Ginger Bears

Super short post but HAD to include these guys. We stopped in Gladstone before heading back from Fraser and we scrambled to buy food before the 12 hour bus ride. I couldn't resist these ginger gummy bears. My sister introduced me to ginger flavored candy a couple of years ago and I love it. It tastes great and helps settle my stomach. This was similar but in the form of gummy bears! Super fun and tasty, though I was the only one who liked them, guess it's an acquired taste. 

Denman's Cellar Beer Cafe

This place was awesome and it was not where we were planning on ending up! We headed off of the beaten path in Airle Beach with the intent of trying Moroccan food. Unfortunately that restaurant was closed. Fortunately, Denman's was next door. It was a beer cafe so it was attached to a classy liquor shop. you get to browse the shelves and choose your drink before you are seated. It's also a small plates menu, which meant we were able to get a gourmet meal without having to pay a ton. I got a Rekorderlig orange ginger cider. It was really refreshing and had a little zip to it. It also went really well with my spinach pumpkin quiche and sweet potato crisps. We sat outside which was really nice, I very much liked the atmosphere of this place. It had a bit of a classier crowd than the main strip of the town, but was still a fun pace to be!

Green Tea Crepe at the Cairns Night Markets

Ah the Cairns night markets :) This wonderful place is open from 5p to 11p, and sells food as well as souvenirs and other goods. We had already gotten dinner but we couldn't resist getting dessert there as we finished walking around. I saw that they had a creperie and was sold. I saw they had green tea crepes are was REALLY sold. And that's what I got. It had red beans and matcha ice cream in it and crunchies on top. It was very yummy. The green tea ice cream tied together the sweet crepe and the nutty flavor of the beans. I inhaled it before it would melt in my hand. Because, as you can see above, they gave it to me in a really fun way. Wrapped like an ice creme cone! No silverware required :)

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!