Well the year has really slipped away from me and I have barely had time to cook, let alone develop any new recipes. As much as I am absolutely loving being back at work, I must admit that I am looking forward to having time in the holidays to cook and blog. My kitchen hasn't been totally quiet (or boring) however as we have recently been sampling the delights from Tenina's first publication (since finishing with Thermomix Oz). If you haven't got your hands on Tenina's Dinner Spinner then I suggest you log onto this site and order one straight away (a little Chrissie present for yourself).
The Cooking with Tenina Dinner Spinner contains 21 thermomix dinner recipes that are all triple tested (yes they actually work) and the ones that I have tried all taste fantastic. They recipes are perhaps slightly more gourmet than my usual weekly repertoire, but nothing too ridiculous. There is a selection of vegetarian, chicken, pork, fish and beef dishes. The recipes include five spice sweet and sour meatballs, speck and salad pizza, pesto chicken pinwheels and mac and cheese. Yum! I have yet to read a negative recipe review from this delightful spinner on forumthermomix and I honestly doubt I will. Well done Tenina!
This week promises to be really busy for me with finishing up at school and preparing for Christmas so I will say a big "Merry Christmas" to you all now. We are once again heading to the family beach house to have a relaxing and very fun Aussie Christmas. Fingers crossed that this lovely weather will continue on here in Tassie. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas day wherever you are celebrating!!! xox
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Filling Tummies with Tasty Scrolls
Well my first weeks of working extra days (now 3 days per week) have gone off quite well. I am really enjoying getting back into teaching in a greater capacity and the boys are loving their new family day carer. Our boys were very unhappy at the large child care centre and I am so happy that we have now changed to family day care (and found two amazing and enthusiastic carers). The pace of our lives has definitely picked up but we are all enjoying the changes so far. I was a little concerned how I would keep up with the lunch box cooking (you know how I like to cook everything from scratch :-)) but big cook-ups late on Sunday afternoon have certainly taken the pressure off. With my trusty thermomix and a wonderful Hubby who washes up after me, my big cook-up is a breeze.
Cookies, slices, muffins, fruit buns, rolls and scrolls are featuring heavily on the lunch box menu at our house. I wrap and freeze the muffins, scrolls, buttered fruit buns and rolls so they are ready to pop straight our lunch boxes. When combined with easy snacks such as crackers and sliced cheese, fresh popcorn, nuts, dried fruit, yoghurt and fresh fruit, filling our lunch boxes is very easy. I do of course have two non-working days during the week but they are largely filled with swimming lessons, appointments, house work, planning and preparation for school and generally just hanging out with my boys.
One of my boys favourite lunches is scrolls. Do your family like scrolls for lunch? Our favourites include:
Custard and Almond Scrolls
Find Cookies yummy recipe here.
Ham and Cheese Scrolls
I make these using a batch of EDC pizza dough. After leaving the dough to rise for 30 minutes I then roll it out into a large rectangle and spread it with homemade tomato sauce (recipe in the My Way of Cooking TM book). I sprinkle it with chopped ham and grated cheese (and sometimes pineapple)and roll it up. I then the log into approximately 12 slices and place them on a tray (cut side up) and cook them for approximately 15 minutes at 180 degrees fan forced.
Cheesymite Scrolls
Follow the directions above but spread with vegemite and sprinkle with grated cheese before rolling up and slicing. Yum!
Cookies, slices, muffins, fruit buns, rolls and scrolls are featuring heavily on the lunch box menu at our house. I wrap and freeze the muffins, scrolls, buttered fruit buns and rolls so they are ready to pop straight our lunch boxes. When combined with easy snacks such as crackers and sliced cheese, fresh popcorn, nuts, dried fruit, yoghurt and fresh fruit, filling our lunch boxes is very easy. I do of course have two non-working days during the week but they are largely filled with swimming lessons, appointments, house work, planning and preparation for school and generally just hanging out with my boys.
One of my boys favourite lunches is scrolls. Do your family like scrolls for lunch? Our favourites include:
Custard and Almond Scrolls
Find Cookies yummy recipe here.
Ham and Cheese Scrolls
I make these using a batch of EDC pizza dough. After leaving the dough to rise for 30 minutes I then roll it out into a large rectangle and spread it with homemade tomato sauce (recipe in the My Way of Cooking TM book). I sprinkle it with chopped ham and grated cheese (and sometimes pineapple)and roll it up. I then the log into approximately 12 slices and place them on a tray (cut side up) and cook them for approximately 15 minutes at 180 degrees fan forced.
Cheesymite Scrolls
Follow the directions above but spread with vegemite and sprinkle with grated cheese before rolling up and slicing. Yum!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Shout the Horn!!!
No new recipes sorry folks! Life is just crazy here at the moment. I am preparing to start a new teaching position next week (a dream job I just couldn't refuse) and have just got back from yet another trip to the mainland. No holiday this time though as I was part of an intervention team assisting a family in crisis. A huge undertaking (and totally exhausting) but so worthwhile!
This weekend we are definitely slowing the pace and trying to catch up on some sleep (and washing, cooking, cleaning etc :)). We are also taking some time out to support the fantastic Oxfam project on Sunday evening by eating out at a local restaurant. If you are greatly moved by the plight of the people living in the Horn of Africa in such horrendous conditions why not consider doing the same? Check out Oxfam's Shout the Horn campaign and find a local restaurant who will be donating a percentage of this Sunday's profits to the East African appeal. It is a great excuse for eating out and a wonderful cause!!!
This weekend we are definitely slowing the pace and trying to catch up on some sleep (and washing, cooking, cleaning etc :)). We are also taking some time out to support the fantastic Oxfam project on Sunday evening by eating out at a local restaurant. If you are greatly moved by the plight of the people living in the Horn of Africa in such horrendous conditions why not consider doing the same? Check out Oxfam's Shout the Horn campaign and find a local restaurant who will be donating a percentage of this Sunday's profits to the East African appeal. It is a great excuse for eating out and a wonderful cause!!!
Precious Children - Ethiopia 2007
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Hunter Gatherer - The Humble Cabbage
After a wonderful week in Queensland we returned on Saturday night to a fridge and cupboard that were both completely empty of fruit and veg. I had deliberately used up everything before we left and planned a big shop on our return. On Sunday morning I headed off to our fruit and veg shop and using my list filled a trolley of fresh produce and some dairy. When I was putting it all on the counter the new shop assistant smiled and asked me if I worked in a restaurant. She was amazed when I explained that this was just the weekly fruit and veggie shop for my relatively small family.
Her comment reminded me of how much our thermomix had changed our lives. Before purchasing our thermie our vegie list was rather short but my list on Sunday included leeks, cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, capsicums, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut pumpkin, potatoes and that was just the vegies. My thermie has of course been busy since our return and over half of the vegies have already been used up. I have made soup, stew, vegie stock and vegie slice (well thermie made them really :)).
There is one vegie that really stands out from my list though in terms of it's nutritional content and that is the humble old cabbage. Cabbages are packed with nutrients and really should be listed as a super food. I find it somewhat amusing that the youthful appearance of the Chinese population is so often attributed to eating rice when all nutritional evidence suggests that cabbage is the primary health-giving staple of their diet. I guess we all believe what we want to believe and most people would probably prefer to eat rice rather than cabbage when chasing the promise of a youthful appearance!
I buy a cabbage every second week in my shop and challenge myself to use it all up. Even though it isn't one of our favourite vegies I know that it is really good for us. Cabbage is the home of many powerful anti-oxidants that are known to help protect against breast, colon and prostate cancer. It is also an excellent source of vitamin C, B1, B5, B6 which assist the body to develop resistance to infections and are essential for ongoing good health. Our bodies absorb these vitamins much more effectively from natural whole foods rather than rock derived supplements. Cabbage contains minerals such as potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Who needs Nutragrain when you have cabbage - seriously! For kids eating cabbage is a must as it is one of the major sources of vitamin-K which has now been proven to play a critical role in developing and maintaining healthy bones. Cabbage has such an amazing nutritional profile that it can really only be compared to brussel sprouts (I stick with cabbage though :)).
If you aren't eating cabbage in your diet regularly, I challenge you to take the cabbage challenge. Buy it regularly and use it up. Plans meals for your family using cabbage regularly. Some of our favourite thermomix cabbage recipes are my Chow Mein, the winter soup from My Way of Cooking and coleslaw from the Everyday cookbook. We often just have it as a simple side too (fried with a little butter, diced capsicum and bacon). Yum!
Her comment reminded me of how much our thermomix had changed our lives. Before purchasing our thermie our vegie list was rather short but my list on Sunday included leeks, cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, capsicums, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut pumpkin, potatoes and that was just the vegies. My thermie has of course been busy since our return and over half of the vegies have already been used up. I have made soup, stew, vegie stock and vegie slice (well thermie made them really :)).
There is one vegie that really stands out from my list though in terms of it's nutritional content and that is the humble old cabbage. Cabbages are packed with nutrients and really should be listed as a super food. I find it somewhat amusing that the youthful appearance of the Chinese population is so often attributed to eating rice when all nutritional evidence suggests that cabbage is the primary health-giving staple of their diet. I guess we all believe what we want to believe and most people would probably prefer to eat rice rather than cabbage when chasing the promise of a youthful appearance!
Chow Mein with Cabbage
I buy a cabbage every second week in my shop and challenge myself to use it all up. Even though it isn't one of our favourite vegies I know that it is really good for us. Cabbage is the home of many powerful anti-oxidants that are known to help protect against breast, colon and prostate cancer. It is also an excellent source of vitamin C, B1, B5, B6 which assist the body to develop resistance to infections and are essential for ongoing good health. Our bodies absorb these vitamins much more effectively from natural whole foods rather than rock derived supplements. Cabbage contains minerals such as potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Who needs Nutragrain when you have cabbage - seriously! For kids eating cabbage is a must as it is one of the major sources of vitamin-K which has now been proven to play a critical role in developing and maintaining healthy bones. Cabbage has such an amazing nutritional profile that it can really only be compared to brussel sprouts (I stick with cabbage though :)).
If you aren't eating cabbage in your diet regularly, I challenge you to take the cabbage challenge. Buy it regularly and use it up. Plans meals for your family using cabbage regularly. Some of our favourite thermomix cabbage recipes are my Chow Mein, the winter soup from My Way of Cooking and coleslaw from the Everyday cookbook. We often just have it as a simple side too (fried with a little butter, diced capsicum and bacon). Yum!
Winter Soup with Cabbage
Monday, September 5, 2011
A few more ramblings . .
I hope everyone enjoyed Fathers Day yesterday. We spent most of the day in the garden. It was quite sunny in the afternoon and lovely to get outside in the fresh air. We cleared out the last of our winter veggie garden (except for our kale and garlic) and prepared the soil for some spring planting. Last year our main garden was plagued with awful Harlequin beetles and growing vegetables organically (other than onion crops) was an absolute nightmare. Even my poor rhubarb plants were decimated. This year I am hoping that we can control them a little better and we have already removed their summer home - an old banana passionfruit vine that was growing over our boundary fence. Fingers crossed we can keep them at bay.
Last night I decided to cook Hubby a Fathers Day treat and made my very yummy Creamy Garlic Prawn Risotto. I am rather proud of that conversion as it has already become a popular recipe on the fabulous forumthermomix. Hubby enjoyed his risotto enormously and I must admit I enjoyed my serve also (although it was a teeny serve). Yes I am back in weight loss mode again. You may remember my previous weight loss adventures (using my thermomix) that I blogged about at the start of the year.
This time I am rather proud to report that I have less than 2kg to lose. When I lost over 7kg in January I promised myself that I wouldn't put that much weight on again. I am pretty chuffed that I have stuck to my resolution and at the end of last month when my jeans felt a little tight I decided that it was time to put a stop to those warming winter puddings (I secretly place the blame for my weight gain on Trudy's heavenly peaches and cream dessert). Of course it would be better if I hadn't put on the weight again in the first place but well . . . I do have a shocking sweet tooth!!!
I am losing the weight again by cutting back on baking (sigh!!!), serving myself small meals with garden salads and exercising. I have actually almost lost the weight again but am now hoping to lose a wee bit more. We are heading to QLD next week for some sunshine and I am a little concerned about getting into bathers in public. Yikes!!! I think the poor Queenslanders will be blinded by my Tassie tan! I wonder if there is such a thing as an organic spray tan. :-) We are so excited about getting to our resort in Queensland as our big boy has just learnt to swim. He is so very cute!
Like last time I lost weight I am also focusing on filling my life with happy little projects (other than my favourite past-time - baking). Last weekend we ventured across to the mainland (on the boat) to visit with family and attend my father-in-laws 70th birthday celebrations. It was very fun for the boys going on the boat (not so fun for their parents!) and they haven't stopped chatting about it and building lego boats since our return. It was great to take the car and although I didn't take the thermie with me, I did pack an esky full of homemade goodies. I packed biscuits, slices, fruit bread, seeded rolls and even some frozen containers of soup and chow-mein (which were still frozen rock solid and ready to thaw after a night on the boat). I didn't think the boys would behave well at the family gatherings if we made big changes in their diets (processed food) beforehand. It was nice to eat out a couple of times but also nice to have some ready made home-style meals at our unit. Next time I might try to squeeze thermie in though.
My main project for these holidays (aside from catching up with friends) will be creating a thermomix cookbook for a friend who is about to make the big purchase. I was so excited when my friend Ange told me she is planning to purchase a thermie-baby! Ange and I both share a love of all things wholesome and I can't wait to share this amazing journey with her. I am excited about selecting the recipes for her "Full Little Tummies and Forum Buddies Cookbook".
Anyway I must dash as the sun has come out and the boys are ready for some outside action. Enjoy the school holidays Tassie friends!!!
Last night I decided to cook Hubby a Fathers Day treat and made my very yummy Creamy Garlic Prawn Risotto. I am rather proud of that conversion as it has already become a popular recipe on the fabulous forumthermomix. Hubby enjoyed his risotto enormously and I must admit I enjoyed my serve also (although it was a teeny serve). Yes I am back in weight loss mode again. You may remember my previous weight loss adventures (using my thermomix) that I blogged about at the start of the year.
Creamy Garlic Prawn Risotto
This time I am rather proud to report that I have less than 2kg to lose. When I lost over 7kg in January I promised myself that I wouldn't put that much weight on again. I am pretty chuffed that I have stuck to my resolution and at the end of last month when my jeans felt a little tight I decided that it was time to put a stop to those warming winter puddings (I secretly place the blame for my weight gain on Trudy's heavenly peaches and cream dessert). Of course it would be better if I hadn't put on the weight again in the first place but well . . . I do have a shocking sweet tooth!!!
I am losing the weight again by cutting back on baking (sigh!!!), serving myself small meals with garden salads and exercising. I have actually almost lost the weight again but am now hoping to lose a wee bit more. We are heading to QLD next week for some sunshine and I am a little concerned about getting into bathers in public. Yikes!!! I think the poor Queenslanders will be blinded by my Tassie tan! I wonder if there is such a thing as an organic spray tan. :-) We are so excited about getting to our resort in Queensland as our big boy has just learnt to swim. He is so very cute!
Our Little Swimming Champ
Like last time I lost weight I am also focusing on filling my life with happy little projects (other than my favourite past-time - baking). Last weekend we ventured across to the mainland (on the boat) to visit with family and attend my father-in-laws 70th birthday celebrations. It was very fun for the boys going on the boat (not so fun for their parents!) and they haven't stopped chatting about it and building lego boats since our return. It was great to take the car and although I didn't take the thermie with me, I did pack an esky full of homemade goodies. I packed biscuits, slices, fruit bread, seeded rolls and even some frozen containers of soup and chow-mein (which were still frozen rock solid and ready to thaw after a night on the boat). I didn't think the boys would behave well at the family gatherings if we made big changes in their diets (processed food) beforehand. It was nice to eat out a couple of times but also nice to have some ready made home-style meals at our unit. Next time I might try to squeeze thermie in though.
Tang Zhong Rolls
My main project for these holidays (aside from catching up with friends) will be creating a thermomix cookbook for a friend who is about to make the big purchase. I was so excited when my friend Ange told me she is planning to purchase a thermie-baby! Ange and I both share a love of all things wholesome and I can't wait to share this amazing journey with her. I am excited about selecting the recipes for her "Full Little Tummies and Forum Buddies Cookbook".
Anyway I must dash as the sun has come out and the boys are ready for some outside action. Enjoy the school holidays Tassie friends!!!
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