September 1, 2021 marked the 12-year anniversary of Outside Oslo. I began this Scandinavian food blog in 2009, and it has been a joy to share recipes, stories, and love of Scandinavia with you over the years. It is now time to retire the blog and focus on new ways to continue spreading the love of Scandinavian food and heritage. While I enjoyed blogging, I REALLY came to love the connection and community that I made with my readers. Being a “content creator” doesn’t fill my cup anymore–getting to know many of you does. So here’s a taste of what’s coming up this fall: Outsi ..read more

For so many of us who embrace our Scandinavian roots, the celebration foods of the holidays are the ones we associate with our heritage. I’ve written plenty here over the years about the lefse, waffles, krumkaker, and sandbakkels that I learned to make from my grandmother, for example. But the daily dinners, the weeknight feasts are just as important as the treats we serve on special occasions. And that’s where this Norwegian plukkfisk comes in. Norwegian plukkfisk is basically pieces of cooked cod folded into a mount of creamy mashed potatoes and garnished with crispy bacon. You’ll often find ..read more

It’s hard to believe it, but my Modern Scandinavian Baking cookbook is now a year old! My debut cookbook was released on April 14, 2020, just weeks into the pandemic lockdowns. I wrote Modern Scandinavian Baking (afflink) for you, as a way to help you share the warmth and hospitality of Scandinavian baking culture with the people in your life. As it turns out, we all needed a little extra hygge this past year as we quarantined, sheltered in place, or social-distanced. The 60+ recipes in the book reflect the essence of Scandinavian baking–a ..read more

Does this describe you? Do you yearn to know more about the traditions of your heritage and how to incorporate them into your home? Do you want to bake and cook more traditional Scandinavian foods for each season and holiday? Are you stuck trying to figure out practical, accessible, and fun ways to share your heritage with your family and friends? Do you wish you had the skills and resources to tell your family’s history (and your own story!)? Would you like to go beyond the surface-level trends of hygge, fika, and other Scandi ideals and learn to really incorpor ..read more

Now that spring is here, it’s time to lighten up our cooking, and these Scandinavian Fish Cakes with Remoulade are a perfect recipe for this time of the year. I first shared the recipe in my my cookbook The Pescatarian Cookbook for Beginners: 75 Recipes to Kick-Start Your Healthy Lifestyle, which came out last summer. As I wrote in the book, “When cod is as plentiful as it is in Scandinavia, a number of preparations emerge from the regional cuisine. Fish cakes are among my favorite. Not altogether different from crab cakes–but generally less pricey–these salty little patties make a fine ..read more

If you’d like to add a good dose of Scandinavian lightness to your spring recipes, food is a great way to begin. After all, food has a way of connecting people, and togetherness is a big part of that Scandinavian way of life. Whether you enjoy baking or simply want some ideas for switching up the dinner rotation, here is a collection of Scandinavian recipes for spring. Appetizers & Snacks Creamy Shrimp and Dill on Cucumber Slices (Skagenröra) Broiled Mussels with Dill Butter Norwegian Cardamom Buns (Boller) Finnish Spinach Pancakes with Lingonberries Salads Classic Cucumber and Dil ..read more

I invite you to sit with me for a while, heart to heart. This has been a challenging year, hasn’t it? No one has been immune to the uncertainty, heartache, and grief of the COVID-19 pandemic. And now, as we approach Christmas, many of those feelings are intensified by knowing that the holiday will look much different than Christmases past. However, I still believe that this can be a Christmas worth remembering–a heartfelt holiday–and I’d love for you to join me! I’ve created a FREE guided journal that will help you to create a holiday that’s worth remembering, even if it looks much different t ..read more

As we prepare for the upcoming holiday season, I’m thinking about all the buttery cookies, aromatic spiced breads, and Norwegian celebration meals I want to make. But the truth behind my work as a food writer and author is that there are many meals between the sweet treats you see on my blog, Instagram, and in my . And despite all the sweets I post, I’m making a point to prioritize eating foods that make my body feel its best. The recipe I’m sharing today is one of those that fuels the body with a medley of raw produce yet tastes irresistible as well, thanks to the creamy dressing, a touch of ..read more

I took my kids to the local Scandinavian bakery the other day for an after-school treat. As we peeked in–making sure we weren’t exceeding the number of customers allowed into the shop at a time due to the pandemic–I thought ahead to the upcoming Christmas season. In a regular November and December, this particular bakery bustles with shoppers who crowd in for Norwegian julekake, Danish kringle, pies, and any number of other festive treats. It was hard to imagine how they might handle the upcoming season. It was good, however, to hear the man who helped me at the counter sound confident about t ..read more

Note: This is the first in a series of reader recipes I’ll be sharing in the weeks and months to come. Thanks to Lauren Carlson of Scandilø Baked Goods for sharing the following guest post! Do YOU have a beloved family recipe that connects you to your heritage or brings you back to sweet memories from your past? Click here to share YOUR family recipe–you might just see it featured on Outside Oslo! By Lauren Carlson Geneva, NY Growing up in North Dakota, I was surrounded by a lot of Norwegian and Norwegian-Americans. With that comes a lot of tempting Nordic goodies. There are a lot of talented ..read more