Passover Dark Chocolate Almond Cookies

Okay, I am so so so proud of these and how they turned out!!!! This idea formed as I roamed the grocery store with growing exasperation in my quest to find cheap, healthy, passover-frindly snacks for my next 4 days of travel. I roamed up and down the nut and dried fruit sections looking for something to tickle my fancy. In the process, I noticed almond meal. And instantly thought of passover desserts (many are made with almond meal as a substitute for flour). And then another thought struck me. I would be fun to make passover cookies as a plan snack for me and my traveling companions. I quickly bought the almond meal, eggs, dark chocolate chips (along with a fruit and almond mix that I finally found appealing!), and headed home to start baking. I only had 4 hours before I was supposed to head to the airport so I hoped to do this quickly. With a quick check online to make sure that I wasn't totally off base with the almond meal thing, I set to making my cookies. I combined 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg in a bowl. Then I added 250g of almond meal, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I stirred this together until I had a gooey dough. Then I added a generous helping of dark chocolate chips. Basically, until I could add no more :) I then made ball like cookies on my pan and stuck them in the oven at 400 F or 200 C for 20 minutes. This was the perfect amount of time to cook these since the outsides got crisp, but the insides stayed gooey. It's always better to cook cookies for shorter than longer in my opinion. Better underdone, than overdone! After letting them cool for an hour or so, I packed these up in a big plastic bag for the plane. They were amazing, the chocolate almond, cinnamon, and vanilla mixed perfectly. The soft and gooey insides tasted really almondy, and had a wonderful consistency. These were so yummy that I'd eat them even if it isn't passover! Really proud that I was able to improvise homemade cookies on my own, and especially so since they were special holiday cookies!

Veggie Wedges: Aussie Style

So I mentioned before that here Steak Fries are called Potato Wedges. Well I decided to make them, but with a healthy twist. I cut wedges of 3 veggies that are less carb heavy than potatoes, zucchini, carrots and sweet potatoes. Then I covered them in a seasoning run. I made it using onion powder, garlic, salt, pepper, and tuscan seasoning, all with a bit of olive oil to make the spice stick. I then laid the wedges on a pan covered in aluminum foil and baked them for 45 minutes at 400 degrees F. Then I took them off the pan and prepared 2 dipping sauces. I went with the classic Aussie choices (also my own personal favorites) sweet chili and bbq. They were really great! Fun and healthy. The zucchinis soaked up the seasoning nicely, the carrots got really sweet and the sweet potatoes were the closest to actually fires. They got toasty and had the nicest crunch. Both dipping sauces were great with all the veggies. My favorite combos were the sweet potato and bbq and the carrots with sweet chili. Since these were baked and only a bit of olive oil was used these are really quite healthy. They can't beat actual fries or course, but definitely satisfy a savory craving!

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I actually over seasoned these guys. This is the first time that I've done that too anything, but I'm taking it as a learning experience. Not every piece of the surface should be covered in seasoning and I should ease up on the onion powder and garlic. I'd actually like to make these with some fresh herbs as seasoning, for example rosemary. 
• I should try to make the wedges more uniform so that they cook evenly. Unfortunately, this was easier said then done, because cutting in a safe manner (especially the potato) was a challenge.
• I used a zucchini and a half, half a sweet potato, and 2 and 1/2 carrots for this.

Loved this creative treat. It would be great to make for a bbq side, maybe I could try grilling the veggies instead of baking them to make the wedges!

Sweet Orangy Quinoa Salad

This salad was an amazing combination of sweet flavors. It's green base is spinach, and it has both a veggie and fruit component. I choose 2 sweet veggies, carrots and sweet potatoes. And 2 sweet fruits, mandarin oranges and cranberries. I mixed them together with 1/4 a cup of cooked quinoa. Then I added balsamic with a dollop of honey as the dressing. This was a wonderfully sweet and complex salad. It was also rather orange because the veggie and oranges five it the wonderful color, thus Orangy Salad. I made enough for 2 meals which was great because it was such a wonderful meal and I got to enjoy it twice. This salad takes a little bit more prep than most, since the quinoa needs to be cooked, as does the sweet potato. However, the prep is worth it. I also recommend chilling the cooked potato and quinoa before scooping them in with the rest of the ingredients and tossing with the dressing.

Milo Scoop Shake

Another fun Aussie food tasting! I had to go to the coast to gather some data for my Marine Science class for a group project. We were measuring lots of different variables in tide pools. Because it took 2 hours to get to the site, 2 hours to collect data, and 2 to return we needed a whole afternoon to get this done. When we had finished collecting the data we decided that we needed ice cream! We walked to a little fish and chips shop close to the site, and got some ice cream out of a case.Now, Milo is something I've been meaning to try for awhile now. It's a very australian thing. Basically, it's marketed as an energy product. But it's actually more like a sweet. It's malted barley chocolate mix, usually drank it a form similar to hot chocolate. But it is also used to make other things, like this Milo Scoop Shake for example (below). This basically tasted like a malt cup, which is an ice cream from my childhood. Because of this I loved it. It had some of the gritty milo powder in in, but otherwise it was a malt cup. I really enjoyed it so It makes me want to taste milo in powdered drink form. Yet another fun Aussie snack food!

Matzah Herb Flatbread

The first night of Passover is usually spent at a large dinner/ceremony called a seder. Seders are a way for family to come together and celebrate the story of Passover. Unfortunately, my family isn't in Brisbane, so no seder for me. Instead I made the most classic of passover dishes with a twist! Matzah Pizza is the beloved passover food, basically pizza sauce and cheese on matzah instead of pizza dough. Not so great compared to actual pizza, but good compared to other passover food. I did not have any pizza sauce so I decided to make a sophisticated matzah flatbread instead. I Spread olive oil mixed with tuscan herbs, parsley, and garlic pepper on the matzah. Then a bit of mozzarella cheese. Next I added sliced zucchinis and shallots. Then I topped it with more mozzarella and some shredded parmesan. Lastly I added some parsley for color and additional taste. Then I cooked it at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. 

Once it the cheese was melted and the edges were crisp I took it out. It was amazing. Extremely flavorful with with perfect ratio of cheese to herbs and veggies. I had it with a glass of Pink Moscato, a sweet grapefruit flavored rosé, since you are traditionally supposed to drink 4 glasses of wine at a seder. I only had one glass of course, but it was nice to celebrate the holiday with a glass of wine with dinner. 

Minestrone Noodle Soup

I made this soup in order to finally use the vegetable stock that I saved from making the quinoa burgers. I used it to make a soup by adding about 1/4 a cup of water to 1 cup of veggie stock. I then also added garlic powder, salt, pepper, and tuscan seasoning. To the broth I then added 2 large handfuls of spinach, 1/2 a carrot, kidney beans, and finally some rice noodles. I didn't cook the noodles first I let them cook in the broth. When the noodles were done and the spinach was cooked I took the soup of the stove and transferred it into a bowl. I then topped it with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. It was a perfect filling dinner! It was really homey and comforting, and also really filling. When I sat down to eat it my housemates all looked at me funny and I joked that it was a "big ass bowl of soup." But it was so delicious that I ate it all. Also it wasn't too unhealthful, the noodles are only about 50 calories (rice noodles are really light), and the rest of the soup is just veggies. Super nice to know that I can make a soup from kinda scratch. Making stock is a very long and time consuming process, and maybe I'll attempt it some day, but I have no regrets just using store bought stock which is literally the same as what it would take me a day to make. I'd love to try this with more hearty veggies, but I was working with what I had and the combination was great. Next I want to try making vegetarian chili!!

Aussie Chocolate Bars Take 3: Kit Kat 3 Mint and Mars

So I've been wanting to try this Kit Kat out since I first saw it advertised, it's a kit kat with chocolate wafers, and 3 mint fillings! I love chocolate and I love mint so I wanted to try the combo.The bottom of the bar was the kit kay filling I know and love from home but with chocolate wafers which made it better. It went great with all three fillings. The first was a smooth mint flavored chocolate (below top left). This one was good, but not was flavorful as I thought it would be. The second was a crunchy cookie like filling (below top right), which I liked better than I expected it too, it went great with the wafer! The last was my favorite, it was fudgy, gooey chocolate (below bottom). It was really really yummy and a great way to finish off the bar.

The other bar is the mars bar. These aren't really common in the U.S. BUT when we do they are something completely different. They are nougat with peanuts. In Australia, they are basically what a Milky Way is in the US, but not as good because the chocolate is thinner. However, the carmel layer is thicker so that is a bonus. It also hit the spot because when I ate it I was craving chocolate, so this mini chocolate bar totally hit the spot.

I liked both of these a lot, especially the kitkat. And this round was fun because it was yet another super twist on U.S. brands that are completely different in Australia!

Sushi Bar at Ginga Grey st.

So as I mentioned we wanted to go back and try the sushi bar experience at Ginga, the Japanese restaurant my friend and I went to on Saturday. And we did for lunch on Monday. The reason that we were so excited to go back is that their sushi bar is a conveyer belt (see above)! The sushi chef puts the rolls and other tasties on the belt and they go directly to the tables for you to choose. The plates are color coded by price, so you can take whatever you want. They have a handy fold out with pictures of all of the items and names, as well as color coded prices. It was so fun to do, we loved picking our dishes as well as just seeing all of the options go around! My friend is a vegetarian, so that was perfect because we could share dishes :) We first got an avocado roll (see above), then we set out to try some other vegetarian things. I got an egg salad ship (below left) which is egg salad on top of a rice rolled in nori. The egg salad was the perfect consistency and had asian flavors that made it really unique. We also tried mountain veggies on inari! I love inari, it's rice in a sweet bean wrap, and is so good and it was amazing with these veggies on top with a vinegar dressing. It was a really nice find. We also got Tofu sashimi and a mixed veggie roll, both of which I forgot to take pictures of. The tofu was not my favorite, the texture was just so strange that I couldn't get over it. It makes sense I didn't like it because I don't really love cold tofu. The mixed veggie roll was amazing though! It was two huge pieces, so I ate it in one bite and It took me a full moment to chew and swallow it, but I enjoyed that minute :) Half of 4 items was enough to fill me up, and get a lot of great tastes. This was a wonderful way to have a light healthy, and fun lunch.

We decided to also get dessert since those were doing around on the conveyer too. And one of the things that was going around was ice cream mochi, one of my FAVORITE desserts! My friend hadn't had mochi before so we got one to try. I chose the matcha one of course! We split with with the fun spoons that they gave us (see below). It was really yummy and a perfect way to end the meal. I love mochi and I love matcha, so of course the combination is amazing. 

This was such a fun place to go for a late lunch and a great way to start off a hard academic week. Also, sharing plates allowed us to try a lot of yummy things and not spend a ton of money (of course the fact that we were both eating vegetarian probably helped too), The meal was about $12 each. Can't recommend this place enough for the atmosphere and the food!

Bean and Quinoa Burger

This was based on an idea I saw on Pinterest, but I modified it so much that It's very much my own. I made these as my very own try at a homemade veggie burger (but as I mentioned veggie burger sounds dubious so I'll call them what they are, black bean veggie burgers). I first took a large can of kidney beans and a mini can of corn and combined them in a pot with veggie stock, salt, and bbq seasoning. I let that steep on the stove for about 20 minutes. While I was doing this I made about 2 cups of quinoa, yes this is a ton of quinoa. Then as the quinoa was cooking I drained the beans and corn. I saved the veggie stock because it seemed like such a waste. While the beans were still hot, I put them in a bowl, added a clove of shopped garlic, and mashed them with a ladle (I would have used a potato masher if I had one) (see below left). Then I added some more bbq seasoning. Next it was time to add the quinoa. I added it a little bit at a time, making sure to mix it well and adding salt, pepper, and bbq seasoning as needed. I ended up with this mushy and sticky batter like mixture (below right).

The next step was shaping them into patties. I was able to do this by taking a large handful of the mixture and shaping it and flattening it. The mixture was still rather warm so this process was easy to do and the patties retained their shape really well (below left). I did notice as the mixture started to cool it was harder to shape the patties so I had to work quickly. Next I wrapped the 6 patties that I made in parchment paper and placed them in a plastic freezer bag, and stuck them in the freezer (below right). This way I could preserve their shape, and cook one whenever I wanted.

When I have been making these in different styles all week long! I cook them in a pan, I've done it 4 different ways. And I've found that there is alot of trial and error to getting them right. I've also found that they fall apart pretty easily in the pan, soooo these might not be great to eat on an actual bun. I think I'd add an egg to the batter next time to try and help them hold their shape. Fortunately, I was not eating these on buns. These are meant to be a healthful and yummy way to eat protein, I didn't want to make them two junky. I'm now going to outline the four ways that I've eaten these patties so far:

Number 1: BBQ Avocado

• For this guy I decided to try and cook it without frying it, so no oil. This worked well at cooking the burger all the way through, but not so great at getting the outside crispy. Also it fell apart as I was taking it out of the pan.
• As for toppings I placed the burger on a bed of fresh spinach, I topped it with mashed avocado, bbq sauce, and sautéed capsicum. All of the flavors complemented each other really well an it was sweet and flavorful. 
• Of all the combos this is the one that probably goes the best with the initial flavors of the burger.

Number 2: Caprese

• I cooked this burger in the left over oil from the semi dried tomatoes that I used to prepare the bed of the dish, so It was semi fried. This got it much crispier but the inside wasn't fully cooked. Once again it fell apart a bit
• My inspiration for this burger was a caprese flavor profile. I sautéed spinach and semidried tomatoes in a pan with tuscan herbs, these smelled amazing, I've had them plan before and they totally hold their own. They're a wonderful, healthy, and easy side dish. I topped this bed with shredded mozzarella hoping it would melt and then when I transferred the burger I topped that with more mozzarella hoping it would also melt. Neither did. I think this is a dish that needs to be made with fresh mozzarella. With that I think it would be flawless. 
• The bed for this one is so amazing that I would make it again in an instant!

Number 3: Green Greek

• This one I finally gave in and tried to fry it in olive oil seasoned with tuscan spice. This did a great job getting it crispy, but it cooked the outdid so quickly that when I took it off so it didn't burn, the inside was still ice cold. Also it still fell apart.
• I called this "green greek" because I ate it on a bed of 2 green veggies, artichokes and zucchinis that I sautéed in a pan with shallots and tuscan seasoning. I then topped the whole thing with some Tzatziki sauce. 
• This was a really nice, light flavor. It was lemony, and salty, and creamy and a really yummy dish.

Number 4: Mediterranean Bowl

• This one I cooked in a really fun way. I used capsicum pesto instead of oil, just a tiny scoop on both sides. This was a perfect way to add flavor to the burger and moderate the cooking time of the patty. I also tried to use a pan top, to get the inside to cook better. This worked wonderfully (see picture at the top of the post), it was crunchy, well cooked, and amazingly flavorful. One downside… it two fell apart.
• This one I ate on a bed of sautéed zucchini, capsicum, and shallots seasoned with tuscan spices. Then I topped it with some hummus. And I put an extra dollop on top of the burger as well.
• This time I ate it in a bowl and its as amazing. It turned into more of a quinoa bowl than a burger, but the quinoa was hot and wonderfully crunchy so I loved it. 

This was a really cool thing to make. I definably would want to tweak it a bit, but it really is a wonderful alternative to a meat burger, or a creepy unknown "veggie" burger.

Night out in South Bank

So last Saturday night a friend and I decided to go see Captain America 2, which just came out! The closest movie theater is in South Bank, a restaurant/park district of Brisbane. We had planned on catching an early 6:20p movie and then eating dinner later, but the early movie was full. So we decided to buy tickets for a later 9:30p movie and grab some dinner instead. After a walk around to look at all out options we decided on Ginga Sushi Bar, because they had Udon and a recently priced authentic japanese menu. I was really happy because they also had okonomiyaki (above)! Okonmiayaki is a type of savory japanese pancake, they put different mixings in a savory batter and fry it up. It's a very regional dish so its different everywhere you try it. I was especially pleased because they had a vegetarian one, so I was able to get it. It was really good, cabbage and a bunch of other veggies in a yummy crispy batter. It was topped with a special garlic aoli and bbq sauce (typical Australian condiments which made me laugh) and Nori (seaweed). The flavors of the salty nori and the tangy condiments meshed really well with the mild and crispy pancake making it a really satisfying dish. My friend ordered ramen and her's unfortunately came out really late, so that made the service a bit less than subpar here, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the great food. Also the atmosphere was wonderful, it had japanese culture decorations and an anime was playing on a tv at the back on the restaurant. They also had a really cool sushi bar, that we came back for the next week, so I'll talk about that in a later blog post :)

After dinner we still had some time to kill before the movie so we decided to get some dessert/after dinner drinks. We went to Chocolate Pavilion, one of 4 chocolate bars around Southbank! This one is unique because it is the only one with a liquor license so it is able to sell alcoholic dessert drinks. I ordered a chocolate expresso martini (above), which was decadent and deadly. It was a combination of expresso, milk, chocolate ganache, Bacardi and vanilla. Basically, a mocha with rum. It was also presented in a gorgeous manner. I'm glad we finally got around to trying this place, it was a wonderful end to a really yummy dinner.

We had about 45 minutes before the movie, so we walked back to the movie theater. So both my friend and I are of the mentality that if you are going to a movie you need some form of movie snack, so we both had to get something. I ended up with a mixed penny candy bag of Aussie Lollies (encouraged by my tasting earlier this week) (above let). Some new ones that were in this mix were Chicos (basically chocolate gummies), which were weird… but kinda good once I got used to them. Jelly Babies (thicker gummies shaped like babies), I was excited to try them because I'm a Doctor Who fan :), they were decent but I like gummy bears better. And there were some of those in the mix as well, and they were the amazing 10 flavors kind. I also had something called red frogs, which were basically the Aussie equivalent of swedish fish. 

My friend got ginger beer, which is an Aussie soda. Armed with our snacks we entered the movie. It. Was. So. Good. I loved it so much! I'm a huge Marvel movie fan so I was so happy that I was able to see the movie so soon after it opened. It was so intense, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I highly recommend it. Also apparently, there was a part of the movie that changed depending on what country you saw it in! There's a part where Capt pulls out a list of pop culture things he's missed (Star Wars was on it :) ). We also noticed that the list had Tim Tams and Steve Erwin on it… and thought how weird it was that Tim Tams were on Captain America's list (although I do agree with Steve that Tim Tams are definitely a list worthy development). Well I found out later that there were a few items on the list that changed depending on country (Below America on the top, England in the middle, and Australia on the bottom). This made it very special for me to see here. A movie from a franchise that I love, made unique for my study abroad experience!

This was such a fun evening, I hope that I get to see more movies when I'm here but I'll probably have to be really selective, so I'm glad that this is one of the ones I was able to see!

Creamy Avacado Noodles

Okay, what do you do when 7 people are trying to cook dinner so they can all leave in an hour to go to a party. Make the easiest thing possible that requires the least space and least dishes. That's where this dish came from. I had some rice noodles still and they take approximately 2 minutes to cook, so I used them as the base for this meal. Then I sliced up some of a red capsicum, and mashed up half an avocado with garlic and salt. I then combined all of those ingredients in the bowl I'd be eating them in with some feta cheese. I mixed it well so that the avo coated everything and then inhaled it. It was a decent dinner. fresh tasting, easy and just what I needed before I night out. This time I broke up the noodles before cooking them so they were easier to eat. I was right, this strategy made a huge difference. A really satisfying meal for something that I cooked in a risk. I'd like to try this again with more components and some more sophisticated flavors again when I have more time. 

Aussie Lollies Take 2

This time my adventure into the Lolly Shop was a way to taste a bunch of gummy lollies. I got 10 lollies, one of each of the flavors that I wanted. I got three that were not covered in sour sugar and the rest were. The three that weren't were pineapple (below top left) and 2 different strawberry flavors (below bottom). I liked the strawberry ones each was juice and flavorful, however the pineapple one was hard and didn't taste at all like pineapple.

I also had a Strawberry star (above top right). It was decent, not as sweet as it's US equivalent, but I liked the chewy texture. I also got to try a pear drop (below top left), this one I really liked it was chewy, and tasted a bit like a pear. Actually that one and the ones below, a tropical fruit (below top right) and watermelon (below bottom) were my favorite of the batch. They were all chewy, sweet and sour and they looked pretty too. They were more like gummies than sour patch so the texture wasn't my favorite, but they were still yummy.

 The last kind of lolly I tried was sour hearts. I had 3 flavors of these: sour peach (below top right), sweet peach (below top left), and sour apple. All were nice, the apple and sour peach were my favorites. It was really interesting that there were two kinds of peach and it was fun to try them. They were both peachy but also both distinctly different.

I liked all of these lollies better than my first trial, but that was probably because I was prepared for them to not be what they said. This wasn't even really the case, but they were still yummy. This was also a really nice afternoon pick-me up after a loooonnng morning of class. 

Kiwi Milk Tea

I wanted to try a new flavor of milk tea the other day and decided to go for the kiwi. I had no clue what to expect, but it was great. It tasted like a real kiwi even though they used powder to make it. I got this drink with no sugar so it was a little tart just like a kiwi, it was yummy but I might get a bit of sugar next time. Overall, a great drink, always nice to know that the other flavors besides my go tos of taro and black milk tea are great!

Zucchini Fritters

I decided to make these with the left over zucchini guts from the zucchini boats. I used these feta cheese, capsicum pesto, chopped shallots, zucchini bits, ~1/4 cup of flour, and an egg. I mixed it together and made 3 fritters that I cooked in a pan. I tried to cook the first two at the same time and they didn't hold up as well, so next time I'll cook them one at a time. They were really yummy and flavorful. I ate them with some Tzatziki (below), which was a really great choice. A good way to put leftover zucchini guts to good use.

 Thoughts on this dish:

• I wish there was an alternate to flour to make these healthier and still stay together. I'll keep thinking, but nothing comes to mind initially.
• Loved the flavor in these, I added salt, garlic, and pepper to season them, as well as the capsicum pesto.
• They were great with the mind and zesty Tzatziki, they'd also probably be great with some hummus, or other Mediterranean dips. 
• Like I said some of the fritters fell apart in the pan, so I need to fry them separately so they don't fall apart when I flip them.

A nice dish, but I want to see if I can modify it to make it healthier and prettier.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats and Rosemary Roasted Carrots

This was an amazing meal. I was planning to make the zucchini boats, but the roasted carrots were on a whim. And they turned out to be amazing! I sliced the carrots, then tossed them with shallots in olive oil and garlic salt. Lastly, I added a torn up sprig of rosemary. This made the dish. I love rosemary it adds this wonderful earthy flavor to everything, and it goes with so many different flavor profiles. In this case the mild salty taste of the shallots, and the earthiness of the rosemary blended with the sweet taste of the cooked carrots. I cooked them at 425 F for about 25-30 minutes, this means that they were cooked until they were tender, but also got nice and dry. I like my carrots that way and it helped them soak up the rose merry flavor. This was so easy to do and is such a nice and healthy side dish. I'll be making this again for sure. 

The second part of the meal was a more planned part. I've been wanting to make stuffed zucchini boats for awhile now and I finally got around to it! I cut 2 zucchinis lengthwise and them hollowed them out (below top). This was fairly easy to do, and I kept the inside of the zucchinis to use for later in the week. The next step was to make the filling. For the base I used this sundried tomato cream cheese dip that I got at the grocery store. The I added 2 big handfuls of spinach and a bunch of sliced up artichoke hearts. I mixed this all together, so that it was uniform and then filled the boats. My last touch was topping them with shredded parmesan cheese. Then they were ready to be popped in the oven! I cooked them at the same temperature and for the same time as the carrots (425F for 25 minutes). They were perfectly cooked, the zucchinis were cooked and flavorful, caramelized on the bottom, but not runny. The parmesan had formed a nicer melted crust and the filling had blended together perfectly. This was an excellent dinner and I am glad that it turned out so well and was so easy to make.

Thoughts on these Dishes:

• Both of these make good side dishes (or if you eat two zucchini boats then they're enough for a meal), and they are also really homey, even wintery, dishes. Of course even though it's autumn in Brisbane it feels like summer (80F is the typical temp), and they were still great.
• Zucchini boats seem like a real versatile dish, so I can mix and match flavor profiles fairly easily. Next time I might try stuffing with quinoa to make the dish more filling and also add some protein. 
• The carrots were originally supposed to have some feta sprinkled in them after I cooked them, but I didn't think they needed it and it was right, they were great and I wouldn't change anything about that recipe.

Loved both of these, so happy to add two new veggie dishes to my repertoire!