German Dinner

Right? This is exactly how I feel sometimes. Didn't I just cook dinner yesterday?? While I love to cook for my family sometimes it's overwhelming, especially when I want to keep it interesting. Sure, I could make spaghetti four times a week (which they would probably like) but I prefer not to do that. I get it if both parents are working but since I'm home anyway I figure I can at least take the time to be more creative. But still, when Monday rolls around I'm thinking, "I have to plan another week of meals again already??" MEALS, MEALS, MEALS!! They just keep eating!

I have maybe twenty go-to dinners that I make and try to rotate in something new when I find it. I'm always on the hunt for another recipe that fulfills my requirements:
-at least 50% healthy. Some dinners are 100% healthy, such as Amy's Famous Kale-Bulgar-Walnut Surprise, which balances out the corn quiche with two sticks of butter and a gallon of heavy cream we have the next evening.
-unless it looks really tasty and worth the effort, it can't have more than ten ingredients and less is even better. More than ten and my eyes start to cross.
-if it calls for 1/4 teaspoon of a really unconventional ingredient like black vinegar I'm like, "NEXT!" I don't need to be storing a huge bottle of some random vinegar in my Euro-size kitchen.
-not too many preparation steps because ain't no mama got time for that

So, I do ok (and the family gets fed every night) but I still get sick of what I make sometimes and feel like I have culinary artist's block. And sometimes I'm just plain tired of making the effort every single damn day. So when I find myself with another adult, usually another mom, I always weave into the conversation a question about what they have for dinner to try and get some ideas.

One day our German neighbor with the four-year old came over and I asked if she or her husband typically did the cooking. She said neither. They only cooked on the weekends and during the week they just ate bread with meat and cheese for dinner.

Huh! Interesting.

Then I asked an American friend (married to a German man and has lived here for fifteen years) and she said the same thing. She explained that most Germans want a hot lunch and a cold dinner. When they were first married she was cooking all these dinners for her husband and one day he had to confess to her, "Baby, I appreciate all this cooking but I just gotta have bread and meat for dinner! Just give me bread!" So she cooks a lunch for herself and their daughters and then gives the leftovers to her husband for his hot lunch the next day.

I realized that this idea of having a hot or cold lunch or dinner has never occurred to me. I've never thought about desiring something hot or cold at a particular time of day. Season maybe, but time of day doesn't matter to me. I just like to eat. But for Germans, and probably lots of other cultures, it is a big deal. I've also heard that in some parts of Germany it's the opposite: a cold lunch and hot dinner.

Then I asked another German friend what they typically eat and she said, "Oh, you know, some slices of bread with butter and meats and maybe some cheese with some cucumber. You know."

Verrrrry interesting.

So....(drum roll, please) we've instituted "German Dinner" at our house at least once, if not two or three times a week depending on my level of motivation. Oh my gosh, you guys, it's so simple. [I wanted to put in a gif. here of this comedian saying "its so simple" it a heavy New York accent but I just can't remember who said it! It would have been perfect] Seriously, all I do is rummage through the fridge, pull out some sliced cheese, some deli meats, slice up some cucumber and throw a loaf of bread on the table. That's it.

And there's your dinner, kids.

We don't need to put on airs. It's straight out of the packaging for us.

Of course you could "go extry" and actually lay out the fixings on a nice plate. You could do it up with a fancy spreadable cheese, maybe a bowl of grapes, some carrots and hummus, etc. Sometimes I do that with some mixed olives and a shredded carrot salad or something. OR it could be just as simple as the picture above. And you can make adjustments for vegetarian, dairy-free or gluten-free.

There's this stuff at German markets called "fresh cheese" which is similar to cream cheese but not as heavy and thick. Its so good! My personal fave is this...

Fresh cheese, tomato and cucs. Lecker!

Look Mom! It's so simple!

Is this really obvious to everyone else? Why does this feel so revolutionary to me? Why have I never thought of this? Has everyone been doing this for years and I'm late to the boat, as usual? Duh, Amy. Everyone's doing it. It's a bit like the Breakfast for Dinner fad, which I love, but it's just open-faced sandwiches. Its so brilliant and easy. I feel like so many families stress about what's for dinner and who's going to cook and who has time for that with such a busy schedule?? There is no need to meal plan, compile recipes, and make a huge shopping list. There's no need for the 25 Easiest Crockpot Meals. No muss, no fuss, no stress (and barely any dishes to wash!) Yet again, German sense, reason and practicality wins. Thirty seconds. Poof. Dinner.

THE MAIN POINT IS: it's the same dinner every single night. I'm not telling you this for another idea to rotate in to your meal planning. There is no plan! Its like wearing a black shirt and jeans everyday. Its so easy, everyone expects it and one less thing to think about. Plus, even picky eaters can deal with this dinner. Trust me, my son is one of the weirdest, pickiest eaters I've ever known and even he will eat some bread with cheese and a few cucumbers.

But you know what? Now that I'm thinking about this, there is one glitch. The bread. You have to have good bread. You could have the best sandwich fixings in the world, but if the bread is bleh the sandwich is going to be bleh. I'm lucky because I can walk over to the bakery and buy a beautiful loaf of soft, moist fresh bread dense with seeds for a few bucks. Its really the star of the meal. I do not recommend this dinner with your typical American store-bought bread. I don't know how I ever ate that dry sliced sponge. I'm spoiled now and can't ever go back! If/when we move back to the States I will have to steal the recipe and make this bread on my own. So...sorry if you just got all excited and then realized you can't get good bread. I guess you will have to make it. But since I don't have to (yet), I'm thrilled to adopt this easy, ridiculously obvious, mostly healthy, fast dinner.

The German way saves the day!