Tuesday Catchup

I’m a fiddler. No, I don’t play a fiddle or violin. For which, you all should be happy about…trust me. I have zero musical talent, although I do sing in the shower. No, what I’m talking about is fiddling with my manuscript. I can check a manuscript off as polished to a high gloss, and two days later I open it back up and start messing with sentences. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing for the last week. One of these days I’ll have to pluck the strings and send it off to my editor.  Om *inhale* Om.

I’m almost done with Christmas shopping. That’s early for me. Usually, I’m scrambling store to store on the 23rd of December. I find it weird, delightful, and ironic, that when I’m shopping for others it is also the best time to find things I would love for myself. The holiday is all about giving, not receiving, blah, blah, blah. But, sometimes a little shiny is good for the soul. It’s only right that I reward myself for doing such a bang up job of buying for others. At least that’s what I told myself, when I spied this…

I’m happy to say that over on my Facebook page, Brandi gave me the best suggestion. She said I should wrap it up and put a tag on it that says, “To Deb --- From one of our dogs.” That way when I open my present, I I can hug and love on the dog for giving me such a wonderful present. I think this will work much better than simply claiming hubs bought it for me. *glances around* More believable too! lol

Do you buy yourself gifts? How do you handle it?

 

Time for a recipe. This is a repeat from last year, but it deserves another show. Lefse is a huge part of our family tradition, and December wouldn’t be the same without making a ton of it.

 

Lefse!

First off, lefse is a Norwegian flatbread. Hub’s family calls it lefse, but my Granny called it Potacocca. From what I understand, and I could be wrong, it depends on whether you are from North or South Norway on what you call it…but it is the same thing. Here is a picture of lefse on Wiki, and its origins.

It is very simple to make.

• 10 pounds potatoes, peeled
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Drain. Place into a large bowl. Beat butter, milk, salt, and sugar into the hot potatoes. Let cool to room temperature. (Did you notice how you just made mashed potatoes with a tablespoon of sugar? lol Told ya it was easy)

Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into big walnut size balls. Lightly flour (don’t worry about how much flour you use. You don’t want the dough sticky, so make sure you add more than the recipe calls for) cutting board and roll out lefse balls to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cook on a hot (400 degree F) griddle until bubbles form and each side has browned. Do not use oil!

Once they are cool, you can stack them, and put them in a big plastic bag in quantities your family will use and stored in the freezer for long periods. If you’re going to eat them in a week, keep them in the refrigerator.

This is actually a small recipe, and I have a large family, plus I like to freeze a lot for later. I make anywhere from 60-80 lbs of potatoes…it’s a good half a day job, but the family really likes it. lol

To eat: Spread butter, brown sugar on Lefse. Roll it up and eat.

Optional filling: cinnamon/sugar, jam and butter. or dip in syrup.