Thermomix Menu Plans - 27th February

Okay, I'm keeping this short and sweet again today - just a basic plan of the main meals we're having this week. I do post pictures and recipes throughout the week on my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page, so pop over there if you're looking for breakfast, lunch and snacktime inspiration... And now and then I get a recipe posted here on my blog! (Sadly, not as often as I'd like to these days.) Here's a few of the photos that I've posted lately on my facebook page... As you can see, I'm having fun with my iPhone and Instagram!

Grain free pizza topped with chicken salad

(Pizza base based on this recipe, but I made my own almond flour from blanched almonds, ground up in the Thermomix, and added some potato flour (because it was a bit wet), as well as onion powder, herb salt, rosemary, eggs, baking powder & olive oil. Thin and crispy!)

Grain free carrot cake muffins with

cashew-banana-coconut smoothies

(Muffins made with pecans, almonds, eggs, coconut butter, young coconut meat, grated carrot, spices, etc - recipe coming!)

Grain free, dairy free 'cheesey' zucchini & cannelini bean fritters

(Shallow fried in coconut oil & ghee - recipe coming)

Turkey mince meatballs in baby cos lettuce 'wraps'

for kid's lunches

(This is their favourite school lunch for their one day at school! Keeps cool in their lunchboxes with a small cold brick. Meatballs can be steamed in Varoma.)

Sesame salmon with steamed veges and creamy tikka sauce

(Click on link for recipe. Quick and easy Varoma meal, served on quinoa which cooks at the same time.)

My quick spelt bread recipe (Wholemeal Spelt Challah)

(We are trying to keep grains to a minimum, but now and then we have a little spelt or gluten free bread for a treat. This one is finished within an hour, from grinding the grain to slicing it up!)

So what's on your menu this week? I'd love it if you'd link your menu to this post - it's great to get inspiration from each other! A lot of people find it hard to decide what to make for dinner each night, so let's help each other out with some new ideas. It's no fun getting stuck in a rut - try something different this week! Here's our plan for the week...

Monday:
Vietnamese Fish Curry (tmx - serving with steamed cabbage strips instead of sticky rice - cutting down on grains, and only having rice now and then, and then usually having brown rice)

Tuesday:
Salmon & Brown Rice Casserole (prepared in tmx) with green salad

Wednesday:
Beef & veg bolognese sauce with steamed eggplant (tmx - bolognese sauce cooking in Thermomix bowl while eggplant steams on top)

Thursday:
Healthy Fried Chicken Strips with Salad (tmx)

Friday:
Stir fried beef & veges (tmx) with mung bean vermicelli

Saturday:
Baked sweet potatoes, salmon fishcakes with homemade mayo (tmx), green salad

Sunday:
Baked honey-mustard chicken, salads (tmx)

Don't forget to link your menu up too!
Here's how: Thermomix Menu Plans.

I hope you all have a great week! And remember, take time to stop and smell the roses. (Or in my case, the green grass and cows. Lol!)

Cashew-Honey-Vanilla Bean Custard

Cashew-honey-vanilla bean custard with a flourless carob-almond cake

This is my favourite kind of custard. It's so smooth and creamy... not to mention quick! Delicious with cake or fruit, or just on it's own. I just made a batch up for the kids for tomorrow, and while it cools I'm going to very quickly post the recipe, as promised on Facebook... Here it is!

P.S. This is not a very sweet custard, as we're cutting back on sugars as much as possible. So if you want a sweeter custard, just add more honey.

1. Grind cashews on speed 9 for 10 seconds:
- 100g raw cashews

2. Add water and whiz up for 1 minute, speed 9:
- 600g water

3. Add and cook on 90 degrees for 6 minutes on speed 4:
- 1 large teaspoon of vanilla bean paste
- 2 eggs
- 50g raw honey (or 70g pure maple syrup)
- 30g cornflour (or arrowroot)

For a vegan, egg free version - use 150g cashew, omit the eggs, double the cornflour and swap the honey for pure maple syrup. Easy.

And if you're looking for the cake recipe, it's basically this one from Teresa Cutter's website: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes. Except I grind up my own blanched almonds for the flour, use carob powder instead of cocoa, and cook it in a square dish. We love it.

Goodnight, off to bed now... :)

I love vanilla bean paste!

Sesame Salmon & Vegetables with Creamy Tikka Sauce

 

 

The other night I was so tired, and really didn't feel like cooking dinner. I was very tempted to just give in and buy fish and chips. But I pulled myself together and dug a couple of salmon steaks out of the freezer, popped them into some salty water to thaw out, and began chopping veges. In thirty minutes (yes, 30 minutes!) we sat down to this absolutely delicious meal. Thank goodness for my Thermomix. There's hardly ever an excuse to have takeaway when you have a Thermomix... you can have a restaurant quality meal in half an hour.

I thought I'd better write the recipe down so I remember what I did for next time. So here it is - try it next time you don't feel like cooking!

 

[Note: I had leftover cooked quinoa in the fridge, so I served the salmon and veges on that. You could even leave that out and just serve it on salad greens; or you could cook the quinoa in the rice basket while the sauce, fish and veges are cooking. An all-in-one meal!]

1. Cube salmon, drizzle with tamari and sesame oil, set aside.

- 2 or 3 salmon steaks, cut into 2 cm cubes

- tamari & sesame oil, to taste

2. Chop up some veges and place in Varoma dish:

- carrots, sliced

- broccoli, in small florets

- orange sweet potato, cubed (optional)

3. Place cubed salmon on top of veges. Drizzle a little more sesame oil and tamari over the veges if you like. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

4. Pour into bowl of Thermomix:

- 400g coconut cream or milk

- 400g water

5. If you're cooking quinoa at the same time, weigh the dry quinoa into the rice basket, rinse well, then place in bowl:

- 350g quinoa

   Place lid on bowl, set Varoma dish on top, and cook at Varoma temp for 20 minutes, speed 4.

6. Check that everything's cooked, set Varoma dish onto its' lid (to catch drips), and tip quinoa into a serving dish. Add the following to the juices left in the bowl and whiz up on speed 9 for a minute:

- a handful or two of raw cashews (depending how thick you want the sauce)

- 2 cloves of garlic

- about a cm of raw ginger (optional)

- a teaspoon of vege stock paste

- a large tablespoon (or two) of tikka paste (homemade, from the *Thermomix Indian cookbook.)

- a teaspoon of Rapadura (or honey)

- a dash of tamari

*This is the best tikka paste EVER - you need the Indian cookbook even if it's just for this recipe!! Oh, and also for the awesome Butter Chicken recipe. :)

7. Serve quinoa onto the plates, top with some raw baby spinach, then the salmon and veges, then the sauce.

Thermomix Menu Plans - 20th February

How are you going with menu planning? Last week we did pretty well, although it's been a challenge to stick to the strict diet my kids have been on to get rid of allergies. I must admit I didn't too well with avoiding chocolate all week... I had to sneak a couple of pieces when they weren't looking. Ah well, overall we're eating a low allergy diet and it really does help to keep us healthier.

I made this sesame salmon dish the other day when I was in a rush, and it worked out so well, and only took 30 minutes from start to finish! I'll be posting that recipe tomorrow.

This is going to be a crazy day for me, training a new consultant, a demo tonight, and homeschooling... so I'm just going to post a basic menu plan with main meals worked out, and later I'll try and come back and 'flesh it out' a little. At least then if I've got something up, those of you who are menu planning can go ahead and link your menu plans so we can all get some more inspiration. So please join in - here's how!

Have a great week :)

Monday:
Lamb & vege stew (slow cooker) on garlic quinoa (tmx), with leafy green salad

Tuesday:
Steamed, herb chicken breasts (varoma), steamed sweet potato (in rice basket), herb & garlic sauce (cooking in bowl underneath), leafy green salad (See the Thermomix varoma cookbook for a similar recipe - pg 118)

Wednesday:
Grain free chicken pot pie (prepared in tmx, baked in oven) with green salad

Thursday:
Baked veges with dairy free 'melty cheese sauce', turkey mince burgers (no buns), salad

Friday:
Grain free pizza with dairy free toppings (remaining melty cheese sauce poured over meat and veges on pizza and baked, then topped with salad)

Saturday:
Leftovers from demo and training, fish (shallow fried in ghee & coconut oil), salad

Sunday:
Meatloaf (made in tmx), baked sweet potatoes, salad

Thermomix Menu Plans - 13th February

Valentine's Day is less than a day away! Do you have any special treats planned? I've been posting some ideas of things to make on my Facebook Page today - have a look if you need some inspiration. ♥ And guess what? For the next 24 hours I'm having a special Valentine's Day Giveaway!

I'm spreading some love, with this Oneida silverware butter knife!

I fell in love with all the beautiful, stamped silverware from Beach House Living a few months ago, and finally managed to get some sent over. They're so pretty. Rita was very kind and sent me two extra butter knives with 'Spread Love' stamped on them - so I gave one to my Grandma (who has spread so much love in her lifetime that I really felt she deserved one!), and I kept one to give to one of you! Who will it be?

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment
on this post telling us what special food you will be making
for Valentine's Day... or what you would like to make.
And 24 hours after this post has gone 'live',  I'll draw
the winner by random selection using Random.org.

So don't forget to comment!

*     *     *     *     *

Valentine's Day has always been a family day for us - heart shaped cut-out cookies decorated with pink, red and white icing, a chocolate beside each plate when we get up in the morning, heart shaped scones for breakfast, homemade valentines for everyone, a luscious chocolate dessert after dinner... simple things that make the day fun and special.

This Valentine's Day will be a little different - for the next few weeks my two eldest kids and I are not eating cacao/cocoa/chocolate (help!!) or sugar (except a little bit of green stevia and some fruit, and maybe a tiny bit of raw honey), as little grains as possible (and those we have are only gluten free), no dairy (as usual), and my daughter can't have fruits that are high in sugar either. The reason for all this is that my son is having bad allergies due to a leaky gut. (The little bits of wheat and dairy and who know what else that he's eaten when I've been busy or he's been out have made little holes in his gut wall, which is what causes the allergy attacks.) So he needs foods that won't irritate the gut lining, but will heal it. And my daughter has had swollen glands ever since she had a bad cough late last year. Turns out she has high blood sugar levels too. So we're on a 'healing foods' diet to fix things. Then we'll be able to have a little chocolate and natural sweeteners again. :) Looks like a chocolate-less Valentine's and Easter... unless I can figure out a white chocolate recipe that's dairy free and sugar free... I'm on a mission! I'll let you know how I go.

Here's my menu plan for this week - I hope you're inspired to plan your menu too, it really helps save time and frustration. If you have a website or public facebook page where you post your menu plan, I'd love you to link up to this post so we can all see it. (How to link up and How to menu plan)

Monday:
(lunch) Sweet potato wedges, raw vege sticks, boiled eggs (tmx)
(dinner) Brown rice risotto - made with baked pumpkin, spinach and macadamia cheese (still having a little rice now and then, but lots of salad & veges to help cut it down)

Tuesday - Valentine's Day!
(lunch) Maybe some heart shaped boiled eggs! And salmon patties (tinned salmon, lemon juice, shallots, egg, buckwheat flour - shallow fried) with my homemade mayonnaise and raw vege sticks

(See this article from The Food Blog for a recipe and explanation of how to make mayonnaise and why homemade is better, and some great info on why healthy fats and less grains are better than lots of wholegrains and low fat!)

Fruit flowers & hearts for afternoon tea

(a homeschool project for the kids)

Valentine's Day Dinner:

Lamb roast with baked sweet potatoes,

green leafy salad & pink beetroot salad
(add some homemade mayo to the TM beetroot salad)

Dessert: 

Strawberries dipped in raw white chocolate (I hope)

on top of frozen berry fruity dream

Wednesday:
(lunch) Tuna salad
(dinner) Steak with mushroom sauce (tmx), baked sweet potatoes, and a big green salad

Thursday:
(lunch) Raw tomato pasta (tmx) on 'zoodles' (zucchini noodles)
(dinner) Butter chicken (made with coconut cream - from the Thermomix Indian Cookbook) on 'Mock Rice' (made in tmx with cauliflower - grain free)

Friday:
(lunch) Turkey meatballs in cos lettuce wraps; raw vege sticks; quinoa & chia seed flatbread
(dinner) Mexican quinoa, grain free wraps, salad

Watch my video clip about making wraps with Mexican Quinoa -
and here's my spelt tortilla recipe if you'd rather that one.

Saturday:
(lunch) Mexican quinoa in wraps with salad (leftovers)
(dinner) Fish & vege stir fry with mung bean noodles (tmx) and green salad

Sunday:
(lunch) Morrocan lamb (using leftover lamb from roast) on cauliflower 'mash' (both tmx) & green salad
(dinner) Leftovers, salad

So what's on the menu at your place? Link up, and don't forget to leave a comment. And make sure you tell us what you're making for Valentine's Day so you can be in the prize draw for the "Spread Love" butter knife! Have a great week :)

Healthy Fried Chicken Strips & Salad

Fried chicken is considered a bit of a no-no these days, in our fat-paranoid society. But I love it. The homemade version, that is. My Mum (being a Southern girl from Texas) makes the best fried chicken ever. However, I've figured out how to make a healthier version that's just as good as Mum's (hope you don't mind Mum!), and I serve it with lots of salad to make this a deliciously healthy meal that the whole family will enjoy!

This recipe can be made into chicken strips, or cut into nuggets for the kids, or made with whole chicken pieces. (If you're cooking chicken pieces, you'll need to have a lid on the pan for part of the time to help them cook through, turning the pieces now and then and checking if they're done by poking them through the middle with a skewer.)

Chicken Strips
(Serves 6 or so)

1. Slice up chicken thighs into 2cm strips:
- 1 kg chicken thighs

2. Whisk up eggs & milk in a bowl:
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup cashew or almond milk (or preferred milk)

3. In another bowl, mix together:
- a cup or so of rice flour (can make your own in the Thermomix)
- 1 tsp of herb salt
- 1 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

4. Begin to coat the chicken strips in the egg mixture, then the flour mixture, while heating a large, heavy frying pan with the oil and ghee on med-high heat:
- a good drizzle of melted coconut oil
- a good drizzle of melted ghee
(The oil & ghee should just cover the base of the frying pan - no need to have the chicken 'floating' in it.)

5. Fry the chicken strips on both sides until golden brown. If the oil drys out, you can drizzle in a little more. Drain on paper towels and enjoy with lots of fresh salad!


Carrot, Celery & Cranberry Salad

Here's one of our favourite salads - a quick and easy grated carrot salad, jazzed up with dried cranberries! You can add cranberries to coleslaw too, and some roasted pumpkin seeds for extra crunch - it's so good. (Thanks to Leeanne for this idea!)

Chop in Thermomix on speed 5 for about 4 seconds:
- 4 carrots, quartered
- 2 celery sticks, quartered
- a couple of tablespoons of homemade mayonnaise, or aoli
- a handful of walnuts (optional)

Stir in on reverse speed 3 for a few seconds:
- a handful or two of dried cranberries

{I was sent a couple of bags of delicious, dried cranberries to try, and they are just amazing! Not too sweet (like other brands), and they're dried whole. Here's the link if you'd like to order some - you can get them from 2Brothers Foods Online. I've heard so many good reports about 2Brothers - great products, great prices, and awesome service.}


Leafy Green Salad

Very quick and easy... and so satisfying.

Toss is a big salad bowl:
- a couple of big handfuls of baby spinach leaves
- a few more handfuls of baby cos lettuce leaves
- spiralized raw zucchini (or super thin slices)
- some avocado slices

That's it :) I like mine with a big blog of my homemade herb and garlic mayo - my hubby likes his with balsamic vinegar.

Thermomix Menu Plans - 6th February

What's on the menu this week, guys? I'm working at keeping grains low and raw veges high on the menu these days; a balance of protein, healthy fats and good carbs; plenty of green smoothies and Thermomix juices; as well as avoiding dairy and refined sweeteners as usual. When we get slack and have gluten and dairy and sugar, I really notice the difference - headaches, tiredness, dark circles under eyes, hayfever, colds, sore tummies, crankiness, sleep problems... A healthy, balanced diet works wonders for health and well-being!

Banana blueberry almond smoothie

- a great pick-me-up for afternoon tea! -

Here's my basic smoothie formula:

Grind up in Thermomix on speed 9 for 15 secs: 

a couple of handfuls of raw almonds,

a few dates (optional),

a handful of seeds if you like - chia, sunflower, pepita, linseeds.

Add 300g ice, grind speed 9 for 10 secs.

Add 300g frozen berries, grind speed 9 for 10 seconds.

 Add 2 bananas (fresh or frozen) broken in pieces,

plus 600g water (and a couple of handfuls of baby spinach if you like)

& blend on speed 9 for a minute.

This recipe makes nearly 2 litres, so some of you may need to halve it. If you're having just a smoothie for breakfast, you need a couple of good, big glasses full to keep you going for the morning. You could also add some frozen (or fresh) avocado to this basic recipe for extra creaminess (and to make it more filling), and adjust the water to make it as thick or thin as you like.

There's so many possible variations of smoothies and juices you can make in the Thermomix - these are some of our favourites - we love them for breakfast, and morning and afternoon tea, and even with dinner if we're just having a light meal!

Green Chocolate Smoothie

Creamy Citrus Smoothie

Banana Raspberry Smoothie

Chocolate Almond Smoothie

Pecan Orange Milk

Banana Carob Thickshake

Banana Nut Butter Protein Shake

Shrek Juice & Juicing in the Thermomix

Ginger & Vitamin C Boost Juice

Pecan Orange Milk

Check out some more green smoothie ideas and join in a Brook's Green Smoothie Challenge over at Chookie's Cookin' - 30 days of green smoothies for breakfast! We're joining the challenge - how about you?

Okay, so here's my menu for this week - I don't always know what salads we'll be having until I get my vege box and see what's in it, but I try to have a variety of leafy green salads and Thermomix 'chopped' salads. Feel free to share your menu by linking up below with Mr Linky! (Read Thermomix Menu Plans for more info)

Monday:

(lunch) Beef stroganoff with lightly steamed veges and cabbage 'noodles' (stroganoff made with my dairy free sour cream - extra sour cream, stock & water, cooked for 25 mins at Varoma temp, with broccoli, corn on the cob and cabbage cooked on top in Varoma for a short time til warm.)

(dinner) Creamy chicken, almond & quinoa soup (based on this recipe, but using quinoa instead of brown rice)

Tuesday:

(lunch) Fried chicken strips (coated in rice flour & seasonings, shallow fried in a little coconut oil & ghee), baked pumpkin, carrot & grape salad made with egg free, dairy free aoli

(dinner) Quinoa & chia seed flatbread with avocado pizza topping and fire-roasted capsicums, and raw vege sticks

Wednesday:

(lunch) Devilled eggs, spinach-avocado-sesame salad and grain free pecan bread

(dinner) Roast beef with baked veges and green salad (gravy made in tmx)

Thursday:

(lunch) Spicy mince & noodle stirfry (made with mung bean vermicelli, similar to this Singapore Noodle recipe) with raw vege sticks

(dinner) Cooking class - family having meat pie (made with leftovers from roast) and salad

Friday:

(lunch) Mini meatballs with salad and raw vege sticks; quinoa & chia seed flatbreads with various toppings

(dinner) Fish, potato wedges (baked), and salad

Saturday:

(lunch) Out

(dinner) Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, baked pumpkin, mashed potatoes and leafy green salad

Sunday:

(lunch) Leftovers & raw vege sticks

(dinner) Grain free paleo bread (thought I'd try Katrina's recipe!) with a poached egg on top (these are the BEST Thermomix poached eggs!!!), and a Green Chocolate Smoothie :)

And lots of baking, I'm sure... including this decadent, egg free, grain free brownie recipe from The Spunky Coconut - mmmmm....

So what's on your menu this week?

Deep Dish, Gluten Free Pizza with Raw, Dairy Free Toppings

 

How do you like your pizza crust - thin and crispy, or thick and fluffy with a crunchy crust? Thin and crispy gluten free pizza bases are easy enough - here's my recipe. The thicker you go, though, the more difficult it is to get that soft, fluffy texture with gluten free flours. So here's my solution - a gluten free (and egg free) focaccia base for your pizza that the whole family will love, gluten free or not!

1. First make the focaccia base with this recipe. If you want your pizza base really thick, just use one, deep baking dish. I used two dishes as I only wanted my base about 4cms thick. Before you pour the batter into your dish/es, drizzle the dish really well with EVOO and spread around and up the sides of the dish. This will make the base nice and crunchy. (Or you could use melted butter, ghee or coconut oil if you'd rather.) Pour in the batter and leave it to rise for about half an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210 degrees C (or 200 degrees if you have a fan forced oven).

 

2. Bake the focaccia for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned and crusty. When you insert a knife in the middle, it should come out clean.

3. Whip up this quick, raw sauce, and spread it on top of the cooked bases.

Blend in Thermomix on speed 8 for 10 seconds:

- 2 Italian tomatoes (halved)

- 2 cloves of garlic

- small handful of fresh basil
- small handful fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp dried)
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp rapadura
- Pinch of sea salt
- 80g sun dried tomatoes

4. Top your pizza with your choice of raw toppings - I like salad greens, kalamata olives and salmon or tuna. (My quick and easy version is to use those little tins of flavoured tuna - salsa or sun dried tomato.)

You could also sprinkle it with some macadamia cheese, or some dairy free sour cream.

Or go for a zingy avocado and salad topping!

Of course, you can make a baked topping if you'd rather - just par bake the focaccia base for about 20 minutes, add toppings, and finish baking.