Implementation:

- How great expectations in Washington are dashed in Oakland; Or why it's amazing that federal programs work at all, this beinga saga of the Economiv Developement Administration as told by two sympathetic observers who seek to build morals on a foundation of ruined hopes

I haven't read it, but you just gotta love the title!

To: Holly

My parents are splitting up. I'm OK with it, of course, it's a bit sad, but they have been about to do it for almost ten years now. So it's good that they finally doesn't have to care about the other one anymore. I think they have managed to coexist because of me and my sister Anna. And it has definitely been good for Anna. Now, the only thing I'm REALLY sad over is that we have to sell the house I grew up in. I love that house!

Here are two pictures of my boyfriend Max, as requested:
This picture is taken almost three years ago. He had just had a hair cut and wasn't very pleased with it. That's why he looks a bit wierd.


This one is taken by my dads cousin Andreas this summer. It's at home, in the kitchen. My dad and Andreas were planning a MC trip, they went to Poland and Germany for about two weeks.

Vietnamese Steak Sallad

Goi Bo

Serves 4
400 g steak (14 oz)
2 Spanish onions (gul lök) or a bunch of spring onions
3 dl thinly sliced or shredded black raddish (rättika) (1.2 cups)
3 dl thinly sliced or shredded celeriac (rotselleri) (1.2 cups)
3 dl thinly sliced or shredded carrot
1 dl fresh Asian basil leaves (3.4 fl oz)
1 dl fresh coriander leaves (3.4 fl oz)
4-6 tablespoons crushed peanuts (unsalted)
1-2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)

Dressing:
5 tablespoons rice vinegar
5 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons sugar

Stock:
2 dl beef stock (7 fl oz)
2 dl water (7 fl oz)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
Some parsely and thyme

Put the vegetables in a bowl. Mix the dressing and pour it over. Put in the fridge for an hour or two. Then add the basil and coriander.
Mix the ingredients for the stock in a pan and let it simmer a couple of minutes. Slice the meat thinly and put the meat in for just a few seconds. The meat is not supposed to be thoroughly done, it's still a bit pink. Use a perforated ladle to remove it from the stock. Mix with the vegetables, sprinkle with peanuts and perhaps some fish sauce.

Last Week

Last week wasn't such a good week.

My parents had to put our oldest dog, Zandra, to sleep. She was 13 years old. One day she was just fine, the other the vet said that there was nothing to do. She probably had a tumour that caused internal bleedings. I tried to find a good picture of her, but these are the best I had available:

Then I had some problems with what courses I'm taking next semester. I still haven't been able to solve that. I had some exams. Terrible, but I hope I passed. My parents have now moved from our house. Mom lives in an appartement in the same town, and my dad has bought an appartement in Ystad. Ystad is where my sister goes to school. So now it feels like I don't have a real place that's home anymore. Max and I celebrated our 4th anniversary Sunday. The worst anniversary ever, none of us were feeling very well and on top of that, we fought most of the day. But it's settled now. And we went out for dinner on Saturday, and that was nice!

Today, I've been out gift shopping for Christmas. I think I've done a good job so far. I bought a couple of books, to my mother and to cousin Isabella. Dad told me that Lasse and Anneli barely ever read to her. So I'm gonna try and change that! I bought these two:

They were some of my favorites when I was little. You can check them out at amazon.com, and search for "Pettson and Findus". There are a few translated ones.

I have some more recipies to publish soon!

Right or Wrong?

Civil trials for the terrorist behind the 9/11 attacks. Right or wrong?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll update this blog more soon. Now I'm busy with French grammar.

Kind of funny

Make Your Own Academic Sentence

"We live together but we are not poisson."

The above is to be read with a Swedish accent and was said by a woman I know who was practising good phrases to know in English. She meant to say that they aren't married, but somehow she mixed up the words completely.

Anyhow, the quote has nothing to do with the rest of the post. Have you seen this book, A Child Is Born? The photographer, Lennart Nilsson is Swedish and he has taken lots of amazing pictures of the human body.

I think it's quite famous, and when I was a child, I loved to look at these pictures. I recently rediscovered it on the library and I was totally hooked again. The photos are so fascinating and in a way so beautiful.

Speaking of food..

We went to see Julie & Julia yesterday. I really liked it. Meryl Streep is an amazing actress! A movie about food and cooking is nice, there aren't that many, I think. Afterwards we cheated with cooking and went to a Thai restaurant at 20.50 for a LATE dinner. My food was OK, nothing more, but Max' was really good. I ate Pad Thai (wooked noodles with shrimp and peanuts) and Max had some chicken with yellow curry and peanuts.

Salmon Burgers with Mango Salsa

When we cooked this, we didn't made any salsa, nor did we have the lime zest. I really think without this, it's not worth making. So, next time, definitely salsa, lime zest and I think fresh coriander would make it here too. Also, we skiped the bread and made potato wedges instead.

500 g/1 lb salmon fillet
2 chili fruits
1 teaspoon salt
zest and juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon potato flour (we took the same amount of Maizena instead)
2 deciliter/1 cup thick youghurt
1 mango
1 spring onion

1. Chop the salmon very finley, or blend it a little in a blender.
2. Remove the seeds from the chili fruits and chop them.
3. Mix half of the chili with salmon, salt, zest, flour and ½ dl (1/4 cup) of youghurt together.
4. Make burgers of appropriate size.
5. Peel and remove the seed from the mango. Chop.
6. Shred the onion.
7. Mix mango, onion and lime juice with the rest of the youghurt and chili.
8. Fry the burgers in butter approximately 2 minutes on each side.
9. Serve on toast with salsa and a sallad.

Corn Soup

This is a soup that I like a lot. The recipies says to strain the soup after it's blended, but I really think that's unnecessary.

Serves 4

1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon corn oil (or any oil)
½ red chili (I take 1 whole)
500 g/about 1 lb g grain of sweet corn
7 deciliter milk/3 cups milk
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Peel and chop the garlic. Sizzle it soft in oil in a pan.
2. Half, remove the seeds and roughly chop the chili
3. Put chili and corn in the pan. Add the milk and simmer it for 5 min.
4. Blend the soup well and strain it.
5. Taste with salt and pepper. Serve with bread.

Bad Day

Bad Day - Daniel Powter

I'm having such a bad day today, and I'm not really sure why. But it doesn't feel good. I just hope tomorrow will be be better!

Found Dogs with a Mission

http://www.founddogs.com/

For those of you who know me well, you're all familiar with the fact that I love dogs. I found this page via Facebook and Time Magazine. It's amazing that there are people who are so devoted to help abandoned dogs. I'm definitely (spelled correct, right?) gonna buy the book when I come to the States (I think I'm gonna start making a list of things to do next summer), I haven't found it here in Sweden.

This is another wonderful book about a Marine who finds a dog in Iraq. He writes about his struggle to get the dog back to the US. Very cute, and I cried (as usual) when I read it.

Flowers from Dedee with family

Here are two pictures of the flowers Dedee send to Grandma Birgitta when Great grandma Rut passed away. They are a bit withered, but still very beautiful!

Vietnamese Chicken and Cabbage Sallad

I know, I have been terrible at updating this blog. But I will try to shape up. I recently bought a couple of new cook books with a Vietnam theme and I'm gonna try and make some more Asian food. It's often easy to cook, it's quite healthy and doesn't need an endless amount of ingredients.

Goi Ga Bap Cai
Serves 4

3 chicken breasts (or the same amount chicken meat from other parts)
1/2 head of white cabbage (or Chinese cabbage), sliced very fine
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 chopped mint
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or honey)
2-3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon roughly grinded black or white pepper

Optional add ins:
Roasted, chopped peanuts
Fresh coriander/cilantro
Rice noodles
Carrots, thinly sliced

Let the chicken simmer in chicken stock for about 15 minutes. Check to make sure they are done. Take them out to cool off. Shred them finely or tear them into thin threads.
Mix the chicken with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving to make sure the flavors mixes.

Friday Night Dinner

My boyfriend went home to his parents today to help his father move. That means (except that I have to be alone in the appartement and I'm super scared of the dark) that I can eat stuff that he doesn't like. Like shrimps and avocado.

Pasta with Ham and Mushroom sauce

Serves 4

300 g/10 oz pasta

150 g/5 oz smoked ham

200 g/7 oz mushrooms

1 tablespoon butter/oil

2 ½ dl/1 cup single cream (matlagningsgrädde)

1 dl/3 fl oz chopped parsley

2 cloves of finley chopped garlic

½ teaspoon salt

a pinch of black pepper

(Maizena)

Optional add ins:

1 dl/3 fl oz grated cheese

1 chopped onioin, fried with the mushrooms

Boil the pasta according to the instructions. Cut the ham in shreds and the mushrooms in slices. Fry the mushroom in butter for about 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients. Let it all boil together for a few minutes. You might wanna add some Maizena or other thickenings to make it more sauce like. Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta stir and serve.

Super Simple Pea Soup

Serves 2

2 cups of frozen green peas
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 vegetable stock cubes
1 cup of boilingwater (approx.)
2 tablespoons of thick yoghurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil to saute in

Chop the onion and the garlic and saute it in oil in a pan. Add the green peas and the stock cubes. Remove from the heat. Pour boiling water over the peas until they are almost covered. Stir. Put everything in a blender or use a stand mixer and blend smooth. Add the yoghurt and salt and pepper to taste. Put on the heat again and let it be warm. Serve with bread.

Cool Stationary

Knock Knock

Have you seen this? I love it! Unfourtunatley, there's only one online store selling their stuff in Sweden, and only part of the selection.

Exam again...

I'm having another French exam tomorrow. I failed on the last one, but that doesn't really feel that bad. But this next one... It'll be bad if I fail that one too. We have to read an entire textbook and remember all the texts, stupid, stupid exam. I really hope it's gonna go well.

I will hopefully be back with another recipie update tomorrow when I've had the time to translate one. I'm also trying to find time to bake some bread.

Inglorious Basterds

Just got back from seeing Inglorious Basterds by Tarantino. No, no, NO!! Not a movie in my taste. Too much blood and icky stuff. But sure, the story itself had its points. And I finally have seen a whole Tarantino movie (I kind of had my eyes shut during half the movie when they showed the icky, but you can still say I've seen the whole film, right?).

Bean Burgers with Coleslaw and Avocado

Serves 4

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1 tablespoon butter (for frying)

1 can of beans (400 g/14 oz) or 4 dl/13 fl oz home cooked beans

2 boiled potatoes

2 tablespoons of raspings

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

150 g/ 5 oz red cabbage

1 carrot

1 dl /3½ fl oz thick youghurt

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

2 pinches black pepper

Raspings

Oil and butter for frying

Hamburger bread

Sallad

2 mashed avocados

1 tomato

1. Peel and chop the onion and the garlic. Saute them golden in butter.

2. Mix the beans with the onion and potatoes in a blender or with a hand blender.

3. Add raspings and cumin, chili powder and salt. Shred the cabbage. Put in a colander and pour some boiling water on it. Let it rinse.

4. Peel and grate the carrot roughly. Mix cabbage and carrot with youghurt, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Make burgers of the batter, 4 really large ones, or 8 smaller. Turn them in raspings. Fry in oil and butter, approximatley 5 minutes on each side. Serve with bread, coleslaw, mashed avocados and tomato in slices.

When I make this, I normaly need to add an egg into the batter, otherwise the burgers just fall apart when I'm frying them. That might depend on what kind of beans you use too, I've done this recipie with kidney beans and black beans. Yesterday we skipped the cabbage and made a coleslaw on just carrots and served with a nice pineapple salsa. Yummy!

Exam in French

I'm having a French grammar exam tomorrow. (Wish me luck!) I really think that I know most of it, but one can never be too sure, and I probably haven't studied as much as I should have.. After that I'm going home to Åhus to visit my parents over the weekend. That'll be nice!

Basic Risotto

This is what I made the other day. This Jamie Oliver-recipie is my absolut favorit. I added some nice, finly sliced, mushrooms to the onion this time. That was really delicious. I normaly don't use as much grated Parmesan cheese as it says here, I take about 75 g/2½oz instead. But I guess it's just a matter of how healthy you want it to be..

Ingredients
• approx 1.1 litres/2 pints stock (chicken, fish or vegetable as appropriate)

• 1 knob of butter

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• ½ a head of celery, finely chopped

• 400g/14oz risotto rice

• 2 wineglasses of dry white vermouth (dry Martini or Noilly Prat) or dry white wine

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 70g/2½oz butter

• 115g/4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

a basic risotto recipe

main courses serves 4-6

This is a great recipe for making risotto. You want it to be smooth, creamy and oozy, not thick and stodgy.

1. Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

2. The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.

3. Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

4. Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. This is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat it as soon as possible, while the risotto retains its beautiful texture.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/risotto/basic-risotto-recipe

Spinach Lasagne

3 (MAYBE 4) people

450 g frozen, chopped spinach (1 lb)
1 onioin, chopped
1 vegetable stock cube

1 can diced tomatoes (500 g / 17 oz)
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 vegetable stock cube
1 Italian herbs stock cube
2 lumps of sugar

5 dl milk (2 cups)
2½ dl cream (I prefer single, but whipping cream works well too) (1 cup)
2 dl grated cheese (7 fl oz)
about 3.5 tablespoons of Maizena
Salt and pepper to taste

Lasagnaplates
1 dl grated cheese (3-4 fl oz)

Saute the onion and the garlic in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients to the tomato sauce and let it cook gently for at least 20 minutes.

Thaw the spinach and let it drain. Fry the onion lightly in oil, add the spinach and the stock. Sizzle until it's all the liquid is dried out.

Whip the Maizena together with the milk and let it come to boil. Simmer it for a few minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat and add cream. Stir in the cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Put a layer of cheese sauce in the bottom of a medium sized, oiled, casserole. Add a layer of lasagnaplates. On top of that, half of the spinach and half of the tomato sauce, and another layer of cheese sauce.

Anohter layer of plates, rest of the spinache and tomato sauce and some more cheese sauce. On top a last layer of plates and the last of the cheese sauce. Top with grated cheese.

In the oven (225* C / 430* F) for 20-25 minutes.

Some of my beloved family members

Uncle Lasse

Aunt Ulrica and my cousin Carolina

Youngest cousin Olivia

My dad, Mikael

Cousin Isabella

Cousins Carolina & Alexander

IKEA

I spend almost an entire afternoon at IKEA this week, and we only bought 3 things:


A nice, red bookend (really needed one). Though it's not used in a Billy-bookcase but in a Expedit.





A fitted sheet, Dvala.



And a set of Kotte Christmas gift wrapping set.









And then we had lunch there too, and we got to think about IKEA food. I assume they serve Swedish meatballs at all IKEA stores, but what about the other dishes? I had chicken with coleslaw, BBQ sauce and fries. What do they have at a US IKEA restaurant?

Corn Pancakes with Cottage Chese

Ingredients for 4:

½ red chili pepper
½ pot of fresh coriander (cilantro)
4 eggs
1 1/4 dl milk (4 fl oz)
3 dl wheat flour (10 fl oz)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 can of corn (340 g/12 oz)
Cottage cheese
100 g Feta cheese (3.5 oz)
Baby spinach
Tomatoes

1. Half the pepper and remove the seeds and chop it finely (I usually take 1 whole chili), chop the coriander as well (same here, I use one whole pot).
2. Whip egg and milk together in a bowl, add the chili and coriander.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Whip it to a smooth batter.
4. Pour of the liquid from the corn and add it into the batter.
5. Cook in a hot pan with some butter. It will probably be 12-16 pancakes.
6. Mix the cottage cheese with the Feta cheese, and make a simple sallad of baby spinach and tomatoes. Serve with the pancakes.

Fun Polaroids

Thanks Amanda for the link to Rollip! It's super fun.

I'm back

I'm back here after a few set backs last week; a bad cold and a computer crash.

My comp crashed after installing Windows Vista Service Pack 2. And this was apparently a very uncommon problem, I found no help at all on the Internt. Yay.. But we managed to extract my files and then re-install Windows.

I'm gonna try and translate a lasagne recipe to publish later.

I bought this sweater/jacket last week. Way too expensive for my student's budget, but I hope my parents can help me finance it.






















I'm totaly in love with it!


And I'm searching high and low for a job. Money to spend on a ticket to the States next summer. I really, really want to go! But I don't know how, with whom, or when. Yet.

Carrot soup with sweet potatoes

This is a lovely soup. I love the sweetness of the carrots and the sweet potatoes!
I don't really have any specific measures, but it's really just a question of taste and amount of people.

Another variant I do is replace the sweet potatoes with regular potatoes (so much cheaper), and add some finely grated ginger.

8 Carrots
2 (SMALL!) Sweet potatoes
1 Onion
1 Clove of garlic
2 Vegetable stock cubes
2 Tablespoons of thick youghurt, milk, or cream
Enough water to almost cover the carrots.
1 Orange

Chop the onion and the garlic, sizzle it in oil in a pan.
Cut the carrots and potatoes into cubes.
Put them in the pan, add the stock and boil.
When the vegetables are done, take the pan of the heat.
Add the yoghurt and put the vegetables all in a blender.
Run until smooth.
Add juice from the orange.
Thin down the soup with the stock.
Re-heat and serve with a nice bread.

Hot Bean Salsa with Peppers

This is currently one of my favorite side dishes.

1.5 dl Kidney beans (5 fl oz.)

1.5 dl Small white beans (5. fl oz.) (I usally take small black beans instead, because that's what's in my pantry)

1/3 Cucumber

1 Red pepper

1 Green pepper (or any color)

0.5 dl Chopped parsley (1.7 fl oz.)

2 tablespoons ajvar relish

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

0.5 tsk sambal oelek

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt

1. Chop the cucumber and the peppers into smal cubes. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl.

2. Mix the beans with the vegetables and the dressing and add salt to taste.

3. Add chopped parsley on the top.

Preferably served with some kind of chicken, but today I fried some sausages and that worked well too.

Procrastination

I'm soo good at procrastination. I'm having some chapters in a book to read (I like the book, so it's not that it's boring), and a couple of things to read and exercises to do in my grammar book, all for tomorrow. And instead of doing that, I'm here updating my blog. Yay..

I really want vacation. And take an airplane somewhere. 'Cause according to me, the only REAL vacation is the one you have take a plane to go on.

Any ideas?

Now I'm so running out of ideas for our meals next week. Perhaps soup. I like soup, it's so easy to make.

Yesterday on the bookfair, I bought three knew cookbooks; Soppa (Soup), Dagens muffins: samlade recept (Today's muffins: collected recipies) and the new edition of Vår kokbok (Our cookbook).

Vår kokbok has been printed in 25 editions, and it's a book with lots of basic cooking skills, quite a lot of easy made recipies. The newest edition has a more international approch than before with recipies like risotto, and sallad with coconut dressing (which I don't think sounds very delicious). There are also chapters about different foods and provisions. It's kind of the book to have in every home.

Spinach Soup

Today I made the most simple spinach soup ever.

chopped, frozen spinach
1 onion
milk
1 vegetabale stock cube
salt
white pepper
oil

Chop the onion and frizzle until it softens in a pan. Add the spinach and some milk (not to much) and put the lid on. Let it boil on medium heat until the spinach is thaw. Then add the stock, some more salt and a little white pepper, and milk to taste. Boil for another 5 min and serve with bread, and halved boiled eggs.

Book Fair

Today I'm going to the large book fair in town (www.bokmassan.se). It's my Mum's birthday today, and she and a friend of her's is coming up to visit me. And tonight we're having dinner out to celebrate! Looking forward to it.

Hash with Weinerwurst and Chanterelles

Today I made hash (I'm not really sure "hash" is the appropriate word for this food, though) out of potatos fried raw, onion, wienerwurst in cubes, red peppers and chanterelles.

No real recipie needed, but some notes:
I fried the ingredients separately first, then mixed them in a bowl and reheated it all.
Yummy!

I love the chanterells, I found really nice (and Swedish) ones in the store for a reasonable price. I'm not really the kind of person who walks out in the forest to find my own ones..

I gotta stop being so emotional

I cry for everything. I can't even see a movie where someone dies without crying.

Crumble Cake with Ham and Broccoli

This is another good way of making pie, without the crust and with crumbs on top instead. This is quite uncommon for food pies, but in Sweden the crumbs are often used on apple pies and similar.

Ingredients for 4-6:
150 g smoked ham (5 oz.)
400 g broccoli (14 oz.)
2 dl grated cheese (7 fl oz.), or according to taste

4 eggs
2 ½ dl light cream (15%), or similar (8.5 fl oz.)
1 dl milk (3.4 fl oz.)
½ teaspoon salt
a pinch of pepper

2 dl wheat flour (7 fl oz.)
50 g butter (1.8 oz.)
1 tablespoon water

1. Put the oven on 200° C (390°F).
2. Cut the ham into cubes. Boil the broccoli in lightly salted water until it's almost done. Let the water drain off.
3. Put both ham and broccoli into a buttered pie dish. Put appropriate amount of cheese on top.
4. Mix eggs, light cream, milk, salt and pepper and pour it onto the pie. Put in the oven for 15 min.
5. In the mean time, mix butter, flour and water into crumbs. I like to melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir it all together with a electric mixer.
6. Sprinkle the crumbs over the pie and bake for approximatley another 20 min.

My Saturday project

... turned out to be pretty good after all.





I spent hours and hours trying to finish the first one and 30 min to do the second one. I really expected it to be a very simple project, but I quickly discovered that I had to think and plan the whole thing more careful than I though. With a little help from Max' aunt it ended up in this.

Two covers to our dinner chairs, matching the curtains, the fabric is from IKEA. By the way, I just love that store. Almost everything in our appartement (we don't have a large appartement, so that perhaps doesn't say much) is from IKEA.

[ʒəpaʀlbõfʀãsɛ]

(je parle bon français - I speak good French)

I had a small pronunciation exam in French today. It was weird, but I hope I do speak good French.

In my course we're reading the book Oscar et la dame rose (Oscar and the Lady in Pink) by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. It's a really lovely story and I strongly recommend it! It's a short novel, so it's not much to read either.

Chicken Nuggets with Ajvar dip

Approx. 35 min

This is what we had for dinner. Super tasty, and pretty easy too!

I know, this might not be the best picture..

For 4 people:

700 g potatoes

1 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon of sea salt (or regular salt)

500 g chicken file

2 whipped eggs

2 deciliter of bread crumbs (7 fl oz.), I think I used more

2 tablespoons of rape oil (but I used olive)

Dip:

2 deciliter thick yoghurt ( 10 %) (7 fl oz.)

1 deciliter Ajvar relish (3.4 fl oz.)

½ teaspoon of salt

4 snack cucumbers, or pickles

Do this:

1. Put the oven on 250°C (480°F). Scrub the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Put them on a baking plate with oven paper or similar on. Sprinkle it with 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Fry in the middle of the oven approximately 25 minutes. (I usually cook it longer on a slightly lower temperature)
   
2. Mix the dip. Cut the chicken into 1 cm (½ inch) thick slices. Whip the eggs on a plate and put the bread crumbs mixed with the rest of the sea salt on another plate.
   
3. Coat the chicken in egg and then in crumbs. Fry them on medium heat, some at the time, about 2 minutes on each side until they are golden and done.


4. Serve with potatoes and dip.

These were my accessories walking through the large mall (Nordstan) in town and on the bus home:

... a large ice latte with a straw to drink noisy with and a stuffed school bag with a leek sticking out poking people on the bus.

Poor Man's Minestrone

This is a recipie I retrieved from an online friend once. I haven't tried it out for myself yet, but it looks good enough to publish here! (Holly, perhaps something else to do with all the zucchini?)


Hallo!
Time for another recipe. I made this last night and it ended up being really good - and simple - and CHEAP hehehe. I know some of you are students, and/or sometimes low on funds (like myself) so for anytime you need to stretch a few dollars to last you a bit, this is a good idea.

Ingredients:
*1 large can diced tomatoes (if you can get the kind with italian herbs added, that's a plus)
*1 can low-sodium chicken stock
*1 can light kidney beans (drained)
*1 can carrots (drained)
*1 can cut green beans (drained)
*1 can white corn (drained)
*1 can peas (drained) or 1 cup frozen peas
*Optional add-ins: okra is good in this, and also you could slice fresh zucchini and put that in as well.
*Garlic salt, pepper, parsley, basil, rosemary, and thyme to taste.


In a large pot, add all of the canned ingredients and bring to a boil. If soup seems too thick, add a cup to a cup and a half of water to give more broth (I usually do). Then add spices to taste. Ladle out into individual serving-sized tupperware and freeze. Out of a single batch of soup, I usually get 8 servings, which are very filling. All you have to do is microwave them for about 6 minutes and you are good to go. If you want, add a slice of double fiber whole wheat toast to the equation. Yum!

Enjoy!
Dee

Recipie again

Black Box

Serves 4:
400 g (14 oz.) minced meat
1 Spanish onion
1 leek
250 g (9 oz.) white cabbage
1 tablespoon of oil (rape oil)
5 tablespoons of Japanese soy sauce
5 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce
1 clove of garlic

Boiled basmati or jasmine rice
Sliced cucumber with sweet chili sauce and a pinch of salt

1. Chop the onion. Shred the leek and the cabbage. Fry the onion and the minced meat in oil until the meat is done. Put on a tray and fry the cabbage and the leek.
2. Mix the meat and the onion into the pan.
3. Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and sweet chili sauce with the squeezed garlic. Pour it into the pan and stir.
4. Let it boil approximately 10 minutes and serve with rice and cucumber.

This is a really easy and simple dish to make! I usually use more cabbage than it says, and the seasoning can be varied after taste too.

Pie with Zucchini and Pesto

Here you go, Holly!

Serves 10 people

Ingredients:
3 dl wheat flour (4 cups)

150 g butter or margarine

2 tablespoons cold water

Stuffing
2 pieces of mozzarella cheese, total 250 g

4 tablespoons of ready-cooked green basil pesto

½ pot of green basil

3 eggs

2 dl milk (2 ^2/3 cups)

1 medium sized zucchini, about 400 g

1 teaspoon salt

A pinch of black pepper

Topping (optional)

10-12 cherry tomatoes (different colors)

1/2 pot of green basil, chopped

1 ml olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Do this:

1. Mix the flour and the cooking fat together, preferably in a food processor. Add water and work the dough into a dough ball.

2. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

3. Put the oven on 225°C (440°F). Press or roll out the dough evenly in a round dish, about 24 cm in diameter (approx 9 ½ inches). Prick the pie crust with a fork.

4. Bake the crust in the middle of the oven in approx. 10 min.

5. Cut the mozzarella cheese in thin slices and spread them in the baked crust. Spread out the pesto on top of the mozzarella and put basil leaves on top of that.

6. Slice the zucchini into thin slices with a cheese slicer (or a sharp knife). Top the pie with the slices in a nice looking pattern.

7. Whip egg, milk and spices and pour this over the zucchini.

8. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven in 35 minutes, or until it's set and golden and looks tasty.

9. Cut the tomatoes into fourths or halves. Mix them with basil, olive oil and vinegar. Top the pie with this just before serving.

I usually don't top the pie with tomatoes; instead I serve the pie with a salad of tomatoes and lettuces on the side. I sometimes have put the halved tomatoes into the pie too, in the layer between the basil and the zucchini. The basil leaves in the pie aren't in the original recipes, but added by me. So, if you're not a big fan of basil, this is very optional.

Let's give this a try

OK, I probably won't be very good at updating this blog, but it's a nice way of remembering things if writing about them