Swedish Platter

An ethnic, inter-generational experience with my mother and grandmother.

scant cup all-purpose flour

pinch salt

2 1/2 cups milk (2%)

3 eggs

nutmeg

1 tablespoon melted margarine

2 tablespoons sugar

cooking spray

various toppings (lite cool whip, lingonberries, cinnamon & sugar, cream cheese, sugar-free fruit preserves, etc) 

My grandmother is not a rigid perfectionist like I am, so when I asked her to line up the ingredients she forgot quite a few of them.

Like the milk:

 And the sugar:

And the salt:

Here is a close up of the lingonberries. They are really from Sweden!

 Anyway...... 

Melt butter in old fruit cup on a an electric heating tray.

If you have arthritic hands, open jars with an electric opener. P.S. Works best in the bathroom....I guess...

Mix flour, salt, milk, eggs, nutmeg, and butter in bowl. Whip.

Bond with grandmother over mixing!

Ladle small amounts of mixture into a "plat pan."

   


Cook as you would a pancake. Flip in order to cook both sides. This took us a few tries to accomplish.

           

And a few injuries as well. Like my mother's burned finger.

Burnt batch #1:

Burnt batch #2:

Keep warm on heating tray until ready to eat.

When ready to eat. Apply desired spread.

Roll up. And eat from one end. Usually only takes two bites!

So how was it?

Delicious.

More specifically...... The most fun was making them. The second most fun was eating them. And coming in third (and last) was the taste.

But don't get me wrong--they did taste good.

And it was fun to try out different flavors of spread.

And now for the inter-generational socks!

From the kitchen of Accie Erickson then Grandma Carlson and now Grandma Gorst.

Vegetarian Jerky

Bet you never thought this existed.

1/4 cup water

1 1.5-ounce instant oatmeal package

1 1.25-ounce dry onion soup mix package

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 forkfull minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 cup boiling water

1 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

Pour boiling water over TVP. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Mix water and oatmeal together.

Mix dry soup mix and water together.

Combine oatmeal and onion soup mixes. Add olive oil, sea salt, garlic, and liquid smoke. Allow flavors to blend for at least 15 minutes. I am not sure how this jerky can be considered fat-free if it has oil in it. All well--I guess it will just be "low fat."

The liquid smoke is really cool stuff! And it is made of smoke!

Add TVP.

 Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. I let it sit overnight.

Form into shapes. Notice that this is done on a plastic dish that sets on top of the dehydrator ring. Otherwise the crumbles would have fell through.

Allow to dry.

 

So how was it?

Not like jerky at all. It did not stick together. It was more like granola. The thing I like most about jerky is it's chewyness, so this product was disappointing. 

But the flavor was good. Really salty--but I am not surprised by that.

My socks for today are only pretty on the bottom. So someone gazing upon them from above would mistakenly find them plain.

Recipe adapted from Just Jerky

Salted, Dry-Roasted Peanuts

Take II

1 cup dry-roasted peanuts

water

sea salt

Place the peanuts on a cookie sheet. Brush water onto peanuts. Sprinkle salt on top.

Bake at 300 degrees until dry. Stir occasionally while baking.

How about this time?

The nuts were not as soft, which was good. But the salt did not stick well at all. So I will have to keep trying.

Some socks....

Ahhh!!! Shark bite!

: )

Stuffed Tomatoes

Used up random foods for this recipe. Serve with homemade garlic bread.

4 tomato basil parmesan boca burgers (soy burgers 10 ounces)

1 large red onion, chopped

1 fork-full minced garlic

2 cups water

1 15-ounce can white kidney beans

3/4 cup kashi (buckwheat kernals)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 large beefsteak tomatoes

3 carrots, shredded

1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped

3 tablespoons lemon juice

olive oil

P.S. Tragic chopping accident while preparing onion. But my knight in shining armor rescued me. (A.K.A. my step-father, who put a bandaid on my finger.)

Add oil to saucepan. Saute/cook boca burgers, onion, and garlic. 

Break the boca burgers up as they cook.

Remove mixture from pan and set aside. Add water and beans to pan, cover, and simmer over moderate heat for 10 minutes. (Be careful of rising steam when trying to take pictures.)

Stir in kashi and salt. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut off tops of tomatoes and hollow them out.

I decided to save the insides and tops--so I am going to dry them on the dehydrator.

Invert the hollow tomatoes on paper toweling so they drain.

When the kaski is done.....hopefully yours does not burn like mine.....

In large bowl, combine kashi mixture, boca burger mixture, carrots, coriander, and lemon juice.

Stuff each tomato. Let it spill over the side too. P.S. There will be a lot of the stuffing left over.

The results.....

Not wonderful.

The coriander was the most powerful flavor--really the only flavor that I could pick out. I was disappointed that I did not taste any of the flavoring from the boca burgers. 

Overall, I was just unsatisfied. It was more fun to make than to eat.

My socks.... Okay, I know it is not fall, but I couldn't resist.

In case you couldn't guess--it says "Happy Halloween".

Recipe adapted from Reader's Digest One Dish Meals The Easy Way