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!

Avocado Deviled Eggs

So I had an avocado that I had bought last week that was about to turn and I needed to use it. Unfortunately, I had also reached the point in the week were I had almost no food left. And this week it was severe, no veggies or fruit, and no quinoa. However, what I did have a lot of were eggs, a whole cartonful! So I decided to use what I had and make deviled eggs, but instead of mayonnaise I used the much yummier and healthier avocado. Now, this was not only the first time that I made deviled eggs of any kind, but also hard boiled eggs too. I was a bit nervous that I would screw it up, but I actually did a great job if I do say so myself (see below left). I put 6 refrigerated eggs in cold water and slowly brought it to a boil. When the water was boiling rapidly, I took the pot off of the stove and put the lid on. Then I let it sit for 15 minutes. After that I cooled the eggs. Now according to my roommate this step is key. So the way I did it was by sticking the pot under cold water. I DIDN'T dump the hot water out first, I let if flow out into the sink as the cool water flowed in. Then I added some ice to further cool them down. I did this for about 10 minutes. After that I peeled them. This was the hardest step. The egg shell can be sharp and it didn't always come off in nice large pieces, and since I had 6 eggs to do it took me awhile. But is was all worth it. Every egg was perfectly cooked and beautifully yellow in the yolks (see below right).

The next step was to make the avocado filling. For this I mashed half an avocado, added the yolks from the eggs, a bit of coriander, and some garlic pepper and garlic salt (below left). I then mashed it all together until it was smooth (below right). Next I needed to get the filling into the eggs, I decided to do this by using a plastic bag. I cut one of the corners and squirted it into the hard-boiled eggs. This didn't come out quite as pretty as I expected it to, but it was cleaner than spooning it in. The result was amazing. Delicious, flavorful, and surprisingly filling. I ate 2 full eggs and 4 pieces for dinner and was full. They are also a great afternoon tea snack or good for breakfast was well. They kept well for 2 days, and were all gone by that time so I don't know if they'll last longer :P

Thoughts on this dish:

• This is such a great and healthy alternative to an awesome and classy picnic treat.
• I love deviled eggs because they are really versatile, morning and afternoon tea are a big thing in Australia and I'm thinking that I want to learn how to make some tea treats and then make a really nice tea for my family when I get back home (My family loves tea). 
• I also now know how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs so I can add that to my list of ways to cook eggs: scrambled, omelet, fried, sunny side up, and hard-boiled. 
• This is great because it has lots of protein and good fats… which are great for you in moderation

So excited to have been able to pull this off. I love that I'm slowly learning how to make more sophisticated meals that I love to eat, but never have attempted to cook before. Each victory boosts my cooking confidence.

Aussie Lollies Take 1

 So we have a wonderful shop on the campus of UQ called the Lolly Shop. And as I mentioned before, here a lolly is a synonym for candy of any kind. Earlier this week I finally bit the bullet and went inside to check it out. Not only do they have a ton of Aussie treats like chocolate bars and Tim Tams, they also have by weight candy. This is perfect for me because it allows me to try a couple of kinds of candy for about $2, and satisfies my sweet cravings without going overboard. This time around I decided to sample some chocolate/caramel lollies (above). I got 2 with chocolate and fruit, 1 with yogurt and fruit, and the last was a caramel. I thought I was getting into something straight forward, boy was I wrong!

The first lolly I tried was an yogurt covered apricot ball. Now for some reason (perhaps maybe the name…) I expected it to be dried apricots covered in yogurt. This wasn't entirely the case. Instead, I got apricot flavored coconut covered in yogurt. It was actually kinda nice, there were chunks of real apricot in there, and the flavors blended nicely, even if it wasn't what I was expecting. 

After my first lolly surprise, I should have been prepared for the next one, but alas, this was not the case. The next lolly was a chocolate covered pineapple. So I was thinking "okay this is either what it says on the tin or coconut and pineapple like the apricot one." Wrong! This lolly was pineapple flavored taffy covered in chocolate. Besides the fact that it tasted really fake, and I was super sad that I didn't get any real pineapple it wasn't bad. I actually liked the chewy texture mixed with the chocolate.

By the time I got to the chocolate covered raspberry I knew that wasn't what I was going to get. So I bit into it hoping for the best. This one was raspberry flavored jelly covered in chocolate. It was yummy, though once again fruitless. Of those three 'fruit' lollies I think I enjoyed the apricot one the most. 

Lastly, I got a Jersey Caramel. It's a caramel square with cream in the middle and the concept reminded me of an American candy called a Bullseye, which I love. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. The caramel was dry and gritty, and the cream didn't really add anything to the treat. It doesn't help that I was expecting something similar to a bullseye with chewy caramel and creamy, fluffy cream and was let down so completely. 

The good news about this experiment is that I learned two important lessons about Aussie Lollies. Number one, don't compare them to U.S. treats, expectations lead to disappointments :(. And number two just because the lolly is called one thing, doesn't mean that it is actually what it says it is, so I'll be tasting with a bit more caution now. While I stuck to the chocolaty things for this test there were heaps of fruity gummy like lollies at the Lolly Shop that look really wonderful, so I'll be tasting some of those next!