Hello all!

I am officially reporting to you from Australia, the land of kangaroos, koalas and no halloween. This first week or so has been interesting!

I will be staying for 6 months in Toowoomba, Queensland and nannying for a family with three kids- 12, 11 and 5. Toowoomba is about 1 and a half from Brisbane and north of Sydney. So far, all is going well.

I have managed to drive on the opposite side of the road on the opposite side of the car without killing anyone. I’ve been to trivia with a few Aussies where I woefully let the team down by answering every question about American presidents wrong and learned a little about AFL (Australian Football League). See a picture of their field below. All I can say is it sure ain’t like the NFL! I also learned that some slang for the male genitalia is Doodle, which I find hilarious, and Plum. This came up in casual conversation, I swear.

I also managed to find the only organic food market and place that serves vegan food. I found this on Day 1 and have already eaten there twice. It also has a juice bar. It also makes Whole Foods prepared food section look cheap. So I don’t think this will be a regular habit but it is nice to have at least one go-to vegan eatery.

As for vegan eats, it has not been easy! I asked for no cheese on my pizza at trivia and they told me no changes were allowed. I do my best.

Anyway, I thought my first week would be a transition week but on the second or third day in, the 5 year old girl ended up having to stay home due to several nose bleeds. Which meant I had the fun of entertaining her all day while not knowing a lot about her. Also, without any sort of crafty, artsy materials. No crayons, no coloring books, no nothing! We also had the unfortunate situation of her being out of school because her nose kept bleed but she felt fine! So by noon, she was bouncing around the house full of energy when she was supposed to be taking it easy. I was about to throw in the towel and take her to a park when her nose started to bleed again.

After we cleaned her up, I became desperate. If I heard the words “I’m booooooored”  one more time I would cry (which is crazy cause I had successfully kept her relatively busy to this point). So I turned to the kitchen! Cause nothing is more fun then making a mess with flour and eating raw (vegan) batter!

Hence, the vegan brownie cups. It earned me 30 whole minutes of quality entertainment. hallelujah!

Vegan Brownie Cups
from All Recipes
makes 16

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 c.  white sugar
• 3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used 1 tsp vanilla paste which is my new favorite thing)
• chocolate chips for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325  degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended.

Divide evenly into 16 cupcake liners. Top with chocolate chips, if you are using them. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

These definitely came out more cake-like then fudge-y brownie-like. This has been my constant issue with vegan brownies. The texture is never that of a fudge-y brownie. They are either too fudge-y or too cake-y. These were so tasty and easy to make though that I don’t care. I was able to make them with a 5 year old with the ingredients that were already on hand, no weird flour or ingredients. My pantry is no longer stocked with 8 kinds of flours nor do I want to buy said flour when I know I’m leaving in 6 months, so this simple recipe was perfect.

Also, it was really, really yummy! No one in the family knew it was vegan and that is perfectly ok with me.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pin some ideas for rainy day/stuck in the house activities on pinterest because I don’t think the mom I’m working for would appreciate baked goods every time the kids are bored! Though, I’m pretty sure the kids  wouldn’t mind.