Viking fantasy day in the woods, and a recipe!

Every spring in the middle of May we have developed our own lovely tradition! The 17th of May which is the Norwegian Constitution day, is a day of big celebration all over Norway. Literally everyone takes part in parades, dressing up in their national costumes and have a great time together. It is a day of pride where people celebrate everything Norwegian, and people are happy, allthough taking it all quite seriously

Usually people flock to the city, but a few simply prefer to celebrate out in nature. In my experience it is a wonderful day to get the nature and the mountains mostly all to yourself, because on this day most people are simply elsewhere. It is a grand occasion to dress up in pretty medieval dresses or whatever your heart desires, and nobody would find you too weird for doing so, because wearing pretty old-fashioned garments is what people do on this day. You should never miss a chance to dress up, right?

We usually go for a hike, and also foraging, just alone or together with some friends. That previous year we went to this beautiful forest by the fjord with our friend Marina. I dressed up in a medieval/fantasy-ish style while she wore her viking garment. And we made sure to wear some flowers in our hair.

Afterwards we had a picnic, eating delicious healthy sweet potato brownies with dandelions. I’ll add the recipe at the bottom, it is my go-to-cake because all the ingredients works so well with my body.

Here are some earlier posts I made about 17th of May:

Celebrating our Norwegian Heritage out in nature
Våren som var
En nasjonaldag blant fjorder og fjell

We did some foraging as well, gathering a supply of wild garlic/ramsons. This flower below (primula) is also edible!

At this time of the year, me and my partner are celebrating the time when we first met. This May we have been together for 14 years! Isn’t that amazing and wonderful? He is magnificent and splendid and endlessly fascinating! Love him so so much!

Dandelion Sweet Potato Brownies

Sweet potatoes are perfect to make healthy vegan desserts. I’ve used this recipe regularly the last years and I prefer it to all other chocolate cakes.

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes (700 g)
• 1-2 cups of dandelion petals
• Almonds (100 g)
• 1 cup oats (100 g)
• 12 tbsp cocoa powder
• 10 dates
• Stevia to taste
• A pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Forage dandelions and gather the petals, just drag them out of the green stem all at once.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes, chop them and steam or boil them until soft (about 25 minutes).
3. Preheat the oven to 355ºF or 180ºC.
4. When the sweet potatoes are cool, place the almonds in a food processor and blend them to make almond flour.
5. Add the oats and blend again.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend one more time.
7. Place the batter into a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on the oven you’re using. Then let it cool down.
8. Make some glaze of your choice, mine is based on butter (vegan if you wish), cacao and natural sweetener (xylitol or erythritol flour sugar) mixed with stevia.
9. Decorate with edible flowers and leaves from nature or the garden.
10. Enjoy!

Happy 17th of May everyone! 😀

How do you celebrate your country’s national day?