My family may not have it all, but together we have everything.

Every Sunday we get together and enjoy time around the dinner table at Mom and Dad's (aka Nana and Bompa). This is a time where the kids get to spend time with their cousins, Aunts and Uncles, and of course Nana and Bompa. We all split the responsibility of the meal and the assignments rotate by month. One month one of the siblings or I will have dessert, the next vegetables, and then rolls and salad. This helps relieve the burden of the entire meal on Mom. We have come to find some amazing recipes from each other by doing this. And also have tried and tested recipes on each other around the table. In a society where people are constantly on the move and hardly take time to sit down and eat a formal meal around the family table, our tradition has become something each and every one of us looks forward to each week.

I hope, through this blog, that others find the time to come together as family and/or friends and spend at least 1 meal around the table on the Sabbath day.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Swedish Ethnic Sunday

For December we decided to dabble back into our ancestral roots. Swedish. We don't have a lot of Swedish in us, more German and Danish, but it's there and we're proud of it. And boy, was this meal delicious!!

We had Swedish meatballs, homemade noodles, steamed red potatoes, Swedish Tea Bread, Swedish Shrimp Salad, Pressgurka (pressed cucumbers), Vaniljkakor (Swedish Vanilla Cookies). I have to admit, I think this was our favorite and best tasting Ethnic Sunday meal, yet!

And it's sad, yet good, but come January, we're no longer going to have Ethic Sunday the first Sunday of the month, but are switching it up a little. We're going to do Copy-Cat Sunday. We decided January is going to be Papa Murphy's. Now, we don't shop on Sunday, so don't think we're going to go out and just buy one. We're going to try and recreate it! My son has a wheat allergy, so thankfully now, Papa Murphy's has a gluten free version of their pizza! This will be a test of my dough making skills, but I'm excited for a challenge. Now, back to this month: Swedish.

After our delicious meal, Nana read Annika's Secret Wish by Beverly Lewis. A very cute book about a traditional Swedish Christmas. The kids enjoyed hearing about a little girl and how she longed to find the almond in the rice pudding.




Swedish Meatballs
2 slices day-old white bread, crumbled
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp butter
1 small onion, minced
2/3 lbs ground beef
1/3 lbs finely ground pork
1 egg
1 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ginger
1 TBS butter
¼ cup chicken broth

Gravy:
3 TBS flour
2 c. beef broth
8 oz sour cream

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Place the bread crumbs into a small bowl, and mix in the cream. Allow to stand until crumbs absorb the cream, about 10 minutes. While the bread is soaking, melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion until it turns light brown, about 10 minutes. Place onion into a mixing bowl; mix with the ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. Lightly mix in the bread crumbs and cream.
  3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the meat mixture per meatball, and form into balls. Place the meatballs into the skillet, and cook just until the outsides are brown, about 5 minutes, turning the meatballs often. Insides of the meatballs will still be pink. Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and cover with foil.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until the meatballs are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove meatballs to a serving dish.
  5. To make brown gravy, pour pan drippings into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the pan drippings until smooth, and gradually whisk in enough beef broth to total about 2 1/2 cups of liquid. Bring the gravy to a simmer, whisking constantly until thick, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve the gravy with the meatballs.
Egg Noodles
Ingredients:
2 c. flour
4 egg yolks
1 tsp salt
Directions:
Mix the egg into the flour until a sticky dough consistency. If too dry, add more egg. If too wet, add flour a tbs at a time. Roll the dough out, slice into thin noodles. Add to boiling water and cook for 8 minutes at a rolling boil. 



Swedish Shrimp Salad


Ingredients:
17 oz  fresh cooked shrimp
3 tbsp mayo
3 tbsp sour cream
3 tbsp fresh dill nicely chopped
1 tbsp of nicely chopped red onion
1 tsp lemon juice
Few drops hot sauce
Pinch Salt
Freshly ground white pepper

Directions:
Peel the shrimp. Mix the mayo and the creme fresh or sour cream. Mix in the shrimp, dill and onion. Then add the lemon juice, hot sauce, salt and white pepper to taste. Place a dollop on top a sliced cucumber.

Swedish Tea Bread/Ring

Bread Dough
1 c. warm water
2 tsp yeast
1 c. buttermilk
4 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs olive oil
4 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
4 c. flour

Filling:
1 cube butter, soften
1 c. brown sugar, packed
4 tbs ground cinnamon

Drizzle:
2 c. powdered sugar
3 tbs milk
1 tbs vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine all the bread ingredients into a bread machine. Select the dough cycle. Once completed, take out and roll the dough into a 9x13" rectangle. Smear soften butter over the dough, sprinkle with the brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Roll and then form into a ring. With a sharp knife or kitchen shears, cut the bread into slices about 1/2 the diameter of the width. Cut several slices in single serving sizes. Let rise for 35 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Once cooled, mix the Drizzle ingredients together. slowly pour over the top of the tea ring. Enjoy.
*Note: I'd place an extra pan for dripping under the bread ring. I had caramelized goo drip from the ring onto the bottom of my oven. Sounds yummy, but burnt sugar doesn't smell good at all.

Pressgurka (Pressed Cucumbers)



Ingredients:
Servings: 6
2 fresh cucumbers
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 -2 teaspoon rough ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)


Directions:
Cut cucumbers into the thinnest possible slices. Arrange slices in a bowl. Whisk together the white distilled vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and parsley. Pour over the cucumbers. Place a plate with a weight over the cucumbers to squeeze out the liquid. Chill for 1 hour.

Vaniljkakor


Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar  
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon good vanilla
2 1/4 cups sifted flour
1/3 cup raspberry jam (or assorted jams and jellies)
Powdered sugar  

Directions:
1.      Cream butter and sugar well.
2.      Gradually add sugar, and cream until light and fluffy.
3.      Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and flour, blend thoroughly.
4.      Roll into walnut-sized balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
5.      Make a nice indentation in top of each cookie, I use the end (the handle end) of a wooden spoon for this.
6.      Put a little bit of jelly or jam into each indentation.
7.      Bake in 350ยบ oven for at least 15 minutes or till pale golden yellow.
8.      Cool, then sift powdered sugar over them.
 


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