Tuesday 30th November - Prawns, cous cous, rice, carrots

Dinner - prawns, cous cous, rice, carrots (and garlic mushrooms and a lime cream sauce)

Cooked the prawns, cous cous and carrots in the varoma and rice in the bowl (different preferences amongst the family over rice and cous cous so did both). Whilst it was cooking I cooked up garlic mushrooms in a frypan (could be done in the tmx after but we were in a hurry) and then added the juice of one lime and a dash of cream to the remaining garlic butter and heated through. This was a really tasty sauce. All thekids loved it, even dd2 who doesn't usually eat the sauces.

Also bread rolls

Monday 29th November - minestrone soup, mince, taco sauce

Lunch - minestrone soup (from the forum recipe not the edc one which isn't meant to be any good).

Dinner - Taco's - made the mince (beef and pork) and then cooked it with taco seasoning.

Sunday 28th November - bread, Teriyaki Chicken, chocolate gelato

Made a loaf of bread for lunch.

Dinner - Teriyaki Chicken using the Teriyaki beef recipe from Meat on the Menu with a longer cooking time for the chicken.
Was really yummy. Next time will add a bit more liquid with the longer cooking time as I loooove sauce. But this was a massive hit with everyone. All three kids loved it and dd3 had seconds (dinner is not her big meal and she usually picks a bit) and dh and I also loved it. Will be a regular here. Also added carrots at the same time as the chicken to make it a more all in one meal. Served with rice noodles.



Dessert made a chocolate gelato recipe from the forum, this was ok. Couldn't get it to set in the icecream maker at all (the girls happily ate it as a soup/custard) so will see what it's like after freezing tomorrow.

Saturday 27th November - porridge, pasta

Breakfast made porridge.
Out all day but made the girls tomato pasta for dinner.

Friday 26th November - smoothie, curry, spinach and feta chicken, rice, veg

Breakfast - smoothie

Lunch - chicken 'super quick curry' - Made my super quick curry for lunch using the tikka paste I made from the Indian cook book last week - very yum!!! Served it on wraps with salad.


Dinner - varoma chicken breast parcels, rice and veg. The chicken tonight was rolled with spinach and feta. This is one of my fav easy thermomix meals.

Thursday 25th November - smoothie, LTM's, bombay potato, stock

Breakfast - smoothie.

Made LTM's (rice bubble snacks for the kids)

Made a potato dish for lunch - based on the Bombay Potato recipe in the Indian cookbook but without the chili as had mother's group around and wasn't sure if some of the other kids might want some and probably don't like chili like my 3 year old. Was very nice so looking forward to making it properly.

Made stock from the chicken bones from lunch.

Wednesday 24th November - smoothie, bread, beef casserole

Breakfast made a smoothie.

Made a loaf of bread.

Dinner was beef casserole, made a large portion for leftovers to make pie next week.

Tuesday 23rd November - honey soy chicken drumettes, fish with maple syrup and soy sauce, potatoes and veg

Lunch, I made my favourite honey soy chicken drumettes, yum!

Dinner, All in one varoma fish meal. Placed the fish in foil parcels with maple syrup and soy sauce (recommended by a Canadian friend, Penny) and cooked potatoes (white and sweet as per people's choice) and steamed carrots and brocolli. Loved the sauce. dd1 said numerous times how much she loved it - def on the menu again.

Monday 22nd November - smoothie, pizza dough

Breakfast - banana smoothie.

Dinner - pizza
We like a lot of toppings tonight's had:
Tomato base, Mozarella, Capsicum, Spinach, Tomato, Mushroom, Olives, Cabanossi, Ham, Feta, Pepperoni, Pineapple



Not TMX but also started making some Christmas themed chocolates - santa and snowman ones - the girls were thrilled with Christmas themed chocs.

Sunday 21st November - pancakes, ghee, leek and potato soup, bread, Butter Chicken

Breakfast - pancakes. The kids favourite.

Then made some Ghee (ready for tonight's dinner).

Lunch - my favourite soup - Leek and Potato. Using the liquid chicken stock I made on Friday and lovely Leeks given to me by my neighbour.

Made a loaf of bread.

Dinner - Butter Chicken from the Indian cookbook.
Yum!!
This is a really lovely butter chicken - though I did cringe at the amount of cream in it!!
Really tasty - used the Tikka Paste I made yesterday and this morning's Ghee.

Saturday 20th November - bread, rice, tikka paste, strawberry jam

Made a loaf of bread.

Made rice at lunch time (to go with leftover swedish meatballs and other lunch stuff).

In the afternoon made some staples.

The Tikka Paste from the Indian cookbook - mmm smells yum, looking forward to using it, this week's plans are for Butter Chicken.



Also made Strawberry Jam.
Used frozen berries from the local Frozen Berry place and it's come out great (I do always use jamsetta with Strawberry Jam), really pleased as this is a very economical way of making the jam (and easy as no hulling/washing etc, lol).


Out for dinner.

Friday 19th November - chocolate pudding and steamed veg

Made chocolate pudding for dessert, yum!!

And steamed veg to go with the dinner which was left over chicken kievs (realised how heavy I'd gone on the garlic when I could smell it even before defrosting, lol) and fish nuggets from the freezer.

Thursday 18th November - stock, swedish meatballs, veg, fruity dream

Made chicken stock, some of which was to be used in the sauce to go with the swedish meatballs, the rest for a soup (my neighbour gave me some lovely leeks so will do a leek and potato soup).

Dinner made the Swedish Meatballs from the Meat on the menu book with the sauce, served with steamed veg (cooked for the last 8 mins in the top tray of the varoma above the meatballs.

The meatballs were nice. I thought they were ok, dd1 really liked them, dd2 didn't like them, dd3 thought they were ok. Bit strong on the dill flavour for me, but a nice change. I loved the sauce.


For dessert I did a fruity dream (frozen fruit, sugar and egg white) as had some strawberries that needed eating up, these weren't quite frozen but did it with frozen bananas so came out a nice cold custard consistency.

Wednesday 17th November - bread, orange muffins, boiled eggs, squisito cabretto, custard

Today made a loaf of bread.
Running low on kid's lunchbox stuff so made Orange muffins (still loving this simple recipe and makes heaps).
Boiled eggs for tomorrow's lunchboxes.

Dinner we tried the Squisito Cabretto from the Meat on the Menu book.
(basically a goat and tomato stew)

I thought this was really nice. Only thing was I added some garlic at the start and carrots near the end.
A nice stew in a light tomato sauce. dd1 found the bones in the goat a bit annoying (though being cooked for an hour it was very tender and lots of the meat had pulled away from the bones), dd2 didn't like the meat (she can be fussy like that) and dd3 had a great time pulling the bones off, lol.

Dessert was vanilla custard.

Tuesday 16th November - creamy salami pasta

For dinner I made the kids ever favourite creamy tomato salami pasta from the edc. Once again a hit. With leftovers for dd2 for school tomorrow.

Monday 15th November - bread, ham and cheese chicken parcel, potatoes, vegetables

Made a loaf of bread using Chookie's no fuss bread rolls recipe - this is probably the girls fav recipe. I'm really liking the one I made a couple of times last week with 50g sunflower seeds, 50g oats, 30g honey.

Dinner was one of my favourites. All in one varoma meal - ham and cheese chicken parcels (flattened chicken breast, with ham and swiss cheese rolled up in tin foil and steamed in the varoma for 30 mins (hot water in the bowl)), with boiled potatoes and steamed veg, with a sour cream cheese sauce (just added a big tablespoon of sour cream, a big one of cream cheese and the juices from the chicken parcel and cooked for 2 mins)

Sunday 14th November - cashew pork, garlic cumin rice and spicy beans and peas

Dinner we had an Indian inspired meal

Made the cashew chicken but with pork for the Indian cookbook. Chose this as heard good reviews, the older two love cashews and don't like hot curries. (followed the recipe other than using pork and 1 red chili instead of the two green ones)
Cooked it up, then popped in the oven to slow cook with a dish of cashews roasting.
Made garlic and cumin rice and popped that in the Thermoserver whilst I made the veg.
Spicy beans and peas
Chopped garlic, cumin and coriander seeds.
Added chopped green beans and peas.
1/2 tin of tomatoes
A couple of dashes of tobasco.

Cooked for 8 mins 100° reverse spd 1.

This was a lovely meal, really loved the flavours.

Saturday 13th November - mayonnaise, salad, shortbread, bread, choc icecream, tortilla, garlic butter, vegie soup

Made mayonnaise - as per the thread on the forum, so as per the edc but using vinegar and heating to 37°. A real success, now I can't wait to experiment with different flavours over the summer.


carrot and cabbage salad - Without rinsing from the mayo I made a carrot and cabbage salad to go with lunch.

dd1 made shortbread. Finally she is able to close the TMX lid so hopefully plenty more cooking to come from her.


Made a loaf of bread.

Made Julie O's chocolate ice cream from the forum http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=2085.0. OMG this is so rich and delicious. So easy to make real chocolate ice cream with the TMX to melt the chocolate and mix the ingredients. I used my ice cream maker to churn it.


Dinner. Garlic bread tortilla's and vegie soup. (this was a slightly chunky soup which you can't see in the photo)

Made up a batch of tortilla's using Trudy Olive's recipe from the forum.
Made garlic butter (garlic, parsley and butter, mixed together, at 37 ° as the butter was from the fridge.
Whilst the girls divided up the tortilla dough I made a soup.
Chopped garlic, parsley and oregano. Added the chicken stock I made yesterday, added carrot, celery, spring onion and chopped. Added cubed potato and peas (that dd3 was podding), a little soy sauce, a little tobasco, pepper. Cooked 20 mins 100° sp 1

Cooked the tortilla's and for the ones for dinner spread some garlic butter on them and cooked for a few minutes in the oven till brown and crispy.
Yum, this was such a lovely dinner, the soup was nice and light (it was hot today) and the garlic tortilla's really tasty.
We had some of the chocolate ice cream for dessert - did I mention how yummy this was, lol.

Friday 12th November - rice, prawns, vegetables, cous cous and lemon and coriander dressing

Lunch was left over stroganoff, made rice in the TMX.

Dinner - Made a lemon and coriander dressing
1 clove garlic
small bunch of coriander
1 small lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
100ml EVOO

chop garlic and coriander for 5 secs, spd 5
Add lemon juice and other ingredients and mix 10 secs sp 4.


This was to go with prawns and vegetables done in the Varoma. I also did some cous cous in the varoma for dd2, the rest of us had leftover rice from lunch.

Really yummy meal, nice and light and fresh. Also very quick (used thawed frozen cooked prawns, added water to the bowl and heated for 5 mins whilst preparing the veg (didn't clean the bowl out after the dressing) and then put the varoma on for 7 mins.


And made chicken stock from the chicken carcass from mother's group yesterday (it isn't really sad to leave mother's group at someone else's with the chicken bones is it????!!!!)

Thursday 11th November - porridge, playdough, stroganoff

Breakfast - porridge.

Made some red and yellow playdough much to the kids excitement, they all love making things with playdough esp dd1 and dd3 so some new colours were much appreciated.



Dinner - stroganoff - with added carrots and green capsicum. The green capsicum I just dropped in for the last 5 mins as don't like it over cooked.

Wednesday 10th November - strawberry sorbet, potato bake, bread

Afternoon tea - Strawberry sorbet - was hot today and this was a lovely refreshing afternoon treat.

Dinner - potato, courgette and mushroom bake - prepared the onion, garlic and herbs in the TMX and parboiled the potato slices in the TMX.



Also made a loaf of bread.

Tuesday 9th November - smoothie, kfc chicken, potatoes, vegetables

Breakfast: Banana smoothie

Dinner - used chookies kfc recipe http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4364.0 and coated some chicken breast pieces, cooked in the oven sprayed with a little oil. Very nice.
Served with wedges (parboiled in the TMX, cooked in the oven) and vegies (steamed in the varoma).

Monday 8th November - kfc spice mix, meatballs, flat bread, salad

Made up chookie's kfc spice mix from the Thermomix forum.

Dinner was a request for the Skewered meatballs with Rosemary Flatbread, and Carrot Salad that was featured on last week's Junior Masterchef masterclass.

Here is my version adapted to the TMX.



Meatballs (though I think of them more as kebabs).

Ingredients
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp coriander
sprig rosemary
1/2 onion
400-500g beef (cubed)
zest 1 lemon

Method
Place cumin and coriander seed in bowl and cook 3min 100° sp 1
mill 20 sec sp 8
set aside
add onion, parsley, coriander, rosemary and lemon zest
chop 6 sec sp 5
Add meat and spices and mix to a smooth paste - closed lid position, pulse 4-5 times.

Place around a soaked skewer or rosemary stalk. (I did both and don't think using the rosemary stalk skewers added anything - though maybe as I'd added rosemary to the recipe).

I cooked mine in the oven for 15 mins but would be lovely grilled, fried or bbq'd.

Rosemary Flatbread

There recipe was
1 1/2 tbsp EVOO
1/2 cup warm water
250 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp rosemary

I mixed this up and then kneaded for 2 mins but it was too dry so added more water and rekneaded. It should be elastic and slightly moist but not too sticky.

Leave to stand for 20 mins, then break into small balls (1 inch round approx), and roll out on a floured surface (will need quite a bit of flour) until thin. Heat a non stick pan and dry fry the flatbreads.

Salads

I didn't make their carrot salad as it didn't appeal to us, but made 2 salads
1. Carrot, cabbage, green capsicum, parsely and coriander - chopped in the TMX with the juice of a lemon.
2. Tomato and Cucumber salad - chopped tomato and cucumber, tossed with chopped parsley and coriander and olive oil.
3. Didn't have any spinach so served plain yoghurt.

This meal was a winner and everyone liked all the components. Very easy to make and lovely and fresh with the parsley and coriander.

Sunday 7th November - ltm's, bread, rice, veggies, lemon feta sauce

LTM's - kid's rice bubble snacks. Some I put choc chips on the top, some sesame seeds, others plain.



Bread rolls and loaf of bread.

Dinner - garlic rice, steamed carrots and beans and lemon feta sauce (to go with bbq chicken pieces)

Saturday 6th November - pancakes, pasta, bread

Breakfast - pancakes

Dinner - pasta, carrots, tomato sauce.

Also bread rolls.

Friday 5th November - easy curry, honey soy and curry marinades, wonton soup, choc custard

Lunch - my 3 year old dd asked for curry and rice for lunch (as she does half the time) and usually when we are short of time I just use some curry paste and a fry pan but decided today to do a super quick curry in the tmx.

1 pork fillet cubed (around 200g I guess)
1/2 an onion
1 clove of garlic
EVOO
2 tbsp curry paste (Patak's Rogan Josh)
1/2 tin of tomatoes
a little water.

chop garlic and onion and saute for 2mins 30 sec in EVOO - 100° sp 1
Add meat and saute 1 min 100° reverse sp 1
add curry paste, tomatoes and a little water
cook 16 mins 100° reverse sp 1.

Served with rice done in the rice cooker so all ready in around 20 mins. Was really nice. Much easier than the usual method and less messy.


Made a couple of marinades, dh is doing a bbq at the cricket club tomorrow so made up and marinated some chicken pieces for him.
1. Honey and Soy marinade (garlic, ginger, soy sauce, honey, little sesame oil, olive oil)
2. Curry marinade (curry powder, lemon juice, chilli)

Wonton soup for dinner (recipe http://thermomixmeals.blogspot.com/2010/07/tuesday-13th-july.html )



Dessert - chocolate custard. No flour. Seems we can't please everyone with custard consistency, some like some flour others none. But yummy and perfect on a cold horrible supposedly November and nearly summer day!

Thursday 4th November - choc orange muffins, stock

Made a batch of choc orange muffins as were running low and some for the kids to have at mother's group.

Made stock from the bbq chicken carcass. Now to plan what yummy soup to make from it.

Wednesday 3rd November - cheese, bread, blueberry meringue, fish, rice, veg, feta and lemon sauce, hommus

Made grated cheese for the girls wraps for lunch.

Made a loaf of bread.

Had some egg whites that needed using up so made meringue, placed frozen blueberries in a baking dish, put the meringue on top on baked for 10 mins.


This was such a simple dessert but the girls loved it.
(didn't think to take a picture until it was nearly finished, lol).


Dinner - steamed fish, rice, vegetables and lemon and feta sauce.

Marinated the fish in a little soy sauce and sesame oil.

Placed in a foil open nest in the bottom of the varoma.

1 ltr of water and vegie stock concentrate in the bowl. 1 cup of rice (200g) in the basket, varoma on top, cooked for 18 mins at varoma temperature, speed 1 with the varoma with the fish in it in place. With 5 mins to go added the top tray with carrots and beans (we like our veg crunchy).

Then made the lemon and feta sauce from this recipe :
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=203.0
Used less quantities (100g feta, also did half sour cream/half yoghurt).

This was really nice, as usual the fish steamed in the varoma was so succulent, the sauce was really lovely - a real favourite of dd1 who wanted a bowl of it!


Also made some hommus for the girls for morning tea tomorrow.

Tuesday 2nd November - porridge, chicken in yoghurt

Breakfast - porridge
Dinner - chicken in yoghurt - once again a winner.

Monday 1st November - smoothie, lasagna

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - lasagna so the parmesan was grated, meat sauce (including making the mince) and the Bechamel were made in the TMX.
A really nice lasagna following the EDC recipe.