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Apple Quinoa Flake Bake

February 19, 2014 by Erin

Sometimes, I’m certain that my body is boycotting the fact that I removed it from New England. According to all of my friends’ facebook statuses, it’s been snowing in Massachusetts since I left in October. Practically non-stop. In fact, by some weird coincidence, every time it snows in Mass, the temperature spikes here in Toowoomba.

Despite this, I occasionally forget I am not in a cold climate. Last week when I purchased quinoa and vegetable soup from the health store? Yeah, it’s been in the 90s and it’s still sitting in my fridge. The other morning when I rolled out of bed and put on my comfy yoga pants, tshirt and hoody and went in the kitchen and made this apple Quinoa Flake Bake? Yeah, I ate half because it was too heavy and then changed into shorts and a tanktop. I don’t know what I was thinking.

It does benefit those stuck in cold climates, though! This is a fast, single-serving, hearty stick-to-your-ribs breakfast that is perfect for a snow day.

Apple Quinoa Flake Bake
from Healthful Pursuit

1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1 tbsp sugar (I used coconut sugar but regular white sugar will work fine)
1 tbsp of chia seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
handful of chopped walnuts
handful of coconut

optional toppings: natural peanut butter (I used Teddy’s), maple syrup, raisins, apple, etc.

Directions

Prepare a 16oz. microwave/oven safe dish by oiling with a dab of coconut oil. Set aside. Drop all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until fully incorporated. Press mixture into prepare dish and even out with fork.

Microwave option: Place in the microwave and cook for 3 1/2 minutes. You’ll know when it’s done when it rises slightly, is harder to the touch, and pulls away from the sides of the dish. Don’t bake it too long, or you’ll have a chocolate Frisbee!

Oven option (WV note: I have not tried this in the oven): Place in a preheated oven at 350F and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to rest for 1 minute before tipping over onto a plate and smothering with your favorite toppings.

Though tasty and filling, this has the texture of baked oatmeal when it is complete, which is a little dry for me. I would suggest topping with peanut butter (or other nut/seed butter of your choice) and/or maple syrup. That’s a personal preference, though. Taste it first and see what you think.

This also pairs well with a hot beverage, sweats, warm slippers and lots of blankets.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged apple, breakfast, quinoa flake, single serving | Leave a Comment »

Travel Tuesday: Sydney, Part 3

February 18, 2014 by Erin

After Christmas, my friend, Kate, met up with me in Sydney to do some hanging out. We ditched the hostel for a hotel (YEAH! she couldn’t get a room for all the nights AND it was cheaper. I swear.), shopped- a lot, drank some wine, shopped some more, and went to bed embarrassingly early on more than one occasion.

Room upgrade:

Of course, we also went on a wine tour, the day after the one night we stayed up til 2 and 3 in the morning. Let’s just say we weren’t the most enthusiastic bunch at our 7 am pick up.

On our wine tour, we visited:

Tempus Two, where I was reminded I am a light weight and probably shouldn’t be drinking 6 glasses of wine back to back at 10am;

the smelly cheese shop, where Kate and I bought a fresh, warm loaf of bread and some cheese (I know, not vegan. But holy booze, Batman!) to soak up said glasses of wine…and maybe some of the booze from the night before;

Lambloch, which had the best view and where we hoovered down our bread and cheese;

Blueberry Hill, where we discovered there ain’t no shame in sipping your wine and then dumping it in the conveniently placed bins as soon as the instructors turn their back on you;

That’s the spirit, Kate!

The Blue Tongue Brewery, where we stopped for lunch and passed on the beer. We thought it best not to mix wine and beer. We did go next door to their cellar door wine tasting, though, where we met the nicest guy, who tried to help us pick out a wine to pair with our dinner of frozen pizza. Not surprisingly, we didn’t find one;

and Misty Glen Wines, a newer, smaller vineyard run by a retired couple with the two cutest dogs that we got to play with. There aren’t any pictures of this because by the time we hit this one, we were exhausted and half in the bag. Sleeping and possibly snoring, happened on the van ride back to Sydney.

We also stopped at this second cheese store in a plaza with a few other cutesy stores but only had about 15 minutes to hit up all the stores.This was SO frustrating. Don’t advertise a tour as a wine, cheese and chocolate tour when you only have 5 minutes in a chocolate store. That’s my only complaint!

We booked our tour here and, all kidding aside, really enjoyed ourselves. In my very limited wine experience, I am only really familiar with Italian wines and wines from around the Finger Lakes in NY (Thanks, Christine!). I had a good time exploring what the Hunter Valley had to offer. Next time though, I think I’ll smuggle in more bread!

The rest of our trip was a mix of sightseeing and shopping. We visited the Sydney Opera House, the Bridge, the Rocks (which were mobbed with NYE sightseers) and had dinner with some of Kate’s friends. All and all it was quite the enjoyable trip.

This is my second major Australian city so I’m hoping my next trip with involve some nature action, like the Great Barrier Reefs or something. But you know, not too much nature. I don’t want to tempt the killer sharks, poisons jellyfish and deadly spiders. So like, nature in the form of cute penguins or nature from a distance. You know, safe nature. Yeah…I’m thinking that. I’ll let you know how that pans out.

Oh also, I found this in the airport:

*all wine tour pictures courtesy of Kate and her Iphone. I forgot my camera (!!!) so she let me use her phone most of the day. I definitely appreciated it.

Posted in Life | Tagged Sydney, Travel Tuesdays, wine tasting | Leave a Comment »

Coconut Passionfruit Cupcakes with Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting

February 14, 2014 by Erin

I know it’s 7:30pm in the States and the day after Valentine’s Day in Australia but I am physically incapably of letting a holiday pass without making a corresponding dessert. I think it may be a problem. Chronic Seasonalbakingaholic? Sure, that sounds about right.

For this Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make something a little different. EVERYONE makes red velvet something or other. I’m totally guilty of that as last year I made Red Velvet Nutella Breakfast Rolls in the shape of hearts. (side note: the Aussies say “Love heart” when describing the traditional Valentines Day heart…weirdos). They were to die for. I think I had a dreams about those breakfast rolls for days after. BUT, they were kind of cliche.

So this year, I decided to branch out a little and leave the red velvet for others (my pancakes were technically not red velvet since they don’t have food dye…even though you could easily add it). I decided to go for passionfruit since you want passion for Valentine’s Day? Get it? Get it? Cool. And thanks to this handy cook book I got for Christmas (thanks Matt!), I know that passionfruit and coconut pair well together. Thus, the Coconut Passionfruit Cupcake with Coconut Milk Buttercream was born.

Coconut Passionfruit Cupcake with Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting
veganized from SBS.com.au
makes approximately 15

cake ingredients:

1½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened, whichever you prefer.
¾ cup coconut milk
¼ cup passionfruit pulp (approximately 3–4 large passionfruit)
¾ cup vegan butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
2 Ener-G eggs

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Whisk together the flour and coconut in bowl, set aside. Combine the coconut milk and passionfruit pulp in a small jug and set aside. Whisk together the vegan eggs and set aside.

Cream butter for 1–2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the caster sugar a third at a time and beat for 1–2 minutes after each addition.

Add 1/2 the egg mixture and beat for 1 minute. Add the rest and beat for 1 minute.

Add ⅓ of the flour and coconut and beat on low until just combined. Add half of the coconut milk and passionfruit mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this again and then finish with the final third of the flour and coconut. Do not over beat the mixture or it will become tough.

Line cupcake pans with papers and fill liners 3/4 full. Bake for 15–20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested. Allow cool on a cake cooler.

Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting*:
adapted from Dairyfreecooking.about.com

1/2 cup dairy-free soy margarine, room temperature
4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)

Beat the butter until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add half of the powdered sugar and beat for another 1-2 minutes until well mixed. Add the coconut milk and vanilla extract. Beat for another 1-2 minutes. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat for 1 minute or until well mixed and fluffy. Add food coloring if you wish.

*One of the batches of cupcakes I made come out super fluffy and moist. It was almost the texture of pound cake and suspect I over mixed something. If that happens with yours, I would recommend saving the buttercream for another recipe and going the coconut whipped cream route. I haven’t been able to find an Aussie brand of coconut milk that will separate which is why I opted for buttercream but most in the US do separate.

To make the chocolate hearts:

vegan chocolate, preferably melting chocolates

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment paper and set aside. Place some vegan chocolate in a plastic baggy and stick it in the microwave. Heat for 15 seconds. Pull it out and mush the chocolate around. Repeat this process until the chocolate is fully melted. Snip the corner of baggy. Pipe hearts onto your prepared cookie sheet. Put it in the fridge to solidify. Once hard, decorate your cupcakes!

Hope everyone has a great Valentine’s with their special someone or with friends! I’ll tell you how I spent my Valentine’s Day next week. It was kind of hilarious.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged coconut, coconut milk, cupcakes, dessert, passionfruit, valentine's day | 2 Comments »

Chocolate Pancakes for One

February 13, 2014 by Erin

Oh Valentine’s Day. You are here again. For all those couples out there, you put pressure on them to buy awesome things. For all those single people, you just make them feel like crap for being single! It’s a lose, lose situation.

Fortunately, these pancakes are here for you. If you are looking to gain a few extra points with your significant other, you can double this recipe and serve breakfast in bed. If you are single, then these are perfect to whip up quickly and then eat while snuggled in bed with your favorite book/movie and their leading man. Mr. Darcy? Edward? Noah Calhoun? Aint nothing wrong with that!

Chocolate Pancakes for One
slightly modified from Chocolate Covered Katie
makes 3 largish pancakes

4T all purpose flour
1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
scant 1/8 tsp salt
2T cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 1T nondairy milk
1 tablespoon oil
1-2 T sugar
Optional- Red food coloring or beet juice for a red velvet pancake

* I also made this with whole wheat flour and Stevia for a healthier option and though it was edible, I would recommend the above version instead. The whole wheat/stevia version came out kind of rubbery.

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet and mix. Then make your pancakes!

Speaking of Noah Calhoun, I accidentally discovered that the local cinema near here is playing the Notebook on Valentine’s Night. I quickly recruited a friend and bought those tickets ASAP! So, I’m a mere few hours away from seeing Mr. Ryan Gosling on the large screen. Happy Valentine’s Day to me!!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged breakfast, chocolate, pancakes, single serving, valentine's day | 1 Comment »

Valentine’s Day Round-Up

February 12, 2014 by Erin

Another year, Another Valentine’s Day. This year, it would be really, really great if Ed Sheeran could swing on over to Australia and be my date. I can make dinner and we can rewatch Game of Thrones in preparation for the upcoming season. Or, you know, I’m open to suggestions.

While I wait for my phone to ring, here’s a recipe round up for Valentine’s Day. It’s just a few recipes I thought would work well for that evening. There will be two new recipes coming Thursday and Friday as well. I just want to rephotograph one but I’ve been feeling icky the past few days. Don’t worry, Ed. I’ll be perfectly fine by Friday.

Breakfast:

Red Velvet Nutella Breakfast Rolls

Strawberry Glazed Donuts

“Be Mine” Fruit Smoothie

Dinner:

Peanutty Noodles

Pumpkin Burgers with a side of Beer Fries

Spicy Black Bean and Quinoa Soup, for those facing more snow this week

Pomegranate Margaritas

Dessert:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Crispy Treats

Dark Chocolate Truffles

The Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

Strawberry Macaroons

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

Dessert for One: For those staying in and flying solo, these pair great with wine, popcorn and a chick flick

Cookie Dough Truffles

single serving funfetti cupcake

Posted in Recipes | Tagged recipe round up, valentine's day | 2 Comments »

Friday Favorites and Mocha Fudgesicles.

February 7, 2014 by Erin

I am SO happy it is Friday! It’s week two of the new school year and waking up early again is hitting me hard. I’ve been in grumpy zombie mode all week. I’ve wanted nothing but a serious nap. I went to bed one night at 9:30 and I still can’t shake it! This weekend I will be lounging in bed late every morning and soaking up the laziness! I think I may also work on some Valentine’s Recipes and check out Wolf of Wall Street. Has anyone seen it? Thoughts?

ok, Friday Favorites:

New Music: New Taking Back Sunday (duh!):

Favorite new exfoliant: Lush‘s Let the Good Times Roll. This was one of my Sydney Lush purchases and I can’t get enough of it. It smells amazing, like caramel popcorn, and leaves my skin so soft. The lady at Lush told me to use it every other day or every three days. It nearly kills me not to use it every night. Ob-sessed! I think it’s seasonal, though

Picture from Lush.com

Favorite New Make-up: Garnier’s BB cream. I’m not going to get into a big make-up rant because I sound like a commercial. I will say getting up early, working with kids and living in a sunny, hot climate has resulted in me almost never wearing makeup during the day. When I do, I wanted something much lighter and gentler on my skin. This meets all those requirements. Plus, my skin actually looks better after I wear it. True story. Downside- it’s not all natural. Leave a comment below if you have a good all natural foundation you use.

Favorite Beverage: Boost’s King William Smoothy. It’s just cold, liquid chocolate. Perfect thing to kick my chocolate cravings. To make vegan, I switched the milk for soy milk and the yogurt for sorbet. In this case, I’m pretending all chocolate is vegan. I’m the worst vegan ever.

Favorite Treat: Popsicles. When I can’t afford the above smoothie, I reach for these. It’s been hot here and I’ve been on a cold treat kick. I made these fudgesicles a few weeks ago and had to force myself to keep them to a snack. A hot meal for lunch and dinner? Nah, bring on the frozen chocolate!

Mocha Fudgesicles
slightly altered from Take A Mega Bite

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz) can full fat coconut milk
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips or vegan chocolate
1 T instant espresso or 2 T instant coffee
pinch salt
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 T- 1 T sugar, depending on the chocolate used (my chocolate chips were sweet enough so I used 1/2T)

Place the coconut milk, chocolate, and espresso in a saucepan and heat until chocolate is mostly melted. Set aside for 5 minutes for the coffee to steep. Stir in salt, vanilla, and sugar. Taste and add more sugar to taste. Pour into popsicle mold and freeze for a few hours or over night.

If you do not have popsicle molds (like myself), pour into small paper or plastic cups, cover with tin foil and poke your popsicle stick through the tin foil. Freeze for a few hours or over night.

When ready to eat, run the mold under warm water. If you pull a stick out sans pop just run it under water and place back in the popsicle to freeze.

These were so creamy and delicious. I definitely hoarded them from the children because I didn’t want to share. I mean… because they don’t need the caffeine. yeah…we’ll go with that.

Now, what are your weekend plans?

Posted in Recipes | Tagged chocolate, coconut milk, dessert, Friday Favorites, popsicles, snack | Leave a Comment »

Travel Tuesday- Sydney, Part 2

February 4, 2014 by Erin

My second day in Sydney was Christmas! It was cool and rainy. I spent the morning skyping with the family, opening a few present (I totally got Taylor Swift Keds. I’m totally not even embarrassed. They’re totally cute) and taking my time. It was a holiday after all!

Eventually, I got my butt in gear and decided to visit a few tourist traps. I wanted to remain busy to avoid being homesick. And nothing says, ‘Cheer up, Erin!’ like spending the holidays with adorable penguins and Kate and William. Plus, there really wasn’t much else open.

First up, I needed to get into the Christmas spirit and nothing says Christmas like a Hot Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks on a rainy morning. To make it vegan, I order a peppermint soy latte and add cocoa powder from the milk and sugar area. Possibly better then the original. Also, It was my first of the season. I was pumped! So pumped in fact that I went on to have one Starbucks beverage almost every day during my Sydney trip. Hello liquid calories!!

Then it was off to the Sydney Aquarium. Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed. There didn’t seem to be much room for many of the animals and there wasn’t really much chance to wander and explore. The aquarium was sort of set up as a one way path. You follow it and that’s that. It was surprisingly crowded on Christmas Day with tourist and I definitely felt the lack of space. I actually saw one family with an elderly person in a wheel chair bail out through an Employee Only exit because they couldn’t find any way out and didn’t have time to go through the whole aquarium. On the plus side though, they had Fairy Penguins, the smallest penguins in the world and oh-so-cute, as well as Dugongs, which are related to Manatees and I had never heard of before.

A nursery for shark eggs. How crazy are those spiraled ones??

Fairy penguins! super cute but they were all enclosed so I had a hard time getting a picture

Tiny little sea horse

Moon jellyfish, I believe.

The dugong.

I don’t believe them and I’m still not going in the water!

I took this picture in a tunnel you have to walk through. It’s surrounded on all sides by a tank and the sharks can just swim above your head, no big deal.

Next up was Madame Taussaud’s Wax Museum. Also VERY crowded. Particularly with tourists that were incredibly unaware of their surroundings and kept walking into my pictures. Or jumping the line for pictures. I was not amused. By the time I got out, I was so worked up and stressed all I could think of was, “Someone get me a margarita before I hurt someone!!”

I did see some amazing sculptures, though. Being in Sydney, there were a lot of Australian celebrities represented – Hugh Jackman, Miranda Kerr, Olivia Newton John- as well as huge A-listers like Brad and Angelina, William and Kate, Katy Perry and Leonardo Di Caprio. It’s amazing how real some of them look! The only room that really held no interest for me was the Australian history room because I didn’t know any of the figures and it was too crowded to leisurely read the cards.

What did you do on Christmas? I hung out with royalty. I actually got my picture taken with them but it was by one of the museum’s photographers and they tried to charge me, like, $45 for them. No thanks!

“You’re the one that I want, (you are the one I want), oo, oo,oo honey!”

Wolverine!

My “thank-gosh-I-got-out-of-that-museum-without-killing-anyone” Margarita.

After dinner, I wondered around the Sydney Harbor which was decorated for Christmas (So many Santas!) then went back to the room to relax and dry off from the rain.

I should have one more post from my Sydney travels coming next week. Let me know what you think of this Travel Tuesday feature!

Posted in Life | Tagged Aquariam, Sydney, Travel Tuesday, Wax Museum | Leave a Comment »

Friday Favorites and Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies

January 31, 2014 by Erin

So today I’m sharing with you Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies, aka, The Resolution Breakers. These can be eaten in cookie format OR in cookie dough format. They have three kinds of chocolate, they have peanut, they have sugar, they are basically everything that people give up when they start the New Year and swear to eat health. I’m sorry but they are just too good not to share.

But first, Friday Favorites!

This commercial, which has me dying to know where my pogs went and if we can make them a thing again

This Full House Reunion, which begs the question ‘Has Uncle Jesse been living in a bubble because he looks EXACTLY the same’:

This song and the entire Save Rock and Roll album by the Fall Out Boys. I’ve listened to it every day this week during my work outs and I can not get enough. For some reason, I just really love FOB when I am in a foreign country. I can’t explain it

Sally Hansen- Golden Rule nail polish. It’s gold and glittery and nothing like the normal nail polishes I wear, which are black or red. But I’m half way through my Golden Rule bottle and I still love it so that speaks volumes. I tried to take one of those fancy pinterest photos of my nails and the nail bottle and honestly, it just wasn’t happening. Google it. You’ll find pictures a thousand times better then mine.

from Sallyhansen.com

and finally, these Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate cookies. I’ve been craving chocolate like there’s no tomorrow lately and these seem to hit the spot. I threw in some peanut butter on a whim. My all time favorite peanut butter is Teddy’s and I received two jars from the states for Christmas. I’ve pretty much been eating it on everything which may or may not be a good thing. So, when I was making these cookies I thought, why not throw some peanut butter in? And then I thought, why not dunk the thing in even more chocolate. Yeah…I think I have a problem.

Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cookies
recipe adapted from Cadbury Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 C. butter, softened
1/4 C. all natural peanut butter
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup sugar
1 Energ-E egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups self raising flour
½ cup cocoa
¾ cup vegan chocolate chips

1 cup of vegan chocolate chips for dunking (optional)

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Whisk in “egg” and vanilla. Stir in flour and Cocoa then fold in the chocolate chips
2. Roll into balls and place on greased baking trays. Bake in oven at 320°F/160°C for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.
3. Once cool, melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler (my preferred method) or in the microwave. Dunk half the cookie in the chocolate and place on wax paper to dry.

These also make DELICIOUS cookie truffles. To make, just skip step 2. Instead, roll your dough into balls, chill and then dunk in melted chocolate. This is equally delicious and you can save yourself 10-15 minutes if you are UBER craving chocolate. Or you can just mix the dough and eat it straight out of the bowl. I’m not judging.

Posted in Life, Recipes | Tagged chocolate, cookies, Fall Out Boy, Friday Favorites, Full House, Nail Polish, peanut butter | 2 Comments »

BBQ Polenta Bites

January 30, 2014 by Erin

Last year for the Super Bowl, my friend Amelia (who created this hummus and helped with my Aussie header above), strolled into my super bowl party with Buffalo Polenta Bites. At that point, I had had polenta exactly zero times. It’s just not something we ever had around the house. After trying them though, I couldn’t get them out of my head. They were SO good.

Since then, I have thought of those buffalo bites at least once a month and always tell myself that I need to try and make them. As polenta is not something I normally have and frying the heck out of pseudo-cornmeal screams ‘special occasion’, I just never really got around to trying this recipe out.

Plus, it sort of scared me because I seriously always think placenta in my head. True story. Even as I’m typing this, I keep triple checking myself. Cause really, those are just not two things that you should get mixed up. Ever.

Anyway, as I’m currently kicking it in Australia, I’m not sure if I will be able to watch the Super Bowl but I couldn’t resist a chance to recreate Amelia’s recipe. Of course, I couldn’t find Buffalo Sauce here which sort of breaks my heart, so I had to go the BBQ route. Feel free to sub your favorite kind of sauce for BBQ sauce. I imagine it would taste great with Buffalo, teryaki or hoisin sauce. Whatever floats your boat!

BBQ Polenta Bites
inspired by Amelia and based off of Taste.com.au

3 C. of water
3/4 C. instant polenta
1 TBSP of vegan butter (I used nuttelex lite)
1/8 C. nutritional yeast
1/4 c. flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp smoked paprika (or more to taste)
vegetable oil
1/4-1/2 C. BBQ sauce

Grease a small cookie sheet and set aside.

Bring water to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add polenta in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cook for 3-5 minutes, continuing to stir constantly, until the polenta is thick and soft. Stir in the butter, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the polenta into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Set aside to cool. Once cool, cover and place in fridge to set. I checked mine after an hour and it was all set.

Cut the polenta into bite size pieces, mine came to about 20. Mix the flour, smoked paprika, salt and pepper together. Add the polenta and toss to coat.

Heat vegetable oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. You want enough vegetable oil so that when you lay your polenta in the pan, it hits your pieces at the mid-way mark. So the amount of oil will depend on the sizes of your polenta bites and your pan.

Add the polenta bites to your pan a few at a time. You do not want to crowd your pan so make sure you have plenty of room for your bites to cook. I fit 7 pieces into my frying pan at one time. Cook for 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel.

Once all your polenta bites have been fried and are cool, place them in a large mixing bowl. Add about 1/4 C of BBQ sauce and toss gently with a large spoon until covered. Add more BBQ sauce if needed. The amount will depend on the type of BBQ sauce used and the number of bites you have.

So now for the all important question- Who are you voting for in the super bowl? I’m routing for the Broncos and Welker. If you follow my blog at all, you know Welker holds a dear place in my Dad’s heart. It was a sad, sad day in our house when he was traded from the Patriots. So this is our chance to root for the guy once again and what kind of daughter would I be if I didn’t take this chance to cheer on my Dad’s man crush? I mean, Come on! So, let me know if you will be joining my Dad and me as we cheer on Welker or if you are throwing in your lot with the Seahawks. Look, I even included a poll so you can vote. I’m getting fancy up in here! After you vote, leave a comment and tell me what you’re making. I’m living vicariously through you guys. Help a girl out!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged appetizer, bbq, polenta, snack, Super Bowl | 1 Comment »

Travel Tuesday: Sydney, Part 1

January 28, 2014 by Erin

Even though I’ve only done a handful of them, Travel Tuesdays have quickly become my favorite section on this blog. I hope I can keep them up for 2014.

As I mentioned, I went to Sydney over the Christmas Holiday for 1 week. It ended up being my only travel opportunity so I’m glad I went the full week. It reminded me a lot of NYC in that it was a fun city to visit but I didn’t find it as sightseeing heavy as say, Paris, London, Florence, etc. I had a great time, don’t get me wrong! But it was mostly because I shopped until I, quite literally, dropped at the end of the day. There were nights I went to bed certain that my feet had swollen to twice their normal size. Good thing I had bought out Lush earlier and had about a million different bath bombs to soak them in! SO excited.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make aside from the fact that I’m a horrendous consumer whose soul belongs to Lush and Starbucks, is that though I enjoyed Sydney, I may not have as many pictures as I anticipated. Despite my week long trip, I think I may only get about 2 or 3 Travel Tuesdays out of it. And I hope I don’t bore you.

Now, let’s begin. Day 1 I arrived at about 6 pm to my hostel, Sydney Central YHA. It’s the same chain I stayed at when in Brisbane and was totally sold when I found out they had a free movie night each night. An excuse to stay in and not have to socialize while simultaneously sort of being social since I’m experiencing an event with 30+ strangers and making small talk over the free popcorn machine. Count me in!

Day 2, I planned on getting up early so I could photograph Bondi Beach at sunrise. Turns out it was cool, cloudy and rainy and I mostly woke up at 5 am to get a lot of overcast pictures of the sky. I would later drown this disappointment by raiding Lush (for the first time), dying of excitement over finding fro-yo and aimlessly walking around a giant mall which was so large that I actually got lost. All and all, I would count it pretty successful. After all, any day that has me walking away from a beach not sunburn is victory in my book.

Now, onto the photos! (just click on the photo to see Full Size. It should open in a new window):

Let’s just take a moment to admire my packing skills here. This was round 1 of my attempt to pack. Yes, that is my suitcase before I went to Sydney. In otherwords, before I went shopping for a whole week. Clearly, I had to dump this all out and do some serious editing. I think it’s safe to say I need to work on traveling light.

Waddup Sydney Central Hostel! I spent three nights here in a room with 5 other girls. I can safely say I didn’t hate it. The staff was helpful, there was a nice restaurant inside with breakfast served all day and the most important thing, I didn’t get bed bugs. I can also say, I didn’t love it. Especially when two of the girls in my room rolled in at 3 am on the morning I was waking up at 5 am. Then turned on all the lights so they could see. Then one got a booty call at 3:15am and proceeded to talk to said booty call until 3:30am when it finally dawned on her that maybe it was rude and took it out side. I didn’t love that so much. But the rest of the hostel was nice!

Now, endless beach pictures:

why yes, I did wear my Converse to the beach and yes, I am still finding sand in them. BUT, since it was cloudy and cool, I ended up walking about a mile and a half up a rather steep street to get to the mall , Bondi junction, so it ended up being a wise decision.

Anyone who knows me knows that the Achilles heel of my veganism is Fro-yo and ice cream. It’s my kryptonite. I love it. So when I found a fro-yo place at Bondi Beach, I almost died. There are no fro-yo places where I’m living in Toowoomba. I don’t know how I moved to a place with no Starbucks and no fro-yo but somehow I did. This was is half original fro-yo with pomegranate and granola. And have chocolate with cookie dough, Tim Tams (!) and a sour gummy worm. Not vegan but delicious. Ironically, for lunch I stopped at this little vegan joint called Iku Whole Foods bought sweet potato millet balls, ate it on a fresh roll (from Tin Pin Bakery) with some hummus and fruit salad from Bondi Road Fruitologist (heaven!). Did I photograph any of that? Of course not. I just photographed the ice cream. oi!

I’m pretty sure sharks don’t come this close inland. I think I’m safe.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Bondi without a few surfer pics. Because of the weather, the beach was almost deserted that day but I know the few days before and after it was mobbed.

This bird has one foot. Just saying.

More to come next week! I visit the opera house and go on a wine and cheese tour which may not have been the best idea for a light weight vegan. But it was still fun!

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