Thermomix Menu Plans - 13th August

 

Hi everyone, I'm finally getting back on the wagon with my menu plans! I haven't managed to get them done the last few weeks, and it's starting to make me a little crazy as I keep finding things in my fridge I've forgotten are there... When I have a menu plan, I find there's a lot less food wasted, because even the leftovers are planned into the weeks' meals. (It also doesn't help that my boys have been away, so I really should be cooking half as much, but I'm not!)

We're enjoying the gorgeous weather at the moment - winter in Far North Queensland is so beautiful. Every day we eat our lunch outside on a blanket in the sunshine and soak up the warmth for a little while... lovely. (Miss C likes to pick a flower for our 'table'.) We've become addicted to purple carrots, and always have to have some for lunch - they're so sweet and juicy, and the colour is so pretty. A great way to get kids to eat more carrots! Have you tried them?

 

It's been a while since I blogged my menu plan, so I'm a bit behind with all the food photos... Here's a few to catch you up with what I've been making the last few weeks.

We had a great 'Devil of a Cookbook' class in Cairns a couple of weeks ago (which was to raise money for the Tassie Devils), learning from the lovely Fiona Hoskins. One of the things she taught us was how to make traditional Ciabatta (Mick's Ciabatta)... oh my. That bread is dangerous. So so good. Check out the photos from the class here on my Facebook Page.

 

Mick's Ciabatta - crispy, crackly crust; chewy & light on the inside. YUM!!

I did make a spelt version at home as well, which we loved. It's heavier than the wheat version and doesn't rise as much, but we really enjoyed toasting slices of it in the sandwich press, rubbing on a cut garlic clove, sprinkling with celtic sea salt, and drizzling with olive oil. Mmmmm...

One of our favourite cold weather meals is my Corn & Potato Chowder with Chorizo Sausages. I still haven't gotten around to updating the recipe with the Thermomix method (which is a lot quicker), but basically all you do is make 500g of white sauce with a cup of corn added into it, add 500g chicken or vege stock (water and stock paste), add the chorizo sausages to the bowl plus as much cubed potato as will fit (up to 2 litre mark), and cook at Varoma temp with more cubed potatoes, carrots and extra corn steaming on top. Takes about 25 minutes. Stir in a bag of baby spinach leaves, and voila! Easy and delicious dinner to serve at least 6 - more if you serve it with bread. To cut down the recipe, you can halve the ingredients, but not the cooking time.



Corn & Potato Chowder with Chorizo Sausages

And I'm SURE most of you heard me raving about my Cinnamon-Orange-Almond raw chocolate!! Ooooooh, it's so amazing. The recipe is basically my 'Almost Raw' Chocolate, but I've added ground up cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean and fresh orange peel, plus some amazing Lucuma powder (a Peruvian superfood that has a citrus flavour), and poured it over flaked almonds. Divine. And good for you! No dairy, no soy, made from raw cacao butter and raw cacao powder, with some Rapadura and raw honey to sweeten. If you desperately want to know how to make it, you can either come along to our Chocolate Making Day this Friday (see menu plan below), or check my Facebook Page, or hang on a bit longer and I'll get it up on the blog with photos of each step.

 

Cinnamon-Orange-Almond Raw Chocolate

If you're stuck for ideas for a warm, comforting breakfast, here's one we love: Creamy Coconut Vanilla Rice Pudding with cherries... (Also great for desserts and snacks!)

 

Creamy Coconut Vanilla Rice Pudding with cherries

Or another breakfast (or snack) favourite: Pink Fruit Cereal (a raw, grain free option)

 

Pink Fruit Cereal

And one more quick tip before I get to the menu plan - here's how I use my Varoma to heat up leftovers. Just pour boiling water into the bowl to cover the blades, place leftovers in the Varoma trays, and cook for 10-15 minutes at Varoma temp, speed 1. Or you can have a soup or pasta sauce cooking in the bowl at the same time as the leftover bits and pieces steam on top. I usually add some fresh veges as well. If any of your leftovers are wettish, and would drip through the holes of the Varoma trays, you can just line the tray/s with wet baking paper. Or, place the leftovers in a bowl or on a plate that fits in the Varoma. This is great for those of you who are just cooking for one or two - there's always leftovers! Just fix yourself a plate of leftovers, pop the plate into the bottom tray of the Varoma, and warm it up for 10 minutes. Much, much better than using a microwave. And the food turns out nice too - risotto, fried rice, pasta, etc, will be re-moistened and refreshed, not gluggy and cementish. You can also warm up your day old bread rolls and cakes this way, and they'll be soft and moist again. I love my Varoma :-) 

Warming up leftover Mexican Quinoa and Black Bean Mole in the Varoma,

while cooking some fresh veges underneath.

So here's this week's menu plan:

(tmx = prepared and/or cooked in the Thermomix)

Monday:

(lunch) Creamy chicken soup made with quinoa instead of rice (tmx), and leftover roast chicken instead of fresh chicken; raw vege sticks

(dinner) 'Spaghetti' (actually lightly steamed strips of cabbage) and meatballs - vege pasta sauce cooking in tmx bowl, meatballs steaming on top in Varoma, cabbage strips added to sauce in last few minutes of cooking.

Tuesday:

(lunch) Leftovers - 'pasta' and soup and whatever else is in the fridge

(dinner) Family having marinated lamb chops (slow cooker) & rice (tmx) & steamed veges (cooking in tmx varoma on top of the rice); I'm having dinner with the team: Indian Vegetable Curry (from 'My Way of Cooking') - sauce cooks in tmx bowl while extra veges steam on top in Varoma; rice (tmx); Apple Nut Bread ('My Way of Cooking')

Wednesday:

(lunch) Baked sweet potatoes, raw vege sticks and snow peas

(dinner) Fish (pan fried) and frittata (steamed in tmx Varoma, using leftover baked potatoes & other veges)

Thursday:
(lunch) Potato soup (tmx) & Chia, Buckwheat & Quinoa Bread (tmx) 'soldiers' to dip in
(dinner) Sweet & Sour Beef Stew with buckwheat noodles (tmx - homemade)

Friday:
(lunch) Chocolate Making Day!!! A group of fellow chocoholics will be gathering at the local CWA hall where I'll be showing them how to make their own Raw Chocolate in the Thermomix! We'll also be making Chocolate Chilli Chai, and Black Bean Mole, and serving that up with some gluten free cornbread and whatever else everyone brings along for lunch. (If you're in the area and you'd like to come along, please call or email me - spaces are limited.)
(dinner) Leftover soup/stew

Saturday:
(lunch) We're going to the ZOO! Breakfast with the Beasts and lunch with the lemurs, I think! :D
(dinner) Pasta e Fagioli (tmx - quick & easy, and the kids love it!)

Sunday:
(lunch) Roast beef or chicken (depends what's on special!) and veges
(dinner) Leftover roast meat pie (tmx)

So what's on the menu at your house this week? Share your ideas and favourite recipes on my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page, under Thermomix Menu Plans! Have a great week :-)

 

Hope the weather warms up soon... brrrrr!!

(Photo taken by my daughter from our street)

Black Bean Mole (Chilli Beans with Chocolate)

I love Mexican food. Well, maybe I'm really talking 'Tex-Mex' food, as that is what I was raised on.  My parents are from south-west Texas, and my big sister was born down on the border of the southern tip of Texas, where it pokes into Mexico, in a town called McAllen. Down there, you have to look hard to find signs in English; the shop assistants greet you in Spanish (much to my confusion as a teenager) and the food is awesome! (Albeit rather SPICY!!) 

My big sister & I at our friend's house in Mexico, 1978

My family moved to Australia just before I was born, and I grew up mostly in Far North Queensland, with occasional trips back to Texas. My friends always found the food we ate quite fascinating. Most of them had never even heard of tortillas (which is NOT pronounced tor-till-uhs, but tor-tee-ahs!), let alone refried beans, fajitas or enchiladas. They didn't have leftover cornbread for breakfast like we did, either mushed up with milk, or toasted and dripping with melted butter and maple syrup. And if you mentioned jalapeños, chimichangas, huevos rancheros, hominy or tamales, they just looked puzzled. Unless they'd been over for dinner before... then they looked hungry! They knew if Mum was cooking Tex-Mex, they'd better find a way to get invited to stay. Same as when she was cooking fried chicken. But that's getting off the topic...

Sauteeing capsicum for fajitas, while cooking up some spelt tortillas

So fast forward to 2012, and Mexican food is much more well-known in Australia. In fact, it's quite 'the thing', with authentic Mexican restaurants popping up around the country, online suppliers selling everything from ancho chillies to masa harina (for making corn tortillas), and Mexican food trucks cruising the city streets. Hey, I can even buy masa harina, hominy and tomatillos from my local IGA, and I live practically in 'the sticks'!! I'm loving this new awareness of Mexican (and Tex-Mex) food, because this is the home cooking I grew up on, and it says 'comfort food' like nothing else does.

Being an incurable chocoholic, one of my favourite Mexican dishes is the national dish of Mexico, 'mole poblano' (pronounced 'MOH-lay') - a thick chocolate chilli sauce, complex and delicious, which is usually served over turkey or chicken.

Many legends surround the origin of mole poblano. The most common one goes like this. Sometime in 1680's at the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla, the convent nuns heard that the archbishop was going to pay them a visit. They went into a panic because they were poor and had almost nothing to feed him. They prayed, and brought together the little bits of what they did have: chillies, spices, day-old tortillas, nuts, a little chocolate and more. They made a thick sauce out of these ingredients, killed an old turkey they had, cooked it up and served it with the sauce. The archbishop loved it. Mole poblano was born. [via this article and Wikipedia]

Every region of Mexico seems to have their own version of mole. It can be anything from dark, thick and chocolatey, to soup-like and bright green. There are red, yellow and black moles, some are served with turkey, chicken or pork, and some with vegetables. "All mole preparations begin with one or more types of chili pepper. The classic moles... such as mole poblano and mole negro, include two or more of the following types: ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle. Other ingredients can include black pepper, achiote, guaje (Leucaena leucocephala), cumin, cloves, anise, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, sesame seeds, dried fruit, hoja santa and many others. Mole poblano has an average of 20 ingredients; mole almendrado has an average of 26, and Oaxacan moles can have over 30. Chocolate, if used, is added at the end of cooking." [Wikipedia] Some moles contain ground up nuts or pepitas, ground up cacao nibs or beans instead of chocolate, cinnamon, jaggery (similar to Rapadura), and even plantains! As you can see, there's lots of room for experimenting, so feel free to add to my recipe and tweak it to your taste. I don't have access to Mexican chillies where I live, so I just used regular red chillies - but if you can find ancho, pasilla and mulato chillies (lucky you!), try those. This recipe will give you an idea of how to use them - they're not super hot, they're kind of smokey.

Traditionally, mole takes days to make. The ingredients are roasted and ground up first, which, if done by hand, takes a full day in itself. The resulting powder or paste (depending on the ingredients in it) is mixed with broth and simmered in a heavy clay cauldron until it becomes a thick sauce. It has to be stirred constantly so it doesn't burn. That's the traditional way, which obviously isn't done so much these days. Mostly people just buy a mole paste in a jar and add stock, a bit like making a curry from a jar of curry paste.

Slow-roasting the tomatoes, onions and garlic

As you know, I'm all for making quick and quirky versions of my old favourite recipes, using basic ingredients and my trusty Thermomix. (See for example Spelt Tortillas, Mexican Quinoa, Fajitas, Dairy Free Sour Cream and Mexican Black Bean & Chorizo Soup.) My version of Black Bean Mole won't take you days, although it IS more time consuming than most of my recipes. But it's totally worth it.

Note: If you're looking for black beans (also called turtle beans), you'll most likely find them at your local health food shop, or maybe in the International aisle of your grocery store. But if you can't find them, try kidney beans, or even a mixture of beans. In the mole below, I used a mixture of green lentils, black beans, and pinto beans. Still tasted great!

Black Bean Mole

1. First you need to pick through the dry beans and discard any that are shrivelled or have holes in them.

- 500g black (turtle) beans (uncooked)

Put them in a big stockpot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, simmer a minute or two, then turn off heat and leave the beans covered for 1-2 hours. (Alternatively, you can do an overnight soak by covering the beans with water in a large bowl and leaving to soak for 6-8 hours.)

2. While the beans are soaking, begin slow roasting the tomatoes, garlic and onion. You'll need:

- 5 large vine-ripened tomatoes, halved

- 1 or 2 Spanish onions, peeled and halved

- 4 large garlic cloves, in their skins

- Olive oil

- sea salt

- dried oregano

   Place the vegetables onto an oiled tray (onions cut side down) and drizzle all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and oregano, and roast at 140C for 3-4 hours. (Take the garlic out after 2 hours, or when it's soft - don't let it cook too long or it'll go crunchy.)

3. While the veges continue to roast, drain the soaking water off the beans and place them in the Thermomix bowl. Add to bowl:

- 1/2 an onion (not chopped up)

- 2 garlic cloves (whole)

- 1 tsp of dried oregano

- 1 tsp olive oil

     Cover with water to the 2 litre mark. Cook at 100C for approx 2 hours (you'll have to reset the timer after 60 mins) reverse speed soft, with the rice basket on top instead of the MC. If it starts to bubble up, turn the heat down to 90C for a few minutes, then back up to 100C. Cook until beans are cooked through but not falling apart. It may take longer than 2 hours, depending on how old the beans are. They need to be cooked BEFORE you add any salt or tomatoes or they'll end up tough.

4. When beans are done, strain the cooking water off to a jug and reserve for the chilli. Toss out the garlic and onion.

5. Tip beans into a bowl and set aside for the moment.

6. Rinse and dry Thermomix bowl. Toast the chilli/es at 100C for 2 minutes, speed 1. Chop on speed 7, scraping down and re-whizzing if necessary.

- 1 or 2 large red chillies, deseeded and halved (or your choice of chillies, to taste)

7. Add and chop in tmx on speed 5 for 3 seconds:

- 1 carrot, quartered
- 1 stick celery, quartered
- 1/2 yellow capsicum, halved again
- 1 handful fresh coriander leaves (optional)

8. Add oil or ghee and cook for 5 minutes, 100C speed 1:

- 50g olive oil or ghee

9. Add spices and cook for another 2 minutes, 100C speed 1:

- 2-3 tsp ground cumin
- 3 tps smoked paprika
- 1-2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt

10. Add roasted veges to bowl (removing skin from garlic) and chop roughly on speed 5 for 5 seconds.

- roasted tomatoes, onions & garlic

11. Add beans to Thermomix bowl, along with:

- 250g of the reserved cooking water
- 2 tsps balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsps Rapadura
- 50g tomato paste
- 2 Tbspns vege stock concentrate

12. Cook at 100C for 15 mins, reverse speed soft - until water is bubbling and reducing. Grate in the chocolate and cook for another 15 mins at 100C, reverse speed soft, adding the extra cooking water as needed to keep the beans wet but not too soupy. (Remember, only fill the Thermomix bowl up to the 2 litre mark.)

- a couple of tablespoons grated dark chocolate (65-80% cocoa, dairy free, bittersweet)

13. Taste for the balance of flavours, add salt or spices or a splash more vinegar if needed. The flavour will improve as it sits. You'll notice it tastes even better the

next day!

Note: You can reheat it in the Varoma, on wet baking paper, with 500g of boiling water in the bowl.

Here's some suggestions of what to serve these beans with:

- corn bread
- brown rice cooked with a little turmeric and a tiny pinch of saffron
- guacamole
- roasted sweet potatoes
- grilled corn on the cob
- spelt tortillas
- corn chips

Black bean mole, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled corn, and cornbread

Enjoy!

One Bowl Thermomix Carrot Cake! {gluten free, dairy free}

  

Do you make carrot cake 'from scratch', the old fashioned way? Do you end up with a big mess? Carrot peels in the sink, bits of grated carrot sticking to the grater and scattered over the counter, a chopping board covered in bits of walnuts and pineapple, a bowl for the wet ingredients, goop from the eggs on the counter, a whisk, a bowl for the dry ingredients, a floury sieve, a wooden spoon... then once you've tidied all that up, you've got to make the cream cheese icing! Messy. And lots of dishes to wash. So you probably don't make it very often, right? I know I didn't when I had to make it that way!

Maybe you're thinking, 'Nope! I make mine in the Thermomix, or a food processor!' Getting closer... but how many steps does your recipe take? I'm amazed at all the extraneous steps in so many recipes. Cut 'em out! Who wants recipes with lots of steps, anyway? Not me. I've streamlined my carrot cake recipe to two main steps. Plus stirring in some raisins if you like. (Okay, and one more step for the icing.) First the wet ingredients go in, along with the quartered carrots and chunks of fresh pineapple - grated, chopped and mixed all at once. Then I add the dry ingredients, including the nuts, and chop and mix those for a few seconds. Then stir through some raisins. That's it. Pour it in the tin, pop it in the oven, and let the Thermomix bowl wash itself. ;-) You can even skip peeling the carrots and just give them a scrub if you like. Too easy.

By the way, this recipe makes great carrot cake cupcakes, too! I'm afraid I ate four of them today. And a slice of cake. Oops. Good thing they're healthy! :D

I've made a quick coconut cream topping for these. If you'd rather you could make a vanilla cashew cream.

For a nut free version, just replace the walnuts with shredded coconut.

This recipe makes two cakes, or a cake and 12 cupcakes.

Or about 24 cupcakes. :-)

1. Preheat oven to 165C. (Cakes made with honey need to cook at a lower temp, for longer, otherwise they'll be burnt on the outside and gooey on the inside; so don't be tempted to turn the oven higher.) Grease and flour a bundt tin or ring tin, and 12 muffin cups, or two ring tins or 24 muffin cups... you get the idea. If you're going to use cake tins, make sure they're not regular ones or the middle won't cook well - if you don't have a ring tin or a bundt tin, just grease and flour a small glass, and place it upside down in the middle of a round cake tin, and use that.

2. Weigh carrots, pineapple and wet ingredients into the Thermomix bowl, and mix on speed 5 for 15 seconds:

- 400g carrots, quartered

- 300g chunks of fresh pineapple (you can use tinned pieces, but add them with the dry ingredients so they don't get too chopped up)

- 4 large eggs

- 80g macadamia oil (or other light flavoured oil)

- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or good quality vanilla extract)

- 180g honey* (preferrably raw, unheated)

3. Add dry ingredients and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds:

- 380g plain gluten free flour (you can make your own mix if you'd rather, see this recipe)

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)

- 3/4 tsp sea salt

- 150g walnuts (unchopped)

* Note: for a nut free cake, leave walnuts out and add a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut with the sultanas instead.

4. Optional: stir in raisins/sultanas on speed 3 for 5 seconds:

- 80g raisins or sultanas

5. Cook for approximately 30-40 minutes for cupcakes, and an hour and a half for cakes, depending on your oven. Check by poking a skewer into the centre - it should come out nearly clean when the cakes are done. If the cake is getting too brown on top, just cover it with foil and keep baking til done. Don't cut it straight away while hot - it will be very moist inside. Let them cool, even in the fridge, before icing and eating, and the texture will be better.

* Note about honey: I buy raw, unheated honey in 2 litre bottles from local beekeepers - it's cheaper than buying honey in little containers from the grocery store, it doesn't have added glucose (which a lot of so called 'pure' honey has), it's unheated so there's more goodness in it, and it supports locals!

Coconut Cream Topping

For the topping, you'll need a cold tin of coconut cream - I keep a tin in my fridge for times like this. When it gets cold, the cream rises to the top and thickens, just like thick dairy cream.

In the Thermomix bowl, stir together the topping ingredients on speed 3 until just combined:

- 200g thick coconut cream (organic)

- 2 tsps fresh lemon juice (to make it tangy - optional)

- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or good quality vanilla extract)

- 60g raw honey (or to taste)

Pour into a dish and refrigerate to thicken again.

When the cakes are cool, top with coconut cream and sprinkle with some extra chopped walnuts or shredded coconut.

Store finished cakes in the fridge.