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 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 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).

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.