Thanksgiving in Norway and my Spinach and Mushroom white sauce

This holiday and everyday I'm grateful to have great people in my life far and near. I'm thankful to have a supportive and loving family. This holiday I'm a little depress because I wanted to see my family back in the States, we haven't celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas for a while together. I thought we would but things didn't turn out what we had planned.

About 11 years ago around this month, when I settled in Norway, it was just me and my other half, our Thanksgiving together, I had the hardest time finding a Turkey. We had to search around outside the city to find good offer on Turkey and we did at a store called Ica Maxi which doesn't exist anymore. But now you can find Turkey offer anywhere during this time of the year.

One of the strangest thing I found this week in a grocery ad in Norway. "Turkey for Thanksgiving" I really don't know what to think about Norwegians celebrating Thanksgiving when they have no history of this holiday, don't know the history, or those who have no connection to American family, etc. 

Now they have started this Black Friday. 

There were some good offers but I really saw no difference with their "Black Friday"SALG" Most that I came across to was 25% off  which is basically what the tax cost on everything around here. Certain stores should of said tax free day. You really don't get those big sales as in the States.

I find Black Friday ridiculous just hours after celebrating a holiday day about being thankful, spending time with family and friends who you haven't seen in a while, instead people just wait in a long line for materialistic things and fighting over it. When there is always a great sale every year until Christmas and so on. 

  

I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family since 2010. I couldn't this year because I had to work, my son had school, couldn't go to Sweden to buy my turkey and things, we had to pack up my husband's sport store and center, and it's an ordinary day in Norway. My husband doesn't know how to make the turkey feast, only me. I do envy other people who travel far to visit their family during the holiday. Christmas is coming up and I do enjoy and love celebrating with my husband's side of the family. They are great but I want to see my family back in the States. The last time I celebrate Christmas with my family was when my parents took a flight to Norway couple years ago. Not celebrating with my family this year either. My brother just started his military career. I would love to see him. I miss my sister and her boyfriend and my parents. My kids miss their grandparents very much. They would of loved to see the American Christmas way and all the snow. 

I didn't have the time to make my famous Thanksgiving dinner so I made this easy and delicious dinner. Roasted chicken with spinach and mushroom white sauce and spicy herb home fries.

Recipe for spinach and mushroom sauce:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 canned small sliced mushrooms

1 bag fresh spinach

2 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cream cheese

tablespoons of grated Parmesan

1/4 cup cream (måt fløte)

salt, pepper, Knorr seasoning powder, cayenne pepper, and a dash of red pepper flake

crispy English bacon for topping

Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion, and mushrooms, stir and let cook for 5 mins. Add spinach, stir well for 2 mins, then add sour cream, cream cheese, cream, and grated Parmesan. Stir and mix well. Seasoned with salt, pepper, seasoning powder, cayenne pepper, and a dash of red pepper flakes.

Place mushroom/spinach white sauce on a plate, place roasted chicken on top, add more mushroom/spinach, pour the remaining white sauce over chicken and topped with chopped crispy English bacon.

Food and recipe for my Scandinasian vegetable pork rice soup.

It's been a while since I updated my blog. My husband's sport center and my kitchen at his sport center has come to an end in Norway, all our blood, sweat, and tears. It was great catering for the Karate club. They wanted me to cater for their Christmas event. I wish I could. I'm very disappointed how things turned out. Just certain people don't want to see other succeed and rather ruin it. My family and I have been through a lot and I didn't have the motivation to start blogging again but now I'm here.

I had made a lot of food and wanted to share. I've been told by so many that I should open something up. Honestly, I don't dare too, not in Norway. Maybe someday in New England I might want to cater.

This was so good. I made cronrolls. It is stuffed with cheese and salami and bratwurst. Flaky but tasty.

Here are some pictures of the catering I did back in September for the Samurai Karateklubb in Oslo. I catered around 45 people by myself. 

I have looked around for red hot dogs in the Oslo area. I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted them, even though it doesn't taste like the real Danish or Maine red hot dogs I just had too buy it. 

I made these just for my kids 

Here are some other food I made during this month.

Scandinasian vegetable pork rice soup.

This soup I made yesterday was really yummy. My husband is not the soup kind of man but he actually loved this too. It's vegetable pork rice soup, just a mix of Norwegian and Asian. Norwegian version is called Autumn soup but I added my Cambodian ingredients into it. I call it the Scandinasian vegetable pork rice soup.

I bought pork hock at my local grocery store (Rimi). I told my husband and he said, "This is one of the most expensive pork hock I've seen because they usually are cheap to buy."

I really didn't want to drive all around the city just to find cheap pork plus the pay toll in Oslo is ridiculous costly. 

Here are the ingredients to the soup:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, minced

2-3 clove garlic, minced

2 potato cut into small cubes

2 carrots cut into small cubes

1/2 tablespoon knorr chicken powder

2 lbs Pork hock cut into 3 inch lengths and ground pork seasoned  with seasoning sauce (Golden Mountain seasoning), seasoning salt, ground black pepper, cayenne, and Knorr Aromat krydderiblanding

1 tablespoon whole black pepper

2 beef bouillon cubes

(I added extra veggies to the soup) 750 grams grønnsaker from Findus perfect til Lapskaus (potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnip, celeriac, leek). In the frozen vegetable section. Any frozen vegetable from Findus is 3 for 2 at any Rimi store and if you live in Norway.

2 liter water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons sugar

2-3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 stalk green onion, chopped

A handful chopped cilantro

Instructions:

Heat up pan on medium to high heat. When it's hot add in vegetable stir and cook for 4 minutes and then add in chicken powder and stir for another 2 minutes. When vegetables are slightly cooked transfer into soup pot.

In the same pan on high heat add another tablespoon vegetable oil, add in marinade pork/ground pork. Sear for 5 minutes and transfer to the same soup pot with the vegetable. Heat up soup pot on medium to high heat add in whole black pepper, beef bouillon, and the mixed vegetable from Findus. Add in water into soup pot and let it cook until meat is tender. 

Lower heat to medium, seasoned with salt, sugar, and fish sauce to your taste. (I added more for flavor and I added a little more krydderiblanding for my husband because he wants a tasty soup). Stir well and let it simmer for 20 minutes. 

Serve soup in a bowl, topped with green onion and cilantro. Serve hot with rice.