It's Almost Christmas - Here is your Thermomix Gift Giving Guide!

It has been a VERY busy few months in the world of Thermomix!!! Over 17,000 Model 5 Thermomixes sold in Australia in October, this is AMAZING!!  If you are waiting for your Thermomix to arrive, be assured you are waiting for a very exciting addition to your life and it will be worth the wait!

Has anyone noticed it is NOVEMBER?!  I just cannot comprehend how fast this year has gone.  For us, we have purchased our dream property, are in the process of building a new house, have moved house, the baby has had her big 1st birthday recently, had one child start school, and another starting next year.  We also sadly lost my Father in Law, and as I said, the massive changes in the land of Thermomix has brought exciting changes, but also challenges!

So it's getting close to Christmas, and I thought I would do a little "Gift Guide" for family or friends who own a Thermomix, or things you might ask for if you are an owner, or close to being an owner!  I hope you find it helpful!  I am not being paid or gifted any of these items by making these suggestions, nor is Thermomix Australia necessarily endorsing these products, just things I have and think are helpful!  Of course all of these things are equally as useful without a Thermomix as well!

1.  Chocolate Moulds

Whether you would like to make your own Dairy Free Raw Chocolate, as pictured (check out www.quirkycooking.blogspot.com for her chocolate recipe) or you simply want to be creative by melting pre-made chocolate and creating your own flavour combinations or Peanut Butter Cups, you may want to find a chocolate mould.  There are lots of shapes to choose from!

2.  Smoothie / Juice / Frappe / Drink Tumbler

These are everywhere!  You can find cheap ones at Kmart or pay a little more (this one was at Robin's Kitchen on special for $4) for your colour or style.  I could have pictured with a healthy fruit juice or smoothie, but how can I go past my favourite Chocolate Frappe which takes just 20 seconds in the Thermomix??  I convince myself it's "healthy" by using Cacao and rapadura sugar, preferred milk (can do any dairy free alternative) and ice!  Cost is about 50c or so depending on ingredients, which is impressive seeing as you would pay a minimum of $3.95 or $4.95 just for a small/regular if you are out.  So think ahead and quickly make your own to take with you!

3.  Storage Containers/Jars

With a Thermomix, you will notice you quickly go back to having bulk "ingredients" in you pantry rather than processed packaged and jar foods.  So you can invest in some more fancy jars like pictured (from Myer) or just go to the cheap shops for a variety of jar shapes and sizes!  Tupperware is another option if you don't mind plastic storage.

4.  Ice Cream / Gelato / Sorbet Tubs

You may never have experienced true homemade ice cream before.... But I STRONGLY urge you to try it!!  Ice cream always has an additive in it that I try to avoid, so making your own is the only way!!  Use the basic Ice Cream recipe in the Basic Cookbook (or old Everyday Cookbook) and store your delights in these retro tubs.  Around $10 for a 1 litre tub.  You can make all flavours, starting at 5 minutes for a true, cooked ice cream mixture.  Try blending fresh strawberries with your basic vanilla ice cream when you whip the partially frozen mixture - divine!!!

5.  Fruit Tree

There is nothing like freshly picked lemons in your 2 second homemade lemonade recipe in the new basic cookbook!  Or 7 minute lemon butter anyone?  If your recipient has no land, consider a variety that does well in a pot! Even on a balcony!  Also for those that love Thai cooking, consider a Kaffir Lime tree for those made from scratch curries with fresh Kaffir Lime leaves - nothing beats the freshness!

6.  Loaf tin

You may find yourself delving into the world of high top loaves, gluten free bread, wholegrain rustic bread, or even a yummy banana bread.  All of these require a good loaf tin!  If you are unsure about non-stick coated tins, find a stainless steel alternative, or ceramic ones are fairly common at the moment too!

7.  Herb Garden

You can set someone up with a half wine barrel, or mini plant pots and plant some basic essentials - Rosemary, Parsley, Basil and Coriander.  It is much much cheaper to grow these than buy large bunches and only use a little bit per recipe!

8.  Silicone "Spoon Spatula"

We all know not to use anything except the Thermomix spatula when operating the machine through the lid.  But if you like to do cake batters, custards, or sticky mixtures, you may want to find one of these.  They are narrow at the bottom to scrape the bottom of bowl, yet long and tapered on the edge to really get the most out you possibly can!  And doesn't get as knocked around if you happen to have a left-hander in the house ;)

9.  Glass Drink Dispenser

If you want to make dairy free milks, or homemade lemonade, or yummy cordials without the chemicals, then a glass bottle with lid is a good option.  This one is great because the neck is wider than normal which is easier to pour into.

10.  Cookbook stand

Finally, if you are delving back into cooking because you now have (or are getting) a Thermomix, it's very handy to have a cookbook stand to sit your book or iPad on!

Well I hope this has provided some inspiration for either yourself or a loved one this Christmas!  There are lots of ways to package nice items and make something fairly basic look fantastic!  Of course if you want to buy your loved one a Thermomix, remember there is a fairly long lead time at the moment, so you might want to order ASAP!  But in the meantime, you could build the excitement with some of these options!

Yummy Chewy Choc cookies... Grain free, Gluten free, Dairy free and naturally sweetened

This is a yummy little recipe that I have concocted from inspiration from some other recipes.  We had a little get together cooking class last night with some friends and they were deemed a success, so here is the recipe!

Don't be put off if you don't care about all of the "frees".  They are as healthy as you can get when trying to make a choc biscuit!!!

Coconut flour is different to work with, so basically the shape you leave them as when you put them on the tray, will be pretty close to how they are cooked at the end!  These ones don't rise much.

I also often make these when I have made a batch of ice-cream - so I use 2 egg whites (left over from the yolks I use in the ice cream) instead of one egg and they are good.

They are a soft and chewy biscuit but are not very sweet, they are just nice.   Also not bitterly dark chocolately like some.

Enough rambling!  Here is your recipe!

Makes about 12 small cookies

Ingredients:
130g Almonds
70g Rapadura Sugar OR 50g honey
15g Coconut Flour
20g Coconut Oil
5g Cacao
1/2 tsp Bicarb Soda
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
Good pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat oven 180C

1. Mill almonds and sugar (if using) 10 seconds, Sp 9

2.  Add rest of ingredients, mix for 10 seconds speed 4.

3.  Spoon onto tray and bake for around 14 minutes 180C.  Let cool and enjoy!!

Yellow Prawn Curry over Rice Noodles

Time for a new blog post!!!  After our time in America, then having a baby girl (now 7 weeks old), I'm finally getting back into it!  And, of course back into doing in home demonstrations as a Consultant.

This is a recipe that came about because of a favourite dish at a Thai restaurant where we lived in California.  I'm not sure that it's even authentic in any way (I found a lot of Thai restaurants seemed to have slightly different versions of the Thai that we have in Australia typically), but I do think it is very tasty!!  Obviously, a yellow curry would usually use yellow chillies but I have not found them here.  So it's basically a green curry with other non-Thai-ish spices added!  And I think it's nice served with the rice noodles as a change from rice.  Here it is, I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 packet of Rice Noodles (whichever size)
1 lemongrass stalk cut into pieces
3 cloves garlic
2 spring onions
3 Kaffir lime leaves
2 yellow or green chillies, deseeded (or not if you want very spicy)
400g Can Coconut Milk
10g Olive Oil
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp rapadura or sugar
150g broccoli florets
150g mixed veg (e.g., zucchini, peas, capsicum)
400g prawns (I usually just have frozen ones in freezer, so have based cooking time on that)


Method:

Prepare boiling water for rice noodles, and add as many rice noodles as your family will eat.

1.  Chop lemongrass, garlic, spring onions, Kaffir lime leaves, and chillies 6 seconds, Speed 6.

2.  Add a dash of oil, sauté 3 mins, 100C, Speed Soft.

3.  Add 100g Coconut milk, cumin, coriander, turmeric and rapadura, Cook 2 mins, 100C, Speed 1.

4.  Add rest of coconut milk, blend 1 min, Speed 9.

5.  Add veg, broccoli and prawns, cook 7-8 mins, 100C, Reverse + Speed Soft.

6.  Add 2 tbsp fish sauce, cook 3 mins, 100C, Reverse + Speed Soft, making sure the prawns are fully cooked.

Serve over Rice Noodles!

Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana Date loaf

It's been a long time, yes.  Our trip to America, then settling back in in Australia, and now expecting Bub number 4 in a few weeks!!!  But I do have a few recipes I have been trialling and hopefully will post soon once I am happy, including dairy free salted macadamia ice cream, naturally sweetened.... yum and hooray!!!

In Thermomix Australia news, September purchases receive the Thermomix Kitchen Toolkit for free!!!  It's fantastic, I don't even have one but would love one!!!  I am still doing Thermomix consulting, so if you are interested in purchasing a Thermomix or know someone who is, then please contact me via email!  I would love to finalise any deliveries in September if I can before the bub arrives in October.

Anyway, lately I have moved to completely gluten free for one of my sons.  I have been thinking of healthy recipes that are still yummy and easy to eat that I can make and put in the freezer and eat when needed!  So this is based on my Spelt banana bread, but is gluten free.  I trialled it with coconut flour, but as I am very new to cooking with it, I just couldn't get the mix right, so tried what I came up with below, and I think its a winner!!  Again, it just makes a relatively small loaf (I rarely have enough bananas that get to very ripe stage to make a larger loaf!) so you can try to increase quantities for a bigger loaf.  Here we go!

Ingredients:

100g Brown Rice (organic if you can find it)

50g almonds (again, organic is great!)

3 Very Ripe bananas (I measured approx 300g)

1 egg

40g Macadamia oil (could use coconut as well)
45g raw honey

65g dates, cut in half (preservative free)

25g desiccated coconut (I actually used large shredded coconut and it was nice - preservative free)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch Himalayan salt

1/2 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder (or homemade in the Thermie)

Method:

1.  Put 100g Brown rice into Thermomix.  Grind for 1 min, Speed 9.

2.  Add 50g almonds, Grind 30 seconds, Speed 9.  Scrape down sides of bowl.

3.  Add egg, macadamia oil, honey and bananas, mix 15 seconds, speed 5.

4.  Add dates, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt, mix 5 - 10 seconds Reverse, Speed 4.

5.  Pour into loaf tin, bake 45 - 50 mins approx 180 Degrees (my oven is new and so it may need a little less or little more time if your oven is cooler/hotter).

Enjoy!!!  This would be nice with nuts added too.

Spelt Banana Bread

I have been wanting to find a yummy healthy banana bread for ages that I didn't feel bad about eating for breakfast or morning tea.  I think this is yummy, however I have only done it once so may need to test again and tweak the recipe if required!  But seriously it was really nice and healthy.

I like to try to use spelt flour wherever possible instead of normal refined white wheat flour.  It is better for you and your body digests it a lot easier.  It is a lot more readily available now too, because more people are looking for the healthier options.  Check in the Health food aisles in bigger supermarkets or health food shops.

I always like it when I have a good dairy free recipe too.  I added oats in because they fill you up more and are good for helping with cholestrol (family history of high cholestrol).  Oh and they are cheap!! That helps!  I used PURE maple syrup as the sweetener, again, better for you!

This is not very sweet so you could add a little more sweetener if needed, but is YUMMY fresh or toasted with just a bit of butter on top (if you aren't worried about the dairy or cholesterol!!!!)

It also makes just a smallish loaf.

So here goes!

Ingredients:

45g Coconut oil (could use other flavourless oil)

45g Pure Maple Syrup

3 Very Ripe Bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

170g Spelt flour

25g dessicated Coconut (without preservatives if you can find it)

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons Bicarb Soda

1 Egg

small pinch salt

30g Wholegrain Oats (could use walnuts or whatever you like instead!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C

1.  Add broken up bananas, coconut oil, vanilla and pure maple syrup, mash for 10 Seconds, Speed 4

2.  Add spelt flour, bicarb soda, cinnamon, coconut, oats, salt, and egg, mix for 15 Seconds, Reverse + Speed 4 (or until combined).

3.  Pour into small loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes at 180C (or until skewer comes out clean).  Don't overcook and dry out!

How easy is that!!!  Yummy breakfast on the go option!

Yummy creamy Sundried tomato chicken pasta

We are finally settling into life in the US!  I am gradually getting to know where I can find certain foods.  I just found the Asian Market for the first time yesterday, so we finally enjoyed a DELICIOUS homemade green curry and it was wonderful!  I had been looking for chillies, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves everywhere and couldn't find them!

But here is a post about another yummy recipe!

This is a dish that my sister in law found.  It's delicious and really easy.  Although I increased the quantities and changed the steps to make it even easier and quicker!

The recipe is from the recipecommunity and can be found here: http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/recipes/sundried-tomatochicken-and-linguini-cream-sauce/30603

I have included my steps below.  However I used 650g chicken thighs.  You could use breast, but when you sautée breasts by themselves (instead of steaming as in the recipe), I find they do break down a little sometimes.  I also added frozen green prawns because I was making this for a larger group of people (4 adults, 3 children).  And I like prawns!  I think I cooked around 400g pasta or more.  But we did have leftovers.

I was running short on time so I cooked the pasta on the stove while I got this dish going in the Thermomix.

Grate cubed Parmesan 10 seconds, speed 9 and set aside.

1.  Chop garlic, 3 seconds Speed 8
2. Chop spring onions, basil and sundried tomatoes 3 seconds, Speed 8.
3. Add oil, sautée 2 minutes 100C Speed soft.
4.  Add  650g cubed chicken.  Cook 5 minutes, Reverse + Speed 1 at 100C.
5.  Add 200g (add more if desired) frozen green prawns.  Cook 3 minutes, Reverse + speed 1 at 100C. It might need more or less time, make sure they are close to cooked, you will be cooking a little more in next step too.
6.  Add water, white wine (if using), cream and stock, cook 7 minutes, Reverse + Speed 1 at 90C.  It's still yummy without the wine!

Serve in your beautiful oval 2.5l Thermoserver (if you're lucky enough to have one ;) over linguine pasta.

Have you heard the special promotion if you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a consultant in Australia?  For October you can start your own business with your Thermomix, or even try to earn your Thermomix for free  (or discounted if you don't have one yet), by signing up for 60 days and selling 3 to qualify for a FREE 2.2l round Thermoserver and FREE 2.5l oval Thermoserver!  That's on top of your commission and any monthly incentive!  This is the first time there has ever been an extra incentive for signing up, so let me know if you would like any more information!  I am naturally not a salesperson at all, I never even worked in retail, but I love the Thermomix so much I find it easy to show others and share my passion!!  This is a limited time offer, so best to get the info as soon as you can so you can make a decision!  It doesn't matter where you live, just let me know if you would like to look into it.  Email mixingituptm31@hotmail.com.

Enjoy!

Missing in action

Hi all!

Just a quick note for those that don't know, we moved to America as of 2 weeks ago, so life has been a little hectic!  We were packing up getting ready for the move, and until now, have been living in hotels since we arrived!

Currently we have just been approved for a house to rent while we are here for the next 9 months, so hopefully we will be in and settled very soon!

We are eating the terrible American take out food, and feeling very poorly for it!  I already have a Thermomix waiting for me to use, so I am busting to buy some fresh food and cook and detox and hopefully feel better quickly!!

I have already made some exciting food discoveries here in California, so am looking forward to sharing them and getting back into preparing quick and easy meals and snacks and posting more recipes!

Thank you for your patience!!