Frozen Themed Dinner

The cold, dark winter days of January are here, so I decided to brighten things up with a Frozen Themed Dinner!  What better movie to enjoy while the average temp outside is 10 below zero?  And coincidentally, we found ourselves in the middle of a winter storm the day of our dinner party.  The cold may never bother Elsa, but it sure is affecting me!

The menu I created for our Frozen Themed Dinner was influenced by some fun food references in the film.  And because Frozen is set in Norway, I also took inspiration from traditional Norwegian cuisine.  Incorporating these Norwegian dishes on our menu was a great opportunity for us to learn about another culture while trying delicious new foods in the process!

Our region has a heavy Norwegian influence due to the large number of Norwegian immigrants who settled here in the 1870s.  We’ve been fortunate to grow up with traditional Norwegian cuisine in our own back yard!

To round out our Frozen Themed Dinner menu, I also took inspiration from the Norway Pavilion in EPCOT’s World Showcase.  It’s now the home of Elsa and Anna in Disney World, after all!  The pavilion’s bakery (Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe) is a popular stop in World Showcase to grab a quick snack.  On our last trip, we ordered the famous School Bread and LOVED it!  I challenged myself to see if I could recreate that magic in my own kitchen.

So, while the storm rages on outside, let me share our Frozen Themed Dinner worth melting for!

Wandering Oaken’s Lefse

To kick off our Frozen Themed Dinner, I decided to serve some traditional Norwegian lefse as an appetizer.  Lefse is a soft, thin flatbread typically made from potatoes.  It is very popular in our region, especially around the holidays.  People usually enjoy it with butter and sometimes sugar if preferred sweet.      

I briefly considered making our own lefse for our Frozen Themed Dinner.  But after studying the labor-intensive process and special equipment required, I cheated and grabbed a package from the store.  And (lucky for me) since the holidays are over, I managed to get it on sale.  Score!

EPCOT’s Kringla Bakeri serves lefse on their menu with butter, sugar, and cinnamon – so I decided to do the same.

Lefse is always a hit with the family, so there were many smiling faces for our appetizer course. 

Anna’s “We Finish Each Other’s (Smørbrød) Sandwiches”

The popular line, “We finish each other’s – sandwiches!” from Love Is an Open Door was the inspiration for our main entrée. 

After doing some research, I learned that Smørbrød is a traditional Norwegian open-faced sandwich.  Perfect for our Frozen Themed Dinner! 

This style of sandwich is typically served on buttered rye with a variety of toppings and garnishes such as meats, cheeses, veggies and fish.  To learn more about Smørbrød and find some recipes, head over to Ilona’s Passion!

For our Smørbrød sandwiches, I created the following combinations:

1. Buttered Rye, Roast Beef, Apple Horseradish, Pickles
2. Rye and Cream Cheese spread, Smoked Salmon, Lemon, Dill
3. Buttered Rye, Ham, Jarlsberg Cheese, Apple

Seeing as how salmon is very popular in Norway, I made sure to include it on one of our sandwiches.  I picked up some smoked lox from our local Nordic-Jewish deli which was delicious.  Trying this type of fish was a new experience for the kids, but they all enjoyed it!  My teenager even asked for seconds.

Sven’s Roasted Carrots

It was easy to pick a healthy side offering for our Frozen Themed Dinner menu – carrots!  Carrots are referenced several times throughout the film as they are Sven the reindeer’s favorite snack as well as Olaf the snowman’s nose.  As you can imagine, this caused some tension between the two characters. 

For our roasted carrots, I found this recipe for Honey Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots from Eatwell 101.  I wanted to leave the carrots whole with a bit of the stem to resemble the carrots in the film.  In the recipe, the author suggests quartering the carrots lengthwise before reaching the base, so the carrots cook evenly.  It worked like a charm! 

Not only was the presentation great, but the flavors were wonderful as well.  There were no issues getting the kids to eat their veggies today!

Arendelle’s Traditional Skolebrød (School Bread)

We know from watching Frozen that Anna and Elsa LOVE chocolate.  While that would have been a great dessert offering, I wanted to serve something more traditional to Norway.  I instantly thought of EPCOT’s Kringla Bakeri and the AMAZING School Bread we tried while Eating Around the World.  (Check out our guide to Eating Around World Showcase HERE!)

School Bread (Skolebrød) is a type of sweet cardamom roll with custard filling topped with icing and shredded coconut.  During the 1950s in Norway, they were commonly packed as desserts for school lunches, therefore earning the name “school bread”.

I found a recipe for Kringla Bakeri’s School Bread from on the Disney Food Blog and decided to put my novice baking skills to the test.  While the baking process was a little out of my comfort zone, I was very happy with how the School Bread turned out!  I asked my daughters if they measured up to the one we had in EPCOT and they gave their stamp of approval.

“Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

I’m very happy with how our Frozen Themed Dinner turned out.  Not only did we discover some delicious new recipes, but we also learned new things about Norwegian culture and cuisine.  Add in a beloved Disney movie and winter storm worthy of Elsa’s approval, and we found ourselves enjoying a pretty magical night.

 I just try to not think of all the shoveling that awaits tomorrow!

Do you have any favorite Norwegian dishes or recipes?  Tell us about them in the comments!

Looking for other Disney Themed Dinners?  Check out our Coco Themed Dinner HERE and our Princess and the Frog Dinner HERE!

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