Swedish Redemption

 First things first - if you want to see my plans for Project Food Blog's Challenge #3: Lux Dinner Party, you've gotta click this link and vote. Thank you wonderful readers! And thank you for getting me through to round two. I owe all my ulcers to you! Now you can read on . . .

After the Lutefisk debacle (totally expected), life went on. Thank goodness we ate outside to keep the rotten fish smell out of the house.

One problem, I didn't clean the cutting board right away.

Why would that be a problem? Bees love fish. And since Lutefisk is fishy-fish on steroids, bees started bouncing off our windows trying to get into my kitchen. Two got in. Good thing I pride myself on catching flying bugs! Seriously, I'm quick like lighting when it comes to winged insects. It's part of the curriculum when you grow up in Alaska - land of mosquitos.

Turns out, I'm not just quick when it comes to catching bugs. My legs are like lightening! No kidding.

I am a runner who hasn't run on a consistent basis for almost three years due to the lack of a third seat in my running stroller.

So I took up fitness instructing - free childcare, workout, money. Three birds with one stone. I still run here and there but not exclusively like before.

Wanting to see if I still had "it," I entered a 5K that took place this last weekend. Guess what, I got it!

Second place that is! Oh yeah.

Although that could have a lot to do with the fact that there were only about 30 people in the race and a good amount of those were walkers.

No matter. There is something about having a medal hung around your neck that makes you feel like a champ.

Afterwards, my wonderful family decided to take me out to breakfast. Running and pancakes go together like . . . running and pancakes. Original Pancake house here we come.

I love Orginal Pancake House not only because of the cute little cups and saucers, or the oh-so-attractive server uniforms.

It's the Swedish Pancakes!

Okay Scandinavia, you are getting a second chance for a culinary comeback. Thin and lacey. Eggy and chewy. More substancial and flavorful than a mere crepe for this medal winning runner. 

The lingonberry sauce was tart and tasty. Portions? Perfection. I tend to eat what is on my plate - all of it. So when a restaurant doesn't over-do on quantity, it is a big plus in my book.

Swedish pancakes will be visiting my skillet shortly. Stay tuned.

Viking Fare: Challenge #2

My husband is a large, freckled, red-head. Very viking-esque.

My son was born 10lb 2oz. Favorite activity: clubbing things with large sticks. We named him Bjorn (Norwegian for "bear").

Did you notice there are no double dots above the "o" in my son's name? A real Norwegian would have the double dots and pronounce it "Byern." I say "Bee-yorn." I don't care cause I'm not Norwegian.

It's criminal I know. I should make more of an effort. But before you get too down on me, let me point out . .

Vikings (violent)

King Harold the Ruthless (He's the one with the arrow in his throat)

Edvard Munch, Norwegian (scary)


Minnesota Vikings, Norwegian inspired (they stink)

Lutefisk. Uff Dah!

Lutefisk (translated: lye-fish) is stockfish (dehydrated white fish, most often cod), reconstituted in saltwater then soaked in lye until the pH is just right. Why? To preserve it of course . . . duh! What else would you use lye for beside laundry, dishes, and major household cleaning? Once the lutefisk is properly saturated, simply boil it up, slap it with butter, and you've got Christmas supper. What do those Viking have against Christmas anyway?

Still, my children are 50% Norwegian. I should make an effort.

Therefore, out of diplomacy (and a challenge from Project Food Blog), I've decided it is time to embrace (or at least stomach) the fare of my in-laws.

After making many phone calls to local grocers and spelling "L-U-T-E-F-I-S-K" even more times, I finally tracked down some frozen lye-fish. $9.99 per pound?! You've got to be kidding me! I suppose I can afford it just this once. Still $24.98 a package is hard to swallow.

Next up, I scoured the internet for recipes. Turns out, the only cooking technique you must master as a Norwegian is boiling - boiled Lutefisk with the traditional boiled potatoes (Kokte melne poteter), stewed peas (Grønn ertestuing), and stewed fruit (Sot Suppe). Let's do this!

LUTEFISK

Cooking lutefisk the old fashioned way: Do not cook in aluminum vessels as it will darken the kettle.

1. Use three level tablespoons salt to each quart water. Bring water to boil, add salt. Add fish which has been sliced into serving pieces and return to boil, then remove from the heat.
2. Skim, and let fish steep for 5 to 10 minutes depending on thickness. Serve at once.

Many other recipes suggested serving with butter and lemon. I chose to substitute the butter for garlic infused olive oil.

The Verdict:

Josephine and Georgia are good little Norwegians.

Ryan, Bjorn, and I are not.

Jello-fish, the common description for Lutefisk, doesn't even come close to describing the gut-wrenching, hurl-inducing qualities of this evil concoction. First, you smell it - that quintessential "fishy" smell. Initial taste bud contact - salt. Not bad. Then comes the slippery slime texture over the tongue. I think to myself, "Just chew a couple times and swallow. This isn't so bad!" Right? Wrong! Some how this fall-apart-fish is chewy between the teeth! Before gagging a third time, I spit out the fish. Plop into the grass. I'll let the slugs and ants have this one . . . if they want it.

In the meantime the potatoes and peas, albeit bland, do the trick at filling the tummy. Grape juice with lemon and frozen blueberries wash it all down - not Norwegian, but needed.

Then came the pay off - Sot Suppe! A cross between tapioca pudding, compote, and pie filling - sot suppe is the perfect finish to a fishy meal. The prunes, raisins, and currants fell apart while the apples retained their shape and added textural variety. With its concentrated goodness, the richness of sot suppe went a long way. There was more than enough leftover to serve for breakfast over yogurt and freeze for another time.

SOT SUPPE (sweet soup) - recipe adapted from ElaineAnn's recipe at http://www.food.com/

Ingredients

1/2 cup minute tapioca

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 stick cinnamon

1 cup raisins

1 cup apple, peeled and chopped

3 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 cups grape juice

1 cup currant

1 cup pitted prunes

Directions

Add tapioca to water. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add all ingredients but grape juice. Let stew until apples are tender (about 30 minutes). Add grape juice and serve hot or cold. I added some hazelnuts to finish it.

SUMMARY

Norway loses 2 to 3 (if you don't count dessert). Still, I'll wear the 10-year-old Vikings shirt that my hubby gave me when we were dating. It's stiff and scratchy from very few wearings/washings. But I've kept it! Isn't that enough?

To vote for me in Project Food Blog's second challenge, The Classics, click here or on my Project Food Blog pic in the upper right corner, create a FoodBuzz account if you haven't already, and make sure you select the little heart to show that you love it (the post, not lutefisk). Voting starts on MONDAY. Thanks!

If you haven't already, make sure you become a "Fresh Follower" and never miss a post.

Balsamic Pearberry Salad with Hazelnuts

Summer and Oregon's Willamette Valley early fall flavors come together in this beautiful salad that is as easy to make as it is to transport. Fancy food falls apart. But this lavish looking salad stays together even after being saran-wrapped and shut in the trunk. Excellent warm or cold, Balsamic Pearberry Salad is good to go!That is exactly why I'm bringing it to Erin's Friday Potluck at Ekat's Kitchen.

Balsamic Pearberry Salad

Ingredients
3 pears
1 cup frozen strawberries (raspberries would work beautifully as well)
3 tbsp hazelnuts, chopped and toasted
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 lemon

Directions

1. Halve and core (I use a melon baller).

With the cut side down, thinly slice. Holding slices together, transfert to a pretty serving plate and press sliced pear across to fan the slices.

Repeat with remaining halves working quickly to avoid fruit discoloration. As soon as pears are arranged, squeeze lemon over the top for flavor but also to preserve color.

2. Meanwhile, heat frozen strawberries and vinegar in a small covered saucepan over medium heat until strawberries have thawed. Once thawed, uncover pan and turn heat up until the balsamic vinegar has reduce down (thickens and bubbles). Remove from heat and let cool in pan.

3. Chop hazelnuts and place into a dry skillet, toasting over medium high heat, moving constantly, until fragrant and just begining to brown. Remove from heat.

4. Assemble salad by drizzling strawberry mixture over pears and sprinkling with toasted nuts.

Serves 6

I served this salad with my Balsamic Apricot Glazed Pork Chops. The balsamic in each of the dishes, one raw and the other reduced, echoed eachother nicely and really pulled this light dinner together well.

Balsamic Apricot Glaze

The pork chops had been staring at me for awhile. I bought them days ago to go with some platains that I picked up even earlier.

Then came the busy evenings, snack dinners, and fruit flies. Out went the plantains. But those pork chops. I just can't throw away food that I've spent more than a couple bucks on.

A free evening came around.

"I'll grill!" said my husband as he pulled out the pork chops and a bottle of generic barbecue sauce.

"NOOOOO!" I yelled chasing him outside, "Don't do it!"

"We don't have to grill," replied my husband a bit startled and confused, "It's just so nice outside."

"Grilling is fine," I replied already backing away with the pork in hand, "I'm just going to go get this meat ready for you."

And so Balsamic Apricot Glazed Pork Chops were born!

Balsamic Apricot Glaze

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil

3 tbsp Apricot jam

2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions
Whisk all ingredients together and coat meat. If you have time, you can marinate your pork or chicken in the sauce for a 1/2 hour or more. Or you can glaze the meat just before it cooks, either in a pan or on the grill.

I dredged the pork chops in the glaze and handed them over to my husband who slapped them on a hot grill and went to go test some of his homebrew. The meat was over cooked. However, the flavor was delicious - sweet, spicy, and deep! Topped off with some bleu cheese crumbles, served with my warm Pear Berry Balsamic Salad and a pint of Garage Beer (my husband's unofficial beer label) and I didn't even care that it started sprinkling rain in the middle of dinner.

GAME ON!

No, this is not a repeat of WANTED: Adventure Host.

The game this time is Project Food Blog!

First Challenge: introduce yourself. Check!

Second Challenge: Cook outside your comfort zone - ethnic and authentic.

Third Challenge: Posh dinner party

There are 10 challenges in all. So if you want to see how I tackle each obstacle, you'll have to click and vote!

Voting is officially open and it matters! Click here, or on my pic to th right and you'll automatically be whisked off to the voting both. You have three days to cast your ballot and try to win me $10,000, with which I will cook you a fabulous dinner. Deal?

Have a great week and I'll keep you POSTED (get it?).

-Lindsey

Apple Oat Pancakes with Almond Butter

It's a rainy Sunday morning. Standing over my kitchen sink, looking out the window at the deary day, I decided some warm pancakes fit the mood. And since so much depends on the green tree, with the red apple, glazed with rain - apple pancakes it will be.

Apple Oat Pancakes with Almond Butter

Ingredients
2 cups Oat Flour
3 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 apples (I like to use a tart apple like Granny Smith but any apple will do)
2 beaten eggs
2 cups nonfat milk (water will do)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
1-2 tbsp rolled oats


Directions
In a medium mixing bowl stir together oat flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Shred 1 1/2 apples (about 1 cup). Core and thinly slice the remaining apple half and set aside. Make a well in the middle of flour mixture. Add shredded apples, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix just until combined. Heat a large skillet over medium. Spray with canola oil and drop by the 1/4 cup-fuls, spreading out just a bit with the back of the cup.

Sprinkle with a pinch of oats and press in one apple slice. Cook till little bubbles start to form on the surface (about 2 minutes depending on the heat of your pan). Flip and continue cooking other side for 1 - 2 minutes. Continue with the rest of the batter. Serve with a dollop of almond butter, which is lower in saturated fat than peanut butter.

Make 15 to 20 pancakes

Project Food Blog: Challenge #1 "Scratching an Itch"

Something about fall nesting makes me itch. Don't get me wrong. I like warm soup, pumpkins, and falling leaves well enough. Still, there's something about the crisp fresh air and newly sharpened back-to-school pencils  that makes autumn seem more like a get-up-and-go then a take-it-slow kinda time. After all, fall is brisk!

With the turning of the trees, I feel the call to fall into something big and I'm not talking about a piles of raked leaves. For three years now, I've unwittingly plunged head first into a large competition each September, which very well may result in public humiliation.

First it was the Rachael Ray Show's "Hey, Can You Cook!? 3." Then it was Comcast SportsNet's "WANTED: Adventure Host." Publicly humiliating? A little. Fun? You betcha! Would I do it all over again? Yes!

Last spring when "WANTED: Adventure Host" aired, I merged my passions for the outdoors and healthy cooking with my love for writing. Thus, FRESH AIR + FRESH FOOD was born.

Of course my ambition nudges me toward wanting to make blogging my profession (aka - a business: money making venture) so I can do what I love and spend more time with my three little kiddos and hot hubby.

Therefore, in between camping and backpacking trips, I've spent the summer trying to increase the traffic on my site, cooking it up on Studio 6 (a talk show out of Portland, OR), and developing recipes to serve at charity events. Then a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Foodbuzz.com.

Wow! People like me in love with life, food, and finding ways to share their passions in blogland.

Not long after I joined Foodbuzz, I learned about THE COMPETITION. If you're like me, your ears perk up like coffee at the mention of the word competition.

I threw my spatula into the ring and became a contestant in PROJECT FOOD BLOG! (Cue the applause and my dad's "You are absolutely crazy" look.)

There are over 1,800 bloggers all hoping to compete (oh baby, there's that word again) in a series of 10 challenges over the next 4 months.

By the way, I plan on winning this time! Why? Because FRESH AIR + FRESH FOOD is more than a cookbook. It's an honest, real life look at the great outdoors and the foods that come from it - the perfect recipe for healthy living.

If all we need to be vital are vitamins and exercise, we would pop handfuls of Centrum and go to the gym . . . and be bored. There's more to living than lunges and vitamin A. There's element "F," which stands for fun (or fresh if I so choose)!

Yes, food should taste good. But food is also meant to nourish. It's the fuel you need to get out and enjoy this awe-inspiring world that produces the fish, fruits, vegetables, and grains that end up on our tables.

FRESH AIR + FRESH FOOD celebrates the connection between nature and naturally delicious food through my adventures backpacking, camping, fishing, running, hiking, traveling, gardening, and of course cooking over the campfire or at home for my family and friends.

You'll laugh.

You'll salivate.

You'll wonder, "What in the world was she thinking?"

You'll love it!

Be sure to click on the "Be a FRESH FOLLOWER" button so you'll never miss the inspiration and information you need to get out, get cooking, and track my performance in the up-coming challenges.

PROJECT FOOD BLOG fame here I come!

Your job? VOTE! Votes are 50% of the deciding factor for who moves on and who gets dumped. So be sure to click the follow button and watch for reminders and information on how to cast your ballot for FA+FF!

See you down the trail.