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!

CAKE!

Been busy making cakes lately...

This was a chocolate mud with dark chocolate ganache.

This was a vanilla mud with milk chocolate ganache.

A few new favourites to add to my recommend list of recipes:

Sweet and Sour Chicken - freezes well, easy and quick to make, can  pack full of hidden veges. Yummy taste!

Quirky Jo's 'fried' rice - mine looked exactly like Jo's picture. This was so quick and easy to make - 25 minutes from start to finish. Best of all my non-vegetable loving kids loved it - Miss 5 year old ate broccoli, leek, carrot, peas and corn, vegetables she has never willingly (or knowingly) eaten in her whole life! We just had bacon - no other meat - with it, so it was a really cheap meal too. We will try it next time without the coconut milk and just use stock, R thought the coconut flavour was a little too overwhelming.

Baked Doughnuts.

Quick, easy, and best of all YUM

Magic Bean Chocolate Cake (GF)

I have made this twice in the last fortnight - once as muffins and once as a birthday cake (see pics)

No-one could believe it had a can of red kidney beans in it! It was moist and rich and so easy to make (like everything else in my thermomix!)

Thermomix Macarons!

My latest fun with thermie has been making macarons. I have never even attempted to make something like this before, but I really do love to eat them!  Mara's Macaron Recipe is so easy to follow.

Here are some pictures:

First attempt

Not too bad!

 Dark Chocolate Ganache and White Chocolate and Raspberry Ganache

2nd attempt

3rd attempt - Chocolate with chocolate ganache (definitely not as good as first attempt!)

Some more pics...

Cupcakes!!!

 Too Easy Raspberry Cheesecake

Birthday Cupcakes!

Chocolate mud cake

I mentioned I'd been doing a cake decorating course, so I wanted to post the converted Chocolate mud cake recipe I used to make the cakes. It is VERY rich, but delicious, and moist,  perfect for a special occasion.

Makes one 9" round cake or one 8" square cake

220g butter
220g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
10-20g coffee granules
125g self raising flour
125g plain flour
50g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
480g caster sugar
4 eggs
30g vegetable oil
95g buttermilk
160ml boiling water

Grease the tin and line the base and sides with a collar that extends 2cm above the top of the tin. (The cake will rise above the top of the tin whilst cooking.)

Dissolve coffee in boiling water.

Add the butter, chocoalte, coffee and water and cook 50deg, 5 min, sp 1

Add all other ingredients and mix on interval speed until combined (at least 3 mins)

Pour the mixture into tin and set aside while heating oven to 160 deg.

When oven is ready, bake cake for 1 hour 40 or until a skewer poked in comes out clean, although it may be still a little sticky.

Leave the cake in the tin until cold (this may be overnight). DO not be tempted to remove from tin until cold. It will collapse! (TRUST ME!) The top will sink a little.

Keeps in fridge for 3 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.

I also made the ganache filling in the thermomix. Fairly straight forward, 2 parts dark chocolate: 1 part cream, place chocolate in bowl and turbo a few times, add cream, cook for 5 or so minutes at 50deg, spd 3.

Here are some pics from my cake course.

A change in our eating....

A forced change in our eating habits has left me searching for lower fat, higher vegetable (or vegetarian) meals.

R and I really like the Pasta e Fagioli from the EDC. It is fairly healthy, the sauce is made with mostly canellini beans. And, it is vegetarian. However, it needs an accompanied by bread. My first at attempt at bread rolls was ok, but not awesome, so I had a go at something different - Portugese Rolls. Wow. They were easy, quick and best of all, so so yummy. The kids liked them, we loved them! I will definetly be doing these again!

I am doing a cake decorating course, so have needed to make some mud cakes in order to decorate! I have tried 2 different recipes now, both different in ingredients. One was eaten - it was very very yummy. The other is in the fridge waiting to be iced this week. Will post the better recipe once I am convinced which one works best.


We are headed camping at Easter, so no thermomix for a whole 4 days! I decided I wanted to try Chocolate Hot Cross Buns, so invited over our besties for morning tea today. Even though I was making dough rather early to allow for the double rise, it was so worth it. These were sensational, although I don't think all the kids were that keen.

A few new things...

Ok - I am going to stop apologising for the lack of posts! Life is busy, and even though the thermomix makes my kitchen time quicker, faster, easier, less messier, healthier, cheaper etc etc etc... I now spend my spare time surfing the web looking for new things to try in the thermomix. Here are a few of the things I have tried in the last couple of weeks!
(DISCLAIMER: I know I will never be a professional food photographer, so just roll with it, okay?)

• Poached eggs: so easy, put eggs in the varoma in a silicone mould, place 1L water in bowl, steam on Varoma temp for 13-14 minutes at sp 1. Place a teatowel over the eggs, under the varoma lid at 5 minutes to go to stop condensation dripping back on the eggs. This pic is R's birthday breakkie in bed. The roasted tomatoes were home grown in our garden!

• Choc chip and banana and maple syrup icecream

• Caramel Slice (made by R) from the Lunch Box and after school ideas recipe booklet. Easy and delicious!

• Little Party Savouries - a great quick dinner for the kids, keeps well for the next day.

• Caramelised onions (for pizza topping)
• 2 onions sliced into rings
• 20gms brown sugar
• 20gms balsamic vinegar
• 20ml olive oil
• Add all ingredients and:
• 90 deg, 20 minutes, speed 1 (MC Off)
• (then detangle from blades with spatula)
• Varoma temp, 15 min, speed 1

• Womens Weekly Basic Butter cake (double batch)

• 330gms raw sugar
• 250gms butter, cubed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 450gms SR flour
• 250gms milk
• Place sugar in bowl, mill for 10 sec, sp 10.
• Add butter, chop for 40 sec, sp 7. 
• Insert butterfly and mix for 2 min sp 4, pausing a few times to scrape sides down.
• Add vanilla and mix for 1 min sp 4. Whilst mixing, add eggs in through the top.
• Remove butterfly, add milk and flour
• Mix for another 30 sec sp 5, scrape sides and repeat this step.
• Pour into cake tin or patty cases as required and bake in oven at 180 deg.
• (I made a round cake that took about 45 minutes to cook, and 18 cup cakes that took 12 minutes to cook)

• Raspberry and white chocolate muffins

• Nigella's Flourless Brownies - Gluten friendly! Whilst this recipe is not TMX converted, I didn't write down what I did, I just sort of 'winged' it. They were yummy!!!

Monday 20th February 2012

Been a while, I know!

Have been loving my thermomix. I have been using it for as much as I can think of. I use it to chop vegies going into other dishes (to hide), to make pikelets, breakfast smoothies, slushies, bread, dough, almost all of our weekly meals... the list goes on!

Recently I have made:

• Scones (which I had never made before owning a thermomix), served with whipped cream which took less than a minute to whip to perfect consistency.
• Clinker Slice (I made for a work morning tea but left it at home, so re-made it the following week)
• Pizza dough (Had not been having much luck with rise of my dough so I tried a different batch of yeast and it worked much better)
• Pizza pockets for the kids for dinner! They love them!
• Fast chicken curry from the EDC - deliciously easy.

• Chicken Satay (converted my slow cooker recipe, now only takes 20 minutes instead of 4 hours!)
• Thermomix Cheesy Chicken Balls, as a light dinner and as a snack.

I am doing a cake decorating course soon (in my spare time!!) so thought it best I start practising so I will have something to decorate! Started out with Buttermilk Vanilla Cupcakes, they were sensational! Will definitely be keeping this recipe as a base!

Most excitingly I received my order of "For Food's Sake". The food looks awesome, but maybe a little out of my league just yet! I tried making baguettes, but not really sure they turned out how they should (although we all ate it!).

 I also made the Salted Caramel and Macadamia Brownie, which was easy, and tasted great, although I need to work on learning more about my oven temperature as it didn't cook totally on the inside, and was burning around the edges a little. Still tasted great, although R was not a fan of the salt!

Friday 3rd February 2012

Wow - its been so long since I posted, I feel really guilty!

We went away for a few nights - with no power, so no thermomix :(

We have added some standard meals to our menu planning now - Baked Penne with Meatballs, Honey Mustard Chicken, Vegetarian Sausage Rolls, Sweet N Sour Beef, Chicken Tacos... just to name a few.

Have experimented with some baking - a couple of banana cake fails and a win with converting this healthy Power Muffin recipe.

I attempted rice pudding for dessert tonight (from the EDC), and thanks to a hot tip from my thermomix/work buddy, I cooked it for an extra 5 minutes and it was yum! (R laughed when I told him I was going to try rice pudding. I have tried unsuccessfully for years to replicate my mums rice pudding, and he thinks I was making it up that there was even such a thing!) R and I both ate a big bowl each!

Sunday 22nd January

This morning we had pikelets for breakfast. I converted a trusted recipe as follows:
150g self-raising flour
15g caster sugar
160g milk
1 egg

Mix together for 30 seconds on speed 4.

Heat a non stick frypan over medium heat and brush with a little butter. Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture into the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, turn over and cook for 30 seconds - 1 minute.
______
Attempted a thermomix zucchini slice recipe which I had found online, however I 'over-puréed'  the veges, and it didn't set! So I used my old faithful recipe and it turned out perfectly.

Zucchini Slice
375g zucchini, sliced
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
150 g diced bacon
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup oil
5 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Place zucchini and onion in bowl and chop on speed 6 for about 3-4 seconds. Add all other ingredients and mix on reverse, speed 2 until combined. Pour into well-greased lamington tin and back at 180 deg for 40 minutes (or until browned).

We serve this warm (or cold), and the (fussy about green stuff) kids love it. We call it Keeny Pie!

__________

Haven't been able to totally impress the small people in my house with my dessert efforts yet. I tried these Steamed Puddings tonight. We had a small ramekin issue - well actually, the ceramic ramekins were too large for the varoma, which I didn't discover until I had poured them all out, so I had to transfer it all into the smaller silicone cupcake moulds. I was really worried these wouldn't turn out, but they were awesome. Aesthetically they were not so pretty, but I dare say this was because of the transfer. 2/3 little people loved them, but so did I. They were perfectly moist, light, fluffy, sweet. So quick and easy.

_____

Earlier in the week I made LTM's (Little Thermomix Munchies) from the Lunch Box and after school ideas booklet. I reduced the sugar, and added some chopped cranberries. Very very quick and easy and mess free! Yummo!

Thursday 19th January

We made rice paper rolls for dinner tonight. While they weren't totally a thermomix recipe, I steamed the chicken and wanted to make a record of the instructions as it turned out so moist and just perfectly done.

Add 450g water in bowl, place 1 chicken breast in basket, cook for 20 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 4.

Perfect.

Easy.

Quick.

Wednesday 18th January

Tonight for dinner we had Honey Mustard Chicken. It was sensational, and met very little resistance from the kids!

I also made this Cafe Style Banana Bread earlier in the week. I had it in the oven for over an hour and it still wasn't cooked through in the middle. (Although it worked out ok, because I toasted the middle slices in the sandwich maker and it was YUM!) Perhaps next time I will make 2 x smaller loaves rather than 1 large one.

Saturday 14th January

What a busy working week!

This weeks thermomix meals have been great!

The creamy fettuccine and salami is so quick and easy, and the kids all enjoy it now.

We had the spiced chicken and sweet potato as well. This is quick to prepare, but takes 40 minutes to cook, I added more water than the recipe suggested, and the sauce was perfect consistency.

Last night we had a new meal - Chicken Taco's (omitting the corn which my kids will not eat). This was sooooo yummy, and so easy. I like being able to put meals on the table that the kids can do some of the preparation work themselves.

Today I have made Bill Granger's Cinnamon Snail Rolls. The cinnamon smell has overpowered the whole house, it is wonderful! They are a nice (once in a while) treaty!

Tuesday 10th January

- Choc Blueberry Muffins, yummy, but slightly overcooked
- Luigi's 40 second biscuits (EDC), with lemon instead of vanilla, again, slightly overcooked.

I think I need to turn my oven down a bit!

I made EDC White sauce for lasagne last night , and Sweet and Sour beef for tonight's dinner.

Making the white sauce last night reminded me of one of my favourite things about the thermomix - being able to make stuff that usually requires constant stirring, without having to watch it! Literally put in all the ingredients, set timer and temperature and speed, and walk away for 7 minutes. No need to be worried about the toddlers grabbing hot saucepans off the stove! AND when I didn't return after 7 minutes, it turned the heat off, but kept stirring so it wouldn't stick. How perfect is that?

Some more pics...

R hard at work!

Oreo Cheesecake balls (these were the rejects, I forgot to take a picture of the  good ones!)

Pasta e Fagioli with home made rolls

Christmas (Pistachio and cranberry) shortbread dipped in white chocolate

Mango Weis Bars

Butternut snaps with chocolate ganache