Thermomix recipes | Easy LCM bars

Easiest recipe ever for a favourite kid's snack...

130g rice bubbles
80g butter
200g white marshmallows

Melt butter and marshmallows on temp 80 speed 4. Then add rice bubbles and mix until combined on Reverse speed 1
Spread into a lined pan and refridgerate.
Cut into bars once solid.
Hide in the pantry and eat them before the kids see....wait, that bit is just for me!

Making playdough in the Thermomix

The Thermomix isn't just for food!!

Thermomix Playdough

Ingredients:

250g Water

100g Cooking Salt

1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar

280g Plain Flour

15ml Cooking Oil

Food Colouring
Glitter (optional)

Preparation:

Add all ingredients except flour (and glitter) into bowl. Heat for 5 minutes at 60o on speed 3.

After cooking, add flour (and glitter if wanted) and mix for 40 seconds or until mixture is combined

Add oil and knead for 1 minute on knead.

Tips/Hints:

Store in an airtight container to keep dough from drying out.

Freezing Fresh Herbs

Since I have had my Thermomix I have had an uncontrollable desire to start a herb garden. So last week, baby strapped to my chest and toddler in hand, I pushed a gigantuan trolley around Bunnings and picked some small herbs to get my little garden started. 

I started off with just a few...

Parsley

Mint

Basil

Chives

Rosemary

and used a tall glossy black pot I have been using to grow weeds in the corner of my patio area for sometime been saving to use for my herb garden. 

So I planted. Three days later they were already starting to shoot up and then I realised I was going to have to harvest some of these herbs...so I took my not so green thumb and hit Google. Here I learnt that you can freeze fresh herbs. Ok some of you probably knew that already, but for the rookie gardeners like myself...this is what I did.

I pinched off some of the larger leaves/stalks/sprigs and snipped the chives down about half way. 

Rinsed them under some cold water and patted dry between layers of paper towel.

Popped them into some snaplock bags, flattened them to squeeze the air out.

Clipped the snaplock bags to the front of one of my freezer door shelves with a bulldog clip to keep them hanging so they don't get damaged.

So there you go! Fresh frozen herbs always on hand. Easy!

I think when I have a decent amount of basil I will make a nice Basil & Walnut pesto...more on that later. 

Oh crumbs! | Making breadcrumbs in the Thermomix

I always said I wasn't going to be one of those Mums who cut the crusts off her kids sandwiches, and remember as a little girl my Dad always getting annoyed that we 'wasted' the end bits of the loaf of bread. 

But here I am, 3 small children later and I find myself cutting the crusts off so that they eat more of the bread and don't just bite a hole out of the centre of their sandwhich! And worse still, throwing away the crusts at the end of the loaf...every time. 

Until....I fell in love with Thermy. Now Thermy is my conscience, and doesn't let me waste ANY kind of food, including the crusts. So I save them in the freezer and when I get at least 4 pieces of crust I whiz them up into my own homemade breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs:

4 slices of bread or crusts

20g olive oil

dried or fresh herbs of your choice

salt & pepper to taste

1. Break each slice of bread into quarters
2. Add oil, herbs and seasoning
3. Mix on speed 8 for 6-10 seconds (depending on the consistency you like, either fine or a bit chunky)
4. Taste to see if you want to add any more seasoning
5. Spoon into a snaplock bag, squeeze out all the air and store flat in your freezer ready for use

It's that simple. It takes less than a few minutes and when you have them ready made in your freezer you find lots of ways to add them to dishes for a bit of extra crunch!

Use them for chicken nuggets, schnitzels, arancini balls, on top of pasta bakes, add to soups/meatloaf/meatballs/sausage rolls, coat fish before frying, etc...you name it!

Store them in the fridge for 2 weeks, or up to 6 weeks in the freezer.

Sticky Date Pudding

Ingredients

Sticky Date Pudding
210 g Dates, seeded 
260 g boiling water 
1 tsp bi-carb soda 
100 g brown sugar 
60 g Butter 
2 eggs 
140 g SR Flour, or Plain with 1 tsp of baking powder 
Caramel Sauce
140 g brown sugar 
100 g Butter 
250 g cream 
1 tsp vanilla essence 

Preparation

Sticky Date Pudding

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 20cm square tin or a muffin tray.

Combine dates, boiling water and soda in . Let stand for 5 minutes

Add sugar and butter to mixture and process on speed 6 - 7 for 10 seconds until dates are chopped.

Scrape down and add flour first, then eggs and and process on speed 4 - 5 for 5 seconds at a time until combined.

Pour into prepared tin or large muffin cups. (Makes 9 large muffins)

Bake for 15 - 17 minutes in a moderate oven for muffins and 20 - 25 for larger tin. Stand for 5 minutes before turning out.

Caramel Sauce

2.

Place all into TM bowl and cook on 80C, speed 1 for 2 minutes unti butter has melted.

Cook for another 3 minutes, speed 3-4. Sauce will thicken on standing. 

Taken from Thermomix Recipe Community

Hiding Veggies | Sausage Rolls

Its always a challenge getting the wee ones to eat veggies. Yet another reason I love my Thermomix. It is so easy to hide a multitude of vegetables in practically every dish you make.

Last night I made sausage rolls with 6 veggies in!!

• carrot
• onion
• zucchini
• pumpkin
• mushroom
• celery

I just roughly chop my veggies, throw them all in the bowl with 1 garlic clove and chop on speed 6 for 5-6 seconds or until they are visually the consistency you like.

Then add in your sausage meat (you can even mix it with half mince if you prefer that constistency), 1-2 eggs, breadcrumbs, seasoning and herbs and whiz it up again. EASY!!

Or...you can always go all out and make these and see if they can tell the difference!!

Cyndi O'Meara's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls

There are some great recipes over at the Thermomix Recipe Community. 

I like 

Pear and Blueberry Muffins with Hidden Greens

Hidden Vegetable and Mince Pasta for Babies and Toddlers (12+ months)