Day 5 - Something I prepared earlier...

Another hot day and another case of feeling too lazy too cook. Luckily for me I had made lasagne a couple of weeks ago and frozen half of it. So technically I didn't actually use the TM for dinner tonight but the lasagne was made using the TM (from the Everyday cookbook).

Quick and easy meal of lasagne and salad. No cheating tomorrow night, I promise :)

Day 4 - Too hot to cook!

Today reached 42 degrees so normally I would probably say it was too hot to cook and end up with something really basic or takeaway. Instead I decided a salad was the way to go so I had some chicken breast in the fridge and looked up recipes online. Funnily enough I ended up with a salad that is in the "Meet on the Menu" cookbook. I adapted it a little to suit what we had and to make it smaller, I will try to add my version of the recipe tomorrow.

Anyway, here is tonights dinner of Chicken and Potato Salad:

Day 3 - Pool and Pizza!

Tonight we had Andrew's brother Craig and son Cooper around for a swim in our little pool. So it was decided that we need some fairly simple but tasty for dinner. Andrew's idea was pizza (probably thinking take away knowing him) but I decided homemade would be much nicer!

I made some pizza dough (from the Everyday cookbook) before we went out in the afternoon and after a short time letting it rise I placed it in the fridge. When we got home it was just a matter of preparing some toppings and rolling out the pizza bases then after having a swim we assembled our own pizzas.

My pizza - ham, salami, capsicum, mushroom, olives with sundried tomato one side and pineapple the other side.

Jake and Cooper eating their pizza

Day 2 - Indian Lamb Curry

Tonight I made the Indian Lamb Curry (from the "Meat on the Menu" cookbook). I made the curry about an hour before dinner time and then put it in the ThermoServer while Jake and I had a swim. Once out the pool I cooked the rice and streamed some peas (was supposed to have added baby spinach to the curry but ran out). Overall it was nice but a little bland, next time I will experiment with adding a bit more flavour.

Day 1 - The 7-night Dinner Challenge

I am giving myself a new challenge with the hope that it will encourage me to post more on my poor neglected blog!

This challenge will require me to post each dinner for the next seven nights, all meals made in the Thermomix of course :)

So I will start with tonight. After getting home from doing the childcare pick up I was able to make this quick and tasty meal in about 30 minutes.

The main meal was Teriyaki Beef with Soba Noodles (from the "Meat on the Menu" cookbook) and to add some veggies I also cooked the "Chinese-Style Stir Fry Vegetables" from the Everyday cookbook.

Tomorrow night I have a bit more time so I plan to make the Indian Lamb Curry (also from the "Meat on the Menu" cookbook).

Christmas Over and Out

Well it is the day after Christmas and I have also realised I haven't posted for over a month. I have been thinking of lots of things to post about but it hasn't quite happened. Anyway, I may as well post a photo of my fruit mince pies as they look so pretty (and were very yummy). I would have done it sooner but have been out of action for the last week with a bad cold.

Licenced to Demo!

It's official, from today I can do Thermomix demos. I don't actually have one booked until next week but today is my official start date as I finished basic training yesterday. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it as I think it will be lots of fun.

Anyway, enough about that, here is a look at what I made today:

Cheese and Vegemite scrolls

It was just a matter of making up some basic bread dough (all white flour), rolling it out flat, brushing some Vegemite on and sprinkling on the grated cheese (grated in the TMX of course!). Roll it up and then slice them off at about 1.5cm intervals. I then popped them in the oven for about 20 mins at 190 degrees.

I just used half the dough and made a mini loaf of bread with the other half.

Thermomix Apple Pie

Today I made an Apple Pie using the Thermomix. Earlier this year I made on for the first time the old fashioned way which involved rubbing butter and flour together to make the 'breadcrumbs' for the pastry. I ended up with sore hands from it (yeah I know, boo hoo). Anyway, today it was so much easier! I just put the flour and butter in then mixed 10 seconds on speed 6... yay, no sore hands!


I will share the recipe I used as I had to google to find one but modified it so here is my version:

Apple Pie

Short crust pastry

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
150g Butter, chilled and cut in pieces
pinch of salt
75-80g Water

Method

Place flour, butter and salt in TM and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6 or until mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Add water and kneed for 20 seconds on Interval speed.
Empty mixture on to floured surface (or ThermoMat) and kneed lightly.
Put in refrigerator while preparing apple filling.


Apple filling

Ingredients

Approx 1kg of Apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters.
1 - 2 tsp All spice
80g Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Place apple in TM bowl and chop roughly for 10 seconds on speed 6
Add rest of the ingredients and mix for 30 seconds on Reverse Speed 1.

Assemble Pie

Divide pasty into two pieces. Roll the first half flat and fit into a 25cm pie pan.
Pour the apple mixture into the pie base.
Cover the top of the pie with strips of pastry. Brush top with milk.

Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

Cream + Thermomix = whoopsie butter

It has been a bit over a week since my last post, I haven't taken a photo of every single thing I have made as that might get a bit boring :) Sunday night we had some friends come around for dinner and I made the Lasagne in the basic cookbook for mains and the "Easy chocolate mousse" for dessert. It was easy to make, although I managed to turn the cream into butter so I had to go out (should I say 'whip' out) to get some more. These things happen, I don't blame the machine, it was clearly user error :)

Not exactly the right way to make butter in the Thermomix... whoops...

 

The finished result (once I got some more cream to use). Very yummy!!

It's Dinner Time

Ok, I promise I won't blog every single dinner but at the moment it is still very exciting and new to me. I was actually looking forward to cooking dinner tonight, normally it is something that I put off until the last minute.

Anyway, I thought I would try out the Varoma by steaming some chip shaped sweet potato. I then brushed on some oil and a little salt and cooked them in the oven. Jake loved it! It was so nice seeing him eat a vegetable. I also made the "Herbal Chicken Hors-D'oeuvres" from the Everyday Cooking cookbook, very easy to make and something I think I will do again and probably modify to sneak some more vegies into Jake.

Now we're cooking!

Today was time to get started using the Thermomix. First the day involved preparing a shopping list plus a basic meal plan and then a trip to the shops. I thought I would be heading home with nothing as I almost left after dealing with a major tantrum early in the shopping trip but fortunately Jake's mood improved an we were able to finish the shopping.

Yesterday I cooked custard with the Themomix consultant's guidance but today I was on my own. I decided to cook muffins so I used the recipe in the Everyday Cooking cookbook although I made some minor variations.

Just chucked all ingredients for muffins in except the choc-chips.

The finished mixture after processing and mixing in choc-chips.

The finished product - Banana & Choc Chip muffins.

Gets the tick of approval from Jake.

Next I needed to make some stock concentrate. I once again used the recipe in the Everyday Cooking cookbook with a couple of changes as I didn't have everything listed.

Making up stock concentrate - before processing

After processing

Once the stock was made it was then time to make the Risotto. I based it on the Mushroom risotto recipe in the Everyday Cooking cookbook but as Andrew doesn't like mushroom I used sundried tomato and broccoli instead. It turned out well but was a little salty so possible too much stock concentrate added.

Tonight's dinner - Sundried tomato, broccoli and baby spinach risotto.

I forgot to take a photo but I also whipped up some chocolate custard to take around to Andrew's parents place as we were visiting after dinner. 

So overall a very productive day food wise. I'm already feeling pretty comfortable using the machine. Next step is to try something using the Varoma.

One more sleep!

Tomorrow is the day! My consultant will deliver my new machine directly to my house (on a Sunday) and get me started by cooking something in it. I have chosen just to do a custard as something quick and easy, I'm sure Jake my two year old will be pretty happy with that choice.

So once I get my recipe books I can get planning on what I will cook this week.

Ordered and waiting

The focus of my blog is my new 'toy' which has been ordered this weekend. It is a Themomix, a super dooper chopping, mixing, cooking machine. I can't wait to get it to start playing, I mean cooking :)

Not only did I purchase my Thermomix on the weekend, I also signed up to become a demonstrator. It is something completely different to what I have done before but I think it will be fun to show people what it can do, and hopefully make a little income for myself while I am at it. My training is in early November so once that is complete I can begin doing demos.

I plan to put up a meal a week online to show what can be made. I might even post some tips and other useful things I learn along the way.

So now I just have to patiently wait for my machine.