Fast & Furious!

I think that aptly describes life most of the time :)

So much so that I haven't written for a while, nearly a month in fact. Not that I haven't been experimenting with lots of Thermie cooking, I've even been taking photos (new camera just last week...JOY!!...finally) Just having the time to sit and write about it has escaped me.

I'm largely putting this down to my new venture that I started at the beginning of this month. Being a consultant for Vorwerk the maker of Thermomix. I've started doing cooking demonstrations and so far so good. Everyone who sees Thermie in action falls in love straight away :) How could you not?

I've been trying to make a few brand new dishes each week out of the Thermomix cookbooks. Today I made spelt bread, Anzac buscuits (as per hubby's request), vege stock concentrate AND for the first time an Organic Beef stock concentrate which is just FABULOUS! Keep in a container in the fridge for MONTHS just like the Vege one!

Yesterday I made the most DELICIOUS Spiced Plum Jam....my goodness...I had some with ricotta on mountain bread today for lunch...MMmmmm...I didn't just have 1 either ;-)

And I did all that around my usual happenings of the day, it's just so quick, set it....leave it...and it tells you when it's done!

One thing that I think is pretty cool is the multi-level cooking that it does. That is...making the sauce in the bottom, cooking rice in the basket, steaming meat/veges in the Varoma on top. I've shyed away from it a little bit at it seems just so much going on at once! But it's soooo useful and quick that I wanted to try recipes that use it so that i get used to it and gain the confidence to make up my own creations.

Chicken Marinated With Summer Vegetables

from the Full Steam Ahead cookbook.

The recipe stated serving it with couscous, but being married to an Italian who isn't into couscous...pasta is always the prefered sause-soaker-upper-er.

1. I started by marinating 5 chicken breasts for 1hr in the juice of 1 lemon, 1tsp salt, pepper, 1tsp curry (I had masaman curry powder on hand)

2. chop 1 onion and 4 garlic cloves for 5secs speed5.

3. Add 50g olive oil and 70g tomato puree (I used tomato paste...Oooops, just realised then hehe) and cook 5min/Varoma temp/speed 1

4. Place 4 chicken breasts into Varoma receptical and cut the other chicken breast into pieces.

5. Add chicken pieces, 400g tin crushed tomatoes, left over marinade and 100g water to mixing bowl and mix 5 secs/speed 2

6. Slice up whatever veges you'd like and pop them into the simmering basket and insert the basket, and the Varoma on top  (with additional veges in it if you like) and cook 20-25mins/Varoma temp/speed 1. or until chicken is cooked.



simmering basket in, full of veges, ready to go!



Chicken in base of Varoma and some Kale ready to go in the top.



7. While cooking you can place 300 g couscous in a bowl and cover with 300g water, add half tsp salt and 20g olive oil stir will and leave to stand for 5minutes. Put couscous into Varoma tray for last 15min of cooking. Otherwise you could just cook some rice or some pasta to have with it.

8. When cooked place Varoma and steaming basket aside. Add 100g Creme Fraiche (I used ricotta) into the mixing bowl and mix 40sec/speed 10.





Thick and creamy sauce...

And the verdict...i thought it was quite yummy...as did hubby. Although I think I'd leave the curry powder out next time...personally I think it was a little confused whether it was an indian or italian dish :) And I don't think the sause needs those few pieces of chicken in it to bulk it up...as I used ricotta it was quite thick anyway.

And certainly it was quick and easy :) And I can't wait to use the Varoma to steam more and more dishes :)

Do you steam alot? If so...what??

"Let them eat cake..."

Apparently that's what Marie Antoinette said when she was told that her subjects were so hungry that they didn't have any bread...

"Sorry Your Highness" would have been my reply "But I'd rather bread than cake ANY day!"

Not that I'm partial to the odd slice of cake but there is NOTHING  like the smell of baking bread, or the taste of hot bread with a slathering of butter on it....<drool>

Since been shown that I can make a loaf of bread in 1.5minutes in my Thermie I've been HOOKED!

Olive Bread

Cheesy Herby bread

A little heavy handed on the cheese...if there is such a thing :)

Big and Beautiful Vienna Loaf

I also made some Pesto bread, dropped a couple of handfuls of fresh basil leaves in while it was kneeding. It had a beautful green fleck thru the bread and tasted heavenly! Hence there was no photo, it was eaten far too quickly :)

Am toying with the idea of making a sourdough starter...but I know it means I'll be making AND EATING so much more bread if I do....but is there any bread that tastes better than a sourdough?

Do you have a favourite bread to make?

A Date With Some Dumplings

From the outset let me appologise for the poor quality photography. Our camera recently died and so all I've got to work with is the camera on my iphone :( waaahhhhhhh

With such a busy couple of weeks just past I've only had time for a couple of Thermomix experiments.

BUT HAVE THEY BEEN FANTASTIC OR WHAT!

Firstly with the arrival of my Organic Box of Fruit and Veges that I won on my favourite blog Not Quite Nigella I've been making super quick and delicious stirfrys in about 10mins with no stirring, just set the time and walk away and do something else...LOVE IT...thanks to Rick's Blog for the recipe that I tweaked to suit me.

You can't waste organic vege, it's just too expensive to throw out! So when I saw a bit of discolouration happening to my half a head of cauliflower I recieved, I thought it was time for soup! My Favourite way to eat cauliflower!

Again only 10mins in "Thermie" with the addition of some water, a dollop of cream cheese and a tablespoon of the Vege-Stock Concentrate, the recipe of which is in the cook book that comes with the Thermomix (it's got no nasties in it, just veges, herbs and salt). And it churned out the most velvety smooth soup...it was heavenly...



 There are SO many Thermomix recipe sites and Blogs that I've got ideas flying at me from all directions! One that caught my attention was Guilt Free Choc Balls, seeing I had a bunch of random fruit and nut in Tupperware containers in my pantry this seemed like the recipe for me.

I used Almonds, Hazelnuts, Prunes (don't ask), Apricots, Goji Berries, Chia seeds (from a recent trip to the organic shop, not too sure what to do with them yet...impulse purchase me thinks) and coco powder. No sugar, butter or anything else that would turn it into a "not so good for you" snack.

Also the fact that you just put it all into Thermie and blitz it for 60seconds role them into little balls and pop 'em in the fridge....that's it...done...healthy snacks using random space-taking-up-ingredients :)


Perfect snack for a Protein/Antioxidant hit

My resident taste testers (Mum & Dad who live upstairs) came back for seconds...oh and the recipe too if you don't mind :)

Most recent excitement relates to a little dinner outing to Ashfield for Chinese Dumplings.

While doing a detox a couple of months ago, I'd console myself with reading food and restaurant blogs and planning what I'll have when I'm off the detox :) Sounds like torture I know but it got me thru...

I became somewhat OBSESSED with the idea of Chinese Dumplings so FINALLY we had a weekend free to organise a possy to check out the highly recommended little eatery "Shanghai Nights".

Saying that I was excited to eat here was a grosse understatement! Thankfully my "husbandly one" and the 6 friends I'd invited on my rampage were happy enough for me to order for the table. And the onslaught began! I ordered 11 dishes! That's right!! ELEVEN!

It was a bit of a blur to be honest :)

And with lightening speed out they came! We were all starting to get pretty hungry by this stage and as soon as the plates hit the table it was a FEEDING FRENZY! So no photos were taken, so to see some photos, check out what whipped me into a dumpling frenzy to begin with by reading Lorraine's Blog

The favourites were the Xiao Long Bao, steamed pork dumplings with a burst of gingery soup inside along with the pork, only wish we ordered more than one serve! Other favourites were the pan fried buns, chicken and shitaki steamed dumplings and the lamb and onion steamed dumplings, oh AND the pork and corriander steamed dumplings....

We all noticed that there was fried icecream on the desert menu so most were saving some room for that. A couple of us were adventurous enough to try the "white fungus and paw paw" desert (ok we were dared) and it wasn't bad at all, kind of jelly-like with a slight mushroom aftertaste, very refreshing...

And the damage for such an amazing dumpling rampage? $16 per person! So we'll be back...and maybe, just maybe, after I've been there a half a dozen times, I'll be able to contain my excitement enough to take some proper photos hehe :)

Why HELLO Thermomix! Where have you been all my life!

So I've just had my first 2 weeks with my Thermomix “Thermie” and already I’m amazed!

As soon as she was delivered I made a “green juice” which is apple and spinach (even hubby liked it), I made pumpkin soup, fresh bread to go with it, AND sorbet for dessert!

We took a road trip with family and friends13hrs north of Perth to Coral Bay, with Thermie in tow of course. J

All 9 of us had fresh bread every morning, salads, risottos & aoli with our freshly caught fish for lunches and dinners and sorbet, slushie cocktails and custards for deserts ALL thanks to Thermie. Sorbet made from Oranges was sooo refreshing and sooo welcomed during the heat of the day.

Seeing my brother in law is an ex chef he thought it was a great idea to have a “risotto cook off” man against machine. (I admit I was a little worried that he’d out skill me as I’d never made risotto before in Thermie) While he was franticly stirring chopping and dancing (for extra points) I sat and enjoyed a glass of wine and some cheese with the girls while my risotto was cooking itself J

In the end Thermie won (as the chef admitted himself) as it was cooked to perfection. And yes he wants to buy one for my sister-in-law when they have their next child.

If you’ve never been to Coral Bay I highly recommend the trip (especially now that there will be direct flights from Sydney to Coral Bay for only $240 starting April) it was the perfect relaxing holiday, snorkel in the morning relax/snooze after lunch then more snorkeling or a swim in the afternoon prior to a cocktail/beer and dinner, then cards or scrabble in the evening. The boys did a fishing charter, and most of us went out diving for the day and snorkeled with manta rays. What an experience!

Back from Coral Bay and spending time with the family meant making their favourite sorbet…the Italians LOVE their lemon sorbet! Which turned out so delicious and so super quick we whipped it up a few times much to their delight.

I made my own vegetable stock concentrate, my own butter (yummo) and then with the buttermilk from making butter I made buttermilk bread!

I also had the opportunity to "demonstrate" Thermie to a few friends. And needless to say I’m really looking forward to doing my training so I know what I’m doing a little more. But I’ve got to wait til the end of May until I’ll be a fully fledged demonstrator and able to sell Thermomixs…All in all I think it went ok seeing I’ve only had less than 2 weeks with Thermie. All loved the food and left full and satisfied and in love with Thermie too J how could anyone NOT!

Another couple of firsts for me, I cooked a leg of lamb in the BBQ by myself last night (roasts were never my specialty, but now my mum gave me a few tips and I think I’ve got it down pat) and used the Varoma  for the first time too (the steaming attachment on Thermie) to steam cauliflower and then made a delicious cheese sauce. SO QUICK and NO STIRRING….love it J 

Now on the way home to Sydney I can’t wait to show Thermie to my family and friends back home. My Mum and sister will LOVE the quickness of making bread/butter/vege stock/yoghurt ALL naturally without any suspicious ingredients in them. And I can’t wait to make my first Indian curry so I can roast my spices, grind and cook the curry all in Thermie!

There is so much to do and try I don't know where to start!

The Start of a New Era!

So...I've officially ordered my very own Thermomix!

For anyone who doesn't know what one is check it out at www.thermomix.com.au they are basically the most amazing kitchen invention EVER! (I'll also be demonstrating them myself in the not to distant future so watch this space)

I'm soooo excited about all the great food I'll be making with my new toy, I want to share my adventures and experiments with my friends and fellow Thermomix lovers :)

Lots of great recipes to be shared and tried.!

Also will be sharing some restaurant reviews...it's all about sharing the food love :)
xx