Category: Food

Health

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I`ve been sick the last couple of days and that got me thinking. I almost know my non functioning thyroid has something to do with the cold I`ve had. A thyroid that is “broken” makes your immune system weak. I`ve never been sick this often as I have been lately and that`s why I think it has to do with the thyroid.

It`s much more common that women suffer from thyroid malfunctions than men. That`s what got me thinking. It`s not easy being a woman. We are prone to many diseases. As a woman it`s important to do whatever you can to stay healthy. In Sweden you automatically get summoned every two years after you`ve reach a certain age to have a mammography. I always do it. It only takes a couple of minutes and it doesn`t cost much. I wouldn`t be able to forgive myself if I didn`t go and then found out I had breast cancer.

Another thing I always do, also every two years, is to go to my gynechologist and have him take smear tests of the cervix. He also summons you automatically which makes it easy. I`ve had two cervix operations to remove possible cancer. Because most changes in that area don`t show symptoms it`s hard to spot them yourself.

It`s not easy being a woman but I love it!

Now something completely different. Today is the first day in a while I`ve been able to cook. These last couple of days I`ve been to sick to do that. I`ve only made instant soups. Today I made “recovery” food. Pasta with “falukorv”. “Falukorv” means falusausage. It`s a meaty sausage. This dish gives you lots of carbs from the pasta and lots of proteins from the sausage. All the things you need to get well. I served it with melon and orange salad.

 

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Glamorous!

 

 

 

 

Bacon

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I sometimes get a craving for greasy food. Fast and greasy food. My favourite greasy ingredient is bacon. You can`t go wrong with it. Everything tastes better with bacon.

This dish takes no time and it gives you all the grease you want.

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I place a baking paper on a baking tray (no washing up!) On the paper I put oven potatoes (I bought them) and sliced bacon. In a oven tin (some washing up) I whisk eggs, butter and milk into kind of a omelette.

I bake the potatoes and bacon in the middle of the oven and put the omelette at the bottom. It all cook at once! Oven: 200 C.

Not all was greasy. I made a salad from peppers, melon and orange to make it a little bit healthy..

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I serve this luxurious meal with ketchup.

 

Fridge

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I think many first world problems are problems made by the people. Many of these have shouldn`t be a problem in other parts of our planet.

One of the biggest “problem” has to be one thing we keep in our fridge. Milk. Nothing creates more “non” problems than milk.

-Is the milk too old?

-Doesn`t the milk taste funny (is it too old?).

-Who took the last of the milk without buying some new milk?

I don`t know how many times I`ve stood and smelled milk to tell if it`s good enough to drink. I`ve thrown tons of milk away before the exp. date cause I thought it smelled bad. There have probably been lots of marriages that have ended because of fights that has been about milk. I don`t mean milk has been the biggest issue but it has certainly been the last straw to a bad marriage.

Often the biggest milk problem is that there isn`t enough of it. It seems to just vanish before your eyes. Especially if you have a big family. One moment you`re planning on making dinner with some milk in it because you know there are lots of milk boxes in the fridge. Next moment someone has finished the milk and you`re off to the grocery store. All those arguments in big families.

“-What are you sisters fighting about?

-She drank the last of the milk and didn`t leave any to me.”

Puh!

 

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Travel

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I have stayed in many hotels through the years. I think it`s relaxing to spend time in hotels cause you can`t do anything but take it easy. You don`t have any must do`s and can refresh your mind. I have stayed in hotels both on the cheaper and more expensive side when it comes to the cost and I think some things are the same in all of them. One thing that comes to mind is the behaviour around the breakfast buffet. In all hotels in Sweden breakfast is included (I`ve never heard of anything else). The buffet consists of bread, fruits, eggs, bacon and much more.

There are two ways most approach the breakfast buffet. One is to only think about yourself. Those are the ones that don`t care if there are people waiting in line for something. “I think I`m the most important one in this room and I`m not waiting for no breakfast”. Without any shame they reach for a sausage in between all the people waiting for their sausage. They take the last bread roll right in front of you that you`ve been waiting thirty minutes to get to.

The second approach to getting breakfast is to act like you`ve never seen food before. These people take forever when they`re at the buffet. They annoy me! They see the juice machine and it`s like they`ve never seen a juice machine before. “What is orange juice.” They stand in front of the bread and analyze every roll and loaf like they`ve never seen bread like that before. Sometimes these slow people think they are the “only think of themselves” breakfast ones. They say “let me just get that and I leave you to it”. They say that and aim to quickly grab something before you do. They say that and then you have to wait while they stand in front of the juice machine. Confused like they`ve never seen one of them before.20170217_083120

 

 

 

 

 

Easy loaf

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I get stressed sometimes when it comes to cooking. I get stressed when there are too many pots, pans and spices involved. Some recepies have all these spices in it, many of which you`ve never heard of, that you have to buy. Then you have to measure them all up like it says in the recepy and some you might even have to toast in a pan in order to get the flavour you want. Then there`s the cooking. You might have to use a lot of different cooking techniques just to get one dish. Roast, boil and deep fry. Puh! Today I made meat loaf. That`s a dish that causes me some stress because of the preparations. It`s not a lot of preparations but it`s enough to make my heart go faster.

I begin the meat loaf preparation by mixing bread crumbs and milk into a paste. I let it rest for a while. I add the minced beef to the milk. I always use minced beef only. Then I chop some onions and add them. Then comes my secret ingredients. In Sweden there`s a dish called biff lindström, “beef lindstrom”. You make burgers from minced beef, pickled cucumber and beetroot. My meat loaf is kind of a bigger sized “lindstrom” burger and I add the pickled cucumber and beetroot to the minced beef.

I put the beef mixture in an oven proof tin and I put some liquid butter on it. That gives some depth to the flavour.

 

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Pink meat loaf.

 

I bake the loaf in the lower part of the oven for 50 minutes at 200 C. I also bake slices of potatoes in the oven at the same time. After a while I add some cream to the tin in order to get some sauce. Serve with lingonberry jam. Delicious!

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Buns

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Today`s “semla” day in Sweden. I wrote about this cake a while ago and cause it`s that delicious I`ll do it again. “Semla” is a wheatbun (packed with cardamom) filled with whipped cream and almond paste. You cut the bun in half (the bottom part should be bigger than the top). Put almond paste on the bottom bun and top with whipped cream. Put the lid on and sprinkle icing sugar on it. You eat the lid first and you dip it in the whipped cream.

20170228_152528It`s “semla” day today but we begin eating it some months before this day. Many are probably tired of it by now cause they have eaten too many already. It used to be something you looked forward to and only ate for a short period of time. Now you can get it from christmas until whenever (almost). I think you can buy it for another couple of months which is not good. I think it only should be available for a short amount of time to keep it this thing you long for. Now after a “semla” season you think you will never eat it again because you`ve eaten too many.

 

Yummy!

 

Bread

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This is what my mom got for free for her birthday! A grocery store where she does a lot of her shopping celebrated her by giving her a “smörgåstårta” or…….smorgasbord cake. I don`t think there is a better english word for this dish. Smorgas bord though I know they say in America and what it means is a table full of cold cuts and whatever you like.

20170227_155320A smorgasbord cake is bread in layers filled with smorgas bords things. This is a prawn cake. It`s prawns and lots of mayo between thin layers of bread.

20170227_155604This was a tasty smorgas bord cake!

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Cakes

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We don’t celebrate Valentines Day in this family at all. Or we do but only with valentine cakes.

This cake is normally called “Princess cake” and the marzipan on top is usually green. Just because it’s Valentines Day the marzipan is pink and there’s a red heart made from marzipan on top of it all. It looks wonderful though!

I like this cake! All that whipped cream and vanilla cream is tasty. To make you get a hint of what it tastes like I will describe what’s in it. The whole cake is covered in marzipan which I love. I think marzipan makes all cakes taste good! Under the marzipan there’s spongecake, whipped cream, vanilla cream and raspberry jam.

Yummy.

Easiest

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I love cinnamon. I especially like it in cakes and buns. I love to use it when I bake cause of the smell (and taste)! It smells good when you bake cinnamon buns for instance.

When it comes to cinnamon buns I would make them often if it wasn`t for how long it takes to bake them. The dough needs a lot of work and all that kneading takes a long time. Don`t get me started on the rising time. It`s a lot of rising involved. That`s why I`m excited I have found out how to make the easiest cinnamon buns.

I`ve made homemade pizza a couple of times and I always buy the dough. Everytime I make the pizza I think the dough feels like the dough you you get when you make cinnamon buns. I have thought about trying to make cinnamon buns out of the pizza dough and today I tried it.

20170212_154951The pizza dough.

20170212_155406I spread butter on the dough and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top of it.

20170212_162725I rolled the dough and cut it in pieces. I placed the pieces in cupcake paper (I don`t know the right word). I brushed them with beaten eggs and added some pearl sugar.

20170212_164221Cinnamon buns!

They are best eaten right away cause they get a bit too hard after a while.

Delicious.