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.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

I made a no bake chocolate chip cookie cheesecake bars. It's simple and quick to make. I didn't use any eggs in this recipe. It doesn't taste like jello when using a little gelatin. It just hold the cheesecake filling together. Make sure after serving, place the rest of the cheesecake bar, far away, so no one will sneak eat. 

Cookie Crust 

2-3 pk rolls of chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies, graham crackers, korni, or any biscuit or cookies you prefer. (I made my own chocolate chip cookies)
2 tablespoon butter, melted

Cheesecake Filling
200 gr Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar + 3 tablespoons extra
1 teaspoon vanilla bean from Vanilla pod
1/2 cup krem fløte (heavy cream or half & half)
1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder

Toppings
leftover cookie crumbs
Freia chocolate pieces


In a bowl crush cookies into small pieces and then add melted butter, mix well. Then pour the cookie crumb mixture into a 9 x 9 inch pan. Set aside.

In another bowl add cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla bean. Mix well until smooth and set aside.

In a saucepan on low heat, pour and mix 1/2 cup cream and 3 tablespoons sugar. Then sprinkle gelatin over cream. Stir and remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Then on medium/high heat bring cream mixture to a boil for 30 seconds or until cream is hot. Remove from heat, stir well, until gelatin has dissolved.

Add the cream/gelatin mixture into cheesecake mixture, beat until light, fluffy, and smooth. Pour filling over the cookie crust. Then add the remaining cookie crumbs and chocolate pieces on top. Refrigerate until chilled and set.

Slice into bars and serve.

Cambodian Marinade Sirloin Steaks and recipe for another peanut sauce

Cambodian style sirloin steaks. I'm not as into meat as my husband. But I do love to spice and marinade. He prefers beef out of pork or chicken. I'm more into soup, salad, and chicken. Once in a while I'll have steak or pork. He is not into soup as I am. Beef in Norway is so expensive we end up driving to the neighbor country, Sweden just to buy beef. He usually go for the Angus beef. My husband had explained to me how the beef in Norway is so expensive and not as good quality as you get across the Atlantic. I can agree. So I had made a Cambodian dish with steak. 

Mørbradbiff (Sirloin steaks)
1/4 teaspoon chili oil
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup minced lemongrass
1 tablespoon chopped green onions
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
around 1/4 cup mushroom soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 tablespoons all round seasoning
dash salt
1/4 teaspoon chopped red chili
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Slice beef into thin slices. Place in bowl add all ingredients except sesame seeds and mix well. Let beef marinade for 4 hours or overnight.

You can stir fry beef with veggies and serve with steamed rice or make them into kabob, grill them and serve with peanut sauce.

Peanut sauce

3/4 cup smooth all natural creamy peanut butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2-3 tablespoons palm sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/2 lime, juice
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chili pepper, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce for taste
1/3 cup coconut milk

Fresh chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts for garnish

In a mixing bowl, add peanut buttter. Then whisk in garlic, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, coconut oil, lime juice, curry powder, chili pepper, salt, and sriracha sauce.

Bring coconut milk to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Then pour coconut milk over the peanut mixture. Whisk until smooth.

Then transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro and peanut.

Sketches and my Pasta E Fagioli Soup in my crockpot

Hi, everyone. It's been awhile since I last posted. I had been busy with my kids, did sketching, and had been sick for almost 2 months with coughing and fever. I'm doing better for now. 


Some of my sketches I've done.

Yesterday, I was craving for soup so I made Pasta E Fagioli Soup in my crock pot. It was delish. Cooked for 8 hours. My kids woke up early this morning and helped themselves and emptied the crock pot. I was looking forward having soup for lunch but it was too late. I will make more of this later on. 

Here is my recipe for Pasta E Fagioli:

2 lbs ground pork or beef (seasoned with salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, all round seasoning)
1 garlic bulb, minced 1/2 cooked with meat and 1/2 in the crock pot
1 onion, chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 jar pasta sauce of your choice
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can white kidney beans, drained
2 beef bouillon cubes
3 1/2 cups beef stock
few tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional) ( I used Louisiana hot sauce)
dry elbow pasta or any pasta you'd prefer I used Penne pasta.

In a nonstick skillet add a tablespoon cooking oil when hot add 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic, stir in meat, cook well until meat is brown. Drain fat from meat and add to crock pot with everything except pasta. Cook on high 4-6 hours then set to low heat. Taste and adjust flavour the way you would like (add little more seasoning, a little salt, pepper). Add pasta the last 30 minutes. Serve with a side salad and some garlic bread!
(I seasoned veggies with chicken powder before putting in crock pot)
(I didn't add pasta in the last hour, I cooked separately. Spoonful of pasta and ladle soup over it and served)

My daughter's 4th birthday and my 8 years wedding anniversary.

Today is one of my daughter's 4th birthday on my 8 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe how fast things are going. It was just like yesterday I was just laying down on my bed and watching Gilmore Girls. All of a sudden I felt some stomach pain. My husband drove me to the hospital. It was one of the scariest moment of my life because it was very early (2 1/2 weeks early). This really nice nurse helped me. I had to go to this room to check my contractions and my heart beat. We were there for an hour or so. She let me go home and to take these pill to help the pain. I tried the medicine. That didn't go well. I knew she was coming early and when I give birth to her she will be operated on because of her stomach illness. We went back to the hospital. I was in so much pain and no nurse was around. Then this other nurse came and she wasn't a very nice nurse at all. She argued with my husband the whole time while I was in so much pain and with my unborn child health condition, I was really mad at the same time. I didn't get any pain relief. I had to lean over on this tall thing with wheels while they were getting the room ready and the nurse was still arguing with my husband. They were arguing because my son was with us. We told her we don't have any family or friends that could watch our son. My family are in the States and his family lives far. I didn't want to leave my son with any neighbors. It was horrific moment. I really wanted my husband by my side but he couldn't. I was laying on my side and gave birth to my beautiful 5lb baby girl. She was so tiny. My husband and I named her Rebecka. The nurses washed her up and told me I could have my little baby lay on my chest until she goes to the infant intensive care to find out more of her stomach illness. I remember her little tiny body and her eyes looking straight at me. It was one of the best moments of my life. She's so beautiful. The sad moment was when the nurse took her away. 

I went to see Becky, she was in her incubator. No one knew how sick she was. She stayed in the infant intensive care for 3 to 4 days. Then moved her to another unit where we had to wait for her to be operated on. She just laid on her bed. The doctor told us about her stomach illness and didn't want to operate on her at the moment because she was too small so they asked just to keep an eye on her and if anything happens bring her back. 

Her first day home. She was 1 1/2 week old. 

About 2 months passed and she was doing pretty well. 

She started to throw up a lot after drinking milk. Her eyes were so big and dark. It was terrifying to see her like that. She looked like she was in pain. She became pale. We brought her back to the hospital. I stayed with her for weeks. Did some test. Everything was fine, she ate/drank again, and wasn't operated on. We were sent home.

Months later she started to throw up again, like before. But it was worst. Brought her to the emergency room. Her legs started to change colors. It was the strangest thing ever. The nurse never seen it. It looked like DNA twisting and changing. Red,blue purple just for couple minutes. She was so drowsy and gave her some medicine. It was quiet. Around 11pm she had a seizure. When she calmed she became very hyper. Then she had another seizure. They brought her to the emergency and in the incubator, hooked up. Then she had her third seizure. It was matter of life or death, her heart stopped beating. I was heartbroken when my husband told me this on the phone. I cried so much. I was home with my son at the time. The doctor brought her heart back to life. It was a miracle. My husband told me it took 4 adults to hold her down to take her medicine. She was a strong little one. She was back to her normal self. I stayed with her in the hospital for weeks. She had her brain tested. Her arm was so blue because one of the nurse, sticked needle in the wrong place. Becky's arm looked like a balloon. We were told if we had brought her later she would of died.

Months passed. We took a trip to the States to visit my family. Becky got to meet her grandparents, aunt, and uncle for the first time. 

This was taken at my parents. She was so happy meeting everyone and just enjoying life.

When we got back home to Norway. She started to throw up again when I fed her a little yogurt. Her stomach couldn't take anymore solid food. Her eyes became so dark and she kept throwing up so much. I looked into her eyes and it was so dark. We went back to the hospital and she had her surgery. They operated on her stomach because her upper intestine was narrow. Food couldn't pass through. 

 My other daughter who is 2 1/2 had the same illness as Becky. Both my daughters are doing great.

Becky is a healthy, happy, beautiful, girl. I love her so much. I can't believe she is 4 today. I'm thankful both my daughters  and my only son are with me and I can see their beautiful faces everyday. 

Happy Birthday to my Becky and Happy 8 years wedding anniversary too.

I asked my daughter what she wanted me to make for her birthday. She just wanted to order pizza and watch Princess movies all day with me. 

 I baked these earlier during the week. Homemade blueberry banana corn muffins and mini chewy chocolate brownies just for my kids and for my little princess who loves my baking. 

My grape/cranberry chicken salad

I love fall season, with the beautiful colorful leaves, the crisp fall air, and fall food I love to make. Just to get my mind off of everythings that is happening, it's the last day of autumn vacation. I wanted to share this recipe.  

I whipped up something quick and easy. My cranberry/grape chicken salad. It's very tasty. 

Shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped onion, celery, grapes, green onions, minced garlic, dried dill, dried Greek dressing, mayonnaise, salt, pepper.

1 cup kesam or sour cream mixed with cranberry jam and dried cranberries and tablespoon sugar.

Mix everything well. Serve in slices fresh baked baguette or slices of fresh baked bread.