Thermomix Menu Plans - 21st May

Happy Monday everyone! Time to figure out the menu for the week here... it's going to be a crazy one, so I want to make sure I'm prepared.

Firstly, here's a few things we enjoyed last week...

Almond-cashew milk in coffee or hot chocolate froths up so beautifully. To make it, all you need to do is grind up 80g of raw almonds and 80g of raw cashews in the Thermomix on speed 9 for about 20 seconds; add 1 litre of filtered water, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and a dash of pure maple syrup, then blend on speed 9 for a minute. That's it. It will be nice and frothy if you use it straight away. If you're refrigerating it for later, you will need to re-whizz it up for frothiness.

You can also make delicious lattes with this milk - just weigh 250g of milk into the Thermomix per person, add either a shot of espresso per person (we use a stovetop espresso maker) or a tsp of instant coffee per person, and cook at 80C for 5 minutes, speed 4, or until the milk reaches 80C. (May need longer, depending on how much milk you're heating.) Or, of course, use raw cacao powder instead of coffee for hot chocolates - 1 Tbspn per person. Froth it up at the end by whizzing up to speed 7 for 20 seconds. Sweeten to taste.

Note: The jar behind the coffee is my vanilla-Rapadura - after you have scraped the vanilla seeds out of the pod, add the pod to a jar of Rapadura to flavour it. Lovely in coffee.

Mini Meatloaves - These may not look that great, but they taste delicious! Bake mini meatloaves in little ramekins instead in one big loaf, and everyone gets their own. The kids thought this was a great idea - a meatloaf all to themselves. ;) These are topped with a mixture of tomato sauce, seeded mustard, a little nutmeg and a little Rapadura.  You can also steam meatloaves in the Varoma - they turn out so lovely and moist. I baked mine, as I was using the Thermomix for the steamed veges and mashed potatoes.

Last week's family favourite was the Salmon Fishcakes with Lime Dressing. They are simple, but so, so good. (Mine don't look as perfect as the recipe photo, but they still were delicious!) If you shallow fry them in a mixture of ghee and coconut oil (or just coconut oil) they turn out really crispy on the outside. And coconut oil and ghee are stable fats for frying, so they're much better options than using regular vegetable oils.

This is what the inside looks like - chunks of fresh salmon and potato... mmm...

With the leftover lime dressing, I made a marinade the next day for the Split Roasted Chicken with Lemon Sauce, which was also pretty amazing! The original recipe says to make a lemon sauce and add it at the end - I just coated the chicken in the lime dressing, added some fresh thyme and rosemary and oregano, a dash of red wine vinegar, a little more fresh garlic, and some salt and freshly ground pepper. It kind of caramelized on the skin of the chicken, and tasted delicious. Sorry, it got scoffed down really quickly, and I didn't even get a photo taken. (By the way, I disregarded the advice in the recipe about not eating the chicken skin - how ridiculous. Crispy chicken skin is the best!)

Also a win last week was Marike's Coconut Flour Brownies... mmm! I still am aiming at eating as much grain free as possible, so I've been playing with coconut flour more these days. Marike's brownies have been made twice in the last week - once with Rapadura, and once with raw dates and green stevia to sweeten them. Check out the blog post for more details.

This Week's Menu

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

Monday:
Vegetarian pasta (tmx - all in one meal) & leafy green salad

Tuesday:
Beef burgers (no bread) with steamed sweet potato & choko (tmx) & leafy green salad

Wednesday:
Lentil bolognese (tmx) with baked sweet potatoes & leafy green salad

Thursday:
Meatball, vege & bean soup (tmx - all in one meal)

Friday:
Salad pizzas with avocado, smoked salmon, baby spinach & raw veges (tmx)

Saturday:
Fried rice (tmx) & pumpkin soup (tmx)

Sunday:
Roast lamb, roast veges, gravy (tmx)

Breakfasts: fruit cereals, raw chia porridge, quinoa porridge with fruit, eggs

Lunches: soups, leftovers, salads

Snacks: fruit, nuts, healthy baking, dip with raw vege sticks or rice crackers

Pomelo - my favourite citrus fruit!

What's on your menu this week? Share by linking up, or in the comments below!

Or get some menu planning tips here.

Have a great week! :)

Marike's Coconut Flour Brownies

I was browsing through photos on Instagram the other day and some coconut flour brownies caught my eye. They looked delicious, and were not only made without grains, but were also dairy free and sweetened with rapadura - just my style. So I asked hopefully for the recipe and Marike, who developed the recipe herself, was happy to share. Thanks so much, Marike! :)

Within 24 hours of getting the recipe, these were made and eaten. (Well, except for two squares I managed to hide for the next day!) They were just as delicious as they looked.

Marike converted her old faithful brownie recipe from 'flour, butter, cocoa and sugar' to 'the good stuff', and after a couple of flops, this is what she came up with. See? You don't have to feel deprived once you start eating healthy. You just have to learn how to substitute the good stuff for the bad stuff, and be willing to experiment. If you've never tried coconut flour before, don't be put off by the price - it's actually quite economical because you use a fraction of the amount you would usually use of flour in baking - it expands with liquids. If you want to save money and make your own coconut flour, take the shredded coconut that's left over after you've made coconut cream and milk with it, dehyrdrate it for 24 hours in a dehydrator, then grind it up in the Thermomix.

Marike has kindly agreed to let me share her recipe on my blog so you can all enjoy it too. Thanks so much, Marike! Here's her recipe:

And here's my Thermomix version:

Mix together in your Thermomix on speed 6 for about 20 seconds:
- 70g coconut oil
- 50g coconut flour
- 35g raw cacao powder
- 100g Rapadura
- 6 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan or sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

If you can have nuts, add and mix on speed 5 for 3 seconds to chop and mix into batter:
- 120g raw walnuts (or pecans)

Bake at 175C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting, if you can wait that long. Bet you can't. Ha ha!!

Note: I also sprinkled the top of the brownies with dairy free chocolate chips before baking. Couldn't help myself. ;)

We enjoyed these with Cashew Honey Vanilla Bean Custard - delicious.

Sugar free variation: I also tried making these with dates and green stevia instead of Rapadura, but I must admit, the Rapadura ones tasted a lot better! But if you can't have Rapadura and need a less sweet alternative, try adding 100g raw dates (pitted) and 1 tsp green stevia powder instead of the Rapadura. You may need to cook it a bit longer, and the texture will be heavier, but my kids still liked them.

Miss C's 'Ice Cream Menu Plan'

Last week we all had a good laugh when we found that my eight year old daughter (Miss C) had altered the family menu plan to an 'ice cream menu plan'! Obviously she was craving ice cream, and just for a laugh I decided to humour her and make a new ice cream each day. Of course, it isn't really ice cream weather at the moment - but Miss C doesn't seem to mind eating ice cream even in the dead of winter, so we went ahead with our crazy plan.

When I say ice cream, I don't mean ice cream in the usual sense - I mean my own quirky style of ice creams! Dairy free, naturally sweetened and healthy. These are even egg free, so if you're vegan, you're going to love them. Oh yes, and they are also very quick to make - I mean, who wants to wait a day or so for the ice cream to be ready? You want it when you want it! Ice cream for me is a spur of the moment kind of thing, and I make it up as I go along. That's what I did with these.

There are some pre-requisites for 'spur of the moment, dairy free ice creams' - you need to have the ingredients in the freezer ready for when you want them... frozen bananas, frozen avocados (yes, you heard right!), frozen coconut cream cubes, frozen pineapple, frozen berries, ice... If you have those (or some of those) always on hand, ice cream is only minutes away at any time. And that's a good thing. ;) (All these ingredients are perfect smoothie ingredients too, so keep stocked up.) Actually, just about any fruit can be frozen to add to ice creams and smoothies, so if you have a surplus, or something's on special, chop it up and freeze in ziploc bags so it's ready to go. Note: make sure your fruit is nice and ripe for the best flavour - but not so ripe it's sloppy.

Quick ice creams are only limited by your imagination - so take some of my ideas and tweak them to come up with your own fabulous flavours. And please let us all know what you come up with in the comments below - Miss C will be forever grateful! :D

Oh, and to the lady who requested chocolate beetroot ice cream, that one is next on the 'must try' list! ;)

Day 1

~ Breakfast Sorbet ~

This is kind of a mixture between ice cream, sorbet, and muesli.

A great substitute for boring old cereal for breakfast,

and you can add or subtract ingredients to make it to your taste.

Some people don't like the tahini in it - I do, and it adds calcium!

But leave it out if you like. Click on the link above to get to the recipe for this one.

Serves 6.

Day 2

~ Tropical Delight ~

To make this you need 200g coconut cream frozen in ice cube trays,
280g frozen pineapple (chopped), 250g frozen banana (chopped)
and a couple of passionfruit for topping. Whiz up the frozen
coconut cream on speed 9 for 20 seconds, until fine. Scrape down.
Add frozen pineapple and blend on speed 9 until ground, then add
banana chunks and blend on speed 9, mixing with spatula until it all
comes together into an ice cream consistency. Scrape down bowl
and re-mix if necessary. Scoop into dishes and top with passionfruit.

Serves 6.

Day 3

~ Raw Chocolate Ice Cream (with sprinkles!) ~

Little does she know it's made with avocado and sweetened with banana and dates!

To make this one, blend 250g frozen avocado (chopped) on speed 9 for 10 seconds;

 add 250g frozen bananas (chopped), 160g raw dates,

25g raw cacao powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract 

and blend on speed 9 for 10 seconds. It takes a minute or so to mix until creamy -

use the spatula to help it along. Add some additive-free sprinkles

from Hopper, and you'll be the most favourite mum around!

Serves 6.

Day 4

~ Lemon-Lime Coconut Cream Ice Cream ~

Whiz up the zests of 1 lime and half a lemon with 50g xylitol and

1/2 tsp green stevia powder on speed 9 for 30 seconds.

Add 300g frozen coconut cream ice cubes and whiz again on speed 9 for 10 seconds.

Add 300g ice and whiz again. Add the lime & lemon flesh (no peel) to bowl

and blend it all up on speed 9 until creamy, mixing with spatula.

[Note: You can use other sugar than xylitol - may need to double it though as xylitol is very sweet.]

Serves 6.

Day 5

~ Salted Caramel Macadamia Banana Ice Cream ~

We just had to make this one again - it's become a firm favourite!
Frozen banana & macadamia ice cream with a salted caramel syrup
made from Rapadura and coconut cream.
Click on the link above to get the recipe. So good. Really.
Serves 6.

Day 6

~ Banana Dippin' Dots & Ice Magic with Sprinkles ~

This was a really fun one! 'Dippin' Dots' and 'Ice Magic' (or Magic Shell)

were totally lost on my kids - they have no idea what they are, never had them!

But they still loved it... they said it was the best ever.

In case you've never heard of Dippin' Dots ice cream, it's tiny little coloured balls of ice cream in all sorts of amazing flavours. Up here we only ever see it at the annual show. I've never bought any because it's full of dairy, sugar, colours and flavours - but everyone raves about how great it is. This is my healthy version. ;) I'm sure most people have heard of Ice Magic though - didn't we all have it as kids? We just love the way it freezes and cracks when we pour it on our ice cream! Homemade is easy as, and only has two ingredients and no nasties. (If you buy good chocolate, that is! If you're looking for a naturally sweetened, soy free, dairy free chocolate, try dark organic 70% cocoa Rapunzel chocolate. The ingredients are just cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and Rapadura sugar.)

To make 'Ice Magic' chocolate topping, melt 100g dark dairy free chocolate (chopped) and 50g coconut oil in the Thermomix for 3-5 mins on 50 degrees, speed 2, until smooth - set aside.

To make 'Dippin' Dots' style banana ice-cream, you need 500g well frozen banana, chopped into approx. 1 inch pieces. Process in two batches on speed 7 for just a couple of seconds until it turns into little 'dots' - serve immediately with homemade 'ice magic'! And Hopper sprinkles. :)

[Note: If you have any leftover 'Ice Magic', pour it in a jar and keep it in the cupboard at room temperature. You may need to set it in a bowl of hot water to warm up a bit when you're ready to use it again.]

Day 7

~ Banana Ice Cream with Ice Magic & Roasted Hazelnuts ~

Make this ice cream just the same as the one above, but first chop some roasted hazelnuts and set them aside. Then blend up the banana on speed 9, stirring through some hazelnuts at the end. Top with 'Ice Magic' and sprinkle with remaining chopped roasted hazelnuts.
Serves 6.


I hope you enjoy these fun and healthy ice creams as much as we did!

P.S. I'm sorry to disappoint you if you were hoping for beef stroganoff
& ice cream, or baked or 'fride' ice cream with sprinkles -
I'll let you try those ones out yourselves. ;)

Thermomix Menu Plans - 14th May

Hi everyone - better late than never with my menu plan for the week! Anyone else out there planning a menu for this week? Mine's pretty basic - a busy week so not a lot of time for fancy meals. (Thank goodness I have a Thermomix, huh!)

I hope all you Mums had a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday and were totally spoilt! My kids brought me breakfast in bed - tea, spelt toast and eggs (one of which had so much salt it had to be chucked!), and gluten free scone bread with pure maple syrup... and lots of homemade cards and pressies :) Very sweet. (I do think I'd better teach them how to make slow poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, though!)

Breakfast in bed - Mother's Day

For my mother, I made a rose and herb bouquet - pretty and useful. She loved it! My mother is very practical and money saving, and she nearly flipped when I walked in the door with it, as she thought I'd bought it from the florist and was thinking "$$$$"... She was relieved to know I'd bought the roses and herbs at the grocery store and put it together myself in a pretty jar. :D It smelt amazing. The herbs were basil, rosemary and thyme. (Don't worry, I bought her a present too - she nearly flipped about that too, because I accidentally left the price tag on - oops!)

Rose and herb bouquet

The next day I went and got the basil from her bouquet (before it wilted) and made her a basil-spinach-macadamia pesto and took it back to her. She was even more pleased! Maybe I should make garlic and rosemary pizza bianca with the rosemary, and potpourri with the roses... ha ha!

Basil Spinach Macadamia Pesto (dairy free)

For those of you on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram (@jowhitton), you may have seen that last week I made a different ice cream each day in honour of Miss C's 'Ice-Cream Menu'. (Despite the fact that it's more soup weather than ice cream weather!) It was a bit of a challenge, and I enjoyed coming up with new and different healthy 'ice creams' each day. I'm going to post what I made with the recipes and photos so you can try them out too. Miss C was very pleased with her menu plan idea... I'm just hoping she doesn't get the idea that any menu she comes up with, I have to make! Ha. (By the way - no, I didn't actually make 'Fride Ice Cream' or 'Beef Stroganoff with Ice Cream', but she was still pretty happy.) ;)

Miss C and her favourite food - ice cream!

(This one was lemon-lime and coconut cream -

dairy free, egg free & naturally sweetened.)

Here's my menu plan for this week - share yours by linking below! (Thermomix Menu Plans explains how.)

(tmx = cooked or prepared in the Thermomix)

Monday:
Tostadas - the quick & easy version: corn chips (instead of fried corn tortillas), then baby spinach, then nacho beef & beans (tmx), then dairy free sour cream (tmx), then sliced black olives. Everyone loves it and it takes hardly any time to make.

Tuesday:
Salmon fishcakes with rocket, capers & lime dressing and steamed veges - and a nature lesson for the kids on growing your own rocket! (Steaming the potatoes and veges in separate batches in the tmx varoma, making gf breadcrumbs in tmx, mixing mixure in tmx.)

Wednesday:
Split Roasted Chicken with Lemon Sauce, mashed potatoes, leafy green salad - mashed potatoes and lemon sauce prepared in tmx. (This was on Saturday's menu, but I ended up being out all day so it didn't get done - trying again!)

Thursday:
Mini meatloaves with homemade tomato sauce, steamed veges, green salad - meatloaves baked in oven in ramekins, with tomato sauce on top (made in tmx), veges steamed in tmx.

Friday:
Creole black eyed peas 'n' corn with gf cornbread muffins - soup made in tmx, muffins prepared in tmx and baked.

Saturday:
Healthy fried fish strips and homemade mayonnaise with baked sweet potatoes and green salad - fish coated in egg and cornmeal, pan fried in coconut oil; mayo made in tmx.

Sunday:
Baked marinated steak with onions, baked pumpkin, green salad

Creole black eyed beans 'n' Corn

Share your menu by linking up below, or share in the comments below.
No spam please - do not link to other sites or blog posts that have nothing to do with menu planning. Thank you.

Have a great week! :)

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 :)

Thermomix Menu Plans - 7th May

How's the menu planning going, everyone? Anyone want to join in posting your menu plan each week? It's been a bit sparse lately! You can make your plan as detailed or vague as you like - even if it's just a list of the main meals you're thinking of making for the week, that's great. I'm only posting main meals at the moment, basically because I'm flat out and I don't have time for long blog posts... I know you can do it. Even my 8 year old daughter writes out meal plans - see?

Um, yeah. I think I need to re-train her.

Oh well, as long as it's banana 'ice-cream' and natural sprinkles, I won't worry too much. ;) Or maybe I'll just make her this healthy 'Breakfast Sorbet'...

Breakfast Sorbet

This is kind of a nut and muesli sorbet, very filling and healthy -
a great breakfast (or mid-morning snack) during warmer weather!

This week I thought I'd share some breakfast recipe links for those who need breakfast time inspiration. I really don't know how some people can stand to have the same old 'weetbix and toast' for breakfast every day - not my idea of fun. Or good health, either. So here's a few of our favourite breakfasts - I hope these recipes will make you excited to get up in the morning!

Pina Colada Porridge

Cook up some porridge using rice or quinoa flakes, add some coconut cream

and a dash of vanilla extract, top with fresh pineapple, sliced banana,

fresh grated coconut (or dry shredded), chopped macadamia nuts,

and a sprinkle of rapadura (optional). Or for a completely raw, grain free version,

try soaking some chia seeds in coconut cream and water for half an hour to

make a raw porridge, then add remaining ingredients. Yum!

(Pina Colada Porridge is from Cyndi O'Meara's 'Changing Habits, Changing Lives Cookbook' - check it out for heaps of delicious breakfast ideas.)

Quick Quinoa Granola

This really is so quick to make for breakfast - quinoa flakes, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, a little honey or pure maple syrup, a little coconut oil and spices... too easy.

Grain Free Sultana Spice Bread

Make this the day before and enjoy it toasted for breakfast. Contains no

 sugar, only a couple of tablespoons of honey and an apple to sweeten.

Leave out the honey if you can't have it.

Fruit Salad

This is something the kids like to make for breakfast - no need for a

recipe for this. If you've always got plenty of fresh fruit on hand,

 it's easy to whip up a great salad for breakfast.

Sprinkle with some chopped nuts for protein, and shredded coconut

if you like, and even some raw cacao nibs for extra crunch

and an added energy boost!

Berry Nougat

An extra special breakfast! Berries, sultanas, almonds, cacao nibs,

nut butter, and pure maple syrup - so good.

Waffle Iron Brownies

Another special one - chocolate waffles with cashew cream...

and chocolate sauce if you're feeling really decadent!

Brown Rice Waffles (or Pancakes)

This waffle/pancake recipe is very versatile - you can use pretty much any grain (or buckwheat, or quinoa) to make them. I often make them with buckwheat and almonds. The ones in the picture above are made completely from brown rice, ground in the Thermomix. So simple, and very light and crispy. We like them with fruit, pecans and pure maple syrup. Or the pancakes we like to sprinkle with rapadura and drizzle with lemon juice.

Those are a few breakfast ideas... we also eat a lot of eggs for breakfast (scrambled, poached, fried, boiled, omelettes...), meat (with scrambled eggs, or with rice, or stir fried with veges), sometimes toast (spelt or gluten free bread), porridge with fruit in it, and generally a smoothie or fresh juice of some sort. For smoothie and juice ideas, see this post.

Shrek Juice

Now, before I go on to my menu plan, can I just put in a little plug for my blog? If you haven't already voted for the Best Australian Blog for 2012 - People's Choice Award, how about voting for mine! :D All you need to do is click on the button on the right at the top of my blog, and follow the prompts. Hurry, there's only two days left to vote!! Thank you! :)

So what's cooking this week? Here's our plan - I hope a few of you will link up your menu plans below with the Mr. Linky widget too... If you need help knowing what to do, read Thermomix Menu Plans. If you'd like some help getting started with menu planning, read How to Menu Plan.

Monday:
Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup - an old favourite, loved by many! To bulk it out, I cooked it on Varoma temp with zucchini and peas steaming on top, and extra chicken in the soup. You could add all sorts of veges this way, and stretch it to feed a bigger family.

Tuesday:

Steak, steamed veges, and Cauliflower 'Cheese' - veges (including cauliflower) steamed in Varoma; 'cheesey sauce' cooked in Thermomix and poured over cauliflower, then browned quickly under grill.

Wednesday:
Sausage Casserole with Dumplings - sausages are cooked in the Varoma while a red sauce simmers below in the bowl; sauce and sausages are removed to a baking dish, and dumplings made in bowl, then dropped onto casserole and baked in the oven. Comfort food!

Thursday:
Fish with quinoa salad - shallow fried fish (cooked like this); quinoa cooked in Thermomix rice basket then mixed with salad ingredients.

Friday:
Baked sweet potatoes with toppings and leafy green salad - baked beans with mince and/or 'cheesey sauce'.

Saturday:
Split Roasted Chicken with Lemon Sauce, mashed potatoes, leafy green salad - mashed potatoes and lemon sauce prepared in Thermomix.

Sunday:
Chicken & Avocado Omelettes, tomato soup, and leafy green salad - omelettes cooking in Varoma while soup cooks in bowl underneath. (See Varoma cookbook for how to make omelettes in the Varoma. Tomato soup is my tweaked version - will try and post recipe soon.)

Quinoa Salad

Want to share your favourite recipes with us so we can be inspired too? Link up your menu plan below!

Salted Caramel Macadamia Banana Ice Cream {dairy free}

I had a very sad little girl this morning, with a bad case of 'schoolitis'... It really is impossible to teach an eight year old girl about state-of-being verbs when all she can do is cry because her brothers have already finished their school work and she hasn't! So we had a break and made a pre-lunch snack. Salted caramel macadamia banana ice cream works every time - no more tears, smiles all round. Only problem is, now she's bouncing off the walls and giggling crazily at everything. Sigh. Oh well, we'll try again after lunch.

Here's the recipe, just in case anyone else needs a pick me up too! (Hopefully you won't get the giggles.) Now I'm off to make a quinoa salad for lunch...

1. Make the caramel sauce by melting together some Rapadura, coconut cream, vanilla and salt for 3 minutes at 100 degrees, speed 2:

- 100g Rapadura or coconut sugar or pure maple syrup

- 100g coconut cream

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 large tsp vanilla bean paste)

- a pinch of Himalayan salt

    Pour sauce into a small jug and set aside.

2. Add to the Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 9 for 30 seconds, using the spatula to push it onto the blades:

- 450g frozen bananas, chopped in 1 inch pieces

- 2 handfuls of raw macadamias (or however much you want!)

- a good drizzle of caramel sauce (reserve at least half for topping)

3. Serve the ice cream straight away in small dishes, drizzled with the caramel sauce, and sprinkled with chopped macadamia nuts. You can also add a tiny sprinkle of Himalayan salt over the top as well, if you like.

- extra macadamia nuts, chopped roughly

- extra sprinkle of Himalayan salt (optional)