10th May 2012

Sorry for being so absent and really will try to start doing some more spotlight days.

Tuesday this week I took a couple of photos. 

Dinner I made the pea and ham soup from the Robogourmet app (used chicken stock made in the tmx instead of water). You really do need a small hock to fit in the steaming basket though. Those that liked it really did, but 2 out of the 5 of us didn't like it, included the two biggest soup eaters dd2 and dd3. So not going to make it onto our regular menu, but a nice ham and pea soup. 

Also made cheese topped bread rolls to go with it. 

Dessert was custard tarts. 

Made a thickish custard in the tmx. Meanwhile take a packet of wonton wrappers. Place one wrapper, lightly wet, sprinkle on some castor or icing sugar, place a second wrapper on top so it makes a star type shape. Place in a muffin tin and bake 10-15mins. Allow the cases and the custard to cool. Then pour a bit of the custard in each case and put in the fridge to chill. 

Lovely served with berries!

Sunday 2nd October - cream of vegetable soup, spanakopita, Nigella's flourless choc brownies.

Lunch - cream of vegetable soup - chopped garlic, added chicken stock (made yesterday), 2 potatoes, cauliflower and mushrooms, cooked 20 mins, whizzed up and added some cream.

Dinner - Chicken in Lemon sauce, Spanakopita and Brocolli.

Made the Spanakopita mix in the tmx based on a Gordon Ramsay recipe in his World Kitchens cookbook.

I used diff quantites depending on what I had but

- chopped an onion, added olive oil and sauteed 5 mins

- Meanwhile wilted the spinach leaves (200g, could easily use more, recipe calls for 500g)

- Added spinach and tsp of nutmeg to the onion in the bowl and 200g feta, chopped

- Added 2 large eggs and 180ml thickened cream and mixed.

(could now add pine nuts)

- Placed 10 sheets of filo pastry in the bottom of a baking dish, basting with melted butter in between, added mixture, folded over edges, topped with 4 more sheets crumpled on top and cooked 50 mins at 170° in the oven.

The chicken I did on the stove top - flattened chicken breast pieces, coated in seasoned flour, cooked a couple of mins each side and set aside. Made the sauce, couple of cubes chicken stock, splash white wine, lemon zest, garlic (sauted first), lemon juice and a little cream to the juices in the pan. When thickening added the chicken back to warm through and served.

Also made Nigella's flourless choc brownies http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/flourless-chocolate-brownies-with-hot-chocolate-sauce-22 for dessert.

Used chopped macadamia/cashew/almond instead of walnuts.

OMG this is so rich!! No way would I go the choc sauce too. Really yum and I guess the nuts are healthy, lol.

Was still warm and very gooey but reading the comments should harden up in the fridge, though I liked it as a gooey dessert.

So a really yummy dinner, the kids all loved it as well as the adults, dd2 asked for it every day, lol. As I've mentioned before I so love veal/chicken in lemon sauce and it's so quick and easy should do it more often. The flattened chicken is so tender too.

Sunday 28th August - stock, chicken and sweetcorn soup, butter, orange muffins, vanilla pudding, mashed potato, steamed veg

Made chicken stock, and from that made chicken and sweetcorn soup (stock, cooked chicken, creamed corn, corn, seasoning) for lunch.

Made spreadable butter (recipe linked on here somewhere from Quirky Jo's recipe).

Made orange muffins (forum recipe using the whole orange) for this weeks lunch boxes.

Made vanilla pudding (recipe on here/linked, from the forum vanilla slice recipe but without the biscuits.

Dinner made mashed potato and steamed veg to go with schnitzel.

Sat 4th June - smoothie, vanilla pudding, curry

Breakfast - smoothie

Made vanilla pudding (our usual recipe from the forum vanilla slice recipe)

Dinner - did a one pot chicken curry and rice.

Friday 8th April - smoothie, vanilla pudding, butter,chili con carne

Breakfast - smoothie

Made vanilla pudding (still the biggest yum here, thinking of doing a choc version?)

and butter - so thinking I might need to use the buttermilk tomorrow - maybe scone?

Dinner - chili con carne

Thursday 24th March - smoothie, vanilla pudding

Breakfast - smoothie

Made our fav vanilla pudding for desserts.

Wednesday 16th March - pizza, vanilla pudding

Made my favourite vanilla pudding (from the vanilla slice recipe linked further back a couple of times).

Dinner was pizza, so made the dough, grated the cheeses and made the sauces in the tmx.

Monday 14th March - sausage, mash, veg and onion gravy, cashew chocolate pudding.

Dinner - made Sausage, mash and onion gravy with veg using the forum recipe. Haven't had this in ages but dh had bought some sausages for the bbq on the weekend but we all had steak instead. It was really yummy, forgot how nice it was.

And for dessert Jabba's chocolate cashew cream

http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4579.0

Made it before dinner and popped in the fridge to chill, so super super easy and tasty. Next time I'll add a little more cocoa, wondering even if you could melt some chocolate but still chill it quite quickly.

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!

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 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.

Thursday 20th January - smoothie, stock, udon soup, yorkshire puddings, quick strawberry 'icecream'

Breakfast - smoothie

Dinner - Made stock from lunches chicken carcass. And then made an udon soup with it.

chopped garlic, ginger, chili, added stock, little soy sauce, frozen peas, corn and carrot mix, cooked for 15 mins 100° reverse speed 1, adding a packet of udon noodles 3 mins before the end.

This was the planned dinner with some bread from yesterday.

But I got Jamie Oliver's 30 min meals in the post today and was reading through and his super quick and easy yorkshire pudding started a craving.

So dinner became as dd1 said 'a multicultural meal' as the soup was served with Yorkies, lol.

They were very yum though!! Kids had 3 each and I only managed 2!

Dessert made Jamie's 'Berry Icecream' (1/2 portion)

250g frozen berries (I used strawberries)

250g yoghurt

2 tablespoons of honey

All mixed together

This was nice and healthy though next time I would do a bit more on the fruit and less on the yoghurt as it was still a bit tangy/sour. But am wondering if this batch of strawberries aren't quite as full of flavour as thought that with my smoothie this morning as well.

One thing he'd mentioned was putting the bowls/cups in the freezer and think that would be a great idea for this or Strawberry Dream (edc) etc as it was fine in the girls plastic ikea bowls but in my bowl I've noticed it starts to melt around the edges as soon as it touches the bowl.

Saturday 15th January - tomato sauce/ketchup, vanilla slice, chicken in yoghurt

We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes so far this year. Have frozen some in 400g lots for use in cooking but decided today to make tomato sauce/ketchup - very exciting!!!

Super easy to do in the Thermomix and really tasty. Very impressed.

Kids all had a taste and loved it. Will have to have some sausages or something now so we can use it, lol.

Then made this vanilla slice http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4599.0 substituting corn flour for the custard powder, and adding a little more vanilla. I did a half amount of the vanilla filling and it's really lovely. Girls had to have some for dessert even though it wasn't quite set yet.

Dinner was chicken in yoghurt. I added some mushrooms for the last 10 mins of cooking (just to make my rather grumpy 3 year old happy) and served with carrots and rice.

Once again a hit.

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.

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 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.

Sunday 19th September - chocolate pudding, pasta

Made chocolate puddings for dessert (recipe see previous post)

And dinner for the girls was creamy tomato pasta - their favourite.

Saturday 11th September - porridge, hummus, garlic herb dip, spinach and feta dip, pasta, strawberry dessert

Breakfast - porridge

In the afternoon I made some dips to take to a BBQ tomorrow

Hummus

Herb and Garlic

Spinach and Feta - http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=4292.0

The spinach and feta dip is so yummy and will definitely become a family favourite.

Dinner - the girls had tomato and spinach pasta

Desert - sort of a cross between sorbet and fruit dream - frozen strawberries, sugar, ice, 2 egg whites.

Thursday 9th September - chocolate pudding, cheesy breadsticks, soy sauce chicken

Made the creamy chocolate puddings from the forum http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=3914.0

This was so easy to make and looking great. And they are so yummy. Will definitely be a regular in our house.

Then made cheesy sticks http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com/2009/01/snack-sticks.html

Mine didn't look quite that good, lol, but very nice and the girls like them.

Dinner was the soy sauce chicken and veg I made last week Friday 3rd September - soy stir fry chicken - once again yummy.