup of flour and mixed well with the liquid mixture. Let sit for an hour to rise. 

Added 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of flour and mix well with hand.

Knead dough on a flour surface. Roll into rectangle shapes.

Brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with mixture of cinnamon, brown sugar, and a dash of nutmeg.

Rolled into a log and cut into round about 1 1/2 inch. Then placed in a buttered baking pan

Baked in the oven at 220 degrees C for 20-30 minutes until brown.

For the icing I mixed in a bowl about 1 cup of powder sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of melted butter, and a little dash of salt. Drizzled over cinnamon buns.

Ice cream for breakfast

Ice cream for breakfast (2 sunny side eggs with pepperoni and cheese, wheat bread cut into a shape of ice cream cone with cheese cut into strip for details and 2 heart shaped wheat bread with tyttebær jam one with blueberry and one with heart shaped cheese....