Chitter Chatter Fall-Winter (2023)

[Ryrin]

That looks really good! I love sweet potatoes and the spices. Where do you get coconut cream? 
 

@EirikDaude

[EirikDaude]

4 hours ago, Ryrin said:

That looks really good! I love sweet potatoes and the spices. Where do you get coconut cream? 
 

@EirikDaude

This is from the website of a big supermarket chain, you can basically buy it at most supermarkets here in those small 250 ml cartons. I like the fattier coconut cream over the less fatty coconut milk, but I think both would work.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

It is great stuff, good in lots of things as the flavour is quite mild. Like you can make healthy flapjacks with coconut milk, peanut butter, and oats mixed together and shoved in the fridge. Can also use a bit of flavoured protein powder for an extra burst of sweetness and cheating flavour.

[Ryrin]

I never even thought of using that. I learned something new!! 

[Ryrin]

All of this is making me hungry. I know we have people from all over but I’d like to know who is celebrating Thanksgiving  and what are your special dishes? 
 

Canadians have a Thanksgiving right? If you aren’t American do you have any similar holidays? 

[LilyElizabeth]

My most requested dish is my Oatmeal Rolls. My kids expect them every single holiday. Here is the recipe. 

 

Oatmeal Dinner Rolls

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4-3/4 to 5-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1.      In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil; add oats and butter. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; cool to lukewarm.

2.    In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oat mixture, sugars, salt and 4 cups flour; beat until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

3.     Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

4.    Punch dough down; allow to rest for 10 minutes. Shape into 18 balls. Place in 2 greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

5.    Preheat oven to 350°; bake rolls until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks.

Nutrition Facts

1 roll: 173 calories, 3g fat (1g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 221mg sodium, 33g carbohydrate (5g sugars, 1g fiber), 4g protein.

 

[EirikDaude]

11 hours ago, Ryrin said:

All of this is making me hungry. I know we have people from all over but I’d like to know who is celebrating Thanksgiving  and what are your special dishes? 
 

Canadians have a Thanksgiving right? If you aren’t American do you have any similar holidays? 

I was in Canada for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, and they do! Although I believe it is one month later... There's not really much of any similar holiday's here in Norway, though for the last few years we have mentioned the things we are thankful for in the last year, instead of making promises at New Year's eve. I guess that is kinda similar?

 

I don't have any special dishes, but I made apple sauce from the apples in my garden a few weeks back, and was really happy with the results. The recipe I used didn't have any extra sugar added, but upon tasting the results I added maybe a cup of sugar to ~4kgs of apples. I guess it will depend a bit on how sweet they are naturally.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2,5 kg apples

• 2 dl water

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise

• 1 cinnamon stick

Directions:

1. Peel the apples, core them, and slice them thinly
2. Add everything to a pot and bring to a boil
3. Let it simmer on a low heat, stirring occassionally
4. Once it reaches a consistency you are happy with, remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.
5. If you want a completely smooth apple sauce, blend it with a stick blender or similar.
6. Put it in clean jars. It should keep for a while in the fridge, but can also be frozen.

 

[LadyWordsmith]

Homemade applesauce is wonderful! That's fabulous. 

Funny enough, one of our family's traditional Thanksgiving dishes is apparently a Norwegian Christmas traditional dish. When I was a kid we always had Thanksgiving with the family of one of my Dad's college friends, the Nordviks. Her father came over to Canada from Norway during WWII, and then married and eventually ended up here in the US. So every year she would make riskrem since we were together for Thanksgiving, but always had other things going on at Christmas. She shared the recipe with us, and I still make it. 🙂 

I can't say most of what we make at my house is "traditional" in the sense of what most Americans make. Turkey is probably my least favorite bird, so we have taken to making different meats almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas for years now (rotating back to favorites, but maybe trying different recipes). This year we are roasting duck, and grilling fish. We've also done venison in the past. One year I pulled out my Colonial cookbook and tried a clam-and-lobster pie that was common in taverns during the colonial period (when clams and lobsters were considered peasant food because they were plentiful and cheap). 

We do green beans in the Southern style (which is to say they are slow cooked for hours with onions and bacon). We usually skip the "stuffing/dressing" because I either find them dry if baked in a pan, or weirdly too wet if cooked inside a bird. 

For bread this year I'm making bialys instead of any particular type of rolls. Just because we all really love them (and I can't buy them where I live because there isn't a Kosher deli or bakery anywhere in the state), and we can eat them for days. 

Also playing with pie (we try all sorts of pies on top of the traditional ones), and this year I'm using an apple tart recipe I used in a medieval feast last year, but just turning it into one large pie instead of trying to make a bunch of little tarts. The recipe includes candied orange peels, honey, rose water, and it matches very nicely with the flavor of the apples. Including the tart recipe in case anyone is interested.  

[EirikDaude]

11 hours ago, LadyWordsmith said:

Homemade applesauce is wonderful! That's fabulous. 

Funny enough, one of our family's traditional Thanksgiving dishes is apparently a Norwegian Christmas traditional dish. When I was a kid we always had Thanksgiving with the family of one of my Dad's college friends, the Nordviks. Her father came over to Canada from Norway during WWII, and then married and eventually ended up here in the US. So every year she would make riskrem since we were together for Thanksgiving, but always had other things going on at Christmas. She shared the recipe with us, and I still make it. 🙂 

I can't say most of what we make at my house is "traditional" in the sense of what most Americans make. Turkey is probably my least favorite bird, so we have taken to making different meats almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas for years now (rotating back to favorites, but maybe trying different recipes). This year we are roasting duck, and grilling fish. We've also done venison in the past. One year I pulled out my Colonial cookbook and tried a clam-and-lobster pie that was common in taverns during the colonial period (when clams and lobsters were considered peasant food because they were plentiful and cheap). 

We do green beans in the Southern style (which is to say they are slow cooked for hours with onions and bacon). We usually skip the "stuffing/dressing" because I either find them dry if baked in a pan, or weirdly too wet if cooked inside a bird. 

For bread this year I'm making bialys instead of any particular type of rolls. Just because we all really love them (and I can't buy them where I live because there isn't a Kosher deli or bakery anywhere in the state), and we can eat them for days. 

Also playing with pie (we try all sorts of pies on top of the traditional ones), and this year I'm using an apple tart recipe I used in a medieval feast last year, but just turning it into one large pie instead of trying to make a bunch of little tarts. The recipe includes candied orange peels, honey, rose water, and it matches very nicely with the flavor of the apples. Including the tart recipe in case anyone is interested.  

 

Ooh, that's really interesting! Do you eat the rice cream with caramel or red / berry sauce? Do you add any chopped nuts or anything like that? So fun that it's a thing at your table 😄 Oh, and another fun fact - my grandfather was in Canada during WW2, getting training for the navy! He came back to Norway in the end though 🙂

 

I like the look at your apple tart too, though it looks to be quite a few steps to make it... Would you mind sharing the recipes for the Reneissance dough and candied citrus peel as well, and maaaaaybe I can get off my lazy ass for long enough to make it some day...

[LadyWordsmith]

The version we have has almonds in it, and we use the red sauce. 🙂

I don't actually have the cookbook this came out of (a friend scanned me the image). You can use any modern pie dough recipe for the tarts. Though I can ask for the specific dough recipe if needed.

There's a variety of recipes for candying citrus peels. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/simple-candied-orange-peel-350798 

Admittedly, I've also bought candied citrus peel on Amazon to save time (last year we made tarts for 100 people and I did not want to candy that much orange!). I've been ordering OliveNation Candied Orange Peel Slices (for specific brand). There may be others but theirs are very close to how it would come out home-made and so I've been happy with them. 

[EirikDaude]

It's okay, I am sure I can find a suitable pie recipe for the shell 🙂 I'm a bit unsure if there is any candied orange peel easily available for purchase here, but I guess it's not a ton of work to make it... Thanks for the additional help, I'll be sure to post a picture if I make it 🙂

[Ryrin]

Wow! Just excellent stuff!

 

One year when my husband was working at a grocery store, they over ordered apples and sold him 40lbs for $1.

 

We knew nothing about canning  apple sauce but our friends were members of the LDS church and knew lots! They believe in having a years supply of food.

 

So we made apple sauce and apple pies that we froze until Thanksgiving. 
 

We really like turkey but venison sounds very appealing. 

[Ryrin]

On 11/19/2023 at 11:29 AM, EirikDaude said:

I was in Canada for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, and they do! Although I believe it is one month later... There's not really much of any similar holiday's here in Norway, though for the last few years we have mentioned the things we are thankful for in the last year, instead of making promises at New Year's eve. I guess that is kinda similar?

 

I don't have any special dishes, but I made apple sauce from the apples in my garden a few weeks back, and was really happy with the results. The recipe I used didn't have any extra sugar added, but upon tasting the results I added maybe a cup of sugar to ~4kgs of apples. I guess it will depend a bit on how sweet they are naturally.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2,5 kg apples

• 2 dl water

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise

• 1 cinnamon stick

Directions:

1. Peel the apples, core them, and slice them thinly
2. Add everything to a pot and bring to a boil
3. Let it simmer on a low heat, stirring occassionally
4. Once it reaches a consistency you are happy with, remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.
5. If you want a completely smooth apple sauce, blend it with a stick blender or similar.
6. Put it in clean jars. It should keep for a while in the fridge, but can also be frozen.

 

I’m diabetic. I wonder if I could use Splenda in it? 

[EirikDaude]

23 hours ago, Ryrin said:

I’m diabetic. I wonder if I could use Splenda in it? 

 

I'm sure other sweeteners will work too, though I am not familiar with Splenda. It's worth noting that the apples will impart a fair amount of sugar to the applesauce too, but I guess these are the kinds of considerations you are already aware of.

 

The original recipe didn't call for any sugar, but I found it to be a bit too tart without any added. YMMV.

[Ryrin]

2 hours ago, EirikDaude said:

 

I'm sure other sweeteners will work too, though I am not familiar with Splenda. It's worth noting that the apples will impart a fair amount of sugar to the applesauce too, but I guess these are the kinds of considerations you are already aware of.

 

The original recipe didn't call for any sugar, but I found it to be a bit too tart without any added. YMMV.

Splenda is an artificial sweetener. Stevia is another name. Maybe I could use just a bit or use very sweet apple like Fuji. 

[LadyWordsmith]

On 11/22/2023 at 10:45 PM, Ryrin said:

Splenda is an artificial sweetener. Stevia is another name. Maybe I could use just a bit or use very sweet apple like Fuji. 

You could probably use an artificial sweetener in applesauce without issue! I bet there are recipes online to recommend how much. I know both of these can be cooked safely into food.  (A point of clarification: the non-brand name for Splenda is sucralose. Stevia is natural and comes from a plant. I can have Splenda, but I can't have Stevia for medical reasons, so I make a point of not mixing them up! They put Stevia in a lot of pre-blended tea flavors these days which I find frustrating.)

I suspect the Stevia would go better with the flavor profile of the applesauce though. 🙂

I really enjoy unsweetened applesauce. I like the idea of just starting with a nicely balanced apple. (We got some fabulous McIntosh's at Sprouts that I used for our apple pie today and they were delightful. They're a favorite of mine but they almost never seem to have them at grocery stores in the center of the country.) 

[LilyElizabeth]

Thank you for that information, Lady. I am allergic to sucralose, so I now know not to use Splenda. The only artificial sweetener I have used so far is Aspertame and I have only bought products with that in it. I don't even know if I can buy it to use in baking. 

[Ryrin]

2 hours ago, LadyWordsmith said:

You could probably use an artificial sweetener in applesauce without issue! I bet there are recipes online to recommend how much. I know both of these can be cooked safely into food.  (A point of clarification: the non-brand name for Splenda is sucralose. Stevia is natural and comes from a plant. I can have Splenda, but I can't have Stevia for medical reasons, so I make a point of not mixing them up! They put Stevia in a lot of pre-blended tea flavors these days which I find frustrating.)

I suspect the Stevia would go better with the flavor profile of the applesauce though. 🙂

I really enjoy unsweetened applesauce. I like the idea of just starting with a nicely balanced apple. (We got some fabulous McIntosh's at Sprouts that I used for our apple pie today and they were delightful. They're a favorite of mine but they almost never seem to have them at grocery stores in the center of the country.) 

I made two batches of cranberry sauce last night and my husband said we had sugar and we only had two thirds of a cup, so I used an additional cup of Splenda and it came out great. I use orange zest, orange juice (all from my tree) and cinnamon in it. 

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

I cannot stand Stevia, not in the tiniest of measures. Which does not make a lot of sense, I mean it is just meant to be sweet. I use liquid cyclamate and saccharin (brand Natrena), can use it in anything and I don't taste anything but sweetness. 

[Ryrin]

I didn’t know so many people have problems with Stevia.

[LadyWordsmith]

It's amazing how many there are. 

At this point when I'm baking for other people I just ask everyone who will be coming what their sweetener preferences and what they can/can't have are because I know people who can't have regular sugar, but also plenty who can't have any number of the other alternatives for a wide variety of health reasons. (And a few who just can't stand the taste of some of the artificial alternatives, which is also valid). Then I alter recipes accordingly. (Aspartame actually causes near-homicidal rage as their body's reaction for one friend's mother. Medically verified. She's forbidden from touching it by her whole family). So far I think I haven't yet met someone who can't have honey (but I'm sure there are people who can't). 

I can have most of them, (Stevia's the weird one out which is a shame since it tastes better than most of the others to me), so I just figure if I'm cooking for people I want them to be able to eat and enjoy it. 🙂 It's not hard to swap them out. 

[Ryrin]

1 hour ago, LadyWordsmith said:

It's amazing how many there are. 

At this point when I'm baking for other people I just ask everyone who will be coming what their sweetener preferences and what they can/can't have are because I know people who can't have regular sugar, but also plenty who can't have any number of the other alternatives for a wide variety of health reasons. (And a few who just can't stand the taste of some of the artificial alternatives, which is also valid). Then I alter recipes accordingly. (Aspartame actually causes near-homicidal rage as their body's reaction for one friend's mother. Medically verified. She's forbidden from touching it by her whole family). So far I think I haven't yet met someone who can't have honey (but I'm sure there are people who can't). 

I can have most of them, (Stevia's the weird one out which is a shame since it tastes better than most of the others to me), so I just figure if I'm cooking for people I want them to be able to eat and enjoy it. 🙂 It's not hard to swap them out. 

That’s a really good idea to check with people. I avoid honey as well. I love it but diabetes.

 

Do you like any of the zero sodas? Coke Zero, Pepsi Zero? I love Squirt Zero. 

[LilyElizabeth]

There is a Squirt Zero????

 

I mostly drink Dr. Pepper Zero

[LadyWordsmith]

I like Dr. Pepper Zero (it's much tastier than the original Diet DP, and comes in four flavors), and the Caffeine Free Coke Zero is, so far, the tastiest Coke. I'm not a huge fan of Coke (for a small number of years pre-Covid they had Splenda Coke, and that was tastier than aspartame coke. But it seems to have disappeared completely along with many varieties of things that didn't survive those years).   

I liked the diet Pepsi products better for the couple of years where they had swapped from aspartame to Splenda, but apparently those didn't sell as well because they went back a few years ago. The mango and cherry diet flavors are still pretty good, though not my favorites. 

Most of what I drink though is tea. lol 

[Ryrin]

We’ve been busy with Hanukkah. We finished with a party. Good times!