Monday 28th February - smoothie, beef and noodles

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - marinated some beef strips in a combination of garlic, soy sauce, kecap manis and sherry.
Then cooked them with carrots and broccoli for 15mins, 100°, reverse, speed 1.
Served with some rice noodles - popped in the thermoserver and poured boiling water over to cook.

Sunday 27th February - pancakes, stock, soup, banana bread, fruit balls, marinade, mayo, carrot salad, fried rice

Breakfast - pancakes

Lunch - made chicken stock and then a soup using the stock, soup mix (cooked for 30 mins), mixed vegies (cooked for 15mins) and some pepper.

Afternoon made banana bread (http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=2962.0)

Once again a massive hit.

Dried fruit balls for this weeks lunch boxes:

Marinade for tonight's dinner (stir fried chicken) - ginger, garlic, chili, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil.

Then made a batch of mayonnaise.


Also made a quick carrot salad for lunch tomorrow (hate to waste the mayo left in the bowl so leave a bit in and then chop a carrot and/or other veg).

Dinner - we had stir fried chicken, cashews and brocolli (using the marinade above) made on the stove top whilst the Thermomix made fried rice (garlic rice, with veg steamed in the varoma for 10 mins and eggs added to the varoma in the last 5 mins).

Was really pleased with this meal. Very quick to make and the marinated chicken was divine!



Saturday 26th February - boiled eggs, garlic herb butter, beef stroganoff

Breakfast was boiled eggs.

Lunch made garlic herb butter - used this on tortilla's baked in the oven for quick garlic pizza to go with salads for lunch.

Dinner - beef stroganoff, served with pasta.

Friday 25th February - honey soy chicken drumettes, chilli con carne

Lunch - made some of my favourite honey soy chicken drummettes to have with salad.

Dinner - chili con carne (EDC recipe) this was a massive hit, I'm sure the last time I made chili con carne there were complaints (some like beans, some don't, some like spicy, some don't etc) but this was a hit with all three kids, they all had seconds.
I used one small to average sized hot red chilli, deseeded.

Thursday 24th February - smoothie, vanilla pudding, cheese and zucchini muffins

Breakfast - smoothie

Then made some cheese and zucchini muffins (forum recipe) these are still the girls favourite muffins.

Also made some vanilla pudding using the vanilla slice recipe from here
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4599.0
without the biscuits.
I also use cornflour with a little extra vanilla instead of the custard powder.
Forgot I made a half serving last time so we have a lot of vanilla pudding but it is just so yummy that's not a problem.

Excuse the slightly blurry photo before I realised it was a little out of focus, dd2 had eaten it all, lol.

Lunch and dinner we just had bbq chicken and salads.

Wednesday 23rd February - smoothie, honey mustard chicken

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - Trudy's honey mustard chicken - added carrots and mushrooms with 10 mins to go. Once again a winner.

Tuesday 22nd February, smoothie, slow cooker sauce

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner was a slow cooker meal as we were out and not home till 7pm (so dd3's bedtime)
Made a sauce in the tmx.

slow cooker sauce


2 cloves of garlic, 1cm piece of ginger, parsely and oregano

50ml white wine

1 tbsp sherry

1 mc water

2 tbsp worcester sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp cornflour

2 cubes of chicken stock concentrate


- cook 5 mins, 100°


Poured this over beef, carrots, parsnips and new potatoes.


Monday 21st February - smoothie, soup

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - the girls favourite, chicken, veg and udon noodle soup.


Saturday 19th February - porridge, dips, salad, stock

Breakfast - porridge

Made 2 dips - garlic and herb and hummus for a bbq we were going to for dinner.
After making the garlic and herb I made a quick carrot and capsicum salad (always make some kind of salad to use up the last of the dip in the bowl) then made some hummus to take as well.

Also made some chicken stock. Hope it's cooler tomorrow to make some soup.

Oh and here is a photo of this weeks rice bubble bars - haven't posted one in ages.

Friday 18th February - smoothie, vegetables, chocolate custard

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - steamed veg in the varoma to go with dinner.
Made chocolate custard for dessert. (love how easy it is to pop this on to cook whilst eating the main course).

Thursday 17th February - smoothie

Breakfast - smoothie

And then had bbq chicken and salads and a sourdough baguette for lunch and dinner.

Wednesday 16th February - smoothie, ltm, mozzarella, tomato and basil muffins, quick curry, garlic spice chicken, rice, veg

Breakfast - smoothie

Lunch - I made a quick curry with leftover cooked meat, tablespoon curry paste, 1/2 a tin of tomatoes - 10 minutes, 100°, reverse speed 1.

Did some snack making.
1. Some LTM's. (rice bubble bars, forum recipe)

2. Mozzarrella, Tomato and Basil muffins.
Felt like different muffins and dd1 had been keen on tomato and basil the other night so made up this recipe. I really liked these as did the older two, dd3 didn't. But a really nice light muffin.
This recipe makes 24 mini muffins.

Ingredients:
200g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
200g milk
1 tomato quartered
150g mozzarella
1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh basil
20g oil

Method:
Preheat oven to 200°
Place basil in bowl and chop 4 seconds Speed 7
Add Tomato and mozzarella and chop 6 seconds Speed 6
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, egg, milk and oil, Mix speed 4 10 seconds.
Pour into greased mini muffin tins and bake for 15 mins.


Dinner - Garlic spiced chicken with rice and vegetables.
Made a chicken marinade:
1 tbsp fresh oregano
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp paprika
20ml white wine vinegar
20 mls sherry
1 tbsp honey

Chop garlic and oregina 5 seconds speed 7
Add rest of ingredients and mix

Place chicken on baking paper in an oven dish and pour over marinade.
Heat oven to 180°
Place 800ml water in tmx bowl (no need to clean out from marinade)
Rice in basket.
Place chicken in oven and cook the rice for 16 mins, varoma temp, speed 4.
Place vegetables in varoma and add with 10 mins to go.

The chicken could also be cooked in the varoma in foil parcels.
Increase cooking time to 20-25 mins depending on thickness.

Really loved this marinade and will do again. Was a hit with all the kids. A nice sweetness and flavour.


Tuesday 15th February - smoothie

Breakfast - smoothie

Wasn't home the rest of the day and dinner was leftovers and salads.
Need to do a bit of cooking so hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling more up to it.

Monday 14th February - chicken, potatoes and veg.

Wasn't around much and had leftovers for lunch so think I didn't cook till dinner time.

Dinner was Chicken Rolls (as we call them, flattened chicken breast pieces with fillings rolled up and secured in foil and steamed) with baby potatoes, carrots and sweet corn.

Fillings for the chicken were - cheese and olives, sundried tomato and basil, cheese, tomato puree, basil and olives.

Popped the chicken in the varoma with 1ltr water in the bowl, cooked 10 mins whilst preparing the rest, potatoes in the basket into the bowl and sweetcorn into the top varoma dish, cooked 12 mins, added carrots to varoma and cooked 8 minutes.

Oh and photo of yesterday's vegie rolls. (not the best one as didn't take a photo until tonight of the leftovers).
dd3 loved these, she didn't want to go to preschool but when I gave her a bit this morning and told her she could have the sausage rolls for lunch she changed her mind, and said this evening she'd go tomorrow if she could have the sausage rolls again!!

Sunday 13th February - pancakes, Vegie Rolls, gravy

Breakfast - pancakes

Made vegetable mix for Vegie 'Sausage' Rolls for tomorrow's school lunches.

Chopped garlic and herbs (basil, oregano and parsley) and 1/2 an onion
Added oil and sauted 4 mins 100° speed 1.
Added 1 small courgette
1 carrot
1 slice of bread
1 small tomato
1/4 red capsicum
And chopped speed 5, 6 seconds
Added 1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp worcester sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 egg
And mixed
Cut two puff pastry sheets in half (so four pieces) and spooned the mixture down the middle and rolled to make a sausage roll.

Dinner - roast lamb. Made the gravy in the TMX.

Saturday 12th February - porridge, cream of celery soup, gingerbread, Five spice pork with rice and vegetables

Breakfast - porridge.

Lunch - Cream of celery soup. (chicken stock, potato, celery, mixed herbs, finished with some cream.)

A wet day today so made gingerbread with the girls.
Here they are decorating them (they also cut out all the shapes).
And the finished products (dd1's, dd3's and dd2's)

Dinner - Five Spice Pork with Rice and Vegetables.
Adapted from an Intellisteam recipe.



Ingredients:

700g pork fillet, sliced

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder

1 cup of rice (or amount required)

Vegetables:

2 large carrots

1 head of broccoli, 1/2 a stork of broccoli

bunch of bok choy

1/2 red capsicum

8 mushrooms

Sauce:

4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Toss sliced pork fillet in sesame oil and 5-spice powder. Leave to marinate for a few minutes.

2. Place into 2-3 foil parcels in bottom tray of varoma.

3. Place 800mls water in bowl and cook on varoma temp for 15 mins.

4. Whilst cooking place rice in basket and rinse and prepare vegetables. Keep the hard veg eg carrots, brocolli stalk, bok choy stalk separate. Place all soft vegetables on the top varoma tray.

5. Add the rice in the basket to the bowl and hard vegetables to the bottom varoma tray and cook for 8 minutes, add top varoma tray and cook for a further 8 mins.

6. Place in thermoserver.

7. Sauce – pop juices from the pork parcels in the bowl, add 4 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil and cook for 3 minutes, 100° speed 2.

8. Add sauce to dish and serve.

Friday 11th February - smoothie, pasta

Breakfast - smoothie.

Dinner the girls had creamy tomato pasta and we went out for dinner.

Thursday 10th February - smoothie

Smoothie for breakfast.

BBQ chicken and salads for lunch and leftovers for dinner.

Wednesday 9th February - rolls, bread, burgers

Dinner - hamburgers. Made the rolls and burger mix (garlic, bread crumbs, mince, egg, worcester sauce, courgette, tomato sauce) in the tmx.
Also made a loaf of bread. Haven't been making bread the last few weeks due to time constraints, but it's so lovely to have a nice homemade loaf sitting there. Though I'm not meant to be eating it, lol.

Tuesday 8th February - smoothie, cheese and zucchini muffins, Mini cheese and bacon quiches

Breakfast - smoothie

In the afternoon made some more Cheese and Zucchini Muffins for lunch boxes and
made mini quiches using this Egg and Bacon Pie recipe http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4057.0
(made a dozen in a muffin tin) We had some for dinner with salad and leftovers for lunch boxes tomorrow.


Monday 7th February - smoothie, Maria's squid, rice and vegetables

Monday 7th February.

Breakfast - smoothie.

Dinner - Made the marinade for Maria's squid
(grate garlic and ginger, add salt and juice of one lime)
Scored the squid hoods (cut down one side and flattened) and then chopped into pieces and marinated in the fridge for 1 hour.
Didn't clean out the bowl and cooked rice and vegetables in the varoma whilst frying the squid. (about 1 min - until they turn opaque - I used the small thermoserver to keep the cooked batches warm whilst cooking the rest)

This was a big hit (thanks Maria) and dd1 who doesn't like sea food had 3 helpings (ok the first was just one piece to try).

Sunday 6th February - porridge, Beef Madras

Breakfast - porridge.

Dinner - Beef Madras (the Curtis Stone translation I did a few months ago).
Once again ever so yummy.

Saturday 5th February - stock, choc alternative, soup

Made chicken stock and then for dinner made udon vegetable soup (again!!) this is the girls favourite food at the moment. Also it is still very hot here but they wanted something cooked and also dd3 has a sore throat.

I also made the chocolate alternative (think this is in the Vegetarian cookbook?) This is yummy, I had to make substitutions and think I over did the oil as I didn't think it had the right consistency (I also only made a half batch as didn't have enough dates) so it's not set right but still tastes great, lol!!!

Friday 4th February - smoothie, ice cream, chicken, spinach and mushroom curry

Breakfast - smoothie.

Dinner - Chicken, spinach and mushroom curry.
I wanted dinner to have all the flavours of a good homemade curry but without much spice as it's still soooo hot here and wanted something light - but not salad again.
Decided as the TMX doesn't produce much kitchen heat unlike stove top or oven cooking I'd do a curry.
Recipe:

2 tsp coriander seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cloves

Grind 30 sec spd 6

Add 30 g oil and saute 5 mins 100° sp 1

Add 500g diced chicken, 1 tbsp tikka paste, 200g yoghurt

Cook 14 mins 100° reverse sp 1

Add mushrooms cook 2 mins

Add spinach cook 4 mins



The sauce was quite runny so maybe would add a little flour next time - though it was fine as it was with rice to mop it up.
The girls and I enjoyed it (except dd3 who was feeling really terrible - hoping just heat and tiredness and didn't really eat - which as curry with chicken and mushrooms are her favourites) , a lovely light curry - would be a good one for kids. I guess pretty similar to a chicken in yoghurt recipe.

Dessert was JulieO's chocolate icecream (from the forum, mmmmmm)

Thursday 3rd February - smoothie

Breakfast was a smoothie, we were then out for lunch and dinner was salads. Hoping for some cooler weather soon!!

Wednesday 2nd February - smoothie, reheated lunch, strawberry dream

Breakfast - smoothie.

Lunch - I reheated last nights stew for 10 min in the TMX - perfect.

Dinner - due to the heat was salads and stuff (not the menu planned shepherd's pie) but dessert was Strawberry Dream.

Tuesday 1 February - porridge, Persian Beef and Lime Stew

Breakfast - porridge

Dinner - Persian Beef and Lime Stew from MOTM (in the soup section! I had this on my list for weeks and then went to cook it and took me forever to find the recipe).

This was a 5/5 from all of us. dd3 in particular had 2nds and scraped her plate clean.
I didn't have the lemon peel so used lime zest.
dd2 and I don't like mint so use basil and parsley (also cooked with some as missed the set aside bit, lol).
Used green lentils instead of the split yellow peas.
I also added some new potatoes. And some green capsicum for the last 6 mins.

This had a really lovely flavour and despite it being such a hot day and thinking this was a bad idea with the lime it was great.