Oven-roasted Vegetables and Meat

This has become one of my new favorite meals. It's super simple, healthy, and quick to make!

Preheat your oven to about 225 C (430 F).

First you need vegetables. Either fresh or frozen work just fine. Frozen vegetables tend to have more vitamins in them due to them being flash-frozen shortly after being picked, as opposed to "fresh" vegetables we buy in the store, which have been transported halfway around the country, if not the world, and can take up to weeks from picking to eating.

Anyways, put your vegetables in a 9x13 inch (23x33 cm) baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

The next step is to sear your meat over high heat. Don't cook it fully, just brown it. Here I've used beef, spiced up with a little pepper and paprika.

The last step is to simply place your meat upon the vegetables, then set the whole thing in the oven. Wait 30 minutes, then enjoy a simple, delicious, healthy meal!

Homemade Lemonade

Now that winter is approaching, I crave a reminiscence of summer in the form of homemade Lemonade! So here's how you do it, it's easier than you'd think, and much better than the frozen concentrate stuff!

First you need lemons, 7 lemons if they're medium-to-large size, 9-10 if they're smallish. Roll those lemons under the palm of your hand until they're soft, like shown in the photo above. This helps release the juices, making your lemonade even more lemony.

Now you need 1 cup (250 ml) of water, and 1 cup (250 ml) sugar. Put them together in a little pan, and turn on medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to let cool.

...lemon guts...

Now cut those lemons in half, and juice away! We have a little juicing machine, the white part on top spins so the machine does all the work for you.

Pour the lemon juice into a 1.5 liter bottle (50 fl oz), along with the cooled sugar water. Using a funnel helps from spilling. You may also use a big pitcher; I just don't own one, so I use a bottle.

Put the lid on and shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your booty...um, I mean lemonade! Now chill for at least 30 minutes, then enjoy!

Pizza -- Norwegian style

 First step in making pizza is making your pizza dough, though I was lazy again and used store-bought dough. I decided to stuff the short ends with cheese, and the long ends with strips of cheese left to melt along the edges to give a crispier crust. This is a hefty pizza, so beware!

What you'll need is this:
1 Pizza crust
pizza sauce
400 g ground beef (a little under a pound), browned
1 medium onion, sauteed
1 small leek, thinly sliced
lots of shredded cheese (at least 2 cups)
cheese 'sticks' for filling crust (optional)
basil
oregano

Next you'll want to fry the ground beef up in a skillet. When it's good and browned, spread the beef evenly over the pizza dough.

Now it's time for some sauteed onions! We love onions, so we used the whole onion. Feel free to use 1/2 an onion if this looks like too much for you. On top of the onions comes the sliced leeks, raw to give extra crunch and flavor.

Pour the sauce over the top of the whole thing, it will sink down to the bottom of the crust as it cooks, just be sure to spread it as evenly as possible.

Cover with cheese, and sprinkle a few more slices of leek on top. Sprinkle with basil and oregano to taste.
The outcome: a deliciously filling pizza, guaranteed to leave leftovers!

Mmmmm, cheesy pizza!

Flesk og Duppe -- Salted Side Pork with Gravy

Tonight we had a craving for some traditional Norwegian food. Now, usually that means white food: boiled potatoes, white sauce, and some sort of fish or meat. It even tastes white, meaning bland. But sometimes the Norwegians get somethings right in the kitchen, and Flesk og Duppe is one of those meals.

If you like bacon, you'll like tonight's dinner; salted side pork with gravy, served with boiled potatoes and oven roasted carrots.

 First you'll have to get a hold of some salt pork. Your butcher should be able to help you out, otherwise if absolutely necessary you can use thick-sliced bacon. The only difference between salt pork and bacon is that bacon is also smoked in addition to being salted. If your meat does not come already sliced, throw it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before trying to cut it, it will be much easier to cut.

Next you have to bring a big pot of water to a boil for your potatoes. Throw them in and cook until they are tender, usually around 30 minutes.

The carrots are next. Take a big sheet of tin foil, and fold it in half so it's doubled up. Then place your carrots on the tin foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and they're ready to go in the oven at 200 C or about 390 F. Bake them for about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your carrot chunks. I used baby carrots because I'm lazy!

You will also want to make a Bechamel sauce (white sauce) at this point. Take 2 tablespoons butter and melt it in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons flour and stir until it's all clumpy. Add 1 cup warmish milk (not cold, but not hot; room temp is fine), and stir to a boil. Keep stirring frequently as it simmers for 5-10 minutes, or until it's good and thick. I like to make my sauce over medium temperature, to prevent it from burning to the bottom of my thin pot, but it takes a lot longer.

Fry up your salt pork in a hot pan, just as you would bacon. It's done when it's golden on both sides. The next step may be hard for some of you, but it's a crucial step. Pour the fat from the pan into the white sauce, and stir. If you didn't get very much fat, throw 2 tablespoons butter into the frying pan, scraping up the tasty burnt-on bits, and pour that into the sauce as well. Add a dash of pepper. Taste the sauce, it should be a touch salty when it's done.

Beef with Vegetables

For dinner I decided to use my new pan I received from a store after having a horrible experience there, then complaining. We were craving beef, so we decided on some stir-fry with lots of vegetables. I'll show you all the steps, with all the pictures, so you can make it at home, just as you like it!

Orange "eco-friendly" OBH-Nordica ceramic pan

 I had to find some really good, fresh vegetables, something which can be difficult to find in the small town I live in. So naturally I ended up at the most expensive store in town, but it was worth it! I decided on green and orange peppers, red onion, tomato, and a leek, along with a small cut of tender steak (mørbradbiff).

The supplies, alongside a 5" utility knife

First, chop, chop, chop, until everything looks like this:

Throw the green and orange peppers, and onion into the pan over medium-high heat.

Gimme meat!

Then, slice up your beef into small strips, so it looks like this:

When the onions begin to go limp (after about 2-3 minutes, if your pan is hot enough), make room in the center for your meat. Don't stir quite yet, let the meat lose most of it's pink.

The meat is not-quite pink anymore, so now I stirred it all up. Next step is to throw the leek and tomato into the pan.

Even if you don't like tomatoes, don't be afraid to try them in this dish! Just choose a small tomato and chop it finely; it will disappear and become part of the sauce, which adds excellent flavor.

When the tomatoes are hard to find, and the vegetables are cooked to your liking, take out some soy sauce. Pour as much or as little as you like. Start out with a little though...you can always add more, but never take away! Then throw a teaspoon of sugar into the pan and stir like you're mad.

If you like them, put some water chestnuts in for some great crunch. Wait until after you've added the soy sauce, though, because you're not going to cook them, just heat them up.

If you like, you can go to your local Asian foods store and find some Thai chicken-flavored powder. The package I have looks like this:

The chicken flavored powder is not necessary, but it does add some flavor. Use about 1.5-2 tablespoons.

Are you hungry yet? Enjoy!

Fun with Food

Just a quick post today, as I had a busy day yesterday hanging out with friends...One of the best ways to spend a day!
First I was with my friend to get her hair dyed from black to red, it turned out really good! Then we went back to her place, and made dinner.

She decided cupcakes (or muffins, as they're called here) were on the menu, but only if they were green. So here I am pouring green cupcake batter into the muffin forms.

The oven in her apartment has no temperature measurements on the knob, so it was hard to get the right temperature, but they turned out delicious after doubling the baking time. Alt går om man bare prøver! Everything goes as long as you try!

The main dish was authentic Thai fried rice, and man was it delicious. Garlic, spring onions, tomato, and red onion, along with some sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, and some chicken flavoring powder and sugar, all cooked up in the wok. Served steaming hot with some extra fish sauce on the side, it beats fried rice at ANY restaurant!

Alt i alt det var en veldig koselig dag! All in all, it was a very cozy day!