Back-to-School Lunchbox Ideas & a Giveaway!

Pesto Pasta Salad - great for lunches, both home and school!

Well, it's that time of year again. Summer holidays are over and now it's the mad rush to get the kids organised for the new school year. It seems like everyone is desperately searching for lunch box ideas that are more then just a vegemite sandwich and an apple. The good news is, there are some AWESOME lunch box ideas out there, and we've been chatting about them on my Facebook page, so I thought I'd share some here for you as well, in case you missed them.

I obviously don't need to worry about lunch boxes too much myself (we homeschool) - our lunches will be the usual soups, leftovers, salads and pasta salads, smoothies, bunless burgers, chocolate banana ice cream, and whatever else I happen to be testing in the kitchen for the day! But I DO remember the stress of getting the kids out the door and to the bus on time with a decent lunch - one that wouldn't come home all smelly and soggy in the bottom of their bag because they didn't like it.

So here you are, not only have I rounded up some great ideas for you, I've also got you some goodies you can WIN to help inspire you with the lunchbox packing craziness!

Bunless burgers - one of our favourite lunches!

A beef mince patty with Dijon mustard and sauteed mushrooms in a cos lettuce 'wrap'. 

(Turkey mince patties with BBQ sauce is delish too.) Make them the night before and chill in the fridge, then pop it into a small snack bag in the morning and keep it cool with a 'Little Mashie' reusable squeezie pouch, filled with a smoothie and frozen! Delicious lunch. :)

Here are some "Lunchbox Filler Ideas" that a lovely reader, Nel, shared with us on Facebook. Nel is a busy mum of five who has lots of great tips for organising the home, storage, clean eating, reducing carbon footprints, gardening, and everyday activities with kids. She has started sharing her tips on her own Facebook page: 'Cuddles, Cookies & Chaos' - pop by and have a look!

Copy this list into a Word document, add in your own favourite lunchbox ideas, and stick it on your fridge. Voila! Plenty of inspiration for your weekly lunchbox menu.

Lunchbox Filler Ideas 

Note: Nel uses ingredients that are organic and/or preservative/gluten/lactose free, and finds most of her recipes online. Use this list as a guide, print out your own favourite recipes to suit your family's preferences. See the tips at the end of the list for more details.

Mondays: veggie box
Tuesdays: fruit box
Wednesdays: veggie box
Thursdays: fruit box
Fridays: treat box

Veggie Boxes
*carrot sticks
*cherry tomatoes
*cucumber slices
*crackers
*hommus
*hard boiled egg
*baked treat
*corn cob
*salad
*chicken drumsticks
*meatballs
*cheese
*sandwich
*leftovers

Fruit Boxes
*berries
*apple
*banana
*yoghurt
*fruit slice
*baked treat
*sandwich
*salad wrap / salad
*grapes
*pears
*mandarin
*orange
*leftovers

Treat Boxes
*bliss balls
*rice sticks
*salt and vinegar veggie crisps
*raw chocolate
*veggies
*fruit
*yoghurt
*juice
*homemade pizza
*homemade sausage rolls with sauce
*leftovers
*baked treat
*mini quiche
*homemade chicken nuggets

Baked Treats
*pikelets
*muffins - sweet and savoury
*anzac biscuits
*chocolate cake
*slices
*zucchini slice
*carrot cake
*banana bread

Lunchbox tips from Nel (and a few from me): 

- Rice sticks and salt & vinegar veggie crisps can be bought in individual packets in the gluten free section at Woolies. They are gluten/dairy/preservative free with no GMO's. 

- An example of a veggie box would be - leftover pasta bake in a thermos, rice crackers with hummus, a piece of carrot cake, half a dozen of each...cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, cheese cubes and a bottle of water. 

- Nel's Fruit Slice: Whiz up dates, cranberries and sultanas with some shredded coconut until its all sticky, stir through some melted coconut oil and quinoa flakes to hold it together, press it into a lined slice tin and keep it in the fridge)

- Healthy chicken nugget recipes can be found here; or try Nel's version - free range chicken breast coated in egg then coconut flour with mixed dried herbs, pan fried then baked, served cold in strips with aioli.

- Try my homemade chicken & vege sausage rolls recipe with spelt rough puff pastry; or Nel's easy chicken & vege sausage rolls: Mince up chicken and add a can of drained organic lentils, some grated carrot and finely chopped onion, roll it up in preservative free puff pastry as you would normal sausage rolls, brush with egg and bake. (You can buy gluten free puff pastry if needed.) 

- For warm baked food, heat everything before school, wrap it in foil and put it into thermos mugs.

- If you're looking for a thermos bowl/mug, you can get "Ez Heat Stayfit" from Woolies. They have a screw top lid with a flap on top that holds a folding reusable spoon, approx. $10. If you put hot liquids in there, do them up really tight - the teachers are always happy to open them for kids. 

- Make your kid's lunchboxes look exciting with cool stuff like hard boiled egg moulds and sandwich cutters.

- Make your own wraps! They're heaps cheaper than bought ones, taste a zillion times better, and are quick to make. Try my spelt tortillas, or for a gluten free wrap make these buckwheat and almond crepes without the vanilla, or try these amazing paleo wraps!

Make your own wraps - cheap, quick, healthy and much yummier than bought ones!

(Recipes above)

Sites to See:

Here's some great blogs and sites to help you with healthy lunchbox ideas...

- The Lunchbox Doctor: for healthy lunchbox menus, recipes, and nutrition tips 

- Meal Planning Your Way: 7 Sandwich Free Lunchbox Ideas

- Well Nourished: daily lunchbox photos on the Facebook page, and lots of great recipes on the website

- Natural New Age Mum: 30 super healthy lunchbox ideas here and best ever healthy lunchbox tips here

- Cut Out the Crap: recipes and tips for cooking without all the nasty stuff, including a recipe book for kid's food

- Brenda Janschek Health & Lifestyle: tips for reducing lunchbox stress, plus delicious recipes

- The Organised Housewife: how to pack a healthy lunchbox

Back-to-School Giveaway...

In my last blog post I shared the inspiring story of Talisha, the amazing young mum who not only is recovering from a serious bowel disease through natural remedies and diet, but has also developed a great product to help mums feed their little ones healthy food! As Talisha says, "With Little Mashies, I can give my child (and myself, when I am sick) healthy, nutrient rich, additive free food wherever we go."

Little Mashies are so easy to use! One way is to fill them with a smoothie and freeze, then pop into kid's lunchboxes where it doubles as an ice pack, and a lunchtime treat! Or fill with custard or chocolate mousse, or banana ice cream, and freeze for a healthy lunchtime treat. Yum!

Here's some recipes that would be perfect for filling up your Little Mashies:

- Green chocolate smoothie (if your school is nut free, replace the nuts with sunflower seeds and pepitas)
- Green smoothies (lots of ideas here)
- Chia pudding (make on coconut water for nut free; add some pureed fruit and coconut yoghurt)
- Coconut Vanilla Sorbet (or any other sorbet, but this one is awesome!)
- Banana custard (two custard recipes here, one with eggs but no nuts if you use plain rice milk (add banana), and one with nuts but no eggs)
- Fruit ice creams (lots of ideas here)
- Chocolate mousse (dairy free - this recipe is made on eggs; if you can't have eggs but can have nuts at school, make my raw vegan chocolate mousse)

Or this Raw Strawberry Pudding...

100g raw dates, pitted
350g fresh strawberries, hulled, or frozen
180g avocado
100g Raw C coconut water
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, concentrate

Place all ingredients into mixing bowl and blend 1 min/speed 9.
Scrape down sides of bowl and lid and blend again 10 sec/speed 6.
Scoop pudding into Little Mashies Reusable Pouches and chill, or freeze.

So here's what you can WIN!
[Prize draw now finished - congrats to Emily and Gabrielle!]

Talisha found that coconut water was one thing that really helped her in her illness, and it is something she loves to use in smoothies to put into her Little Mashies. My favourite coconut water is Natural Raw C - it's got nothing added, no concentrates or preservatives or sweeteners - and it's in handy packs with resealable lids. I have a carton of the 330g packs to give away.

These are perfect for school lunches, either on their own, or added to one of the recipes above and frozen in a Little Mashies pouch. Follow Natural Raw C on their Facebook Page for new recipes every day, using coconut water.

For lots more ideas for filling your reusable pouches, follow Talisha on her Little Mashies Facebook Page.

For those of you with older kids, here's anpther great prize - an allergy friendly cookbook for kids, by Collette White of Cut Out the Crap! This book is packed full of gluten free, dairy free, preservative free recipes that will suit all ages, but especially appeal to kids. Perfect for cooking up some yummy lunchbox treats. Check out Collette's Facebook Page for lots of great ideas and tips.

Last but definitely not least, Biome Eco Stores have kindly donated two amazing lunchboxes!

A PlanetBox lunchbox...

(worth $85.00)

And a Goodbyn Hero lunchbox!

(worth $21.95)

How to Win:

If you'd like to go into the draw to win one of these 'back-to-school' packs, all you need to do is comment on this blog post, saying what you would do with these products if you won!

Prizes will be drawn on Friday 31st at 8pm via Random.org, and winners notified by email and announced here and on Facebook. Open to Australian residents only.

Note: If you're trying to comment on a mobile device, please click on the title of the blog post then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click 'View web version', then scroll down to the bottom of the page again and click on 'Post a comment', then type in the comment box.

1st prize: 1 starter pack of Little Mashies Reusable Food Pouches worth $23.95                  
                  (includes 5 reusable squeezie pouches, a funnel, and a recipe card)
                1 carton of Raw C Coconut Water (12 x 300ml) worth $39.95
                1 'Cut Out the Crap for Kids' cookbook worth $29.95
                1 PlanetBox lunchbox worth $85

2nd prize: 1 twin pack of Little Mashies Reusable Food Pouches (worth $9.95)
                  (includes 2 reusable squeezie pouches)
                 1 'Cut Out the Crap for Kids' cookbook worth $29.95
                 1 Goodbyn Hero lunchbox worth $21.95
 
All the best with the first week back at school, everyone, and may your lunchbox packing be stress-free and and enjoyable!

Jo xx
          

Quinoa Salad, Thermomix Style!

Summer. The weather's so hot, the last thing you feel like doing is slaving over a hot stove, cooking. Green smoothie for dinner? Hmmm, don't know about the guys in your house, but mine wouldn't be too happy. What to do? Quinoa Salad! It doesn't take a lot of effort (especially with the Thermomix), you can pretty much chuck in whatever's in the fridge (bonus: it's different every time!), and everyone likes it. (Well, except for the pine nuts in this one - my eleven year old picked those out... Oh well. Can't win 'em all.)

This salad ticks all the boxes - quick, easy, healthy, yummy and there's lots of variations possible. Sometimes I add meat - chicken, tuna, or salmon - sometimes I leave the meat out. Eggs are optional too, but are an easy filler. You can try different dressings - for my quickest of quick versions, I just drizzle over some balsamic vinegar and my specially good extra virgin olive oil that I save for salads, plus a little herb salt. Other times I use my homemade mayonnaise, which is made with seeded mustard, honey, garlic and herbs. Beck from Thermosisters made a version with a dressing consisting of flaxseed oil, garlic, seeded mustard and honey. Yum!

Just a note on quinoa (pronounced 'KEEN-wa'): I've had some people comment that they don't like quinoa as it has a bitter taste. If the quinoa you are using is bitter, it needs to be well soaked and/or rinsed to remove the natural saponins coating the seeds. Quinoa grown in Australia is usually sold un-rinsed, whereas quinoa from Peru or Bolivia is usually pre-rinsed and ready to use. If you have Australian quinoa, follow these guidelines before cooking:
     - Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer for 1 to 2 minutes under running water, the evening before using it, then soak in a bowl of water overnight.
     - In the morning (or before cooking), rinse again under running water for another minute.
If you follow these steps, you shouldn't have a problem with bitterness.

So here's my 'chicken & pumpkin' version of quinoa salad - see what other variations you can come up with.

1. Weigh dry quinoa into a bowl and cover with water, then set aside to soak for 7-12 hours. Drain and rinse in a fine seive under running water. Or, if you're in a hurry, pour boiling water over quinoa and let sit for 10 mins or more, then rinse.
- 350g quinoa, weighed when dry
- 500g water

2. Weigh water into Thermomix bowl, place quinoa in steamer basket and insert into bowl. Place eggs on top of quinoa in steamer basket.
- 800g water
- 4 eggs, preferably organic free range, well rinsed

3. Place the lid on the bowl, with Varoma on top, and place chicken and pumpkin in Varoma dish, leaving some spaces for the steam to get through. Cook for 20 minutes, Varoma temperature, speed 4. (Check chicken and pumpkin in last five minutes of cooking time and break apart with the spatula so it cooks through evenly.)
- 3 chicken thighs, cubed
- 250g pumpkin, sliced thinly (about 5 mm)

4. When the quinoa, chicken & veges are cooked, remove eggs from quinoa (scraping off quinoa from shells) and peel and quarter eggs.

5. Prepare salad ingredients in a very large salad bowl. I like to use:
- a bag of mixed salad greens or baby spinach
- sun-dried tomato strips
- kalamata olives
- thinly sliced shallots or red onion
- boiled eggs, quartered
- cubed sheep or goat milk feta (optional)

6. Add quinoa, chicken and pumpkin to salad ingredients. You can wait until they're cool if you like, or use straight away for a warm salad.

7. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a good quality cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, or whatever dressing you prefer.

8. Sprinkle with toasted seeds and serve. I like a mixture of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and pine nuts, toasted in a dry skillet until they're starting to pop, then drizzled with tamari and toasted a little longer. They give a lovely 'crunch' to salads.

Another variation we love is smoked salmon, avocado, olive, sun-dried tomato or cherry tomatoes and baby spinach. What variations do you like to make?

Share your versions in the comments below!

Quick Egg Curry with Quinoa... plus how to make Coconut Milk

 

 

This is one of those 'last-minute-slap-dash' recipes that are pretty much my trademark. Sometimes those are the best kind of recipes. Here's how it happened...

 

One dark morning, I stumbled out of bed at 5.30am to try and find something my hubby could take to work for lunch, and there was just nothing. No bread, no leftovers, just a few basic ingredients and some eggs. My fuzzy brain did a quick search and came up with 'egg curry'. I dug through the cupboard looking for the curry powder, but it was all gone. Typical. That'll teach me to menu plan more carefully. Okay, no big deal - I had the basic ingredients for a curry powder and I had a Thermomix! So I revved up Thermie and quickly ground some spices to make some homemade curry powder, using the recipe in the Indian cookbook. (No, the kids didn't wake up - they're used to me Thermomixing at all sorts of odd hours!) Then I made a quick egg curry. Hubby was out the door and on his way by 6am, and I stumbled back to bed.

 

So a month or so ago I shared this simple recipe on Facebook, and was surprised to find that lots of people loved it! I hadn't blogged it because it didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary... but maybe that's why people like it. It's simple, tasty, quick, and cheap. And really, that's what most of us want for everyday meals - right? Now and then a fancy meal, but mostly it's 'get it on the table and get 'em fed with as little fuss as possible'!

 

Have a look at the variations at the end if you'd rather chicken instead of eggs, or more veges, or a vegetarian version.

 

Quick Egg Curry with Quinoa

 

1. Curry powder: if you want to make your own, do that first. You can of course just use bought curry powder, but homemade has lots of flavour, and no anti-caking agents. The recipe I use is the Madras Curry Powder from the Thermomix Indian Cookbook but I leave the salt out. Or I just use the Garam Masala recipe from the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook - that's nice too, and very simple.

 
2. Coconut milk: if you're not in a hurry and you really want to go back to basics, you can make your coconut milk first. This saves money, and it's very simple. Here's how.

- Grind up 300g dried, shredded coconut for 10 seconds on speed 8 (in the Thermomix). You can use fresh coconut instead if you have it.

- Add 1200g water and cook for 15-20 minutes at 100C, speed 4 - until the temperature reaches 100C. (If using fresh coconut, only add 900g water.)

Blend on speed 8 for 30 seconds; strain through a nut milk bag. (I use tongs to squeeze the milk out because it's hot!)

 

 

[Optional: Return the pulp to the Thermomix bowl, add another 1200g of water, and repeat. You'll have a thick milk and a thinner milk. You can either mix them, or just use the thinner milk in smoothies/baking. ]

If you like, you can also dehydrate the pulp in a dehydrator for 6 hours on low temp, then grind it for 2 minutes speed 9 to make coconut flour! But I'm getting off the track here, back to the egg curry...

 

3. Quinoa & eggs: The next step is to cook the quinoa and eggs.

 

Weigh water into bowl:

- 900g water

 

Add rice basket and weigh dry quinoa into basket. (Don't stress if a little bit falls through the holes - not much will.)

- 300g white quinoa

 

[Note: Most of the quinoa I've bought is pre-rinsed, it doesn't have a bitter taste. If it's not pre-rinsed (or you're not sure), rinse well in a fine strainer under running water for a couple of minutes, rubbing grains through your fingers to remove saponins. (That's the natural bug-deterrant on quinoa that makes it taste bitter.) Soaking quinoa: If you're thinking ahead, you can weigh the dry quinoa into a Thermoserver or other dish, cover with water and a tsp of apple cider vinegar, and leave to soak over night or for a few hours.]

Wash eggs well and place on top of quinoa, in the rice basket:

- 6 eggs, organic free range

 

[OR place the eggs in the Varoma if you don't like the idea of them being in with the quinoa. But it's perfectly fine, as long as the eggs are clean. Some people grind up eggs shells and add them to food for a calcium supplement - egg shells are non-toxic!]

 

Cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 4.

 

 

Remove eggs from quinoa with tongs (scrape off the quinoa) and set aside. Tip quinoa into Thermoserver or covered serving dish to stay warm. Rinse & dry bowl.

 

4. Curry sauce: (don't worry, this is quick!)

Chop onion, garlic and coriander in Thermomix bowl on speed 5 for 3 seconds.

- 1 brown onion, halved

- 2-3 cloves garlic

- a handful fresh coriander (or parsley)

 

Add olive oil or ghee and cook at 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:

- 30g olive oil or ghee

 

Add curry powder and lemon juice. Cook 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:

- 2-4 Tbspns curry powder (depending how hot you like it)

- 1 Tbspn lemon

 

Add coconut milk/cream, vege stock paste and frozen peas, and cook 5 minutes, 100C, reverse speed 1:

- 400g coconut cream or milk

- 1 Tbspn vege stock paste

- 150g peas (frozen is fine)

 

Meanwhile, peel eggs and cut into quarters. Arrange on top of quinoa. When curry sauce is ready, pour over the quinoa and eggs, and serve.

 

*     *     *     *     *

Variations: You could easily jazz this up a bit by steaming chicken breast pieces in the Varoma on top while the quinoa is cooking, as well as a bunch of sliced veges. Or you could add in any leftover veges from the night before instead of the frozen peas - I tend to do things like that. If you can't have eggs, just leave them out and use chicken or veges instead. Maybe add a tin of chickpeas with the veges. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Hope you like it! :)

 

*     *     *     *     *

Huevos Rancheros and Vegetarian Nacho Sauce with Kidney Beans

 

Huevos Rancheros for one!

{Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free}

 

Okay, lots of people are asking for this recipe, so here it is. This is actually two recipes in one, as I use the same sauce for both recipes. Huevos Rancheros (or 'Ranch Style Eggs'), and Vegetarian Nachos.

 

Huevos Rancheros are great for a hearty, protein-rich breakfast, or for a quick dinner when you really don't feel like cooking. Or pretty much any time in between. :) Basically, for those of you who are wondering, they are eggs poached in a spicy, Mexican style tomato sauce. Kind of like a salsa, but a little more soupy. I add kidney beans to mine, but they're optional. As the eggs poach in the simmering sauce, it will thicken up, so the end result is more like a cooked salsa with poached eggs.

 

I use the same sauce for nachos, only I don't add water. I make the sauce in my Thermomix, and it's so, so easy and quick. If you keep a couple of tins of kidney beans and a bag of plain (preferably organic) corn chips in the cupboard, and always have tomatoes and eggs on hand, you'll never be stuck for a quick meal or two.

 

Here's both recipes, starting with the nacho topping:

 

 

Nachos with Kidney Bean Topping (and Avocado Cheese)

{Recipe for avocado cheese still in the 'tweaking' stage...}

 

 

Vegetarian Nacho Topping with Kidney Beans

 

1. Place in Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds:

- 1 onion, halved

- 2-3 cloves garlic

 

2. Add oil and saute for 2 minutes, 100C, speed 1:

- 30g olive oil

 

3. Add and chop for 5 seconds on speed 6:

- 400-450g fresh tomatoes, halved (4-5 tomatoes)

 

4. Add and cook for 5 minutes, 100C, speed 1:

- 160g tomato paste

- 2 Tblspns Rapadura or 1 Tblspn honey

- 1/2 to 1 tsp chilli powder (depending on how spicy you like it)

- 1 tsp cumin powder

- 1 tsp coriander powder

- 1 tsp dried oregano

- 1 tsp smoked paprika

- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

- 1 tsp vegetable stock paste OR salt to taste

 

5. Add beans and cook for 2 minutes, 100C, reverse speed 1:
- 2 tins of kidney beans, drained & rinsed

Serve over the top of corn chips or fried/baked corn tortillas; top with dairy free sour cream and guacamole if you like.

OR

Use the sauce to make Huevos Rancheros!
(I often make nachos, then use the lefover sauce for Huevos Rancheros for one or two people.)

Huevos Rancheros

1. Pour sauce into a heavy based frying pan. (I use my big Scanpan if I'm making this for the whole family, or my small cast iron skillet if it's just for one or two.)

2. Add a little water, so the sauce is a bit soupy and will be able to simmer, and won't just bubble and spit and stick to the bottom of the pan. (Depends on how much sauce you're using as to how much water to add - I just guess.)

3. Turn stove on to medium heat and warm sauce until it's bubbling. Turn heat down to a simmer and let it simmer for a minute or two.  Make indents in the sauce with a large spoon, and crack eggs into the sauce. I usually use 2 eggs per person, so again, it depends on how many you're cooking for.
- 2 eggs per person

{Note: if you can have cheese, you might like to grate some cheese over the top of the eggs. I skip this step - they still taste great without the cheese.}

4. Place a lid on the pan and allow the eggs to poach in the sauce for a minute or so, depending on how you like your eggs... I only cook mine briefly, as I like them gooey, like this:

But feel free to cook them longer if you don't like them gooey. :)

5. Huevos Rancheros are traditionally served on a fried corn tortilla, but I generally have them by themeselves for breakfast. Or if it's dinner, I'll serve them over some plain corn chips, with a green salad on the side.

So simple! Enjoy :)

 

Chicken Pasta with Zoodles {oh, and a bonus Chicken Zoodle Soup Recipe!}

Chicken pasta sauce with 'zoodles' (zucchini noodles)

I've had a few requests for this simple-but-delicious recipe, (mostly from my friend Sue-Ellen, who won't stop hassling me!) so here it finally is. ;-) I've been a bit absent on my blog for the last couple of weeks due to overwhelmingness of all sorts, but I'm determined to get this posted... I had thought of keeping it up my sleeve for my cookbook, but that's going awfully s-l-o-w-l-y (inducing some of the aforesaid overwhelmingness) so I thought I might as well post it.

This is one of those recipes that is great to make when you want a chicken to 'stretch' a long way. If you buy organic and/or free range chicken like I (usually) do, it's nice to have recipes that only need 300g of chicken but still feed six people. If I'm starting with a whole chicken, I cut off the thighs and brown meat from the legs and use that. I use the breasts for another recipe, and then I use the meaty carcass to make soup from.

However, this time I did things a bit differently. It all started with a crazy day and no menu plan, which I wouldn't usually recommend, but somehow it worked out...

At 5.30pm I realised everyone was going to be bugging me very soon for dinner, so I dashed out to the freezer to see what I had. I dug around and found a kilo of chicken thigh fillets, which were of course frozen into a solid block. I have no microwave (yep, I'm one of those weird people who refuse to have one), so I chucked the frozen block of chicken into my big stock pot on the stove, covered it with about 4 litres of water and turned the heat on full blast. I roughly chopped an onion, a leafy celery stalk plus some extra celery leaves, a couple of carrots, a handful of parsley and a few cloves of garlic, and chucked them all in (Jamie Oliver style - well, I like to think so anyway), splashed in a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, added a bay leaf, some Italian herbs and a couple of teaspoons of Celtic sea salt, and popped the lid on. Then I started the pasta sauce in the Thermomix for the chicken pasta. As soon as the thighs in the soup pot were cooked a bit on the outside and I could pry a few off the 'block', I added them (slightly frozen still) to the Varoma to steam above the pasta sauce. (Oh, and I turned the heat down on the stove so the chicken soup was simmering more gently, and left it for a couple of hours.)

So here's the pasta recipe - I'll get back to the chicken soup in a minute...

Chicken Pasta with Zoodles
(Serves 5-6)

1. Chop in Thermomix bowl on speed 5 for 3 seconds:
- 1 brown onion, halved
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 half a red capsicum, deseeded

2. Add oil or butter and saute for 3 minutes at 100C, reverse speed 1:
- 30g olive oil or butter

3. Add tomatoes and chop at speed 6 for 6-10 seconds, depending how chunky you like your sauce:
- 800g fresh, ripe tomatoes, halved (preferably organic vine ripened for extra flavour!)

4. Add mushrooms and chop on speed 3 for 5 seconds (or less if you like them chunkier):
- 150g mushrooms

5. Add remaining ingredients (except chicken) and cook at Varoma temperature for 30 minutes, reverse speed 1. Place Varoma tray on top, with chicken thighs (halved) inside (more if you like) to steam while the sauce cooks:
- 100g tomato paste
- 100g water
- 2 Tbspns chicken or vege stock paste
- 1 tsp Italian herbs (dried) or some fresh oregano & basil, chopped
- 1 tsp Rapadura
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 300g chicken thigh fillets

6. While the pasta sauce is cooking, make the zoodles (zucchini noodles). If you have a Benriner (pictured above) or other type of vege spiralizer, you can use that - I highly recommend them, they're awesome! You just pop the raw veges in and turn the handle, and you can use different sized blades for different types of 'noodles'. Here's Miss C making the zoodles for me...

If you don't have a Benriner, don't despair - you can just use a potato peeler to peel thin strips of zucchini for the 'pasta'. (See this recipe for 'Raw Pasta Sauce' for a picture of zucchini noodles made with a potato peeler.)

7. When the pasta sauce is finished cooking, pull chicken apart roughly with two forks and add to the sauce. Serve over the raw zoodles.

Okay, back to the soup...

After dinner was done and cleaned up, the soup had been simmering for about 2 hours, the chicken was spoon-tender, and the liquid was reduced by at least half. I turned off the heat and added a couple of handfuls of raw zoodles (which were leftover from dinner), and left it to cool. Because the liquids had reduced so much, it had become a condensed soup, which is perfect for me as I never have much room in my fridge. A condensed soup takes up less room, and you just add some water (to taste) when you are ready to heat it up again.

We ate the soup the next day for lunch, warmed gently on the stovetop with a bit more water added. (Sorry, don't remember how much, but just taste and see how strong you like it.) Let me just mention here that the Celtic sea salt makes a big difference in flavour - regular table salt just won't be the same. If you don't have Celtic sea salt (the chunky, grey, wet kind of salt that's hand harvested), you may want to add a little stock paste for more flavour.

Chicken Zoodle Soup

And I caved in and made spelt bread to go with it, which totally negated my 'grain free' idea, but anyway - this chicken soup and hot-out-of-the-oven spelt bread is the best comfort food there is, in my opinion. Even better than chocolate. And that's saying something for a chocoholic like me!!

I hope that adequately explains how to make the soup and pasta - I'll make it again soon and check if I wrote that down correctly - it was all a bit slap-dash at the time, as usual. Please tweak to taste!

Jo :-)

Fajita Chicken & Salad Pizza on Quinoa & Chia Seed Flatbread

* This recipe includes support for Paprika * 

This morning when I got up I decided that the last thing I wanted for breakfast was porridge or granola or eggs - I was starving! I wanted PIZZA!!

I looked in the fridge and spied a lonely chicken breast and some baby spinach, and decided on a quick chicken and salad pizza... I know, that doesn't sound much like breakfast food, but I tend to have all sorts of odd things for breakfast. I prefer a savoury breakfast to a sweet one. (Although I will make an exception for chocolate.)

The base of this pizza is made from quinoa and chia seeds, so it's a lot higher in protein than a traditional base. Protein is great in the morning as it fills you up for longer and gives you energy, whereas carbs will make you feel stodgy and sleepy. So skip the cereal and toast and go for pizza! ;-) That is, healthy pizza - not a stodgy, carby pizza. This one is gluten free, dairy free, egg free... even grain free if you don't count quinoa as a grain! (Which I don't, since it's really a seed.)

You can make the base soft or crunchy, depending how you like it. I use this pizza base recipe for flatbread too - I make mini ones for the kids lunches quite often. Spread them thin and cook them until just cooked, and they'll wrap around a filling. Or cook them longer so they're crisp like crackers and serve them with dips.

Snack size quinoa & chia seed flatbread with avocado & fire-roasted capsicum

Try some different toppings, like smoked salmon, sheep's fetta (if you can have it), olives, avocado, or fire-roasted capsicum. Or for a more 'breakfast-y' breakfast, top with scrambled eggs, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, or a poached egg! Yum.


Quinoa & Chia Seed Flatbread (gluten free, dairy free)

Makes 2 large pizza size flatbreads, or a few mini ones

1. Toast the quinoa in a dry frying pan by stirring over medium heat for a few minutes. Or toast in Thermomix at 100C for 10 mins, speed 1, with MC off. [Optional - to get rid of saponins on outside of quinoa as it may otherwise taste bitter.]
- 150g white quinoa

2. Grind quinoa, chia and salt in Thermomix bowl for 1 minute, speed 9:
- toasted quinoa
- 2 Tbspns chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp sea salt

3. Add water and mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds:
- 180g water

Note: For a soaked version of the flatbread, skip the toasting of the quinoa. Instead, cover quinoa in water and leave overnight, strain in the morning and add quinoa to the Thermomix bowl with the chia, salt and water. Blend on speed 9 for 2 minutes, adding a little more water if needed, and scraping down now and then with the spatula.

4. Drizzle pizza trays with some extra virgin olive oil (use baking paper if needed), and divide dough between trays. (The dough will be more like a sticky batter.) Drizzle the dough with some more oil.

Using your fingertips, pat the dough out evenly into a thin circle, about 3mm thick. I find it's easier to use my fingers than a spatula, as the dough is very sticky. The oil will stop it sticking to your hands.

There should be oil all around the edge of the dough, and a thin sheen over the top. This will make it crispy. If you want it soft, there's no need to use much oil.

5. Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes, depending how crispy you like it.

(You'll notice mine's quite brown after 30 minutes - don't cook it this long if you want it soft like the picture of the snack size flatbread.)


Fajita Chicken & Salad Topping (gluten free, dairy free)

While the pizza bases are cooking, make the toppings.

1. Chop garlic on speed 7 for 3 seconds

- 2 garlic cloves

2. Add the remaining ingredients except the chicken and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds

- 20g extra virgin olive oil
- 10g tamari or gf soy sauce
- 1 Tbspn honey
- juice of 1/2 a lime
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp onion powder
- dash of mesquite smoke seasoning (optional)

3. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes, Varoma temperature, reverse speed soft, with MC off

- 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced

   (There will be a bit of 'juice' left after cooking the chicken - you can just lift the chicken out with a fork or slotted spoon. I actually drizzled the juice over the top of the pizza because it was too yummy to waste!)
 

4. When flatbread is cooked, remove from oven and top with
- baby spinach
- chopped tomato
- thinly sliced Spanish onion
- fajita chicken
- dairy free sour cream (optional - I didn't have any and was in a hurry to eat!)

Warning: this can be messy to eat, but it's worth it. :)

Chia Seed, Buckwheat & Quinoa Bread {egg free & gluten free}

I've been playing with different variations of gluten free breads for a while now, trying to figure out one that works well without eggs. I've finally found one! I got some ideas from different recipes, and after some tweaking I came up with this bread, which is made from ground up chia seeds, buckwheat and quinoa, along with tapioca or arrowroot starch and xanthum gum. It's simple, not too expensive, and tastes great! The texture isn't crumbly at all - the chia seeds and xanthum gum work really well to make it soft and pliable.

I know someone's going to ask me if this can be made without yeast - I haven't tried that yet, but it may work with baking powder instead of yeast... If you try it, let me know how it goes.

The secret to getting the texture right on this bread is to cook it for long enough that it's not still sticky inside. The crust will get quite brown - don't worry, it won't dry out. It needs to rise for an hour and cook for an hour, maybe even a little more. You can make two loaves at once by grinding the dry ingredients in two lots, removing the first lot to a bowl, and mixing the two loaves separately. The dough is very thick and sticky, so it's a bit too much to do two loaves at once.

Because it's a moist bread, it lasts really well for a couple of days. Great for sandwiches, or toast. Add in a couple of handfuls of seeds towards the end of the kneading time if you want a seeded bread.

Recipe makes 1 loaf

1. Grind on speed 9 for 1 minute:

- 65g buckwheat

- 80g white quinoa

- 40g chia seeds

2. Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining dry ingredients, mixing on speed 6 for 10 seconds:

- 170g arrowroot or tapioca starch (preferably additive free, like the one in the picture)

- 1 heaped tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp xanthum gum

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp fine sea salt

This is the arrowroot starch I buy -

it's cheaper in bulk, and this one is additive free

3. Add wet ingredients and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds, or until dough comes together. (It will be a very thick, sticky dough - not as 'dry' as regular bread dough, but not as wet as a cake batter.)

- 30g macadamia oil

- 25g raw honey

- 250g warmish water

4. Knead on interval speed for 2 minutes.

5. Use the Thermomix spatula to scrape the dough out of the Thermomix bowl, into a baking paper lined loaf tin. (Once you get most of it out, the easiest way to get the sticky dough off the blades is to whiz for a few seconds on turbo, then you can scrape the rest out with the spatula.)

If you like, you can sprinkle the loaf with a little water, using the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Cover loosely with a plastic bag (so it doesn't touch the dough) and leave to rise for an hour in a warm spot.

6. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Place bread in oven and cook for an hour or so, or until nicely browned. Turn out of bread tin and check underneath the loaf to make sure it's browned all over. If not, cook for another 5 to 10 minutes upside down, to brown underneath. Allow to cool on a rack before slicing.

Soup Weather. And Old Favourites like Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup

It seems to be 'soup weather' in most parts of Australia at the moment. I know I've been craving it, especially after driving through misty rain and fog to get to Thermomix demos...

...dodging potholes the size of small lakes, skidding down muddy driveways, and finally arriving home cold, damp and hungry at the end of the day. (Don't get me wrong, I love my job - I just don't love this weather!!)

Yep. Definitely soup weather.

Whipping up a quick, comforting pot of soup is so easy with the Thermomix - it usually only takes twenty to thirty minutes, and I can go have a hot shower while it cooks!

I have lots of favourite Thermie soups...

creamy chicken & brown rice soup;

meatball, vege & bean soup;

creamy smoked salmon soup;

coconut lemon chicken soup; <---- this soup has fresh turmeric in it too!

Mexican black bean & chorizo soup;

pea & lettuce soup;

corn & potato chowder with chorizo... 

... not to mention the old favourites from the Thermomix cookbooks - pumpkin soup or cauliflower soup (EDC), red lentil & sweet potato soup (GF cookbook) and chickpea & spinach soup (Full Steam Ahead cookbook).

If you usually just go crack open a tin of 'cream of' soup when you're in a hurry, save money and make your own healthier, yummier version with the tips here: 

Can the Canned Soup!! Too easy.

This Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup is one I've made for years, usually in a big pot on the stove where it spits and bubbles and makes a big mess and has to be stirred and watched so the rice or quinoa doesn't stick to the bottom. The other day I decided to make it in the Thermomix to show that chicken legs still come out whole cooked in the bowl. It worked beautifully and was so easy, and much tidier. So here's my converted recipe - hope you like it.

Turmeric is an amazing food with many health benefits. It's related to ginger, grown the same way, and where I live many people grow it in their backyards. It has anti-inflammatory properties, is a natural antiseptic, antibacterial agent, liver detoxifier, pain-killer, is great for fat metabolizing, and is used to treat depression and just about everything else from Alzeimer's to cancer! Of course, raw turmeric is best, so whizz some up in your next boost juice. Or you can do what I often do when there are colds and flus around - double the amounts of garlic and turmeric at the start of the recipe, remove half of it from the bowl once you've minced it, cook the soup as per the recipe, then add the reserved raw garlic and turmeric in at the end. It will have a lovely flavour and a bit more of a 'bite', and the 'goodness' won't be all cooked out.

[Note: if you can't find fresh turmeric, you can use powdered turmeric - just use 1-2 teaspoons of the power and saute with the onion and garlic. But fresh is the BEST!]

Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup

1. Mince garlic and fresh turmeric on speed 7 for 3 seconds:

- 2-4 cloves of garlic

- 1 'finger' of fresh turmeric, halved

2. Add onion and chop at speed 5 for 3 seconds:

- 1 brown onion, halved

3. Add butter/ghee/oil and saute for 3 minutes at 100C, speed 1:

- 40g butter/ghee or olive oil

4. Add and chop on speed 5 for 5 seconds:

- 1 vine-ripened tomato, halved

- a large handful of celery leaves

- a few sprigs of fresh thyme

    Scrape bowl down.

5. Insert butterfly. Add remaining ingredients, arranging chicken legs around butterfly, and making sure water doesn't go above the 2 litre mark on the bowl.

- 800g chicken legs (about 6 or 7 chicken legs)

- 80g quinoa or brown rice

- 3 Tablespoons chicken stock paste

- 600g water (or until it reaches the 2 litre mark)

6. Cook at 100C for 30 minutes (quinoa) or 40 minutes (brown rice) on reverse blade, speed soft.

Do you have a favourite soup recipe of your own that you'd like to convert for the Thermomix?Check out the tips in the front of the soup section of the Everyday Cookbook. If you need help, feel free to ask on my Facebook Page, or over at the Recipe Community Forum.