Lefse Ladies

Lefse Recipe

Lefse is a traditional
Norwegian flat bread
made with flour, lard
(or butter/
margarine),and
potatoes.

Lots of them.













Necessary utensils for making lefse include
 a rolling pin, a turning stick, and a hot griddle.



Lefse is especially popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas,
and several members of a family often gather to make it together.




Recently, ten ladies gathered at Our Savior's Lutheran one Saturday morning to make Lefse--some with experience, some not.  Having boiled, mashed and added flour, butter and a little salt to over forty pounds of potatoes on the Friday before, they put on their aprons and pulled the cold potato mixture from the refrigerator.

Do your work with enthusiasm.  

Work as if you were serving the Lord,

not as if you were serving only men and women.

Ephesians 6: 7 

Donning plastic mitts,
we rolled the conglomeration
into balls--









 --resembling snowballs--
good ammunition for a food fight?

Using a rolling pin, others took the balls,
flattened them somewhat and
rolled each out as you might a pie crust.
Nice and thin--
but not too thin
so as to fall apart
before reaching the griddle.

Using a sword-like stick, the rolled-out dough
was transferred to the hot griddle.  After
being lightly browned on one side, the
stick was used again to flip the lefse
to its other side to be lightly browned.

With the large kitchen filled
with the smell of browned potatoes,
the windows were opened on this
November day with the neighbors
(if they were Norwegian)
knowing what was going on
inside the church kitchen.

Taking a break mid-way through
 lefse making, they enjoyed hot
cider and coffee
and the "whoops" lefse.








Some of the botched pieces were spread
with butter and then sugar, rolled, and
served.




We passed it around with smiles on our faces,
our taste buds delighted.

With the finished product carefully packed and stored in a secure freezer, the Our Savior's Lutheran Ladies' Lefse will be retrieved for their annual Advent Luncheon and bake sale in December.

Whenever I taste Lefse, again, 

memories of a warm kitchen, 

the smell of browned potatoes, 

and a feeling of

  community
will fill me.

"All the believers devoted themselves to the 
apostle's teaching, and to fellowship, 
and to sharing in meals . . .  and to prayer."  Acts 2:42

Dear Lord, the Christian life can be a wonderful adventure.  Whether making lefse, decorating for the holidays, 
donating food for others less fortunate, or caroling
this season, let me be an enthusiastic participant.  
And, then, give You the glory.
   Amen.