We are wrapping up the month of June with a light meal plan. The kids are off school. The weather sucks – it’s warm, rains a lot, but hopefully, improving in time for the 4th of July.
We’ve recovered from our rafting adventures and looking forward to a week with the family before the girls start Girl Scout summer day camp and our son starts his extended school year. The 4th of July is the last weekend before the summer adventures kick-off.
Since moving to the US and becoming US citizens, we have integrated with the US culture and traditions and aim to maintain our traditions. But our hearts are still with our roots, and I want to make sure that my kids experience Danish Christmas, Midsummer celebrations, and other important events so they can observe their cultural background.
As such, and because it is June, we want to celebrate a Scandinavian mid-summer tradition.
A Pagan Evening
Many countries celebrate the solstice or mid-summer with a wide range of events. Historically, many of these celebrations are rooted in the old Pagan rituals, and some have been hijacked (changed) since Christianity came along.
In Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, we celebrate Skt. Hans. It started as a mid-summer celebration with half-naked people dancing around a large bonfire while humming some strange incantations to the summer Gods.
Over time, Christianity changed the mid-summer event to celebrate St. John’s Feast while maintaining the desire for fire. It was named Skt. Hans, which happens to be the Nordic version of St. John.
Somewhere along the history line, the Danes added a witch doll to the fire and aimed the witch toward Germany. It symbolized defiance and utter dismay at the German aggression during the dark middle ages, where we would send the witch back to Germany.
In more modern times, there’s less focus on the religious or Pagan aspects of the Skt. Hans event, and more around getting together with family and friends.
We meet late afternoon to enjoy simple food, alcohol, a large bonfire, and popular national songs like “Vi Elsker Vort Land,” “Der er et yndigt land,” of mange andre excellent songs.
To share this tradition with our friends in the US, we invited the knuckleheads and their families over for some simple burgers, hot dogs, queso, salads, and delicious desserts.
Skt. Hans is a perfect event for the knuckleheads – fire, meat, beer, and music.
Approx 30 people (adults and kids) showed up at our house around 6 pm, and we quickly dug into the food, found nice spots around the fire pit, and laughter flowed for many hours.
You know you have a good party when nobody is scrolling through social media on their phones or constantly snapping pictures. I have no pictures from the event, but I chatted with our friends while the kids ran wild in the garden.
We did not burn a witch on the fire, mainly because the weather forecast was heavy rain, but also because we are too far from Germany.
Meatballs, Chicken, and Smash Burgers
The most exciting meal I’m cooking this week is the smash burger tacos. While it is a 15-20 min start to finish dinner, it is very flavor full and delicious. And you can create many variations of this take on the smash burger. You only need a few ingredients: tacos, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and a sauce of your choice.
I fired up the Blackstone griddle and made a full meal for the family in less than 20 minutes.
For the other meals, we enjoy a meatball stew and pesto chicken.
The kids will have to learn how to make lunch this week since they have no school or camp. I bought some bread, cheese, and meat from the deli. No excuses.
Lunch & Dinner
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Summer Break – DIY Lunches | Smash Burger Tacos on the Blackstone Griddle |
| Tuesday | Summer Break – DIY Lunches | Meatball Stew |
| Wednesday | Summer Break – DIY Lunches | Pesto Chicken with stuffed pasta |
| Thursday | Summer Break – DIY Lunches | Fridge + Freezer Raid – eating left-overs |
| Friday | Summer Break – DIY Lunches | End-of-the-week BBQ – warming up to the 4th of July BBQ season |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
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The Viking Heart Within 