Marshmallow play dough

The girls are calling this "Marshmallow play dough"...softer than playdough. I found this idea somewhere on Pinterest and just adapted it for making in the Thermomix

INGREDIENTS

500g cornflour

300g hair conditioner

a few drops of food colouring

METHOD

Put ingredients in TM bowl

Mix for 2 minutes, interval speed (kneading)

You may need to use the spatula to stir as it kneads 

This smells...A-MAZING!! Add some glitter, mix up the colours, get creative!

Let me know if you try it

Head over to my Facebook page and join in the discussion

Feeding large families and groups with a Thermomix

One question I regularly get asked at demonstrations is "I have a large family, how many people would that feed?". I can give my own experience, with a family of 5 and times when we have cooked regularly for 4 adults, 3 children as well as cooking for extras when we entertain, and then the amount of food we can produce for a cooking class to give everyone a serve. Sometimes people still want to hear more...

Much has been written about this by different bloggers, but I wanted to share some of my customers' experiences with you to help you decide, as well as have this reference to pass to some of my demo guests to help them make an informed decision about Thermomix fitting into their family....

So I have interviewed a few customers, and here are their responses.

HAYLEY, family of 9 

My name is Hayley and I am a mummy of 7 beautiful kiddies, ranging from 12 years to 7 months. 

I've had the privilege of borrowing a Thermomix and I am in awe of just how amazing this machine is. I cannot get my head around how QUICK and EASY it is for me to use. Also following recipes, something I don't usually do! I cooked 6 different recipes on Thursday, most of which I had a teething 7 month baby on my hip, who was only happy to be 'attached'. 

I would never have been able to have made the dishes I made with an unsettled baby, if I hadn't have been using the Thermomix. I have had great joy making dough, scrolls, pizza, cinnamon scrolls, salads and risottos too. I've been surprised how far the portions go, with the usual vegetables, or salads made in the Thermomix.

I did wonder if there would be enough making only one risotto and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was enough to feed my entire family. I have to give the Thermomix back and will be counting down until I purchase one myself.

LAURA, uses her Thermomix to cook for crowds 

I have enjoyed using my Thermomix to drastically speed up the process of catering large events of about 100 people.  Although I'm not always able to use the Thermomix to COOK for that many people, the prep time alone that is saved by using the Thermomix makes it a worthwhile investment.  In the time it takes to chop one or two onions by hand, I'm able to chop 2 or 3 kilos in the Thermomix.  Using the Thermomix to make dips, curry pastes and sauces is much more cost effective than buying them commercially, and its ability to effortlessly chop and mix coleslaws, make sorbets and grate cheese, means a lot of food can be served in a short amount of time. The major benefits I've seen by using the Thermomix to assist with catering have been a reduced prep time and greater cost effectiveness.  For a large number of people, the Thermomix sometimes does need to be combined with more traditional cooking methods like stovetop, but the two can work harmoniously together to streamline the catering process, save you money and drastically reduce onion-tears!

AMANDA, family of 5 & cooks for 'family nights'

I’ve had my Thermomix for 2 years in November. I regularly cook for 4-7 people. I never thought the size of the Thermomix was a problem for feeding my family.  I do have 3 young children so most of the meals I cook feed them, me and my husband when using just the jug.  When using the Varoma there is always enough for 8-10 depending on the meal!

I mostly use it to cook main meals which are 4-6 serves.  Mostly meals consisting of a protein in a sauce that can be served with pasta or rice which are kid friendly!

Some dishes I have cooked in it that use a lot of meat are Penne with Meatballs, Meat Loaf, Butter Chicken (I increase to 1kg of chicken), Beef Stroganoff (again I increase to 1kg of beef) – I find most recipes you can increase the meat because there is always a generous amount of sauce. 

I find that when I am making meals for lots of people I tend to make a main meal and then some sides.  I love that with the Thermomix I can make all those things in the one machine. – an example is the Penne with meatballs.  I make the meatballs, then I make the sauce, I make side salad and some dough to make pizza bianca – this stretches the meal or gives you lots of left overs.  Also when I do make the very few things I still make on the stove  - I use it to chop my onions garlic and herbs.  I also use if for sauces or gravies with traditional roasts or BBQs and also for marinades.

I use the oven for baking bread to go with the main meal or to bake lasagne etc.  I rarely use my stove anymore as I use my Tupperware Rice Cooker and Tupperware Pasta Cooker while tandem cooking something in my Thermomix. I also use my Thermoservers as I can keep things warm while moving on to my next part of the meal.

Things I use my Thermomix for, other than evening meals are healthy snacks for school lunch boxes  using up fruit and veggies just about to go (stock, smoothies, fruit muffins), marinades, dough, cake mixes, custard, sauces, boiling eggs and most importantly DIPS!!

I must admit I do not use my Varoma as much as the jug of the Thermomix.  With the things that we cook the volume is ok just with the jug.  The few meals I do cook with the Varoma always serves 8-10 people so I imagine if I was cooking for that many I would use it more.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of steaming meat….fish and veggies yes, but not meat.

I knew a Thermomix would save me time and I would be able to cook much more in a shorter amount of time.  I knew it would save me money cooking much more from scratch and I would cook a larger range of things I normally wouldn’t have attempted (butter, yogurt, bread dough, meringue)

I LOVE MY THERMOMIX!  I think regardless of how large or small your family is you will not regret the purchase.  I do think having a Thermoserver or two for larger families or for entertaining guests is a must!

WENDY, family of 8 

I've had my Thermomix just over a year. I have 6 kids, so cook for 8 most days, sometimes more. I thought it would be big enough, especially as I'd cook pasta etc separately.

Some of the mains we make are (serves 8): Quirky Fried Rice (we have left overs), Butter Chicken, Beef Stroganoff, Lamb Curry, Quiche (finish in oven). I cook veggies for the quirky fried rice, & the bacon, and love the way you can cook the 'fried rice' in the top. I have made pumpkin scones & cooked pumpkin in the Varoma.

I make banana cake, biscuits, other cakes. I am doing FODMAP at the moment which is gluten free, lactose free, no onion, garlic & lots of other things... Thermi makes life so much easier cooking with substitutions.

As a tool, the Thermomix helps me with grating cheese, mincing onion & garlic (when I can have it!) herbs, preparing sauces for bolognaise (I tend to fry it in pan, & prepare sauce in thermi) cake mixes & biscuit mixes. I also use my slow cooker, boil pasta on cook top, cook quiche in oven, garlic bread in oven, baked potatoes in oven and veggies boiled on cook top (when not steamed in the varoma)

For parties it is great, making cakes & biscuits, large quantities of white sauce & bolognaise sauce for lasagne. My 14 yr old even made the marble cake the other day by herself :-)

We thought about it for over a year, but just the convenience & the ease of using it, enabling us to cook with more fresh ingredients and now especially with food intolerances it's wonderful. And the best thing?! My hubby will now cook dinner as it's so easy :-) 

AVA, family of 7 (and sometimes up to 9 or 11!) 

I've had my thermomix for 3 years and it regularly cooks for 7 people but on many occasions it works up to 9 or 11 people.

To be honest when I first saw the Thermomix I was most sceptical about the capacity of bowl. To this day there are still times when I mutter "Huh ! Who'd of thought it!" when I end up with left overs to pack for hubby 's lunch the next day!

The single most used recipe which we use a lot for our bulky meals is the bechamel sauce. I experiment with different cheeses, herbs, mustard, addition of similar creamy substances such as sour cream, cream , etc . I'm a terrible person when it comes to following a recipe! I will do everything but! Steaming my peas and corn in the varoma whilst the sauce is coming together and then turning that into an 'anything goes' bake. Some our common ones : tuna bake, ham and corn, bacon and broccoli, cherry tomatoes and grated zucchini, etc.
Fried rice is another common one in our house with the veggies on the varoma and omelette on top tray cooking. In the Asian cook book there is a 'Drunk Chicken' recipe which I use and then shred the chicken and turn into San Choy Bow.

We do the madras curry which I use around 700 g of cubed meat. Our spaghetti sauce uses 1 kilo of mince and that's the limit for my jug as by the time I mix the 1 kg of steamed mince with the 1 kilo of sauce from the jug , I'm over by about 1 ladle of food and a very grateful German shepherd! This mixture gives me exactly 2 meals for 7 people. Spaghetti the first night and pasta bake the next!

Although I can cook rice in my Thermomix, my rice cooker definitely allows more meat to be cooked in the Thermomix. Cooking lamb shanks or curry in the slow cooker all day let's me have the thermi available for mash and veggies in winter. I have one TM jug and 2 thermoservers, one of which is always filled with yogurt. But it is still manageable for me to cook for 7 or more people with a little pre-planning. I do have "oh damn!" moments though where I've forgotten to chop something up before I occupy the thermie for the next 30 minutes!

Other things I use my Thermomix for are stacks of play dough, but more recently making batches of pizza dough and delivering them to friends for later proofing.

I like fancy foods but with the numbers in our house its just not viable as frequently as I like it so I rely on chutneys and little treats to make the meals seem more special. For example make a jar of Cassundi to keep in fridge and serve on the side of the curry or deprive the dog of that extra ladle of spaghetti and turn into a samosa or a spring roll!

And if you've read aaall the way down here and you'd still like to read some more, here are some brilliant articles which I read prior to deciding on the Thermomix too.


QUIRKY COOKING

RETRO MUMMY

THERMOFUN

Has that helped you decide? Get in touch with Thermomix in Australia to put you in contact with a consultant in your area.

Note: this post is the opinion of myself and my customers who have contributed. I am an Independent Thermomix consultant in Perth WA, and have written this post to help my prospective customers decide for themselves if the Thermomix is right for their family. I have not been asked or sponsored to write this post and the views are entirely my and my customers' own and not those of Thermomix in Australia or Vorwerk.

Preparing pizza dough and pizza bases to freeze | Thermomix pizza dough

I often get asked at my Thermomix demonstrations about pizza dough and can you freeze it etc etc. I thought I would write this to show you what we do when we make pizza dough.

Firstly, make a batch of pizza dough using the EDC method. The only tweaks I make is that I warm the water first on 37C for 2 minutes with the oil and yeast in.

The batch in these photos has 2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves in it, which I pre-milled on speed 8 for 10 seconds, then continued dough recipe. I just reduce the amount of liquid by 20-30g. I also used leftover whey from making ricotta (see the ricotta technique I use here) in place of water, as I had some on hand.

Let the dough rise in your Thermomat for 15-30 minutes. If I want to stretch my dough out to 3 bases I let it rise closer to 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 3 equal sized balls. 

Cut 3 squares of baking paper the same size as your container. I use a decor brand pastry keeper, I find it is the perfect size for pizza bases, fits my freezer well and I can fit 5 or more bases inside.

With the baking paper on top of your breadmat, roll or press out by hand into a square shape (or whatever fits your container) and put base into the container with the baking paper attached.

Continue with your other bases, layering them on top of each other with paper in between. 

These freeze well for a month or so...personally I haven't kept them longer but I am sure you could freeze them longer.

If you prefer, you can par-bake your bases and freeze them par-baked. This is good if you want a quick meal later, just dress them and cook straight from the freezer. You will get a crispier base if you par-bake them before dressing them.

Hope that helps! Leave a comment on my facebook page if you like!

Snow cones in your Thermomix

Perth is getting HOT HOT HOT!! Snow cones for the kids!! Anyone wanna join me? If you don't know how already...and you have a Thermomix (and if you are here and you don't...you might need to get in touch with a consultant!) then read on...

{ Snow Cones }

2 trays of ice
50g syrup/coulis/topping

Add to TM bowl, speed 8 for 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat for 5-10 seconds
Add 50g of syrup/coulis/topping flavour of your choice
Speed 8 for 5-10 seconds

Scoop into cute little cups and enjoy! You can even shape it into cones if you are feeling extra fancy!

See more on my FB page

Non-food uses for your Thermomix

{ Non-food Uses for your Thermomix }

Do you use natural cleaning cloths at home, like Norwex etc? 
I steam mine in the steamer basket every few months, they come up like new!

100c for 10 minutes, speed 2 

Scrambled Eggs & Omelettes in your Thermomix

This post got a lot of interest on my Facebook page!
Have you tried scrambled eggs this way? 

• Line your top varoma tray with wet baking paper.
• Crack eggs directly onto the paper and whisk lightly with a fork
• Cook on Varoma temp, speed 2 for 10 minutes (from boiling) or until eggs are cooked. Every 2-3 minutes carefully remove the lid and give a stir.

The best part is, no washing up!!! Just peel he paper off carefully and throw away.


You can also use this technique to make omelettes.

Omelette cooking in the varoma...fold the baking paper in half to 'flip' the omelette.

I am passionate about getting people using the Varoma. Pull it out of the cupboard and start experimenting. Perhaps start with some eggs...then drop me a line on my page and let me know how you went

Meat Pies in the Thermomix

Dinner tonight brought to you by the letter "T", for Thermomix...and the letter "P" for piemaker! (The only appliance I think we kept after getting our Thermomix!!)

Recipe from the new Everyday Cookbook (Australia).

Citrus Dust in the Thermomix

Well THAT was easy!! 

I dehydrated the peel from frozen, on a tray in the oven on around 70 degrees for 3-4 hours. Check if it snaps to see if it is dry enough. Then blitz on speed 6-7 for around 10 seconds.

Can't wait to add this to a few things for a bit of citrus zing!!

Sometimes you just feel like being "cheffy" (is that even a word?)

Non-food uses for Thermomix | How does your garden grow?

Today at a demo we were talking about all the non-food things you can make in your Thermomix. I came home and made boiled eggs for lunch and sat looking at the eggshells in the basket...then remembered I could grind these up and add them to my garden soil! Apparently my tomatoes are going to love this!!! Another bonus is it gives your bowl a wonderful CLEAN!

6 egg shells
1 MC of water
30 seconds, speed 9
Add water and she'll grit to your plants.

What do you think?

Thermomix Home-made Veggie Stock

Thermomix veggie stock concentrate....who can argue with the price, only 20c per litre!

Oranges and Thermomix Pt 1

I'm exploring the world of citrus with my Thermomix at the moment...mainly oranges! Today I played with 3 ideas for recipes using orange and this is the first one...

Orange Salt & Pepper Rub

Ingredients

50 g rock salt
peel from 1 orange, (washed well, preferably organic)
1 tsp mixed peppercorns

Preparation (so incredibly simple for such a strong flavour hit)

Put orange peel in TM bowl and grate for 10 seconds, speed 9

Add salt and peppercorns and mill for 10 seconds speed 8

Scrape into a jar to store

And that's it!!

This can be used as a seasoning on meats, in marinades, rubbed into steak, chicken or fish etc.

I will be posting a few more recipes using orange over the course of the next few days.

Less prep time in the kitchen with your Thermomix

One of the things I love about my Thermomix is WAY less time PREPARING FOOD for cooking/eating. Did you know you don't even need to take the leaves off your strawberries before making a sorbet? There are great health benefits to incorporating the leaves, as I read here.

Here are some of the things we save time on:

Pumpkin soup - no need to peel or de-seed your pumpkin (butternut pumpkin)
Soup - no need to peel potatoes
Salads, CADA etc - no need to de-seed your apples
Chopping onions - only need to peel and cut in half
Peeling garlic - you can peel up to 30 cloves of garlic at once in your Thermomix! I have tried this and it is amazing! Just store the peeled cloves in the freezer

Mashed potato - some people don't even peel potatoes for their mash!

What do you do in yours? Join the conversation on my Facebook page

Using your Varoma pt 1 | Thermomix recipes and uses

Varoma! There...I said it. It's not scary!!

So why do I hear of so many owners not using their Varoma? Get it OUT of the cupboard (God forbid, the box!) and plan to use it at least twice a week. 

I am hoping some of these suggestions below might make you think outside the square a little when it comes to using your Varoma. Its not just for chicken, fish and vegies.

For the newbies... a general rule of thumb is 1/2L of liquid steams for 1/2 hr. 

If you need more info do contact your consultant, they are always happy to help!

Steaming in foil parcels
This had 2 salmon steaks in, underneath were my veggies and rice steaming steaming in the basket with coconut cream, garlic and spring onions.

Chicken thigh fillets stuffed with spring onion and sundried tomato and seasoned

These steam above my potatoes in the basket, some broccoli in the bottom of the varoma. I mash the potato after steaming them with some of the liquid. Steam with veggie stock. 

Cheat's 'Fried Eggs'

I love cooking my eggs like this now. No fat and no cleaning up! Just wet some baking paper and line the top of the varoma. Easy to do omelettes and scrambled eggs this way too. You can even put your egg rings on top if you want nice round ones.

Layered Cooking

The below three photos show you how to layer in your Varoma and TM bowl and cook 

more than one thing at a time.

Water with Chicken Stock

Greens steaming in the top tray

Seasoned Chicken Thigh pieces in the bottom half of the Varoma

Potatoes in the basket

Easy Peasy Garlic & Soy Chicken and Rice

find my recipe here

Make marinade for steamed chicken and rice in the TM bowl, then put in diced chicken on reverse speed 1 for 5 seconds to coat in the marinade. Then entire TM bowl goes in the fridge until dinner time to let the chicken marinate. When ready to cook, drop the chicken into the Varoma, leave the bowl UNWASHED and fill up to 500g of water and use this flavoured water to cook rice and chicken at the same time. 

Extra flavour and NO WASHING UP!

 All done! Super easy and tastiest rice ever!!

Reheating leftovers

Reheating the above meal the next day...don't use your microwave, they dry things out and toughen up your meat. Use your Varoma steam to reheat

Or reheat inside the Varoma in a glass dish

Chicken & Chorizo Sausages

Make the mince, shape into sausages and steam them in the Varoma. Have some veggies or potatoes cooking in the basket at the same time for a quick all in one meal.

Mini Quiches without the Oven

These were mixed in the TM bowl, then spooned into this Tuppware silicon mould that perfectly fits the Varoma, and steamed. So quick and easy, and no hot oven on...great for hot weather

Steamed Brie Cheese with Basil Pesto Dressing

recipe here

Words fail me. You simply must try this one

Cooking a whole chicken - the 'Healthy Roast Chicken'

You absolutely MUST try this, the chicken is so moist and tender, and keep the liquid at the end to use as a stock. I squeeze a 1.8-2kg chicken in there, sometimes bigger. If it doesn't fit I just weight the lid down with my dinner plates....instant plate warmer!

recipe here

I will be posting more Varoma tips and recipes over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!! 
If you want to ask a question, find me on my Facebook page

Shredded chicken in your Thermomix

{ Money Saver!! }

Still 'irks' me seeing how much I used to pay for certain things before Thermomix. Like this shredded chicken at $20/kg!! And almond meal at $40/kg, and yoghurt which I make for $1.20/L


Shredding Chicken in your Thermomix

Cook chicken in small pieces in your basket, 20 minutes, Varoma, speed 2
Drain liquid and keep as stock - don't waste it!
Return chicken to TM bowl and shred on speed 4 for 4 seconds

Add to salads, pizza, soup, casseroles, sandwiches...anything! Freezes and defrosts really well too!