Spicy BBQ Chicken All-in-One Dinner

 



One of the things I love most about my Thermomix is that it makes super-delicious and super-easy 'all-in-one' meals! (You may have noticed that. There's quite a few on my blog.)

Who doesn't love a meal that's quick to put together, doesn't use up every pot in the cupboard, saves electricity by cooking everything at once, and tastes delicious to boot? Not to mention the fact that steamed veges are much better for you than veges boiled to death in a pot of water. So I tend to make a lot of these 'all-in-one' meals, just varying the layers to use whatever I have. When the cooking time is finished, if there's liquid in the bowl, I often use it to make a sauce to pour over the top so nothing is wasted.

Here's one I made up the other night - chicken thighs cooking in a spicy BBQ sauce, with veges and either rice, potatoes or quinoa cooking in the basket in the bowl, and a sauce made with the juices that are left in the bowl at the end. Very simple, a great mid-week meal. It's a little bit spicy, so adjust the chilli powder to taste!

Spicy BBQ Chicken All-in-One Dinner

1. Mince garlic in Thermomix bowl on speed 7 for 3 seconds:

- 2 cloves garlic

 

2. Add remaining sauce ingredients and mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds:

- 80g tomato sauce

- 60g apple cider vinegar

- 30g butter, ghee or oil

- 2 tsp seeded or Dijon mustard

- 2 Tbspns Tamari

- 2 Tbspns lemon juice

- 20g Rapadura or 15g honey

- 1 tsp herb salt

- 1-2 tsp chilli powder

- 2 tsp smoked paprika

 

3. Pour over chicken thighs in a bowl and marinate for half an hour. (If you don't have time you can just go ahead and cook them.)

- 1 kg chicken thighs, fat removed

 

4. Pour water into bowl, insert rice basket, and weigh in rice/quinoa/potatoes.

- 900g water

- 400g basmati rice

    OR

  350g quinoa (rinsed)

    OR   

  fill basket with thickly sliced potatoes (skin on)

5. Put lid on bowl, with Varoma on top. Add veges to lower Varoma tray, and place the upper Varoma tray on top. Line with wet baking paper, and arrange chicken on paper, drizzling with some of the sauce. Set remaining sauce aside for later.
- sliced veges: carrots, broccoli, green beans, red capsicum... or even just frozen peas and corn if you're in a hurry
- chicken in BBQ sauce

 

6. Start cooking for 20 minutes at Varoma temp, speed 4 for rice or quinoa, or 25 minutes for potatoes. When cooking time is finished, remove Varoma (set it on it's lid to catch drips) and remove rice/quinoa/potatoes and cooked veges to a Thermoserver or covered serving dish to keep warm. The chicken will need a little more time to cook.

7. If you cooked rice/quinoa, there won't be much 'juice' left in the bowl. Add some more liquid by carefully draining the juices off the chicken into the bowl. Also, add the reserved BBQ sauce to the bowl (from marinating the chicken). Replace lid and Varoma (bottom tray will be empty), and cook for another 10 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 2. Chicken should be done - cut a thigh in half to check.

    If you cooked potatoes in the basket, there'll be lots of water left in the bowl. Tip all but about 2 inches of water out. Add juices from chicken and reserved sauce, replace chicken in Varoma tray, and cook as above.

 

The juices left in the bowl - BBQ marinade is added and it is thickened to make sauce.

8. Remove cooked chicken to another Thermoserver or covered serving dish. Make the sauce by adding cornstarch/arrowroot mixture to bowl and cooking at 100C for 4 minutes, speed 4.
- 2 Tbspns cornstarch or arrowroot, mixed with 2 Tbspns water in a cup

 

 

9. Serve chicken, veges and rice/quinoa/potatoes together, drizzled with the sauce.

 

As you can see, it's very handy to have more than one *Thermoserver!

They'll keep your food hot for up to three hours, so you can make dinner ahead of time and keep it in the servers until everyone's ready to eat. No more cold dinners.

 

* A Thermoserver is a double insulated stainless steel serving dish valued at $60, available only through Thermomix home demonstrations in Australia. 

 

* Special Deal for January 2013 *

You can receive TWO Thermoservers for free by purchasing a Thermomix in January,

and holding your home demonstration before the end of February!

Visit the Thermomix website for more details.

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)

Almond, Lemon & Coconut Steamed Puddings {grain free, dairy free}

Today I decided to experiment with a grain free recipe for the steamed lemon and coconut puddings we make at the Thermomix Varoma demos. My daughter absolutely loves those puddings, but she reacts to gluten (and I think grains), and isn't supposed to have all that sugar. There is a grain free version of the puddings on the Varoma recipe cards, but I find that recipe a bit heavy - I wanted them to be lighter, and also dairy free and more naturally sweetened. I was really happy with the result of my experimenting! Anyway, I think I'd better not chit chat too much here and just hurry up and post the recipe... seems like there's a few people on Facebook who want it NOW!! Lol :D So here it is...

1. Peel the lemon zest into the Thermomix bowl with a potato peeler:

- zest of one lemon

    (Make sure your bowl is nice and dry.)

2. Add and blend for 10 seconds on speed 10:

- 100g blanched almonds*

- 40g coconut flour** (not dessicated coconut ground up, it's too oily)

- 40g Rapadura

- 1/2 tsp green stevia powder (or white stevia if that's all you have)

3. Add and mix for another 6 seconds on speed 5:

- 100g macadamia oil

- 2 yolks + 2 eggs (save the whites for fruity dream or sorbet)

- 180g coconut milk**

- 2 tsp baking powder

  Scrape down bowl and reblend for another 5 seconds on speed 5. Don't overmix.

4. Pour batter into silicon cupcake cups (or greased ramekins) and place in two layers in the Varoma trays. (No need to grease silicon cupcake cups.) Rinse out the Thermomix bowl and fill to just above the blades with water (just cool tap water), and place on base with lid on. Place the Varoma on top and cook the puddings for 20 minutes at Varoma temp, speed 2.

(Tip: When you lift the lid off the Varoma at the end of the cooking time,

tilt it back so the steam escapes away from you, and the condensation

on the lid drips down into the vent on the side of the Varoma dish,

and not onto the puddings! Soggy puddings are not so nice.)

5. Set the puddings aside. Tip the water out of the bowl and place back on the base.

6. Weigh into bowl and cook for 2 minutes at 100C, speed 2:

- 50g Rapadura

- 50g pure maple syrup

- 50g fresh lemon juice (approx. 1 lemon)

  Meanwhile, turn puddings out of silicon cupcake cups (or ramekins) onto plates. They come out easiest while warm.

7. Drizzle puddings with a little syrup, top with a raspberry (or some fruity dream), and serve.

* To blanch your own almonds, weigh raw almonds into a bowl, pour boiling water over and leave for about 10 minutes, then the skins will pop off when you 'pinch' them between your fingers. Spread on a tea towel to dry out before grinding.

** If you want to make your own coconut flour, you need to first grind up 100g of dried shredded (or dessicated) coconut, add 300g water, cook for 10 mins at 100C speed 2, then blend for 1 minute on speed 9. Then squeeze through a nut milk bag (when cool enough) until you've got as much moisture out of the coconut as possible. (Use the coconut milk to make the puddings, or in curries.) Spread the coconut out on a dehydrator tray and dry for a few hours until there's no moisture left at all, then grind it up in the Thermomix. If you'd rather the easy option of buying coconut flour, you can get it at health food stores or online. (You can buy it here.) It seems expensive, but you really don't need much to make a cake, so a 500g bag lasts for ages.

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 - 2nd January and a GIVEAWAY!!

Happy New Year!

Well, we're starting the New Year off with a bang! And no, I don't mean fireworks, (they're kind of rare in this neck of the woods), I mean we're straight back into life going 'full steam ahead'! I shouldn't complain, I've had a quiet month (workwise), and a much needed rest (partly enforced by the flu)... now it's time to get stuck back into it. This week there's lots of social stuff going on, as well as a couple of demos (lots more of those planned this month), and I really need to do a spring clean and catch up on paperwork and school preparation and do some work on my cookbook... phew! Getting tired just thinking about it all. But hey, I'd rather jump into the New Year with both feet than be sitting around bored. I always tell my kids, 'Only boring people get bored!' Don't you agree? :)

So with all that's going on this week, I'm going to need to keep my energy up with healthy, wholesome meals, green smoothies and Crio Brü! Have you heard of Crio Brü? It's made of ground up, roasted cocoa beans which you brew like ground coffee - no additives or junk - full of healthy, energy-boosting minerals and antioxidants, and it tastes great! Because the beans are roasted and brewed, it has 'the consistency, roasted flavor and complexity of a fine coffee, yet because it is made with cocoa beans, its primary flavors are chocolatey.' You can drink it just like you would brewed coffee, with milk and sugar if you like (or in my case, rapadura and coconut cream), but my favourite way to drink it is actually just black, as the flavour is more intense. Without milk and sugar, it smells like chocolate but the flavour is very similar to coffee. With milk and sugar it's more like drinking cocoa. 

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to cut down on sugar (of any kind, even rapadura - help!), and black tea, and the occasional coffee. So I'm really pleased I've found Crio Brü as it's a delicious and healthy alternative to tea and coffee. I started drinking Crio Brü when I was sick, (I drank it black and unsweetened), and I was amazed that it seemed to help settle my tummy. With brewed coffee, I find it bothers my tummy if I have very much, as the caffeine and chlorogenic acid in coffee affect the stomach lining, and cause an increase in gastric juices. I don't get an upset stomach with Crio Brü, or the shakiness which I get if I have a cup of strong coffee, so I'm loving it!

I'm really wanting to share the love with you all, because you've all been so wonderful this past year, supporting my blog and passing it on to friends, coming to have a chat both here and on my Facebook page - you guys are great! And as you may have noticed, last week was my blog's third birthday... So as a big THANK YOU for all your support, and because the Crio Brü team have been so kind in donating it, I have a special gift to give away this week! YIPPEE!! Who doesn't like presents - especially one as cool as this one?! Check it out... I love my Bodum travel mug. It's all stainless steel inside, no plastic lining.

Win a super cool, stainless steel
Bodum travel mug

and a 340g bag of Crio Brü Cavalla!

 

It's really easy to enter - all you have to do is:

1. ‘Like’ the Crio Brü facebook page

2. Then, post on their wall ‘Quirky Jo sent me!’

Too easy, huh! So go on, do it now... you've only got three days!! The prize will be randomly drawn on Thursday, so don't miss out. Pass it on to your friends, share it on Facebook, and if you don't win, make sure you order some Crio Brü to try for yourself - I'm sure you'll love it too. :)

(By the way, the chocolate covered cocoa beans are AWESOME - and there's no nasty additives in the chocolate - just a little sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla beans. No dairy, soy, gluten, nuts, etc, either.)

Okay, so on to my menu plan for this week... I'm continuing with the Varoma recipes theme, as there's so, so many good ones to choose from, and I really want to encourage you all to use your Thermomix to it's full potential. So if you haven't used your Varoma for a while, dust it off and try one of these. Don't forget to check out the other menus linked to this page - you're sure to find lots of inspiration. And feel free to link yours up too - for instructions on what to do, see this post about Thermomix Menu Plans. If you just want to know where to start in planning your own menu, see How to Menu Plan. And please don't forget to leave a comment if you link up, so I know you're there and can pop over and have a look at your page. :) Have a great week, and all the best for the New Year!

Sunny Scalloped Eggs & Silverbeet or Broccoli

Monday:
(lunch) With friends - taking Breudher and Thermie (to make whatever they want to make - her Thermomix is on it's way!) The Breudher is prepared and frozen, but uncooked - I'll thaw it out and cook it this morning. It's always nicest hot from the oven.
(dinner) Sunny Scalloped Eggs & Silverbeet - silverbeet (or broccoli) steams in the Varoma while eggs 'boil' (steam) in the basket in the bowl, then it's layered with a white or mushroom sauce and veges, and topped with buttered crumbs and baked.

Tuesday:
(lunch) Varoma demo here - if you've never been to a Varoma demo, the menu is: Fruity dream; pizza bianca; sun-dried tomato & red capsicum dip; dressing made from some of the dip; creamy chickpea and vegetable soup which cooks in the bowl while pumpkin, chicken & couscous (or quinoa) steam on top in the Varoma; warm chicken, pumpkin & couscous (or quinoa) salad, either Italian style or Moroccan style; and steamed lemon & coconut puddings with citrus syrup... deeeelicious!!
(dinner) Leftovers (plus more salad if needed) and steak.

Wednesday:
(lunch) Baked potatoes & salad
(dinner) Spaghetti & meatballs - pasta sauce cooks in bowl with meatballs steaming in Varoma; raw pasta is added to sauce towards end of cooking time to cook in bowl while meatballs finish cooking. I add lots of veges to the sauce, and just a little meat.

Thursday:
(lunch) Fish with tomato and potatoes (based on Salt Cod with Tomato and Potatoes on pg. 82 of Full Steam Ahead - the Thermomix Varoma cookbook) - the red sauce cooks in the bowl while the fish steams in the Varoma, you cook potato & capsicum slices in the bowl next (or in a pan at the same time if in a hurry!), then layer the sauce, veges and fish in a baking dish and top with homemade aoli and grill for 5 minutes to brown. Really yummy!
(dinner) Out

Steamed potato salad

Friday:
(lunch) Chicken & potato salad with sun-dried tomato mayonnaise - an old favourite!
(dinner) Risotto with whatever's in the fridge

Saturday:
(lunch) Vege pasta - tomato-vege pasta sauce cooking in bowl with spiralized vege 'pasta' steaming in Varoma - a grain free pasta - cutting down on grains is another one of my New Year's Resolutions! (Check out the Benriner if you haven't seen them - make your own 'pasta' from fresh vegetables)
(dinner) Beef Rendang with sticky rice - curry cooking in bowl, sticky rice steaming in Varoma. (See method here)

Sunday:
(lunch) Roast lamb & veges with steamed bread rolls (Varoma) - To steam your bread rolls, just make the dough as usual, rise once, then form into small rolls and place on pieces of baking paper in the Varoma, leaving spaces for the steam to get through. Sprinkle them with sesame seeds if you like. Let them rise for 10 minutes or so, then steam at Varoma temp for 20 minutes, speed 1. You can have a soup or sauce cooking underneath at the same time if you like, or just cover the blades with water. (May take 25 minutes, depending on size.)
(dinner) Leftovers

Oh, and here's another steamed bread option that we love - I'm going to fit this into the menu somewhere this week too: Chocolate Filled Steamed Buns with Cherry Sauce (my version of the one in the Thermomix Full Steam Ahead cookbook).

So what's on your menu this week? Link up with Mr Linky below, and don't forget to leave a comment! Or if you don't have a site to link to, just add your menu in the comments below. Thanks, and have a great week.