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)

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 :-)

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.

Creamy Smoked Salmon Soup

Today was a busy day. Up at 5.30am, prepping for a day at the shopping centre demonstrating the Thermomix, on my feet all day, home at 5.30pm just in time to make dinner for my hungry family... Oops, forgot to thaw out the chicken. So I popped in to the shop and grabbed a packet of smoked salmon to make a quick soup. My kids are addicted to smoked salmon. Okay, so am I.

I had a vague idea of a creamy, smoked salmon soup, without the cream (of course!), based on the smoked salmon soup in the Thermomix Seafood Cookbook. Here's what I came up with... we loved it. (By the way, I also sauteed some veges and grilled some fish that was in the fridge, because my husband - unlike me - does not consider soup a meal!)

Dinner's done, magnesium drink and hot shower for the leg cramps from standing all day (ouch!), and now I'm veging out in front of the computer with a cup of tea and some gluten free brownies, blogging. And I'm pretty sure there's Co Yo in my future, once the kids go to bed and I can eat it undiscovered... ;)

1. Grind up in Thermomix on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 200g raw cashews

2. Add water and blend on speed 9 for 1 minute:

- 800g water

3. Add and cook on 90 degrees for 20 minutes on speed 1:

- 600g orange sweet potatoes, chopped in 1 inch pieces

- 100g tomato paste

- 3 Tblspns chicken stock paste (or vegetable stock paste)

4. Blend on speed 9 for 20 seconds, then add salmon (reserving a little for garnish if you like) and stir in gently on speed 3:

- 200g smoked salmon, sliced into thin strips

5. Garnish individual bowls with salmon strips and sliced shallot or chives or dill:

- 1 shallot or some chives, sliced finely

Or

- finely chopped dill

The thickness of this soup depends on how much potato you use - we like it really thick, so I use 600g potato, but reduce the amount of potato if you like it thinner. You can also alter the amount of stock paste to make it to your taste. The amount of smoked salmon is up to you really - I buy 200g of the chopped smoked salmon (as opposed to the thin slices) for cooking, as it's a bit cheaper.

Oh yay, kids are in bed - CO YO TIME!!

Night night :)

Menu Plan Monday - 25th October

Here's another week of meals... can't stop to chat, too much to do!  Have a great week, and check out Menu Plan Monday  at "I'm an Organizing Junkie" for more ideas. :)


[tmx = prepared and/or cooked in my Thermomix]


Monday:
(lunch) Leftovers soup - lamb, veges & gf alphabet noodles (tmx - from leftover lamb roast; see photo and recipe below)
(dinner) Steamed fish, broccoli & tomato sauce (tmx) and baked potatoes

{How to make 'Leftovers Soup': Cover the meaty bones left over from a roast with water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar and some herbs, and cook over low heat (a few hours in crockpot on low, or an hour or two in stock pot on stove).  When close to meal time: In Thermomix, chop up garlic, onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, tomatoes (or whatever you like), and saute  for a few minutes on 100 degrees.  Then add some tomato paste, some vege stock concentrate, and a little water and cook for 15 mins on 100 degrees.  Remove meat from bones, chop, and tip back into pot/crockpot, adding the veges from the Thermomix.  I also add in any leftover veges & gravy from the roast dinner.  Reheat and season to taste with a pinch of rapadura, sea salt & freshly ground pepper, and serve.  Note: If using leftover roast chicken, you may want to omit the tomatoes & tomato paste, and use chicken stock.}

Tuesday:
(lunch) Spelt rolls (tmx) with tuna & salad
(dinner) Molly's Chicken & Cashew Noodles (tmx)  

Wednesday:
(lunch) Pasta e Fagioli (tmx)
(dinner) Johnro's Gourmet Beef Casserole (cooked in tmx & kept warm in server) with mashed potatoes & steamed veges (cooked together in tmx)

Thursday:
(lunch) out for lunch
(dinner) Sweet n sour meatballs (tmx) & stir-fried veges (tmx) on rice (tmx)

Friday:
(lunch) Spelt tortillas (tmx) with chicken salad filling (tmx)
(dinner) Pasties with assorted leftovers and veges using this pastry recipe (tmx)

Saturday:
(lunch) Baked beans (tmx) on toast
(dinner) Tuna mornay df (tmx) on gf noodles

Sunday:
(lunch) Roast dinner with baked veges
(dinner) leftovers/sandwiches

Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup

This is a very filling soup that my family love - great for a quick winter meal.  Serve with some fresh bread and a green salad, and it will feed about six people for a main meal.  The soup becomes quite thick as it cools down, and could be thinned down a little more with some rice-almond milk if you like.  (We like it thick.)

If you have a big family, or like more veges in your soup, you can add more chicken to the soup (leaving the peas out) and cook at Varoma temperature with the peas and other veges steaming on top. Place the steamed veges in individual bowls and spoon the soup over the top.

1. Grind rice in Thermomix bowl for 1 minute on speed 9. Add almonds and grind 20 secs on speed 9, or until fine. Set aside.
- 50g of raw brown rice
- 50g raw almonds

[Note: raw cashews can be used instead of almonds for a smoother soup]

2. Place onion, garlic cloves, celery and carrot in bowl and chop for 3 seconds, speed 5.  Add oil (or butter) and cook for 3 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
- 1 onion, halved
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 stalk of celery, quartered
- 1 large carrot, quartered
- 30g olive oil or butter

3. Add chicken and cook 3 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
- 300g cubed chicken

4. Add water, stock paste, rice, and ground rice and almonds, and cook for 30 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse, speed 1.
- 1 litre water
- 2 Tblspns chicken stock paste (made in TMX - see below) or vege stock paste
- 100g raw brown rice
- ground rice & almonds

5. Add parsley and peas, cook another 5 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse, speed 1. Adjust seasonings if needed, and serve.
- handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 100g frozen peas

[Note: if you like it saltier, just add another spoonful of stock paste.  If you're using bought stock powder, you may want to add some tamari for extra flavour.]

Chicken Stock Paste

To make the stock paste, mince up 300g of raw chicken.

Add 300g veges (leek/onion/shallots, carrot, garlic, celery, celeriac - your choice), and a few sprigs fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley). Chop for 10 seconds on speed 5.

Add 150g coarse sea salt, 1 bay leaf, 50g white wine (or 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar), 1 clove and 5 coriander seeds (or a dash of ground cloves and a dash of ground coriander).

Cook for 20 mins, Varoma temp, speed 2, with simmering basket on top instead of cap.

Replace cap and blend 1 minute, speed 10.

Use 1 tsp in 500g water for chicken stock.

Yummy Pea & Lettuce Soup

I love a mug of hot soup for lunch on a cold day - here's one I made today, adapted from Cyndi O'Meara's wonderful cookbook, "Changing Habits, Changing Lives". I needed a recipe to use up all those lettuces in my fridge - it's been so cold, wet and miserable that salads aren't going down too well here, so soup is the next best thing! I know, lettuce in soup sounds weird, but this is really yummy. Try it!

(Note: I make this in my Thermomix, but you can make it in a saucepan, then puree using a blender or hand-held processor.)

1. Place in Thermomix bowl and chop for 5 seconds, speed 5 (or chop by hand):
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1 onion, halved

(I actually peel my garlic in the Thermomix too, especially when they're small cloves, by throwing in the unpeeled cloves and knocking them about on reverse, speed 5, for 5 seconds. You can just pick out the papery skin, or add some water and it will float to the top, and you can scoop it off then tip out the water!)

2. Saute onion and garlic with oil for 3 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1:
- 2 Tblspns olive or macadamia oil

3. Add vegetables, and chop for 5 seconds speed 5, using spatula to push them down to the blades:
- 1 potato, quartered
- 1 carrot, quartered
- 1 lettuce, well washed and separated
- 300g frozen or fresh peas
- a handful of fresh chives
- a few sprigs of parsley or coriander (opt.)

4. Add and cook for 20 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1:
- 1 Tblspn vegetable stock concentrate (or vege stock powder such as Massel)
- 750g water

(If chopping veges by hand and cooking in saucepan, simmer soup for about 30 minutes. Because the veges are chopped so fine in the Thermomix it needs less cooking time.)

5. Slowly turn speed dial to speed 8 and blend soup for 30 seconds (or blend in blender or with hand-held processor).

6. Add and mix in briefly:
- 2 Tblspns lemon juice
- 150g cup sour cream substitute (or real sour cream or natural yoghurt)

Coconut Lemon Chicken Soup

Whenever anyone in our family starts to come down with a cold, I get out the stock pot and make a great big batch of chicken stock so I can make lots of chicken soup! There's nothing better than old-fashioned chicken soup when you're feeling achy and miserable, in the throes of a bad cold. But when you get tired of 'old-fashioned' chicken soup, try this one for a change. This is my new favourite - it's so delicious, and the fresh herbs and spices and chilli are great for colds, not to mention the thick, jellyish, golden stock. It's a comforting remedy for colds, chills and sore throats. (Adapted from recipes in "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.)

It really is true that a rich chicken broth - the famous Jewish penicillin - is a wonderful remedy for the flu. "Science validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily-not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain." - Weston Price Foundation (see full article)

So get out your stock pot, and start cooking!

(P.S. You can make enough stock for this recipe in your Thermomix - just use chicken wings, necks, and backbone with cartilage; crack the bones, and cook in steamer basket with a few celery leaves, onion, carrot and garlic, covered with water, with a tsp of vinegar.)

Chicken Stock

You will need:
- 1 whole chicken (free range, organic if possible), or 1 to 2 kg bony chicken parts
- 4 litres cold filtered water
- 2 Tbspns apple cider vinegar
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 celery sticks with leaves, roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (opt.)
- 1 bunch parsley

1. Cut the chicken into several pieces, sawing through bones or cracking them with a meat hammer. You can cut off the breast and put it aside for another meal (eg: a stir-fry or pasta). Just leave the fat on - don't worry, chicken fat is good for you! However, if you don't want the fat, when the stock cools it will solidify on top so you can easily scoop it off if you like. If you are using your own home-raised chicken, throw in the feet too, and even the head if you're game - the stock will have a lot more 'gel,' which is so good for you.

2. Place chicken pieces into a large stainless steel stock pot, cover with the cold water, add vinegar and vegetables (except parsley), and let stand for 30 minutes.

3. Bring to a boil, remove scum that rises to the top, reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 24 hours. I cook it on low in my slow cooker. (If you don't have time, at least simmer for 3 hours.) The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavourful it will be. About 10 minutes before you're ready to turn it off, add the parsley. (This will add more minerals to the broth.)

4. Remove chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and refrigerate. When they're cool, take the meat off the bones. Save 200-300g for your soup (recipe below) and store the rest in zip-loc bags in the freezer for other recipes - soups, salads, enchiladas, sandwiches and curries.  Strain the broth into a large bowl and place in the fridge until the fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off (optional). Once cold, the stock should be 'jellyish'. Set aside 1 litre of stock for the soup; place any leftover stock into small containers and freeze.

Coconut Lemon Chicken Soup (Thermomix version)

1. Chop in TMX for 5 seconds speed 7, until finely chopped:
- 1 inch fresh ginger
- 1/2 inch fresh turmeric
- 1 large clove garlic
- some fresh coriander or cilantro (to taste)
- a few fresh chives or shallots

- a piece of fresh red chilli (to taste)

[Note: For extra goodness and 'zing', double the amount of ginger, turmeric, garlic, coriander and chilli (opt). After whizzing it up, remove half to a bowl, then add it back into the soup after it's finished cooking. That way you'll get the benefit of the raw enzymes, not to mention more flavour!]

2. Add, and cook for 10 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1, or until starting to boil:
- 1000g home-made chicken broth

3. Add remaining ingredients, and cook 10 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1:
- 1 tin coconut cream or milk
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp Rapadura
- a few good splashes of fish sauce
- sea salt to taste

4. Add in the 200-300g cooked chicken reserved from making the broth. Cook for another 2 minutes at 100C, reverse speed soft. Then add in the extra minced herbs, garlic, ginger, etc if using.

5. Pour into bowls, and garnish with fresh cilantro or shallots.

Corn & Potato Chowder with Chorizo Sausage

This is one of my favourite crockpot meals! I found it ages ago on the internet, and can't remember where it came from - but I changed it anyway, as usual, so here's my version.  If you want to make the chorizo sausages yourself, see the recipe below (adapted for the Thermomix). I'm going to try turkey instead of the traditional pork, as I'm a bit wary of pork.



1. Make your white sauce using recipe link below (or if you don't mind dairy and additives and preservatives, and too much salt, use tinned creamy corn soup!)
- 2 cups dairy-free white sauce with some vege stock concentrate (or Massel chicken stock powder) & 1 cup corn added before cooking, then pureed (I make mine in the Thermomix)

2. Tip it into crockpot and add:
- 2 cups chicken or vege broth (or more if you want it soupier)
- 5 potatoes, cubed
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 500g frozen corn
- Spanish chorizo sausages, sliced (however much you like)
- 1 bag baby spinach leaves (or a couple of cups)

3. Cook on low for 8-10 hrs, or high for about 4 hrs. Yum!

Chorizo Sausages...
(This is Gluten-free Girl's recipe adapted for the Thermomix. For the original, see here.)

1. Drop garlic in bowl & mince for 3 seconds on speed 7:
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled

2. Add meat to bowl & mince for 8-15 seconds on speed 7 until desired consistency.
- 500g (1 pound) cubed pork or turkey

3. Add, and mix for 20 seconds on speed 5 (use more or less, to taste):
- 2 teaspoons chilli powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- sherry vinegar
- 1 teaspoon each sea salt and cracked black pepper

4. Make a tiny taster of the sausage. Bring a sauté pan to high heat. Pour in a splash of oil. Put the tiny sausage patty in the hot oil. Cook, and taste, to check the seasonings. Adjust accordingly.

5. Roll into small sausages or patties and cook as above.

Can the Canned Soup!

I was discussing with some friends today how so many recipes these days call for a can of soup... and those of us who are trying to avoid additives and preservatives and too much salt (and dairy in a lot of cases) don't use canned soup. As Doris Longacre says in the "More With Less Cookbook" (one of my old favourites):

"Contemporary casserole recipes all seem to call for a can of soup . . . Will there finally be only three flavours identified at a carry-in dinner - cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, and cream of celery? Buy a wire whisk and break the mushroom soup cycle. Save money and cans by returning to the basic five-minute white sauce. Variations are as infinite as the herbs and seasonings on your cupboard shelf and the cheeses, broths, and vegetables in your refrigerator."

One of the first practical things I learnt to cook was a basic white sauce (by hand) - it's so easy even kids can do it! I make this recipe in the Thermomix, as it's so quick and easy. It makes over 500mls of sauce, which can be substituted for cans of soup in any recipe (make with rice/almond milk for a 'cream of' soup, or with stock for a clear 'consomme'). To make a smaller quantity, halve the recipe and reduce the cooking time to 5 minutes. Check out the many variations you can make - you'll never need to buy tinned soup again! If you don't have a Thermomix, use the basic version below.

The photo above is a mushroom sauce made with this recipe - mushrooms and some red capsicum are sauteed first in oil, then butter/ghee, flour, chicken broth, and rice milk are added, with a dash of worcestershire sauce and a pinch of Rapadura, and cooked as outlined below. Delicious served over baked potatoes!

Thermomix version:

Place in bowl and cook for 7 mins at 90 degrees on speed 4:
- 500g rice/almond milk
- 50g plain spelt flour (or corn or rice flour for gf)
- 30g butter/ghee/olive oil
- 1/2 t salt
- other optional flavourings (see below)

Flavour Variations . . .

Parsley Sauce - Chop a handful of parsley first, on speed 7, then add rest of ingredients.

Cheese Sauce - Add 60-70g strong flavoured cheese chopped in cubes, and 1/2 tsp each mustard powder and paprika.

Tomato Soup - Use tomato juice as liquid, add dash each of garlic powder, onion powder, basil & oregano.

Mushroom Soup - Chop 1/4 of an onion or a stalk of shallots on speed 5, 3 seconds. Add a good handful or two of mushrooms and chop on speed 3, 10 seconds. Saute in the butter/ghee/oil before adding remaining ingredients.

Cream of Celery Soup - Chop 2 stalks celery, quartered, and 1/2 an onion, on speed 5 for 3 seconds. Saute in butter/ghee/oil before adding remaining ingredients.

Cream of Chicken Soup - Use chicken broth or stock powder in water as half of the liquid. Add 1/2 t sage, a dash of tamari or worchestershire sauce, and diced cooked chicken if available.

Creamed Corn or Chicken & Corn Soup - Make as for cream of chicken soup, adding a cup or two of fresh or frozen corn and leaving out the sage. If making creamed corn, leave out the chicken pieces.

Vary flavour with any of the following:
- curry powder
- garlic, onion or celery salt/powder
- grated nutmeg
- lemon juice
- Worchestershire sauce
- Tamari sauce
- chili powder
- chopped or blended vegetables
- chopped parsley/chives
- chopped boiled eggs

(If you want to add veges, put them in bowl first, chop on speed 5 for 3 seconds, and saute with the butter/oil - 3 mins, 100 degrees, speed 3; then add other ingredients and cook as above.)

Basic White Sauce (Traditional Method) - makes approx. equivalent to one soup tin.

Melt in heavy saucepan:
- 3 T butter or ghee or olive oil

Blend in, cooking and stirring until bubbly:
- 3 T plain spelt flour or plain GF flour
- 1/4 t salt

Using wire whisk to prevent lumps, stir in:
- 1 c rice/almond milk, or stock, or combination
(of course, you can use cow's milk instead if you can handle it)

Cook, stirring, just until smooth and thickened.

Vary as above.