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Archive for December, 2013

The truth is, as much as I would love to be spending every weekend traveling around Australia, I can’t always afford that. Especially when it’s the Christmas season and I want to be buying gifts and I’m spending a small fortune to ship things to the state for the holidays. So, I’m trying to remember to visit places locally.

As the second largest inland city in Australia, Toowoomba isn’t a lot but it does have some charm. It’s known for it’s gardens and parks (it has over 150), so I thought I would spend one Sunday checking out the Japanese Garden. So far, I think it may be one of my favorite retreats in Australia.

Click the picture for a larger version.

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close up of a jacaranda tree. they're basically just ginormous purple flowers when they bloom so clearly I love them

close up of a jacaranda tree. they’re basically just ginormous purple flowers when they bloom so clearly I love them

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they had a huge section dedicated to growing bamboo which was really neat! It makes a really unique sound when the wind blows, which I kind of loved

they had a huge section dedicated to growing bamboo which was really neat! It makes a really unique sound when the wind blows, which I kind of loved

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I’m sure there will be a few more Staycation posts when I can’t get away. My camera pretty much hasn’t left my side since I got here so I doubt there will be a shortage of pictures. Stay tuned!

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This recipe is a huge cop out. Like, I don’t even know if it’s considered a recipe. But here we go.

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As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in a HUGE food funk. These overnight oats are what I have for breakfast, followed by some sort of toast with hummus for lunch and leftovers for dinner. I’m just not feeling food. It’s too hot here! Add to that the fact that the kids are now on summer break so I no longer have all afternoon to myself and there goes my cooking time! I did try to make some M&M cookies last week with the kids. The M&Ms weren’t vegan but I had leftovers from when I was making cookies for the kids’ teachers. The results were these colorful, flat-as-crepes cookies. Yeah…one of the kids put 1 1/2 c. of flour in instead of 2 1/2 c. of flour. Whoops.

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So basically, my cooking time slot has been narrowed down to the 30 minute reading time I force upon the kids each day. Well, it’s supposed to be 30 minutes but after taking out the 10 minutes I spend telling them to “focus” and “stop talking” and “stop making faces at each other” and “stop kicking each other!” and “Oh my gosh if I have to tell you one more time to read your book…!”, it’s usually only about 20 minutes. That’s why this recipe is perfect. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare, you pop them in the freezer and the result is a little bite sized cold, chocolately/salty treat that you can grab in between activities. It’s hot here so they are perfect as an alternative to bites of ice cream. As for those in colder weather, they may be a healthier alternative to munching on holiday cookies?

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Either way, I thought these were a great little treat for myself but silly me, I made them in full view of all three kids. Which means I had to share. And they loved them. Which means they didn’t last nearly as long as I thought they would.  I don’t know if that is a good thing because they were clearly tasty or a bad because now I have to use my precious 30 20 minutes of free time to make a much larger batch tomorrow.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
from Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog
serves 1-2, but can easily be doubled

1 banana

1/8 c. of peanut butter, approximately

1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.

Cut your banana so you have round discs that are about 1/2″ thick. Top the discs with peanut butter.

Melt your vegan chocolate in the microwave or on the stove with a double burner. I prefer the double burner method but whatever you find easiest. If your chocolate isn’t melting smoothly, add a little bit of shortening. Once your chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Dunk your banana into the chocolate. I found the easiest way to be with a fork. Pierce the side of the banana with the fork, then dunk it into chocolate. Use another fork to slide the chocolate-covered banana off the first fork and onto the wax paper.

Freeze until the chocolate hardens. Remove from wax paper and place in a baggy or container and return to the freezer.

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I feel like the directions for this are really wordy. It could also read “Cut banana. Put PB on top. Dunk in Chocolate. Freeze.” 3 ingredients, 10 word instructions, and we’re done!

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go secretly make another batch of these and hide them where the kids can’t find them. Why can’t they just be satisfied with messed up, flat M&M cookies? Sheesh!

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Friday Favorites

I’ve missed doing these! Some of these are older because I’ve started writing this post about three weeks ago and I kept forgetting to post it.

19 Horrifying Vegan Problems: Laughed out loud. Definitely one of the best Buzzfeeds

Because it Works” by Adam Lazzara. Solo work by the lead singer of my fav band, Taking Back Sunday? Sign me up. Obviously!

This interview with Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson where the play the Newlywed Game. I saw Hunger Games at midnight and loved it. Aaaand then I may have gone to see it again a week later. it’s sad, it’s funny, it’s so good. If there is anyone who hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend it. I maybe also just finished reading the series again. Can’t get enough!

Mrs. Mays all natural Cranberry Blueberry Crunch snacks. I can’t stop eating these! I first discovered them in the airport in LA on my way to Australia when I was desperate for a vegan snack for the long flight. When I discovered them in Australia I was pumped. The only problem- trying not to eat the whole bag!

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Haim- The Wire. I know I already gave you Adam Lazzara’s s song and this isn’t really new but this song is on the radio all the time here and it’s totally grown on me. Plus, the video’s kinda great.

Food-wise, things are still dull on this end and I apologize! It’s hot here but all I want is winter comfort food. Blueberry pie over night oats for breakfast, grapefruit for lunch and Thanksgiving leftover for dinner make for incredibly uninteresting posts. I’m experimenting with some popsicles and a new granola and hoping I can work those out next week. The kids are officially on summer break though so my days will noq be filled with parks, and bowling, and skating and oi! Lots of entertaining. Fingers crossed my food funk is broken for next week.

Until then, have a great weekend!

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Things have been terribly uninteresting, food-wise, here in Aussie. For the past few weeks, I have been totally and completely uninspired. For breakfast, I have grapefruit and toast. For lunch, I have veggies and store bought hummus. Sometimes I go wild and have peanut butter and celery. Hold me back!

As a result, new and interesting foods have been scarce. I’ve tried one or two new recipes but they have all fallen short. I think I’ve temporarily lost my kitchen mojo!

This could very well have to do with a hacking cough and lingering feeling of ‘blah’ that I haven’t been able to shake for about a week or so. I’ve been downing green tea and honey like it’s going out of style. And I’ve been craving soup except it’s hot out! Maybe I just need to feed my soup craving and all will return to normal.

Despite the boring food phase I’m facing, I do have this recipe that I promised you a bajillion years ago (or 3 weeks) that I just haven’t gotten around to posting. It uses the Cheeze sauce recipe that I made for Halloween. I made another batch and have been using it for Mac and Cheeze, which is at least somewhat of a comfort food. Even if it isn’t the piping hot soup I crave.

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Veggie Loaded Mac and Cheeze
serves 2

-3 TBSP olive oil

– 3 cloves of garlic

-half an onion

-half a bunch of curly leaf kale

-1/2 c. of tomatoes (I used small cherry tomatoes)

-1 1/2 – 2 c. of pasta of your choice (I used gluten-free buckwheat spirals)

-about 1/2 c. of Cheeze sauce, or more to taste

Heat oil over medium -low heat in a medium sized skillet. Add the onions and the garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir and cover, cooking until the tomatoes are soft and mushy. This should be about 5 minutes. My goal here was to create a really flavorful oil base to cook the kale in. Once the tomatoes are soft, add the kale and toss so it’s covered in the oil. Cover for 5 minutes until the kale and bright green and cooked down. Give it another good toss. Reduce the heat to low.

While the kale is covered and cooking, put your pasta on. Cook according to instructions. Once cooked and drained, add it your kale mixture. Toss everything together. Add your Cheeze sauce and stir/toss to coat. Add more if desire. Keep heat to medium low and heat your mixture until the sauce is hot. Serve right away.

Half recipes if you are making for one person. Leftovers to do not heat up well.

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I’ve made this a few times and more often then not, I serve it in a big bowl and eat it curled up on the couch reading. It’s such a good comfort food meal. You will never pass this off as real mac and cheese to your non-vegan friends but it’s a great, veggie packed recipe that hits that craving when you want the blue box.

I do have a Travel Tuesday for you tomorrow and, hopefully, a Friday Favorite that I’ve been sitting on forever! We’ll see how I come along with the recipes. Fingers cross I create something not sucky soon!

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