Unfussy: Hernekeitto

Made pea soup for dinner. Erik was not pleased. "But, I hate peas. I have always, always hated peas." True enough. I might have told him that herne are "special Finnish peas" and this is my favorite soup. So, he (very reluctantly) tried it. And, as often happens, he was pleasantly surprised. Thumbs up from Erik (even with his post-soccer hair).

And, Mads had a second bowlful, so she's a thumbs up there too.

Baking With Grammy

Making pulla with Grammy is always a good time...

from the kid-sized rolling pin,

to cutting out "Pulla Men" shapes,

to adding golden raisin buttons, eyes, noses and mouths.

Spring Preview...

"Spears" - AKA asparagus... Erik actually ate two spears of this. Victory!! He also inhaled two bowls of "Grumbly Bean Soup" this week. He like edamame (or Grumbly Beans) so that's what I called the Split Pea Soup I made on Tuesday. It has no edamame in it, but he doesn't know that. He LOVED it. Sweet. He also isn't aware that I discovered a sneaky cauliflower recipe in one of the Moosewood cookbooks today at the library, which I'll be making next week. Bwahahahaha!!
We ate the Grumbly Bean Soup (or Hernesoppa in Finnish) on Laskiaistiistai (Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday) along with Shrove Buns. These tasty treats are called Laskiaispullat in Finland and are cardamom sweet rolls (similar to Challah) sliced in half and filled with almond paste (or raspberry jam) and sweetened whipped cream. In turns out that Erik adores almond paste, and there is zero problem getting him to eat that.

Beautiful Cake

We went out for sushi for Vesa's birthday, and ended the meal with a Finnish fruit and cream cake that I made this afternoon. Since the kids were napping when I made it, and I'd promised M she could help, I took some photos to show her that I had put in the strawberries, blueberries, and mangoes that I'd promised. Luckily, she woke up right when I was finishing up the final touches — "Wow, Mama, that cake is looking so beautiful!"

The sponge cake is the best recipe I've used, from the Finnish Cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas:

Cake Layers for Finnish Birthday (or other Celebration) Cake

4 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour, sifted with
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375-degrees F. Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans. Beat eggs until light and fluffy, add sugar gradually while beating until thick and creamy. Sift flour into bowl with other dry ingredients and fold carefully until incorporated. Pour batter into prepped pans and bake for about 30 mins. Cool on rack, then cut each layer in half. "Moisten" layers with juice from macerated, sliced fruit (like strawberries) or vanilla custard (Bird's works great), and layer with fruit, 1 pint whipped organic cream (stiff, add 2 Tbs. pwd. sugar per cup of cream, 1 tsp. vanilla per cup and 1 tsp. cream of tartar. And, to "set up" cream well you can add 1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin to cream too).

Bunny Bread

Bunny-shaped Pulla (an Easter-time tradition for us) with orange zest, cinnamon and cardamom added to the dough, and we added a vanilla glaze to the bunnies this year too... it's actually a recipe for Finnish Nisu bread, which is basically the same thing as Pulla, Nisu is just an older word for it (and this recipe ices the sweet bread too).

Madeline is loving playing with dough, and she did agree that it tastes better baked.