A Peek into the Pantry on the American Girls Podcast!

Listen to us in the kitchen where the blog first got started!

As many of you probably know by now, Jess, Kirsten and I got to do something very special a few months ago, and I'm so excited to finally get a chance to share it all with you guys! 

Kirsten's Vinegar Lemonade

A trail recipe that should probably stay that way...

Some recipes have genuinely made me wonder am I a little crazy, a glutton for punishment, or both. This time, I'm pretty sure it's both. 

Maybe it was leftover confidence from how well my vinegar pie came out three years ago or just my ongoing commitment to trying out bizarre historical recipes, but I'm going to say this right up front: unless you're a settler making your way to Oregon in 1847, I wouldn't recommend trying this one at home.

Kirsten's Homemade Butter

Bringing a taste of frontier life into your own kitchen!

For my next step in my quest to eventually, at some point, make every single recipe in the official American Girl Cook Books and Cooking Studios (at least the historical ones, anyway), I decided to try something out that had caught my eye in Kirsten's cookbook a long, long time ago: homemade butter. It's something we totally take for granted as something we can just go to the store and buy, so seeing it featured in a cookbook is sort of an unusual thing, and it's something I can safely say I've never done before, so I've been eager to give it a shot for a long time. 

Originally, I had planned on it being a good way to kick off the new year, as it only requires one ingredient and equipment I've already got in my kitchen, but then life got in the way in the form of a very delayed flight back home from the holidays, and so I've been fighting burn out pretty hard this month and hoping to get back into the swing of things. Last weekend, I finally buckled up to get my taste of the pioneer life and see just how easy it is to make butter in a jar.

Kirsten Tries Some Swedish Treats

Coming straight from Stockholm… a few months late.

If you guessed Kirsten was the old friend I’d hinted at in my last post, you’re correct! 

My dad does a lot of traveling for work, both nationally and internationally. It was always a bummer when he’d be gone for a long time, but he always brought us home cool treats from wherever he went, which is why I now have an unhealthy attachment to various British candy bars. 

Now that they’re empty nesters, my mom sometimes gets to tag along with him on trips, and last year, they got to visit Stockholm, Sweden. My mom sent some Swedish treats for me to try, and I thought it might be fun to share them with you!

Kirsten's Vinegar Pie

Don't be scared off by the name: this is a pretty cool pie!

Sometimes, I go into making historical recipes sort of the way you'd go into a science experiment. After all, that's what baking is at the end of the day, right? Chemistry!

This is definitely something I decided to make more out of curiosity than genuine enthusiasm for the finished product. I mean, the name certainly isn't very appealing, is it? When I mentioned what I'd be making to my mom, she looked at my like I was insane. But as it turns out, this is actually an old family favorite of one of the most beloved authors in American history, and it's certainly something I could see Kirsten and her family giving it a try when they heard how easy and inexpensive it is!

It's also super versatile. What other recipe can you flavor with just about anything to meet the needs of any function?

Also today happens to be Kirsten's birthday! Didn't even realize that when I originally scheduled this post. Talk about a fun coincidence!

Kirsten's Swedish Rice Porridge

Which might sound a little unusual, but is actually quite good!

Comfort food hits the spot any time of year, but warm porridge has been a winter favorite since we learned how to cook with fire. I've recently rediscovered the joys of oatmeal, but I'll fully admit, I'd never heard of someone making rice porridge for breakfast before. Cream of wheat, grits, sure, but not something that basically sounded kind of like a warm rice pudding.

Not that I've ever actually eaten a lot of rice pudding before.

Still, with the good luck I've been having recently with authentic American Girl recipes, I was hoping this would be a stress free, fun way to spend a snow day. A couple speedbumps later, and I'm ready to share the results with you! 

Kirsten's Swedish Pancakes

Not your average pancake!

Almost every culture has some version of a pancake, whether they be soft and puffy, or thin and eggy. They're a perfect vessel for almost anything, from jelly to meat to cheese to savory spreads, and everything else in between, which means you can enjoy them almost any time of day or night!

Swedish pancakes - or pannkakor - are yet another dish with a slightly obscure history. Although they or similar dishes have probably been enjoyed by Swedish families since ancient times, the first reference to them in text comes from the 1500's, and as it isn't a recipe, we aren't too sure what kind of pancake this was, exactly.

The ones featured in Kirsten's Cook Book are fried, and usually eaten on Tuesdays for dessert after a dinner of pea soup. Originally, frying the pancakes was a tricky business because before wood stoves, doing this over an open fire meant you were at a pretty a high risk of burning yourself! Once you were less likely to give yourself third degree burns making dessert, the dish got more and more popular, and probably would have been something the Larsons brought with them to America to remind them of home.

Kirsten's Prairie Teacakes

Tiny lemon cakes with a citrus glaze? Yes, please.

As many of my followers know and as many of you likely have guessed even if you haven't checked out my FAQ page, I have been into American Girl since I was pretty small, and Kirsten was my first doll. While I know this is something nostalgia addicts like to claim without really meaning it, I can genuinely point to this toy line and Scholastic's Dear America book series (and their spinoffs) as the reason I'm so interested in history, and American history in particular, which has had its ups and downs. I often joke it's too bad Pleasant Company didn't make science themed dolls and stories, because I was really into biology as a kid, and that... has kind of died off. And might have opened doors to more lucrative professions!

But I really don't have many regrets. I'm proud I got my BA in what I did, and if nothing else, I have a lot of good cocktail party stories, so long as I remember to tone down on some of the more upsetting topics I've become passionate about raising awareness of.

What does all this have to do with cake, Gwen? I'm getting there!

This post today is intended as kind of an homage to my enthusiasm for American Girl, which really kind of is responsible for where I am today, and a throwback to my ninth birthday party, which happened about fifteen years ago this month. Growing up, I was lucky to have a mom who went a little over the top creativity wise for birthday parties, and this recipe is the slightly more complicated version of what she and my grandmother put together for my birthday, with a little help from a book I've talked about here before.

Kirsten's Pepparkakor

Rediscovering an old favorite!

There is a debate going on in my house about this recipe: my mother swears we've made this exact one before, as in the recipe that's printed in Kirsten's Cook Book. She says when I was in kindergarten, she made these cookies for my class during our curriculum about different cultures and cultural practices around the world because my teacher was Swedish, and because of Kirsten, I was kind of representing Sweden. I'm virtually certain that we've only owned a copy of Kirsten's Cook Book since last year, considering I don't remember any of the recipes or pictures inside of it from my childhood and we definitely do not have another copy of it floating around the house. Even if we did at one point, why would we have ever gotten rid of it?

Either way, despite not being Swedish, we have known of pepparkakor for quite a long time, and as a fan of spiced cookies and cakes, I've been eager to break out the recipe for this blog for a while. I've had a couple near misses and actual flops with official American Girl recipes before, but I think I can pretty safely say this one is a winner. It makes quite a lot of cookies even if you're using a big cookie cutter, it's a straight forward recipe, and the end product just tastes good.

Kirsten's Honey Cake & the Daisy Chain Blog Award

A tasty historic cake that (technically) has no sugar!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! And happy birthday to Captain America, while we're at it. My family usually has a cookout on Fourth of July, but since we're kind of caught up in the middle of a hurricane, we were stuck indoors all day. That worked out just fine for me, because my favorite Fourth of July tradition is marathoning Jaws and Captain America: The First Avenger. First Avenger is obvious, but people do ask me why Jaws quite a bit. The answer is simple: Jaws takes place leading up to, during and after Fourth of July weekend!

Anyway, I'm sure Kirsten doesn't seem like the obvious choice for a Fourth of July post. What about Felicity or Molly, right? Well, Kirsten Saves the Day is one of the only American Girl books that takes place on Fourth of July, and I thought it would be a fun challenge to find a recipe that used honey as one of the main ingredients because Kirsten finding honey is one of the major plots of the book. Honey was a luxury item that could be traded and sold for a lot of fun stuff, as well as a good alternative to expensive products like sugar. It did take a little bit of digging to find something featuring honey that Kirsten would have eaten, but I think what we came up with was pretty great.

Now, before we get started with the recipe, Rhonda from Living a Doll's Life nominated me for the Daisy Chain Blog Award! I'm going to take a moment at the beginning to answer her questions, and then get right to the recipe.

Kirsten's Hassleback Potatoes

A quick way to really spice up a potato!

I have been sitting on this port for an embarrassingly long time. I actually made this neat Swedish side dish about two months ago, but every time I sit down to try and put my thoughts on paper (or on the computer, as it were), I just didn't feel like it. Don't get me wrong, these were a tasty side dish I definitely wouldn't mind making again, but the magic was kind of missing, here.

Admittedly, that might have to do with the fact that our microwave broke in the middle of making it - don't worry, it's since been replaced - so the final touch was sort of missing from this particular culinary adventure. For all this and more, keep reading!

Kirsten's Beer Cheese Soup

Just the thing for a cold wintery day.

I actually made and documented two different recipes yesterday, but decided to split them up because the theme didn't exactly go together. While the apple pudding really hit the spot because it wasn't a typical dessert for a cold wintery day, this recipe definitely is something you want to bring out when you're snowed in and layering up even with the heat on, and considering what we got hit with today, it turned out waiting a day to post this one probably wasn't a bad idea!

I'm also excited to point out that this is the fiftieth recipe I've featured since starting this blog. I have to admit, it's kind of crazy to realize that it's already been fifty recipes and almost six months since I started A Peek Into the Pantry, because it still feels like I just came up with the idea and got everything started just last week. I really appreciate all the feedback and support I've gotten from people in that time, and hope you guys will stick around for another fifty posts over the next several months!

Josefina and Kirsten make Steak Sandwiches with Brie

A super fast way to spice up lunchtime!

Sometimes I'll come across a recipe or be told I should try something out that doesn't really fit any of the AG characters I've got at my disposal unless I really stretch the connection. I'm definitely not above doing that - I have, for example, considered letting Rebecca host some Italian or German recipes because Rebecca represents the time period, if not the culture of when some of my relatives came to the United States - and of course I've always got Kailey to host anything that just flat out doesn't make sense for a historical character to be the host of. Really, this sandwich probably should have been given to Kailey, because there's nothing much about it that says Kirsten or Josefina, and it's not like they're from similar cultures or parts of the world.

But there is a reason I picked these specific characters to be the hosts here, and that reason is...

Kirsten's Baked Potato Soup

Super filling, super tasty soup you will definitely want seconds of!

It's been snowing almost all day, and the temperature has started to drop back down to that zone where I don't even want to walk outside to get the mail, let alone do anything but stay snug and warm at home. There's talk of canceling school tomorrow, and I'm sure the roads are going to be a pain to travel on for a day or two depending on how long the weather keeps up, so I'm not exactly looking forward to venturing out until my little car is going to be able to actually handle whatever's out there. Of course, you still have to feed yourself on days like today, and I had just the recipe to try for a day when it's cold and wet outside.

Now, I'm going to say right off the bat that this is far from the healthiest thing I've ever featured on this blog, but I'm firmly of the mind that as long as you're not planning on eating like this every single day, it's more than alright to treat yourself and this is definitely worth giving a shot. Don't let the high calorie count totally freak you out!

Kirsten's St. Lucia Buns

A tasty breakfast snack!

As I mentioned in an older post, although I'm not Swedish, St. Lucia Day is something that thanks to Kirsten and American Girl has been a part of my life from the time I was very small. Picking a recipe to feature for Kirsten was incredibly easy, and it's been one of the ones I've been most looking forward to doing. According to my mom, I've actually had Lucia buns before thanks to my kindergarten teacher (who was apparently the one to suggest that I represent Sweden during our children around the world concert), but I can't remember eating them, so I was definitely excited to see how these would taste.

The recipe comes from Kirsten's Cookbook and is the first one I've ever tried to make from it. Historically speaking, I'm not a huge fan of Swedish food - I remember being horribly disappointed by Swedish meatballs at a historic farm in Massachusetts that was hosting a Kirsten themed event - but I'm always willing to try new things in the name of the blog, so expect to see us working our way through the rest of the recipes listed in here sometime in the future!

Kirsten's Fall Spiced Apple Oatmeal

Be careful not to burn yourself!

You know those days where after everything slows down, you sort of just feel like you've been hit by a truck? I have had one of those days. Equal parts stressful and fun (okay... a lot more fun than stressful, but still busy!), I was ready to kick back and take it easy instead of coming up with something complicated for dinner.

So, while this is definitely a breakfast dish, it might have been my dinner tonight.

And by "might have", I mean it definitely was. No regrets.

Kirsten's Fried Pork Chops with Gravy, Biscuits and Root Vegetables

Scene stealing gravy and biscuits!

I've mentioned before here that I am absolutely not a fan of frying things. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat fried things! But hot oil and I have not been friends in the past, and it wasn't exactly something I was excited to try again after my last attempt ended in a smoky house and burns on my hands.

But as I've said time and time again on this blog, I'm trying to get more confident in the kitchen, and that requires doing some things I never thought I'd want to do again. So, without further ado, here's our latest pioneer themed post.

Kirsten's One-Pan Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

The perfect thing for a campfire, or a cold, rainy Labor Day cook "out"

When it came time to pick the first recipe for the blog, I thought it was only fair to let Kirsten go first. I've had her the longest, and warm, comforting pioneer food seemed like a good idea for a cold, rainy Labor Day. Since we were also having people over for a cook out, it seemed like a good idea to find something that would make enough for a lot of people.