TWD - Les Whoopies

Blogging is terrific for broadening your experiences.  Until I began reading blogs, I had never heard of the US treat known as Whoopie pies, but became fascinated with them because of their pretty cool name.  The origin of Whoopie pies is disputed, but are thought to have been the creation of the Pennsylvanian  Amish community.  They are also the state pie of Maine.  A Whoopie pie comprises two cake-like cookies which are sandwiched together with a sweet filling of some kind. 

This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Les Whoopies, and it is the first time that I have made Whoopie pies.  There is a café down the road from me that sells great Whoopie pies, so I have tried them before.

I didn't bother getting a Whoopie pie pan - having known about Whoopie pies for around 10 years and never having made them before, I don't think I can justify a Whoopie pie pan.  It is not necessary to have a special pan to make them, and while it would have made  my Whoopie pies slightly more regular in shape, I was quite happy with my results without it.

These Whoopie pies are light, fluffy and chocolatey, and the peanut butter flavoured filling is a perfect match for the chocolate.  I would happily make these again.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Hairy Dieters' Beef Stroganoff

I like hearty dishes in cold weather, and the Hairy Dieters' Beef Stroganoff surely hit the spot.  The Hairy Dieters have taken an old favourite and made it calorie friendly, for example, by subbing cream with half fat crème fraiche.

You can find the recipe posted online here, but I highly recommend the book that it comes from, The Hairy Dieters Eat For Life.  What's not to love - beef, mushrooms, onions and of course, sauce!

I served my beef strog with boiled wholegrain rice to soak up all the lovely sauce.  Definitely a winner!

Garden State Hotel, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

In the US, New Jersey is the Garden State, but in Australia, Victoria was previously known as "The Garden State".  (Now I think Victoria is "On the Move".)

In Flinders Lane, there is a hotel named the Garden State Hotel.  One Sunday for lunch, before seeing Viceroy's House at Kino, Tim and I wandered into the Garden State Hotel's Public Bar for lunch: 

Above our table, I loved this print quoting Rumer Godden, author of The Greengage Summer (which I have read and became aware of through the lovely Jane Asher, who starred in a movie adaptation of the book as a child, and who once dated Paul McCartney - hence there is a Beatles connection!):  

They have quite an extensive "Beer Garden" menu.  On the day, Tim ordered the market fish with Kipfler potatoes, caper and peppercorn dressing ($21):

Tim said that this meal was delicious.  I especially liked that the fish was served with potatoes instead of fries, making it slightly unusual and more healthy.

I ordered the Borrowdale pork schnitzel with brussels sprouts and mustard ($22): 

I was initially rather surprised to see the brussels sprouts shredded and covering the top of the schnitzel, but I think that the idea was to make them into a sauce with the mustard.  I enjoyed it, although in the end it was probably a little large for me to handle (not a bad issue).

The atmosphere at Garden State was relaxed and casual, the staff were friendly, and at this Sunday lunchtime, it wasn't overcrowded or noisy. 

We enjoyed our spontaneous lunch at Garden State and would go back again.

Garden State Hotel

101 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Ph: 03 8396 5777

EwE - Asian Chicken Wrap - Picnic Day

This week's Eating with Ellie theme is Picnic Day, chosen by moi.  For my recipe, I chose Ellie's Asian Chicken Wrap from So Easy, also online here.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe.  The recipe called for Asian cabbage (wombok) leaves, but my supermarket rarely stocks those, so I used lettuce leaves instead.

I also detest raw capsicum, so I subbed in sliced tomatoes.

Here is the filling before being wrapped: 

I really liked the sauce that Ellie included in the recipe to drizzle over the ingredients.  It lifted the wrap from boring to interesting.

To see what the others made for Picnic Day, visit the LYL section of the Eating with Ellie website.

TWD - My Newest Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week's Tuesday with Dorie (Cookies) recipe is My Newest Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The recipe made 50 cookies, so I quartered it to avoid drowning in cookies.

These cookies are buttery, chewy and packed with chocolate.  I ate two warm out of the oven and they were delicious. 

When you taste cookies like this, you wonder why anyone with an oven and a baking tray would buy hard, tasteless store-bought versions.  These cookies are quick to prepare, require no special skills (I made them while keeping an eye on Cake Wars, so wasn't even giving them my full attention) and yield a terrific result for little effort. 

To see what cookies the other Dorie bakers made this week and what they thought of them, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower

It is winter here, a season for hearty comfort food, and roasts are high on the agenda.

No good roast is complete without a side of roasted vegetables.  If you don't mind the smell of "stinky" vegetables roasting, and you like brussels sprouts and cauliflower, then you might like this tasty recipe for roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower that appeared in the June 2017 issue of Mindfood.

It really is quite simple - preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Wash, drain and halve 400g brussels sprouts.  Cut a whole cauliflower into florets and wash.  Toss the vegetables with 2 garlic cloves and half a cup of olive oil, season to taste, then roast for 30-40 minutes in the oven. 

Remove from the oven and  allow to cool a little before tossing in a mixture of 1 cup Greek yoghurt, 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 teaspoon ground coriander. 

Garnish with herbs and serve with lemon wedges if desired.

EwE - Cool off with ... Peach Pie Smoothie

It is summer in the US, so for this week's Eating with Ellie, Margaret has chosen the theme of Cool Off With ...  It has just entered winter here, so cooling off is not an issue for me.  However, I couldn't just submit "winter" as my post, so I flicked through my Ellie books and chose Peach Pie Smoothie from So Easy. 

This smoothie contains lots of cooling ingredients, like milk, yoghurt and ice.  The original recipe also contained frozen peaches; I have never seen frozen peaches sold here, but I keep my opened canned fruit in the fridge, so I used cold canned peaches.  The sum of all of this is a rather cooling drink.  The "pie" component comes from sprinklings of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and a little added sweetness comes from honey.

I made mine for breakfast one weekend morning, and I rather enjoyed it - it was nicer texturally for me than a banana smoothie I tried earlier in the year.

To see how my Ellie friends are cooling off, visit the LYL section of the Eating with Ellie website.