Thermomix Apple Pie

As a child I grew up in Tasmania, the Apple Isle. In our backyard my father had 8 apple trees. Apples were a constant in our diet, fresh ones, stewed ones, apple crumble, apple streudel, apple pies. 

I have tried a few apple pies with the aid of the trusty thermomix and this one below has to rate as one of the yummiest ones.
Apple Pie in the Thermomix
This apple crumble recipe is a favourite too.
Healthy Thermomix Apple Crumble

In the sewing room apples have also been made. This time felt ones as part of my felt fruit play food set.

And my Apple Pie book and story telling set. A lovely story about a fairy named Annie who comes to realise that with the help of her friends the best way to cook is with simple ingredients including flour, sugar, butte and apples. As the book is read to kids they can find and identify the ingredients. Makes reading fun and interactive.

Thermomix Review

Update June 2016 We now have the newest thermomix and our eldest son and his girlfriend have inherited our original one. I still use it daily. Each morning I blend up my smoothie in it, evenings we either cook our meal in it or use it to help prepare the meal eg. to chop up veges or mix meatballs quickly.

Earlier this week I read a review about the thermomix here.  It was a funny ole review indeed and given that I have had a thermomix  since late 2007 I really wanted to give my thoughts and personal experience on this kitchen machine.

I brought my thermomix over 7 years ago after going to a demonstration.  It was expensive then and still is now. Mine has paid for itself in the first year and I will explain how further down.

The consultant I brought mine from gave a lovely demonstration, mentioned the price, cooked some delicious food and then left the buying up to us.  There was absolutely no pressure for buying one or for hosting a demonstration.  There was no hard sell at all by this consultant. I wanted to mention this because the review above describes her experiences with consultants (she has never been to a demo) as cult like.

My 7 year old thermomix has never needed repairing and I have only had to replace a perished rubber seal during the seven years.

My thermomix sits on my bench top as it gets lots of use and I want it available at all times. It takes up as much space as my toaster.

We use it to cook or prepare food everyday.  Hubby uses it as much as I do (and in the seven years we have owned ours neither hubby or I  have never cut our fingers with the blade!).

 It is a huge time saver.  For example I cooked a risotto one day this week. It took 20 minutes and because the themomix cooks and stirs, I had a shower, tidied the kitchen and set the table and came back when the thermomix timer beeped.  Another night this week we had rice with steamed fish and steamed vegetables.  All cooked in the thermomix.  while this meal was cooking I cleaned the kitchen and helped my son with his homework. 

The review above mentions that the bowl isn't particularly big. Well it is big enough to cook risotto for 6-8 people, spaghetti bolognaise for 8, custard for 6. We are a family of 5 (two adults, two teens and one younger child). I can cook a full meal or dessert in the bowl for our family, often with some leftovers too.

It can be noisy, very noisy when grinding grains, almonds to almond meal, crushing ice etc.  But when heating and stirring and cooking our thermomix is quieter than when I cook at the stove top with our exhaust fan going.  Grinding nuts and grains and crushing ice only takes a minute or less so when it is a loud noise it is only for a short time.

Having a thermomix has brought the love back into cooking for me.  I am experiencing more and more with flavour combinations and trying harder recipes than ever before.  It makes the whole cooking process so much more fun.  My kids also us it. In summer they ocme home from school and make themselves a slushie, or custard as a dessert after tea.

Here is a list of what I made in the thermomix last week:
Yoghurt, butter, jelly slice, rice bubble slice, pancakes from the left over buttermilk from making the butter, pumpkin risotto, bolognaise sauce, vegetable stock, garam masala, pizza bases, mince from cubes beef, drinking chocolate, vegetable curry soup, steamed fish, steamed vegetables, steamed dumplings, cooked rice, coconut cupcakes, grated cheese, carrots and cabage for salads, almond meal from whole almonds, sweet chilli sauce, basil pesto.

As I mentioned above my thermomix paid for itself with in a year as instead of buying so many cans and processed or pre made food we started making our own.  No more cans of soup, grated cheese, yoghurt or butter, we make a lot of our own herb and spice mixes, make our own pasta sauces, tomatoe paste and ice cream.  We make the majority of snacks for the kids now instead of spending on packaged biscuits, slices, crumpets etc. As a result our love of cooking has grown.  We still cook at the stove or in the oven but often prepare the food in the thermomix to speed things up.

Finally I can't end my experience about my thermomix without mentioning the funny 'con' written in the review above. "People who have a Thermomix become somewhat gang like". Ha, ha, that made me laugh!
I have friends that have thermomixes and we share recipes and talk about what we have cooked in it.  I also have friends without thermomixes and we talk about food and what we have cooked too.  I don't think my friends are gang like with a thermomix. All of them love it and have a new found love of cooking as a result so maybe that is why she thinks they are gang like?

What I do know is that if something was to happen to my 7 year old thermomix I would go out and buy another one tomorrow.  Yes, its is an investment but I would rather go without a tv than my thermomix now.

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Thermomix Pan Fried Pork Dumplings

It has been a while since I have shared a thermomix recipe.  Just had to share this one though because it got the big tick from the family and I will be cooking it again.
The recipe is in the Asian thermomix cookbook and while it looks complicated it was very straight forward and easy.  Don't be put off by haivng to make two different doughs.  They are both super easy and quick to make in the thermomix. 

Here is a similar recipe if you want to try it too.

Dukkah in The Thermomix

I am coming to the end of my Christmas gift list with just another one or two things to make.
I have made a lot of presents and gifts this year.  Of course the kids are easy as they are getting Creative Wishes toys and games.

Some of the adults are getting homemade Dukkah with a lovely bottle of olive oil. I'll tie it with a string and add a cute tag and vioila, a quick and easy pressie (and yummy one too).

Thermomix Dukkah

Ingredients

• 150g Sesame Seeds
• 100g Hazelnuts
• 30g Cumin Seeds
• 50g Coriander Seeds
• 1tsp Salt
• 1/2tsp Black Peppercorns
• 1tsp Dried Thyme

Instructions

1. Place Sesame seeds, hazelnuts, cumin and coriander seeds into TM Bowl and dry roast for 8 minutes at 100degrees C on speed 1.
2. Remove lid and allow to cool
3. When all ingredients are cool, add salt, peppercorns and dried mint or thyme and set dial to lose lid position and pulse a couple of times with Turbo button to form a coarse powder
4. Keep in an airtight container in fridge until ready to use

If you don't have a thermomix then try this recipe HERE

When I make Dukkah I tend to deviate from the recipe and experiment with extra herbs and spices and seeds.  I made a deliciously spicy mix with some dried chilli and paprika and it is divine!

Homemade Baileys Irish Cream

Every Christmas for years now I have been making homemade Irish Cream. 
The recipe I have used is over 20 years old and uses eggs.

Irish Creme3 eggs
1 tin condensed milk
300ml thickened cream
1 cup whisky
1 1/2 tsp chocolate topping
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp coconut essence

Blend/beat

This is my original recipe but over the years I have adapted it.  I found it was too eggy with 3 eggs so usually use 1 or 2 at the very most. The original recipe tastes more like an eggnog than a Baileys.  I also use more whisky.  It stores well in the fridge and is great served over crushed ice.  I blend mine up in the thermomix for 20 seconds or less (don't blend too much or the cream will whip and become really thick.

I just searched online and came up with loads more recipes not using eggs.  Tomorrow I am going to try this one out using coffee and no eggs.

Handmade Baileys Irish Creme makes a great homemade present too.  Pour into some lovely glass bottles, label and tie with some festive coloured ribbons.

YUM!

I would like to invite you to come and join my Creativity List. 

It is chocca block full of fantastic content from freebies and special offers to kids craft ideas and small handmade business articles.

As a thank you, you get not one but two free Ebooks.

Creative Play To Keep Boredom Away

50 Boredom Busting Ideas For Children.

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Thermomix Rocket Pesto

The vege patch is full of rocket. We have been eating rocket in our sandwiches, rocket salads, rocket with just about every meal.  Now it is beginning to flower and so the time has come to use it up.

So I made some very delicious rocket pesto (in the thermomix of course) which we have had with pasta for the last two nights.  There was still some left so we mixed the remainder with some cream cheese and made it into a scrumptious dip.
The recipe came from here.

I will be making more tomorrow and freezing it this time.

I would like to invite you to come and join my Creativity List. 

It is chocca block full of fantastic content from freebies and special offers to kids craft ideas and small handmade business articles.

As a thank you, you get not one but two free Ebooks.

Creative Play To Keep Boredom Away

50 Boredom Busting Ideas For Children.

plus

50 Tips For Selling Handmade Crafts Online.

Thermomix vegetable Stock

Giveaway Winner is ....Pauline who likes to create because she finds it satisfying and calming.  Well done Pauline, the Pink nursery organiser will be coming to you very soon.

This weekends cooking from the garden is vegetable stock made in the thermomix.

 This is a thermomix and it has changed the way my family eat for the better.  We eat more food made from scratch (no cans, no preservatives or package mixes). I love my thermomix and use it daily.  It is the best kitchen appliance by a mile!

The ingredients for the vegetable stock or concentrate are:

200g celery, roughly cut
2 carrots, roughly cut
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 tomato, halved
1 zucchini, roughly cut
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
few leaves basil, sage and rosemary
1 bunch parsley
150g rock salt
1 tbsp oil

Most of the vegetables and all of the herbs came from the garden.  The concentrate is cooked up and then bottled and keeps in the fridge.  I use it as you could stock cubes in soups, casseroles, rissotos etc.  It is a concentrate so I only use 1 tbs.

In the garden this week I have planted  pak choi seeds, turnip seeds and peas.  I have also planted lettuce seedlings and harvested yellow cherry guavas from the tree.  The boys hadn't tasted them before but all declared them to be delicious!

My yellow cherry guava tree is less than a year old and is growing in a large pot and it has already produced 20 or more fruti. Unfortunately the possums found the tree and ate half of the fruit.  I ended up protecting the remainder of the fruit with fruit fly protection bags and the possums left them alone. Since I have had such a success with this guava tree and we all love the taste of kthe fruit I will be buying a strawberry guava soon.