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Bread and Breakfast

Colombian Corn Bread with Cheese Filling (arepa boyacense)

Colombian corn bread arepa boyacense

I had the opportunity to travel to the home country of my husband: Colombia and I feel in love with arepa boyacense. Let me tell you, this country has so much more to offer than only jungle. The mountain range the Andes come to mind, but it also has savannahs, a dessert, the Caribbean and the famous coffee region. The diversity of species is something to admire. Colombia has more than 100 (!) humming birds only. Even in the capital Bogotá with more than 10 million inhabitants you will encounter humming birds amazing you with their acrobatic movements. The variety of fruits is also astonishing. I ate fruits I had never seen or even heard of. For a penny you will get the juiciest and and sweetest fruits. The pictures I took barely capture the beauty of this country.

Colombia is a very colorful country. Maybe the huge variety of species and a general carefree attitude towards life are reasons why food is extremely important. One of the first questions I was asked during our holiday was how I liked the food. Yes, we had to explain what our travel plans were, but soon after that the conversation turned to food, inevitably. I usually replied with arepa! Arepas are as important to Colombians as bread is to Germans. Arepas are a simple corn bread and usually either fried, grilled or baked in the oven. They are served for breakfast, but you will also encounter them for lunch and dinner. Arepas come in all sizes, they are gluten free as they are made of corn flour and each region has its own variety.

Colombian corn bread arepa boyacense

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Cute Pumpkin Rolls (vegan)

pumpkin roll

I stumbled upon these cute pumpkin rolls just very recently and was sold immediately. Maybe you are sold, too? I find them just too cute. And super perfect for breakfast or Thanksgiving for that matter. These are real pumpkin rolls made with yeast dough. Yes, they do look like a pumpkin, an eatable pumpkin and yes, they have pumpkin inside of them. They also happen to be vegan.

pumpkin roll

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Homemade Croissants with Blueberry Raspberry Thyme Jam

Why does baking make me so happy? Why does it relax me, why do I even bother and sometimes (not often, but still) take hours in the kitchen preparing something? There are many reasons for this. Let’s give it a shot: Because it relaxes me, because it is so much fun to watch others when they enjoy something I baked, because I can collect my thoughts while I follow instructions one step at a time, because kneading somehow makes me feel more down to earth, because I feel it is a mini-workout when I knead dough and that makes me proud and because it is creative.Maybe it is precisely because baking requires you to follow the rules strictly, especially if you are a beginner, why I find it challenging and fun to be creative. I may decide to change a basic recipe, turn it up a notch, or I mix flour, butter, sugar and eggs together and hope for the best.

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Homemade Granola (basic recipe, can be vegan and gluten free)

selbstgemachtes Müsli

I’m not a morning person. At least if compared to my husband. He is always chipper and happy when he gets up. It can be annoying. It’s like he turns on immediately and happily babbles as soon as he opens his eyes. I usually end up being the groggy monster walking slowly to the bathroom (while he is already telling me something) and looking around blindly. What did I want to do again? Oh yes, right, I wanted to take a shower!

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Overnight Danish Buns with Yoghurt

Dänische Joghurtbrötchen

I currently live in Hamburg, not that far away from the Danish border. One thing I notice is that you find a lot of Scandinavian products here. Cheeses of various kinds, Rødgrød (red berry sauce), and Flæskesvær (fried pork rind) are only a few. It probably comes as no surprise that I felt I wanted to try a Danish recipe for buns. So here you go with a delicious bun prepared with yoghurt the night before.

Danish people are probably as obsessed with bread as are Germans. They have perfected the simple cold cuts on a delicious slice of bread, their Smørebrød is known worldwide. The buttered rye bread is crowned with a creative topping, this can be a cold cut, but ranges from vegan to extremely meaty options. I was fortunate enough to try Smørebrød when I was in Copenhagen and can highly recommend it. If you have the chance, try it, I find it extremely delicious (see also pictures).

Smørebrød as found in Copenhagen

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Roscónes: Colombian Sweet Bread Stuffed with Guava Paste

Roscon, kolumbianischer Hefekranz

Today I am excited to say that this is a treat you most likely haven’t heard of if you are not Colombian: roscónes. Sweet yeast bread is already a good start, then add some cool guava paste (called bocadillo in Colombia, it has many other names in other Latin American countries) and you have a very exotic mix. I think only Colombians can create something, which is like breakfast and dessert merged into one piece of deliciousness. Yeast dough? For sure! Fancy braiding of said dough? You betcha! Excotic guava filling? Nothing less!

Roscon, kolumbianischer Hefekranz

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