April Adventures

Thermie went on holiday in her new carry bag!

 Devil of a Cookbook Chocolate Hot Cross buns. Made quite a few batches of these over the Easter break!

Chocolate donuts - kids favourite. 

Vegemite scrolls - lasted about 3 seconds before they were gone!

For Food's Sake Chorizo, French Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup (made with Umami paste). YUM!

Thermolicious Chilli Sauce - made with home grown chilli's and tomatoes. Quite a nice bite, not too hot. Just perfect.

OHHH and I haven't taken a pic yet because I've only practiced so far. But this buttercream icing recipe is awesome. I did grate the copha (and next time will grate the butter too), and it took a while to get mixing, but the consistency is perfect for piping onto cupcakes. Watch this space!

Dates....thermomix date recipes

So I bought a 1.5kg bag of dates from costco. I have been trying a few new recipes!

Date balls - the kids LOVED these. I added the cocoa and a little maple syrup. So good. No more condensed milk and pkt biscuit yum yum balls for us. These were just as good!

Date Loaf - again, this was a beautiful loaf (probably more cake-y than loaf-y). A smidge of butter to serve, YUM.

Individual Sticky Date puddings - steamed these in the varoma while we were eating our dinner. A very rich, naughty dessert, but oh so good. Kids loved these, which is good, they haven't loved many of the other steamed puddings. I think the caramel sauce won them over...

Bolognaise My Way

I have tried quite a few bolognaise recipes in thermie, but haven't managed to find one that I was happy with both the taste and the consistency  Yesterday I finally achieved what I had wanted - a perfect bolognaise, rich and hearty for a lasagne!

Add
1 onion
1 zucchini
1 carrot
Chop for 5-6 seconds Sp 6

Add
20g olive oil

Saute, 2 minutes, Reverse Sp 2, 100 degrees

Add
20g sweet chilli sauce
100g red wine (I use Shiraz)
1 tblspn TMX vegetable stock
1 tin tomatoes
100g tomato sauce
15g worcestshire sauce
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
2 tbsp tomato paste

Cook for 6 minutes, Reverse, Sp 1, 100 degrees

Add
400-500g beef mince broken in big chunks

Cook for 8 minutes, Reverse, Sp 2, 100 degrees.


YUM!

Let me know if you try this one, I would be interested to see what others think!

Just a few pics...

Ok Ok I am a terrible blogger!!

Here are some recent new stuff thermie has made!

Tomato Tart Tatin (from For Food's Sake). Home grown tomatoes. YUM. 

Pastry was a little undercooked, I think we made it too thick, but apart from that, this was awesome.

More Macarons (of course). I bought one of the silicone macaron baking sheets, makes it much easier to pipe on! Strawberry and Banana were the last 2 batches...

Pizza scrolls - kids love them!

EDC Creme Brulee. Average. Very average....

Raspberry and almond meringue cake (for R's birthday dinner), also from the For Food's SAke cookbook. Ths cake was divine. A special treat for a special guy.

More Thermomix Macarons!

Am loving making macarons in the thermomix. I have tried a new filling Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing. It was a definite winner!!!

Devil of a cookbook

I really enjoy this cookbook, I have made a few different things out of it. This is a link to the recipes included in the book, and here is where you can buy it from!

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Devil of a Cookbook demonstration class. It was amazing! I learnt heaps of handy tips, and got to see Fiona in action. I also got to try the Raw Green Pea and Mint Soup (not really my style, am not a fan of green food!), Watermelon and Feta Salad with Mint dressing (surprisingly delicious), Fragrant Curry Sauce with Chicken (yummo), Salmon with Yoghurt Dressing (beautiful), Mick's Ciabatta (a nice bread, must try this one!), Trixie's light as air Sponge Cake, Real Fruit Jellies, and Invigorating Juice.

I have cooked the Sweet Moroccan Curried Beef, Devil May Care Scones, 1,2,3,4 pancakes, Muesli Slice, Chocolate Brownies and  Martha's Melting Moments. My favourite so far has to be the caramelised onion, feta and pumpkin tart. It uses shortcrust pastry, which I have never made before. I actually think it is my most favourite thermie recipe so far!!!

This is the Sweet Moroccan curried beef - a new family favourite!

A typical Monday in my kitchen...

I cook most of my weekly dinners on a Monday when little miss is at school. The boys amuse themselves with cars or trucks or playing outdoors, and I get busy. In just over 2 hours I usually prepare and cook 5-6 meals. So quick and easy now, especially since my recent purchase of a 2nd thermomix bowl!
I usually make:

• Lasagne for the following night (cheese sauce and vege prep in thermie)
• Spaghetti Bolognaise (or meatballs) - goes into freezer (vege prep in thermie)
• Sweet and Sour chicken  - goes into freezer (all done in thermie)
• Satay chicken - goes into freezer (all done in thermie, or slow cooker depending on how I am going for time)
• Spicy chicken and sweet potato - for Monday nights

and today I added a new favourite:

• Curried Sausages - goes into freezer (all done in thermie)

6 meals in 2 hours. All made from scratch, all loaded with vegetables, all loved by the kids. 

I can't imagine life without a thermomix now!