Food Stuffs

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love food. Food is my bestie. Food is my love. Ok, maybe it's not that intense of a relationship, but I love to eat. I try my very best to eat pretty clean and healthy. I do give in and treat myself every once in a while...ok, maybe more than that these days!

I like writing about and sharing information about neat food items I've found in Germany. I may post some things that you don't get very excited about, and you may be thinking,"Wow Sheena, Germany has apples. How exciting." Eye roll. My purpose is to share not only things that are new and different here, but also things that are similar and familiar. Or price comparisons, the process of finding these items, etc.

When we first moved here, I felt like I was missing a lot of the things I ate frequently and found easily back home. After more time here and more information and exploration, I've found the majority of those things at this point! EXCEPTION: Mexican food is not the same here. It's just not. Salsas, wraps, etc from the store are different. Not good. Mexican restaurants are few and far between and don't measure up. (I have recently learned that there is a "Chipotle" in Frankfurt. Plans ARE being formulated to make a visit!)

Let's explore some food stuffs. (Yes, I know it's "stuff", I just like saying food stuffs. It's more fun.)

 There are SO many different spreads for bread here. The cold aisles have a HUGE amount of space devoted to these spreads. Most are dairy based and come in many flavor varieties. As I don't eat much dairy and don't care for those types of spreads, I typically bypass that aisle. But sometimes walk down it just to stare at all the varieties! I mean, you could try a different flavor/brand/type of cream/spread every week and still not be running out of options after a year. I actually tried this "Kräuter-Tomate" Bio Veggie Streichcreme at a friend's place and it was delicious! It doesn't have dairy in it and doesn't have to be refrigerated. I found it at Aldi and sometimes enjoy a slice of gluten-free bread smothered with a delicate application of Tomate spread. ;)

(Sidebar: Bio means all-natural/organic here.)

 Here is the gluten-free bread I like. It's "Meisterbäckers" Mehrkorn (multigrain) bread. It's quite tasty, although expensive for this pitiful sized loaf. 

 I love peanut butter. I'm on a very low sugar eating plan right now due to some chronic inflammation issues, and traditional peanut butter has a good amount of sugar, so naturally I have to avoid it. Sadness. I did find some "Erdnuss Mus" (peanut puree) that is 100% pureed peanuts with no added ingredients. Not even oil! Kinda weird...it's not very tasty and is quite runny, but if I'm desperately craving some P.B. it somewhat helps. I don't think you need to be able to read between the lines to conclude that I'm not excited about it in the least, and am still trying to convince myself it's an acceptable substitute for "real" peanut butter.

Let's talk pancakes. Delicious fluffy flour spheres of moist heat goodness. One of my all time FAVORITE foods. Something I actively crave, although I rarely eat them. When I do, I enjoy them plain, or with butter and syrup, or with just powdered sugar, or with honey, or with peanut butter, or with sliced bananas on top..ok I suppose I enjoy them any way.

(I did however learn to make them with more natural and wholesome ingredients. They don't taste quite as yum, but are decent!)

Germany doesn't have pancakes ya'll. Not really! This is their version of pancakes. Pfannkuchen. (Pancake.) Suss oder herzhaft. (Sweet or savory.) And lemme tell ya, these suckers are neither sweet or savory. They are weird. They taste like a bland eggie flour tortilla thing that neither thrills or satisfies the palette. They are refrigerated and you can heat them in the microwave or on a pan on the stove. The only way to somewhat pleasantly force them down is to smother the middle with peanut butter and roll them up.  And pretend they aren't supposed to be anything even remotely related to a revered pancake.

(Note: I am fully aware that pancakes from scratch aren't that hard to make and the ingredients are ALMOST all pretty easy to find here in Germany. Carry on.)