Light meals

Soft buttery rolls and mushroom soup

~ nzthermomixmum
Soft buttery rolls
Soft buttery rolls
Mushroom soup
Mushroom soup

What’s for lunch. While I took miss 8 to the park and miss 14 went cycling with her Dad, the dough for these buttery rolls ( guided thermomix recipe) was proving for an hour  in the thermomix. The second proving after the rolls are placed on the tray makes all the difference to a softer texture and smoother shaped bun. The first few times we made the buns we couldn’t wait for a second prove and put them straight into the oven but now after waiting for a second prove it’s definately worth the wait.   The dough makes quite a large batch, probably around 20 buns, so it’s better halved after the first prove and the dough can be saved in the fridge for use another day.  I had to substitute light milk for buttermilk because I had no buttermilk.  ( I have  substituted milk for buttermilk in all the thermomix recipes tried so far too with no detrimental effect to the recipes)  And yah, pleased to say the these buns were still excellent with this substitution. They also seem to stay fresher and softer for longer than after a single prove.  The smell of these buns baking in the oven is mouth watering and while the buns were baking in the oven threw the ingredients into the thermomix for mushroom soup which was ready in 10 minutes. Hot butter rolls and creamy mushroom soup served ..yum yum.

Last night we had takeaways, not by choice,  and straight after miss 8 said ” I don’t like this food  can’t wait for tomorrow when we can eat thermomix food”. That’s pretty amazing to hear from a child. I think the freshness of the food,  and just knowing it’s come straight out of the oven and onto the plate, gives them such a sense of wellbeing. The thermomix is helping us establish  healthy food habits of a lifetime.

Bagels

~ nzthermomixmum
Homemade Bagels
Homemade Bagels

Yah… Homemade bagels made for Sunday brunch. The dough was  mixed and kneaded in the thermomix within 3 minutes then left to prove. Then shaped into doughnut shapes and dunked in boiling water and then baked for 15 minutes. Note: we just added some boiling water to a bowl and dunked both sides of each bagel in the water for 30 seconds alternately. 480 gm of flour in the recipe made 8 bagels. Texture fantastic. Eaten fresh from the oven with ham, cream cheese, and salad. The recipe is from the a thermomix recipe app, “robo gourmet thermomix” But have found a recipe on the super kitchen machine blog which is almost the same except for the addition of a small amount of butter 25gm in the blog.

http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2012/17644/how-to-make-bagels-recipe-thermomix.html.

Hamburger patties

~ nzthermomixmum
Hamburgers
Hamburgers

Never used a recipe for burger patties, but for my daughters, here is a guide for ours : blend one onion and a slice of bread or breadcrumbs  (red onion is best) on speed 7 for a few seconds until finely chopped, add a tray of mince (450-500g),an egg,  some tomato paste, Worcester sauce, salt and pepper. Blend on reverse speed 3 for a few seconds until combined. Test the taste by frying a tsp size patty. Shape into burger patties and pan fry a few minutes each side.

Found some similar recipes on the recipe community :-

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/main-dishes-meat-recipes/rissoleshamburger-patties/57394

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/main-dishes-meat-recipes/hamburgers/82665

Amazing Fish balls

~ nzthermomixmum
Fish balls
Fish balls

Never thought we’d be able to make fish balls this good ever.  Fish ball noodle soup  is something that brings back fond childhood memories. Whenever we went to Asia we would literally get off the plane and go searching for the most delicious fish ball noodle soup. For us it’s our favourite soul food. Eating it we would be grinning from ear to ear like Cheshire cats. When my mother made fish balls, it was a hugely labour intensive job. The fish would be filleted and then the flesh removed. Afterwards the fish meat  was chopped finely back and forth with a cleaver and worked into a paste. I always remember the constant mashing with the cleavers to get the perfect consistency.  The good fish ball has that springy texture and just the right amount of “squish”. The bought ones are full of chemicals and msg so to find an easy homemade recipe was high on the list. Having seen similar methods used in most of the recipes, making fish balls by hand was not something we have the time to do during the week.

Then I found this  simple recipe on a different thermomix recipe website :- ‘my.thermomixrecipes.com’. https://my.thermomixrecipes.com/recipe/lw2xht9g-17e62-674502-cfcd2-s78dv7bh

We’re beside ourselves with excitement eating these fish balls. They’re squishy and bouncy and delicious! And the best part is,  they were supremely simple to make with the thermomix, the recipe called for 500 gm fish, I used 550 gm of tarakihi,  cornflour, ice, salt and pepper, blended for 5 seconds then  kneaded for 3 minutes. So easy, the only messy part is forming into small balls by hand. Popped into boiling chicken stock in the thermomix. Cooked in around 5 minutes until they float merrily on the top.  Probably the best thermomix find so far! This is pure simple soul food…  And homemade. Joy.

Chicken and vegetable patties

~ nzthermomixmum
Chicken and vegetable patties
Chicken and vegetable patties

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/main-dishes-others-recipes/chicken-vegie-patties/126799

Used this recipe (link above) just as a base, added some herbs and spices.  Didn’t have kale to add to the patties. Was great to have easy snack and dinner food after school before kids go off to sports. Added some breadcrumbs to the mixture as the consistency was a little wet as one member commented at the bottom of the recipe.  Super easy to make the patties in the thermomix.. Always test a small tsp in pan for seasoning before I make the lot.

Ham and cheese muffins

~ nzthermomixmum
Ham and cheese muffins
Ham and cheese muffins

http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/baking-savoury-recipes/cheese-and-bacon-muffins/17346

Ham and cheese muffins or Bacon and cheese muffins standard fare for kids lunch boxes. Excellent recipe from the recipe community ( link above ) used ham instead of bacon so skipped the frying stage. Whipped together in the thermomix in a 5 minutes. Used paprika instead of cayenne.  Taste great and will be following other members tips, adding carrot, capsicum, corn to the mixture before it’s blended. Makes about 1 and half trays, will be great frozen and popped into the lunchbox. Just don’t forget the eggs, because they’re on the ingredient list before the bacon, easy to miss them out as I’ve done!

Steamed thai fish cakes

~ nzthermomixmum
Thai fish cakes
Thai fish cakes

Another simple  guided recipe. Fish cakes made from fish, beans, spring onion, kaffir lime leaves, coconut cream, egg and Thai red curry paste. I cut back on the  curry paste from 100g to 40g because I thought the heat may be too much for this kids. Because there was no salt added to compensate the fish cakes lacked a little flavour but once dipped into chilli sauce they were lovely. The  look of the steamed fish cakes also wasn’t very appealing, very light so decided to  pan fry these to give them more colour. Can’t be too judgemental with the recipe because they would probably taste great with the full quantity of red curry paste.  I’ll add some chopped coriander and full amount of curry paste next time. Still a good meal. And not something I would have cooked ordinarily on a week night.  The preparation time is less than 10 minutes with the thermomix so really  can’t complain. And the family is lucky to have such variety all the time, definately keen to look up other fish cake recipes to try. This one from taste.com looks like a good one and can all be done in the thermomix.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17143/thai+style+fish+cakes.

Green smoothie, Mushroom soup, gluten free pizza, Beetroot salad, tuna dip

~ nzthermomixmum
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Beetroot salad
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Green smoothie
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Pete Evans gluten free pizza base
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Mushroom soup
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Tuna dip

What’s in the thermomix today, another gluten free pizza base, a Pete Evans recipe, easier then Jo Whittons recipe ( quirky cooking) because fewer ingredients.  The base for the recipe  is almond meal and arrowroot flour. Definately be using again as a plain flat bread. All other dishes are easy guided recipes, simple tasty and fast. Green smoothie made from lemon, ginger, spinach, apple, orange and parsley.  All enough for afternoon tea, dinner, and  lunchboxes because everyone’s coming and going at different times.

Ham and cheese quinoa muffins

~ nzthermomixmum
Ham and cheese quinoa muffins
Ham and cheese quinoa muffins

Attended another thermomix course last night with Miss 14. The menu was mouth watering Moroccan chicken with cous cous salad, meatloaf wrapped in prosciutto, berry sorbet, green smoothie, cashew and sundried tomato dip, lemon cupcakes, chocolate torte and sticky date pudding. All very yummy and more inspiration to try all these recipes too. Ham and cheese quinoa muffins were recommended at last night’s course. This is a guided recipe from the second cookbook and chip “cooking for me and you”. These gluten free muffins are fantastic, very light and moist and made from ham, cheese, egg, quinoa, spring onion and herbs. Perfect lunchbox food. Everyone loved them. The only problem was the recipe only made 9 so will be doubling it next time.

Caesar salad

~ nzthermomixmum
Caesar salad
Caesar salad

Used Pete Evans Kale Caesar salad recipe as a base for this Caesar salad. It’s a paleo recipe so there’s no croutons.  The eggs were precooked in the Varoma tray with the chicken velouté meal. Love how the thermomix saves time  and pots like this . His recipe uses kale but I substituted spinach because the kids prefer spinach leaves to uncooked kale.  Used the thermomix to blend the dressing made from anchovies, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, egg yolk and emulsified with olive oil. Super yummy dressing, added a little water to make it easier to pour over the salad and makes enough for another salad tomorrow. What is very satisfying is seeing how many greens and vegetables everyone eats with this dressing. And the salad ingredients are whatever was in the fridge and pantry- spinach, tomatoes, peppers, bacon, toasted pine nuts, cranberries.