Weekly Highlights & some NEWS!

(Ummm, no, this isn't the recipe for my Cherry Delight 'Cheese'cake, so sorry. I just thought the photo might get your attention.) :D

Hello everyone. I know, my Weekly Highlights are very late, but I have an excuse!

I'm not sure if you've noticed that I've been a little bit absent from my blog and Facebook page lately. Well, there's a good reason for that. I promise it's not because I've been lazing around the house in my PJ's all day eating dulce de leche on fresh strawberries (as much as I've wanted to). It's just that I've been madly recipe testing and writing out recipes for the last couple of weeks because ... I have a publisher for my COOKBOOK!!!! EEEEK!!! (A bit exciting!!) Yes, a really real printed book, complete with really real photographers and stylists and all that fun stuff!

And along with a publisher comes DEADLINES and SECRETS and eating, sleeping and breathing RECIPES! And as much as I'd love to, I'm afraid I can't share the recipe for my cherry 'cheese'cake yet, because I need it for my book. You do understand, don't you? I'll try not to tease you with any more photos that do not have recipes attached, okay? (Although now and then I might post a sneaky one on Instagram, so if you want to see some sneak previews that's the place to look.) :)

So although I haven't had as much time to chat, there were still quite a few subjects discussed on my Facebook page this past week. Here's the main ones, to keep you all up to date.


FOOD

My big girl turned 16 last week (yes, I'm feeling old!). She wasn't interested in going out for dinner or having a party, she just wanted a big, family, Mexican fajita feast with a cherry cheesecake to finish it off. So that's what we did...

Fajitas with the lot!

Spelt tortillas, Mexican rice (mum's recipe - another option is my Mexican Quinoa), marinated fajita beef & chicken, sauteed red peppers (capsicums) and onions, guacamole, and my dairy free sour cream. So good.

Oh, and some smoky chipotle chilli sauce to top it off. Woweee, love that stuff!

(Do you like my cow apron? Lol!)

Mmmmm... fajitas!

What healthy treats would you cook for a 16th birthday party? Here's some reader's ideas.

Coconut Caramel Custard: In case you missed this, I posted this quick and easy recipe on the blog last week. Warning: dangerously addictive!

Pandan leaves: Ever see 'pandan leaves' in an Asian recipe and wonder where to get them, how to use them, whether you can grow them yourself, and what to substitute for them if they're nowhere to be found? Wonder no more, answers here!

Date loaf/cake recipes: Do you have a favourite date loaf or cake you like to make? Here's some readers' favourites.

Grapefruit recipes: It's grapefruit season, our fruit basket is overflowing with them! Need some ideas?

Travelling with Thermomix: A reader asked for simple Thermomix meal ideas that don't need heaps of pantry stuff, as she wanted to take her Thermomix with them on holiday. With a 2 year old and a 7 month old, it's a lot easier to 'eat in' than 'out', and the room they were to stay in only had coffee/tea making facilities. Here's some ideas readers suggested for travel meals.

7 Ingredient challenge: A desperate plea for a quick dessert idea using the 7 ingredients available brought out some very creative suggestions!

Vegan dinners: Recipes and ideas for a meat free meal.

Traditional afternoon tea ideas: Except they need to be gluten, dairy, sugar, and soy free! No problem.

Free-from birthday cake! A reader needs a recipe for a birthday cake that's gluten, dairy and soy free - preferably something rich and decadent.

Passionfruit recipes: Ideas for using up all those passionfruits that are falling off the vine! (At least here in FNQ, anyway!)

Paleo and nightshade-free food: A reader needs some ideas for paleo meals/food that are also free from potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, eggplants, capsicum and most legumes. Some great ideas here.

Lactation biscuit recipe: Have you heard of these? I hadn't! Basically it's a biscuit containing ingredients that help with lactation. Lots of other ideas for helping to increase breastmilk production here too.

Soup weather: What soups are you making on these wintery evenings?

And just a quick tip for when you make your tortillas or wraps - this is how thin you want to roll them, then cook them quickly in a really hot, dry frypan so they don't dry out. Make sure you keep them wrapped up in a clean tea towel while you cook them, so they stay warm and soft. Enjoy!

AND MORE...

Boosting your immune system: A reader asked for help for immune boosting ideas, as her husband has Ross River Fever.

Making soaps in your Thermomix - yes or no? Some great ideas and discussions here.

New Thermomix Blog & FB Page! If you need some help meal planning with your new Thermomix, Thermonerd may be the blog for you. Being a work-at-home mum of a little boy and twin baby girls means this busy lady HAS to plan ahead to keep up! Meal planning is definitely the way to go for helping with time management and budgeting... if you haven't tried it, you should.

By the way, there's lots of menu plans on my blog, as well as some here on my Facebook page!

Favourite Thermomix recipe books: What's your fave?

What the rural life is really like. I loved reading this blog post by Rural Miss and seeing her beautiful photos. Have you thanked a farmer today?

So now I'd better get back to my recipe writing...

I might have to get Mr I to do a guest post for me this week, so my blog doesn't look so neglected. :D

Have a great week!

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)

Thermomix Menu Plans - 2nd July

Well guys, I have heaps of food photos to share this week to give you a bit of inspiration... Thermie has been getting a workout! Here's some of what I've made in the past week:

Seeded Spelt Challah

I love making bread. When I have a 'day off' I like to just spend the morning baking. There's so many different kinds of breads you can make, and I love to get a bit creative with them. This is a mini, braided wreath made with half a batch of the spelt challah dough (uncooked in this photo), sprinkled with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and rock salt. I made a double batch of the spelt challah dough (ground 250g grain, set aside, then made two separate 500g batches of dough - took only a few minutes), let it rise, divided it for one large loaf and two small, and braided them into wreaths. The little ones were going to be gifts for a neighbour and a friend who'd babysat the kids, but the neighbour was away, and the kids thought we should make a cake instead for the friend. So we ate them. :)

This is the larger 500g loaf, cooked. The good thing about all those seeds is they hide any messiness in your braiding! ;-)

We only have bread a couple of times a week, as we're trying to cut down on grains a lot, so this bread was a special treat.

And so were the sandwiches I made... crispy bacon, dijon mustard, watercress, tomato, and sauteed mushrooms. Yummo!

For those of you who didn't see these on my Facebook page, we also enjoyed the Char Siew Pow (Barbeque Pork Steamed Buns) from the Asian cookbook this week... delicious! I love the Asian cookbook - I'm getting quite a few favourites from that book.

Above are the pork buns being made and placed in the Varoma on pieces of baking paper, so they don't stick to the tray. I strained the char siew sauce off the cooked pork and kept it for another dish. (We actually used it to cook some fish and marinara mix in, and it was delicious too!)

The finished pork buns. Yep, I had two Thermomixes going at once, with rice steaming in the basket inside the bowl, and the buns steaming on top. I had lots of cooking to do that day - it was the same day as my son's 13th birthday party when I had to cook for ten boys all day, plus the family's dinner and our Thermofest dinner that night! Phew, thank goodness for Thermomix(es)!! (And if you're wondering why I have two Thermomixes, that's one of the perks of being a consultant - you can earn a free one with your sales... woo hoo!)

I did tweak the pork bun recipe slightly - I used spelt flour instead of wheat flour (needed a bit more to make the dough less sticky), rice milk instead of dairy milk, and rapadura instead of sugar. They turned out great, and were delicious served with laksa, fried rice, prawns and seafood in char siew sauce at our Thermofest dinner. :) (I was too busy eating and forgot to take any photos at the dinner - sorry!)

And just before I dashed off to the Thermofest dinner I slapped together a quick birthday cake for my son - it doesn't look too flash, but it tasted good!

The cake is a flourless chocolate cake - I used the basic 'Too Easy Chocolate Cake' recipe in the Everyday Cookbook, just substituting pecans instead of the flour (same weight), macadamia oil instead of the butter, and 100g Rapadura instead of the sugar. (Chuck everything in together and whiz it up for a few seconds on speed 8. That's it.) I cooked it in two 20 cm round cake tins, and layered it with cashew cream and fresh strawberries, with some dark chocolate chips scattered on top. Too easy.

The only problem with this cake is that it turned out a bit small - next time I would double the recipe and cook two cakes, then put them together. Otherwise it was great. And quick!

Some days I use my Thermomix 15 times or more, doing everything from grinding grains, nuts, coffee and chocolate; to making dairy free creams, milks and sauces; mixing up cakes, smoothies and soups; as well as making breakfast, lunch and dinner. No wonder my kitchen often looks like this...

...or worse! (I have a very small kitchen. That's my excuse.)

So what's on the menu this week at your house? Here's my basic plan, leaving room for the unexpected... I'd love for you to share your Thermomix Menu Plan on my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page, by posting the link to your plan in the comments under my menu plan link. Inspire us!

Have a great week :)

Monday:

Leftover roast beef and veges, warmed up in the Varoma while cooking mashed potatoes in the bowl below, and leftover soup and salad.

Tuesday:

Fish pie with cauliflower mash topping (prepared in tmx, baked in oven), and salad. (I've been promising to get this recipe on the blog - will try and do that this week!)

Wednesday:

Baked sweet potatoes with Tuna a la King sauce (tmx)

Thursday:

Mexican black bean & chorizo soup (prep in tmx, cooked in slow cooker as I'll be gone all day)

Friday:

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, mashed potato (tmx) and steamed veges (tmx)

Saturday:

Grilled fish with almonds, garlic quinoa (tmx), and leafy green salad

Sunday:

Baked meatloaf with roast veges (in oven slow cooking, as out all morning) and salad

Mexican Black Bean & Chorizo Soup

Thermomix Menu Plans - 25th June

Hi everyone! How did your week go? I hope you had plenty of Thermomixing successes! Well this week is going to start with a bang for me... My oldest boy just turned 13 today, (I now have two teenagers - aaaargh!! How did I get this old??), and he's celebrating by inviting all his friends over to have a gigantic Nerf war tomorrow! Help...

I get to cook for the hungry soldiers. Yay. Party food for lots of hungry boys when you're a dairy free, wheat free, sugar free household can be challenging... but I can do it. Okay, I did give in and buy one bag of Freddo Frogs and some plain chips for the dip, but the rest is homemade and healthy. (See menu below for details)

As well as all the party cooking tomorrow, I've got to cook for an International dinner we're having tomorrow night to celebrate the launch of Thermofest, plus dinner for the kids at home. So it'll be a big cooking day. Good thing I have a Thermomix (or two)! (And may I just mention here, our next Thermofest destination is very exciting! This year, Hawaii - next year...??? Can't wait!)

Felicity, Kelly & Me - Thermofest Hawaii!

So getting back to food - here's some dishes we enjoyed in the past week...

Beef fajitas with spelt tortillas and dairy free 'sour cream' and guacamole...

(one of my favourite meals!)

Dairy Free Cream Cheese

Dairy Free French Onion Dip...

...which is made with these yummy Thermomix caramelised onions...

One of my favourite soups - Coconut Lemon Chicken Soup

And last, but definitely not least, these delicious Sticky Pecan Muffins!

(You've got to try them!!!)

So what's on the menu at your house this week? Please come and share your menu on my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page by linking to yours (or just adding yours) in the comments under my menu link. Thanks!

Monday:

(Party!) Pizzas: dough made in tmx, toppings chopped in tmx - putting it all out on the table and letting the boys make their own!

Homemade fizzy juices with fruit, green stevia, rapadura & soda water (tmx);

popcorn; chips & French Onion Dip & guacamole (dips made in tmx);

Chocolate pecan layer cake (a recipe I made up today - tmx) with cashew cream (tmx) & strawberries;

Banana ice cream (maybe with salted caramel sauce) tmx

Marike's Coconut Flour Brownies (tmx)

(I had planned on homemade chicken & vege sausage rolls too, but don't think I'll need them; and he did ask me to make beef jerky too, but it won't be ready in time.)

(Dinner for the kids) Fried rice with steamed pork buns & leftovers (maybe!)

Tuesday:

Steph's baked fish in coconut milk, except I'm going to steam it in the Varoma with rice :)

Wednesday:

Meatloaf & veges with red sauce (tmx, sauce in bowl, meatloaf & veges in Varoma)

Thursday:

Vietnamese fish curry with sticky rice (tmx, curry in bowl, rice in Varoma)

Friday:

Lentil bolognese (tmx) with raw vege 'noodles'

Saturday:

Butter chicken (made with coconut cream - tmx) and rice (tmx) and salad

Sunday:

Roast beef & veges (gravy made in tmx)

Have a great week!

Thermomix Menu Plans - 18th June

Hi everyone! I've decided to change how I do 'Thermomix Menu Plans', as I've been having a bit of 'spamming' happening on my 'linkie' and I can't delete them. Very frustrating! So I've decided to get rid of the link-up widget at the bottom of my menu plans, and invite people to link up via my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page instead. When my menu plan is posted each Monday, I'll post the link on my FB page. Then anyone who'd like to share their Thermomix menu for the week can link to the menu on their FB page or website in the comments. That way everyone will be able to see them, it's easy to click through to the menus, and it'll be easier for me to delete any spam. Hope no one minds about the changes... I just think it might work better. And there's always plenty of comments and interaction on Facebook (which is what I love about it!) so we might get more menu plans to check out than we've been getting here... yay! I know I love to see what you guys are cooking, and get some inspiration - I hope you do too.

There really hasn't been much exciting happening in my kitchen in the past week, I'm afraid, because I was sick with a cold for a few days and only got up to start the chicken soup cooking, or to make myself a hot drink! My kids did a good job of looking after me... Simi, my 13 yr old, brought me a hot cup of tea in bed every morning, and my girls brought me breakfast in bed and made lunch (and sometimes dinner) for the family as well. Here's what they made one morning - scrambled eggs with silverbeet and sun-dried tomatoes... yum :)

(See, I can't help myself - I even take photos of my food when I'm sick in bed! As my son said, 'Thank goodness she's got her iPhone so she doesn't get bored!' Lol!!)

Last week's menu was pretty much a wash-out with me being sick. We ate a lot of homemade chicken soup; chicken and vege curries with fresh turmeric, ginger, and garlic all minced up and added at the end (raw) for extra goodness; and lots of fish and greens. This was lunch on Sunday - leftover baked sweet potato and king salmon 'hash', served on baby cos lettuce leaves, with some hot chilli sauce and tamari sprinkled over. So simple, but yummy.

So that's about it for food photos this week... Sorry! Will a sunset do? (Taken at the end of my street from the car window.)

There was a bit of discussion on my Facebook page last week about whether it's cheaper to eat healthy food or junky food (eg. takeaways). I think it's cheaper to eat healthy food, especially if you're comparing takeaways to basic, cooked-from-scratch meals! I save heaps of money by cooking from basic ingredients, not from packets and tins and jars, and by avoiding takeaways. (And by buying bulk!!)

One of the difficulties that was mentioned was the fact that free range or organic chickens are so expensive. Well, I still think you're going to save money if you start with a whole chicken, than if you go and buy a bucket of KFC! But to help prove the point that healthy (even organic) can be cheaper than takeaway, I'm going to share some of my 'eating healthy on a budget' tips in general, and my 'how to stretch a chicken' recipes in particular. I can get three or four meals out of one chicken. You'll notice a few chicken recipes on my menu this week, as I cook and take pics of my 'stretchy chicken' meals, so keep an eye out for those blog posts - they'll be coming up soon.

And don't forget, if you have a Thermomix Menu Plan you'd like to share, I'd love you to come and share it on my Facebook page in the comments under my Menu Plan link. I hope we get lots of new menus to be inspired by :) Have a great week!

Monday:

(breakfast) Chicken & noodles (made from chicken stock that had been simmering all night in the slow cooker, some mung bean vermicelli, garlic, veges and tamari);
(lunch) Chicken & vege pasta (made in the Thermomix with some of the chicken that was poaching in the stock, plus lots of veges & some gf pasta);

Chicken pasta = happy kids!

(dinner) - had a Thermomix cooking afternoon here! Pure fruit sorbet (made from frozen banana & berries), spelt bread rolls, guacamole with carrot slices for 'crackers', raw beetroot salad, pasta e fagioli with gf pasta, grain free vege pasta (vege pasta sauce cooking in bowl, cabbage 'noodles' steaming in Varoma) and dairy free orange-vanilla custard (made with rice-almond milk). Plus some baked cranberry-glazed ham and veges at Grandma's house afterwards ;-)


Tuesday:

(lunch) Coconut lemon chicken soup (tmx)
(dinner) Fried rice (tmx) and green salad


Wednesday:

(lunch) Fish, leftover fried rice (warmed up in tmx Varoma), salad
(dinner) Baked sweet potatoes topped with tuna-a-la-king (tmx)


Thursday:

(lunch) Beef & corn pie (grain free, tmx prep & baked in oven); green salad
(dinner) Steamed fish (tmx), mashed potato (tmx), salad


Friday:

(lunch) 'Roast' lamb (steamed in Varoma, seared in pan) with garlic quinoa (cooked in basket towards end of lamb cooking time), and steamed veges (tmx)
(dinner) Pizza - grain free almond meal crust (tmx), dairy free avocado salad topping (tmx)


Saturday:

(lunch) Beef fajitas with spelt tortillas (tmx), dairy free sour cream (tmx), stir fried capsicum & onion (tmx) (see photo below) and guacamole (tmx)
(dinner) Leftovers (I hope!) or soup (tmx)


Sunday:

(lunch) Slow baked meatloaf with baked veges & salad
(dinner) Frittata made with leftover baked veges & eggs (steamed in Varoma)

Beef fajitas in spelt tortillas with dairy free sour cream

Happy cooking!

Thermomix Menu Plans - 11th June

Hi everyone, how's the menu planning going? I seem to be getting lots of messages lately from busy mums telling me how much menu planning is helping them regain some sanity! That's great - I know it really helps me to have a basic plan of what I'm going to cook each day. Coming home at the end of a long day THEN trying to decide what to have for dinner usually ends up in frustration and take-aways, in my experience. So do your family a favour and plan this week's meals! :)

I updated a few recipes on my blog this week, and I must tell you to try the Smoked Salmon & Sweet Potato Soup! (above) It's so much more delicious with orange sweet potato than regular potato. It's definitely soup weather, and I'm sneaking soup onto the menu at lunch times a lot - I love soup.

I've also updated my gluten free, dairy free Croquembouche recipe - now I just need to make one to get a better photo... I did try, but I ran out of time and all the profiteroles and chocolate pastry cream (photo below) got eaten. Maybe this week I'll try again. I have a baby shower to go to, so that would be something fun to take!

Last week I posted the recipe for my gluten free, egg free Chia, Buckwheat & Quinoa Bread, which I'm loving. Yesterday I worked on making a soaked version, for better digestibility, and it worked really well, so I'll be adding that variation to the recipe today. I'm trying to get back into soaking my seeds, nuts and grains before using them, as it's much healthier... just takes a bit more planning ahead and sometimes I get so busy I forget. The next step is to start fermenting veges again...

This week I'll hopefully get my recipe for Fish Pie with Cauliflower Mash (above) posted, as I've had a few people ask about it. We're eating a lot of fish lately in an effort to increase the Omega 3's in our diet, so I bought a 10kg box of King Salmon from a local fisherman, which works out heaps cheaper than buying it at the shop. I'm working on getting more creative with my fish recipes, as I tend to just pan fry it and that gets a bit dull after a while. If you have any amazing fish recipes, let me know!

For those of you in Far North Queensland, you need to check out the Real Food Network, which is where I get my awesome Community Supported Agriculture food boxes. They are running a survey/competition and you can WIN $500 worth of local, mostly organic fruit and veges. There are also 2nd and 3rd prizes, and everyone who takes the survey will get $10 off their next food box! So pop over there and fill in the online survey before the 29th of June. Let's support our local farmers and buy local.

The RealFood Network | COMMUNITY SURVEY IS OUT!

My basic menu plan for this week is below. I'll be posting some breakfast and lunch ideas on Facebook as usual, and just planning a few of those ahead, as they depend on what leftovers we have, what veges come in my CSA box, etc. If you need some inspiration for your menu planning, check out the Thermomix Recipe Community, the blogs linked up below, this Thermomix Menu Planning Facebook group, or just google Thermomix + whatever ingredient you want to use, and you'll most likely come up with a recipe! I love the amazing variety of Thermomix recipes and hints and tips that are on the internet these days. I love all the cookbooks too. I'm impatiently waiting for my copy of "Devil of a Cookbook" to arrive, hopefully this week...

Creole Black Eyed Peas & Corn

Monday:

Leftover lamb roast & veges made into soup for lunch

Creole Black Eyed Peas & Corn (tmx) with salad

Tuesday:

Mexican steak salad - marinated rump steak, steamed in Varoma and sliced into strips, served on a Mexican style salad with dairy free sour cream and salsa

Wednesday:

Pan fried fish with mashed potatoes & steamed veges (mash & veges cooked in tmx at same time)

Thursday:

Sweet 'n' Sour Beef with cabbage 'noodles' - cabbage strips steamed in Varoma while beef stew cooks in bowl (tmx)

Friday:

Fried fish strips (cooked like this) with steamed sweet potatoes (tmx) & raw vege sticks

Saturday:

Pesce Puttenesca from "In the Mix" - fish in a tomato sauce, with steamed veges (tmx)

Sunday:

Roast chicken & veges, gravy in tmx

If you're posting your menu on your website or public facebook page, you can link up below and share your ideas with all of us! Here's how: Thermomix Menu Plans

Have a great week!