Grilled cheese and tomato salad. Dinner for one.

Cheese and tomatoes have always been a great combination in my eyes. And a grilled cheese sandwich is some of the easiest soul food I know. Here's a little secret: put some drops of Kirsch (Kirschwasser) on the bread slices and it will taste just like cheese fondue.

Hot pumpkin soup. Getting ready for Halloween.

Here in Germany, some people started to celebrate Halloween - nowadays, you can even go to parties. But 15 years ago, living in a small town, my friends started the tradition of cooking American food, preferably something hot and watching horror movies. Over the years, we made tons of different things - chili, homemade burgers, spaghetti with meat balls. But one thing remained consistent over the years: pumpkin soup as a starter.

This one is creamy, meaty and bacon-y and of course: hot. But let me assure you: except for the crème fraîche I used for serving, it's vegan!

Jerry's chocolate ice cream with brownies. Intense.

Funny, I've never been a big fan of chocolate ice cream. Or milk chocolate, while we're at it. There even was a time when I thought I didn't like chocolate at all until I found the 70% and 80% varieties. Seems I just didn't like the diluted flavor, I want to be blown away. Same with chocolate ice cream, simply not enough bang for the buck.

But then I found Jerry's chocolate ice cream with 2 kinds of unsweetened chocolate in it and this really gives you a kick. Add a cup of diced brownies, and you're in chocolate heaven.

Carrot dip. The mean brother of baby food.

This looks so innocent, doesn't it? I really reminds you a bit of baby food, if it weren't for the olives, right? Go ahead, take a bite. At first, you think: "What is she talking about? Just regular carrots. A bit on the sweet side." And then it will hit you: the tartness of the lemon juice. The slight bitterness of the olive oil. The complexity of the spices. And last, but not least: the slight burn of chili in your throat.

This is a great dip and it goes very well with all those other oriental-inspired dips, hummus, baba ghanoush and tzatziki. Just serve them all with some pita bread and olives and you have a simple, but very satisfying dinner.

Superfudge Brownies. Where's the ice cream?

Sometimes, it's not that easy adapting foreign recipes. This one for example: all weight measures are given in ounces, so I first need to consult some kind of converter to get it in grams. And what am I supposed to do with "1/2 cup of butter"? In Germany - and many other parts of Europe - butter is only sold in 250 g / 1/2 pound blocks. Thanks to the internet, I didn't have to mess around with softened butter and a measuring cup.

And then there's the problem of finding the right ingredients. I looked almost everywhere for unsweetened chocolate, but it was nowhere to be found. The highest cocoa proportion I could find was 80%, so I had to break out the calculator again - assuming that the other 20% were sugar.

BUT: it was so worth the trouble! These brownies are very chocolaty, quite fudgy, but not too dense and with a nice and crisp top. And in the very unlikely case you couldn't eat them as long as they were fresh: chopped up, they make a very nice addition to chocolate ice cream.

Iced Tea. Thirst quencher for hot days.

There are few things more refreshing than iced tea on a hot summer day. And I don't mean those over-sweetened soft drinks laced with artificial flavors, preservatives and other stuff you don't really want to know about. Better make it yourself, it's ready in 5 minutes. Go ahead and time it, I'm not exaggerating. And another thing: it helps against those mean headaches.

Tuna salad filled tomatoes. Hello from the Fifties.

A friend gave me a cookbook from the Fifties as a birthday present a couple of years ago. It is two inches thick and full of wonderful recipes, helpful hints on using leftovers - and even more delightful tips on shaping your food aerodynamically to make it more appetizing. There, I found great classics like meat loaf (in a dozen of variations), upside down pineapple and carrot cakes as well as tomatoes filled with different mayo-based salads, eg egg, chicken or tuna.

My mom used to make the tuna version as appetizer for guests: it's quick and easy, filling but not too much and enjoyed by everyone, whether they like fish or not. Including me and my dad, who virtually despise everything that comes out of the ocean.

Obazda. Bavarian beergarden cheese spread.

My god, there she comes again with some funky Bavarian stuff... First that strange sausage salad, and now this... And it even comes with tons of butter...

Obazda means - roughly translated - hodge podge, and basically that's what it is. Legend has it, a Bavarian innkeeper was standing in his empty (post-war) kitchen, with VIP guests sitting in the pub and waiting for something to eat. He thought he couldn't serve a half-eaten cheese to those people, so he decided to mix it together with butter, onions and paprika powder. And like many of those dishes born in desperation, it was an instant success.

You can find it nowadays in every beer garden in Bavaria. There are of course a million recipes, but I think this is the most basic and original one: 1 part butter, 2 parts cheese, onion and some spices. Simple and delicious.

This is perfect for that rest of Camembert that has gotten too pungent to eat. But you can use any intense and soft cheese, in some regions of Germany they use Romadour, Limburger or even Harzer. And stretch it with cream cheese if you find the taste too strong.

Cinnamon macarons with ganache. Not perfect.

About a year ago, I made macarons for the first time. Though I still can't manage to produce those beautiful, smooth caps, I still enjoy making them. And the combination of chocolate ganache and the smooth, almond-y taste of the macarons is still unbeaten.

Don't be afraid - the ganache is terribly easy to make, just chop up the chocolate, pour over the boiling cream and stir slowly until you have a shiny and glossy cream. Just follow these instructions in one of my older posts. Because the ganache needs quite a long time to cool, it is best to make it one day ahead.

Chickpea salad. Great for summer.

Do you know those people who can eat anything at any time? Like pork roast and sauerkraut in summer or gazpacho when it's snowing. I can't. I am one of those who can't eat warm and heavy stuff when it's hot outside. I like to have a light lunch in the summer heat. But a normal green salad is never enough for me - I always end up hungry half an hour later. So this number here is a great compromise: It tastes fresh like a salad, but the chickpeas bring along some carbs and proteins, just the right amount to make you feel satisfied but not stuffed... And it's ready in minutes - literally - so you'll have more time to go outside and catch some rays.

Apricot rolls. Like cinnamon rolls, but different.

These rolls are a bit like cinnamon rolls, but filled with apricot jam and some other yummy things. My mom found this recipe in a German baking magazine ages ago and it's a regular in our recipe repertoire since the first time we tried it out. I was still a kid and soon I started making this on my own. Mind you - yeast dough! Don't be afraid, it's so easy a kid can do it!

Follow me and I show you how it works.

Upside down citrus cake. Blood oranges and kumquats.

Hello, my name is Mel and I have fructose malabsorption... Imagine reading all those wonderful strawberry recipes this time of year and and not being able to eat even one little strawberry. Same with apples, pears and cherries. Don't feel sorry for me - leaving fruit away is better than a hurting stomach afterward.

As a coping strategy, I started looking for fruit cakes with citrus and/or banana - fruit I can definitively eat. And stumbling through flood blogs I found this upside down cake - sweet, tangy, fruity and a very good ersatz for all the fruit desserts I missed in the last year.

Canelés. Like straight from Bordeaux.

Canelés are to Bordeaux what macarons are to Paris. You will find them in every café and in some very expensive confiseries in the town center - selling not much else. Except those original copper molds for ridiculous prices. I tried one canelé in a café after a shopping tour. As I was in desperate need of caffeine to survive the 2-hour drive back, I ordered a double espresso and one of those rather boring looking canelés. But I was in for a surprise: the crust was actually so caramelized that it cracked and crunched when I took a bite. And the center was soft, almost pudding-like and tasted deliciously of eggs and rum.

It was totally clear to me that I had to make those at home and I was more than happy when I found a silicon mold for making 10 canelés in the supermarket - for the price of a copper mold for making 1 canelé. Don't be afraid, it's not a unitasker: you can also make very cute muffins and cupcakes with it.

Be aware that the batter needs to rest for at least 24 hours before baking - apart form that, they're ridiculously easy to make. And if you don't have a canelé mold, just go ahead and use your muffin tin or simple espresso cups. They won't look original, but you're going for the taste, right?

Upside down pineapple carrot cake. Who needs frosting?

This simply is a great cake. Or muffin. My mom has a friend called Debbie and she's from Texas, but has been living in Germany for a long time. She once made the cake when I was a teenager and I was blown away. It was cinnamony, had complex flavors and the concept of carrots in a cake was absolutely new to me, She was kind enough to give me the recipe and I have baked it since on uncounted occasions. It's great every time: fluffy on the inside, somewhat spicy, nuts and caramelized top for the crunch, pineapples for juiciness. I've never made a frosting for this cake (it would be a shame to cover up those beautiful pineapples) and personally, I don't think it needs one.

But if you really insist on putting something on this cake, some vanilla ice cream goes tremendously well with it. Especially if the cake is still warm.

ANZAC biscuits. Cookies from down under.

Are you also obsessed with foreign supermarkets? When I came to New Zealand 3 years ago, I spent hours in the supermarket, inspecting every row and wondering about many products, looking desperately for others. And of course buying quite a lot to try them out. And everywhere around NZ you will find ANZAC cookies next to the well-known classics like chocolate chip and oatmeal-raisin cookies. After wondering and reading the package, I found out that these cookies were originally sent from families to members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) abroad. I guess they were made without eggs so that they would keep better when being sent halfway around the globe. But nowadays you can make vegan cookies by substituting the butter with a good margarine. 

These cookies are a bit on the hard side, so don't give them to your granny. Unless of course you don't mind dipping them into hot coffee or tea. Oh, and by the way: tomorrow (25. April) is ANZAC day!

Fruit smoothie. Throw in whatever you like.

When I was a child, my mom often made fruit smoothies for me and my brother. At that time, that kind of drink was completely unknown in Germany and my mom called it "liquado" because of her past in Argentina. She bought a US-made blender and that's the one I'm still using today!

I'm not on a diet - heavens no! - but on the Good Eats episode "Live and let diet", Alton Brown has some very interesting points on making smoothies:

• Buy overripe bananas in bulk, then peel and freeze them. 
• When turning on your blender, start on the lowest setting and move your way up slowly. 
• Make sure you always see a "vortex" - if not, start over at the lowest setting.

And if you don't have a blender, then use a tall vessel and a stick blender. It's a bit messier, but the taste is the same...

I always liked bananas in my smoothie - it's what I use as a base - and then I add everything fruity I have at home. If you're lactose intolerant, leave out the milk and use water or soy milk instead. If you're vegan, leave out the honey, too. If you think you need some extra protein, add a raw egg or just the egg yolk.
And if you have fructose malabsorption, use the fruits your stomach is comfortable with. In my case, bananas and oranges are fine. And I'm still testing the red fruits.

Porridge. For when you're ill.

Porridge is the perfect breakfast or snack when you're ill. It's warm, but you don't have to stand long in front of your stove if you feel a little weak. It's nourishing, but light and soothing if your stomach is acting up. And it's an absolute no-brainer to make, which comes in handy if you feel like your head is exploding.

Mushroom Sauce. Perfect with Semmelknödel.

Last week on the Semmelknödel post, I promised you a recipe for mushroom sauce. This is a classic combination in Bavaria and in most cases, the only vegetarian option in traditional restaurants. I'm really not a vegetarian, but I sometimes wonder about the "meatless" menus in restaurants - accompanied by gravy, lard or even bacon. Personally, I think humans are omnivores (just ask a biologist about our teeth sets), but I deeply respect the choices people make. You never know what's really behind it. For example, when I was a teenager, there was a year when just the sight and smell of meat made me feel sick. And it even happens nowadays that I prefer a meatless meal. Just like on other days, I crave a steak. Medium rare.

Note for you fructose malabsorption guys out there: those white mushrooms contain mannite/mannitol and if you can't handle sorbitol you can't handle that one either. Apparently, I can't. Lesson learned.

Semmelknödel. Bavarian bread dumplings.

When I was 12 years old, my family moved to Bavaria. Before that I only knew Semmelknödel as a side for special occasions, eg the roast turkey on Christmas. But it was the pre-packaged stuff that came in individual plastic bubbles and that only tasted good when you spooned a LOT of gravy on top. But in Bavaria, those bread dumplings are served with almost any kind of roast that comes with a dark sauce. Most commonly: roast pork with dark stout sauce. And the vegetarian version: with mushroom sauce - more on that next week. Other great combinations are pot roast and goulash (that's my favorite combination). After a while, my mom got to know some people better and one lady showed her how simple those bread dumplings are.


This is the best part: When you have leftover dumplings, cut them into thin slices and fry them in butter until they are brown and crusty on both sides. Serve either with herb butter, sour cream or - according to my husband - ketchup. That's why I never half the recipe although we're only 2 eaters.

Risotto alla Milanese. Spiced up a bit.

Basically, there is red risotto and white risotto. The red variety mostly contains tomatoes and bold flavors, whereas the white one goes better with more subtle flavors like mushrooms, asparagus and such. But as you might suspect, I like going for the intense flavors, so I took a classic recipe for Risotto alla Milanese and spiced it up a bit with chilies and peas.

This was on a evening shortly after my foot got operated on, so going shopping for groceries was out of the question. So risotto is once again a nice way of getting a nice meal out of the rests in your fridge and freezer.