This is my fourth year I am sharing the foods of the year. I have no idea how it started but it sure is interesting … at least for me – how things change or what doesn’t much. It is a different kind of journaling maybe. Some meals trigger memories and happy outings looking back at the photos.
A little note because you may wonder. I usually don’t eat in the morning. I even rarely have a cup of coffee these days as I still try the this intermittent fasting thing. So at times it is black coffee, sometimes tea and others just glass of water. Then I head into my office (I work from home most days) with a jug of tea. Around 1pm is usually the time I eat a breakfast/lunch.
Breakfast Options
Usually my breakfast is bread with cheese and some sort of (vegan) meat cuts. Mainly when the husband is in the home office (Mo & Fr) and when we have some bread left that needs to be eaten. If I am totally free in eating what I prefer it is often porridge with fruit. Here you see the blueberry version with coconut for summer. In winter I tend to do them with apples and cinnamon. Or I do a load of fruits, grains, nuts and greek yoghurt. Every once in a while it gets fancy and I serve myself some avocado bread with poached eggs, a grilled cheese sandwich or eggs sunny side up.
Dinner Options
Home cooked meals
Most days I cook. Do I like it? Not so much. It is more a chore than a time to relaxe and enjoy it to be honest. But at least the days I am on my own I can eat things the husband would not.
Top left is a simple but yummy dish – black salsify with mashed potatoes. You can buy them pre-cooked in a jar. I just put some butter in a pan, heat them and add salt and pepper. Black salsify is also called the asparagus of the poor.
On the right hand I tried some new dish. Since I can’t quite remember what is was – I think some cottage cheese tortilla version – it must have not been very good. Won’t do it again I think.
Can you see the red onions on my hot dog? These are some pickled onions I made for Easter and I loved them. The hot dog tastes amazing … I am not a huge fan but the husband loves them and they are quickly made – and I am sad I don’t have these pickled onions available at all times. I should make some more.
The bottom row shows some staples in our household and will be cooked on weekends mainly.
Left some sort of meat and potatoes and for me added asparagus. The middle is our vegan schnitzel with potatoes and pea and carrots. The gravy is an instant gravy though. I can’t for the life of it not do gravy. It’s a kitchen fear because it either tastes terrible or its lumpy. The right side is the regular fish fingers with mashed potatoes which usually are served with some cucumber salad but in this photo it’s carrots that need to be used. I rarely eat the fish fingers but have a piece of salmon.
And then another regular thing is pasta. This year I made the effort to try new pasta dishes since we cannot eat spaghetti with pesto every week.
Top left Käsespätzle “cheese spaetzle” with side salad. The middle shows a different kind of spaetzle with meat loaf. That was really tasty. The top right shows a typical migraine dish. Spaghetti with tuna, onions and here added some peppers so it’s fancy.
On the bottom left you see a pasta dish with peas I had never done before. It was only okays so won’t be showing up much in the future. The bottom right is also a staple specially when I want to serve dinner quickly tortellini with tomato basil sauce (store bough) or usually some sort of cream cheese/pesto sauce.
And the this summer there was the cool bloggers summer salad challenge. I had some really fun new to me salads. I won’t get into detail today since I had a big recap but I think one salad that really was outspending was the third row their age from the left – avocado grapefruit salad. I think I got the recipe from Julie… maybe it was Melissa. Either way it was amazing and I will definitely make next summer. The worst salad I had was right next to it on the right an brokkoli blueberry salad. Raw broccoli is just utterly disgusting and very American. I know no German (European?!) who eats broccoli raw.
After a challenge is before the next challenge and so we are right into the cool bloggers soup challenge. I have had some soup already but just getting stared. My go to quick tomato soup got spruced up with fried tofu in the bottom left. The top middle was a left over veggie soup with broccoli stems from the freezer and I added some potatoes and carrots and season with tarragon. Top right hand a smash up of three soup recipes I had saved on Pinterest – a spicy chickpea veggie soup that is very yummy. And which I will have eaten three days in a row when this post goes up. I think I share the recipe.
The bottom left is an asparagus soup. I tried something new and added wild rice but think I prefer it plain. Can you tell that I am not very good in doing a roux? Same struggle I have with gravy… Bottom middle is another version of my tomato soup with mozzarella and here added some home grown sorrel leaves. And of course the famous German Potatoe Soup.
Ordering In & Eating Out
All these foods. I mainly order in sushi or a sushi bowl when I am alone. With the husband it’s burgers or a pizza. But we rarely ordered in this year. The bottom left was my mom’s birthday dinner Zander with chanterelles, a schnitzel on one of our date days.
The bottom right may be the best dish I had this year. It was a fish soup from the hospital canteen. I am not joking! I work for a hospital that has a very interesting nutritious concept and focuses on food as part of medicine. For that they only serve meat twice a week and try to buy as much local and organic foods. This dish I needed to shoot for the website and when we were done they said we could eat it or they would have to throw it out. I gobbled it up. The recipe is on the hospital website but in German. If I ever make this soup (it needs three sorts of fish) I share it. Top right is another hospital dish – I eat there when I am on site and make it an event because the food is so good and health! Here you see some grains with root veggies and sour cream.
Alright you turn: What is the most delicious looking dish you can find in the images? Is there something you would never touch? One dish you would love to try? Did you ever eat black salsify? Do you eat a dish every week? What’s your favorite pasta recipe? Should we do a Cool Bloggers Pasta challenge next?
14 comments
Wow, that is a lot of food photography there. I’m not a great cook but most of these I’d probably enjoy (if someone else made them, haha). I had to google black salsify because doesn’t it sound like a made up thing? Don’t think I’ve had it, but will look for it in the grocery store. A Swedish blogger had a great description that came up when I googled it:
https://sarabackmo.com/what-is-black-salsify/
Best food to have is definitely some you don’t have to cook yourself. Totally agree that the root black salsify sounds kind of strange. In German the literal translation is “black root” which makes much more sense.
That fish soup looks good, but is not likely something I would make. Why? Because fish is expensive and putting it into a soup seems like a waste of money. However, if it was served to me, I would love it! One of my favorite soups in Thailand was a fish ball soup that I just stumbled on in a side alley. I don’t often make seafood based soup myself though.
I don’t mind raw broccoli, but it is much better cooked, and even if I was putting it in a salad, I would cook it and cool it. Plus it causes some gut issues when it is raw, so, all in all, cooked is better.
I eat a lot of things over and over, and lately I have been eating a lot of potatoes. I either have one with a couple of eggs, or just plain with butter and sour cream, or sometimes just with butter! That is the joy of being single, I can just eat a potato out of a bowl for dinner and not waste time or dishes! :)
That definitely is an advantage of being single to eat what you want and not care about dishes. I have never had potato and eggs. How do you do that?
And I totally agree about the fish soup. I have probably never cook such a soup myself, but if I have a chance to eat it or it served, I will definitely eat it.
Well, one thing is for sure I won’t be eating raw Broccoli if I can help it.
So, you usually eat “breakfast” around 1 pm and then a dinner later on? How is that working for you? I tried intermittent fasting once but didn’t feel good. I probably didn’t give it enough of a chance.
On the subject of pasta… I’m making a baked pasta dish tonight with a pumpkin sauce and almond ricotta. I would be up for a Cool Blogger’s Pasta Challenge next month!
Yes, that is exactly what I do. Late breakfast lunch and then dinner which works really well and I usually don’t need breakfast. However, no coffee in the morning is the issue I have with intermittent fasting. Otherwise it’s an easy go for me.
I can’t do a pasta challenge in December with all the food and candy I’m eating. But I would be up for one beginning of the next year.
I’m blown away by the sheer variety of foods you eat, never mind, all those photos of food. As for food I cook? My menu changes throughout the seasons to whatever is in season or can buy locally at the Halle. Some staples are meat and potatoes with one or two veggies, and maybe gravy. In winter I do a lot of soups and stews, and plenty of pasta dishes too. Things that are filling and hearty.
As for a challenge? Oh, now that would be interesting. Tell me more.
I think it looks more diverse than it actually is. There would be a lot of pictures of pasta and fish fingers to be honest I eat too much more salad in the warm season and soup in the following winter and tons of pasta.
I do try to use local food and I sometimes save veggies before they get thrown out and then I have to be creative with the things. I don’t usually cook.
Pasta is my favorite meal, so I’m all in for a Pasta Challenge.
I’m glad you enjoyed the grapefruit and avocado salad, it’s SO good and refreshing. I had to laugh that the delicious soup was at a hospital, that is clearly not something people are used to.
Yeahh, I see a pasta challenge in 2025. How exciting.
Yes, that salad was really really great and very refreshing. That dressing was divine.
And the soup was a total surprise. I really do look forward when I have lunch there. Tomorrow I have a meeting with lots of breakfast goodies and salads and smoothies. They are all steered for better digestion and for cancer patients who often can’t eat under treatment but need nutrients.
What a good variety of food. I don’t think there’s anything in your post that I wouldn’t touch. I eat a wide range of foods. I still have your red pepper and potato salad on my list of recipes to try.
We used to eat heaps more pasta when the kids were younger, but I do like it. G always wants pasta before his long run, but on those nights never wants to get adventurous which kind of means our pasta eating is taken over by endless spaghetti bolognese.
Pasta is so versatile and you can add so much fetch and salad. But a good old fashion plate of pasta Bolognese is great too.
I hope you get to make that potato pepper salad because it really is good. I think you might enjoy it. Let me know.
Oh, so many delicious meals! Thanks for sharing. I think one that I was curious about, you actually didn’t share… what is the dish in the bottom middle next to the next to the tortellini?
This all looks so good, but I think the most delicious looking meal is the are the Käsespätzle with salad. I have had Schwarzwurzeln before but not in a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them here, but I will have to look. I also like Kohlrabi a lot, but it’s also hard to find.
We repeat a lot of the same foods every week and then rotate in new recipes every once in a while. I am all about soups now during the cooler months.
Honestly… I don’t really know. It must have been a freestyle left-over thing. It looks like spätzle and then I probably added onions and some veggies and then added oat cream. It may have also included shredded soy. Yes… I think that was it. I remember I wasn’t too overwhelmed with the taste so that is probably why I can’t remember clearly. It does look good though.
Käsespäzle are the best.
I am currently not knowing what to cook because it all seems so boring. But soups will be something I need to get into. It is just not that cold here that has me crave soups everyday.