Lefse, Lefse, Lefse

Hmmmm.... the Holidays just wouldn't be the same without the smell of lefse freshly off the griddle. Thankfully, for my bridal showers, I received almost everything needed to make it ourselves!

I grew up with eating it at every Thanksgiving and Christmas - regardless of which side of that family we were with. Eventually, Mom and Dad started making it at home instead of leaving it to the older generation or the host for that year. I remember sitting around, watching Mom mix it up and roll it out while Dad took over the flipping duties. Eventually, I started doing my part by jumping in whenever one of them needed a break. The taste of warm, homemade lefse beats any holiday cookie or sweet. *Sigh*

Well, I've been blessed with a husband who also appreciates the Norwegian tradition of mashing up potatoes, adding some evaporated milk, butter and flour, rolling it out and cooking it. He grew up with the church ladies making it. We've also made it at his parents' house while being snowed in a few Christmases ago. (It helps he's almost mostly Norwegian too...)

Now we live 900 miles away from our families and it's time to start continuing the tradition. We made our first batch last weekend, and surprisingly it tastes really good - definitely not Grandma good - but definitely Mom/Dad good :D I was so proud of us! Of course, we battled the usual stickiness and the worries about if the griddle was too hot or not hot enough, etc... but YUM!

Our next door neighbor is mostly German, so she had never heard of lefse! If you've ever tried to explain what lefse is to a non-Scandinavian, you can imagine her confusion after we tried explaining it. For about a week before we made it, Grizz and I would say something about what we needed to buy for it or we'd try to explain one of the processes, so it was only fitting that she be a part of our first Montana-lefse experience to help her understand the whole lefse making process. After watching us roll out a few pieces, she jumped right in! She approved :) It may be a no-no, but in exchange of teaching her part of our heritage, we've agreed to use our griddle to make crepes sometime...