Its been ages since I've waxed lyrical about how much I love my Thermomix and what a game changer it is - c'mon, I know you've missed my thermo-mixing ha ha - so here goes:

S was in Europe a few weeks ago for 10 days - lucky guy - and left me to fend for myself with the two tiny terrors underfoot. We survived and even ate nutritious meals every most nights with the thermomix saving my life a few times when the littlest boy ramped up his arsenic hour behaviour right on meal prep time.

One of the meals on my list while solo parenting was enchiladas - I love Mexican, the boys do too and enchiladas taste great for lunch the next day.
I defrosted the chicken breast and was all set to steam, season and shred the chicken as per the TRLMT Chimichangas steps with a few minor alterations (add grated zucchini and enchilada sauce) when I realised my pantry was bare of Taco seasoning! The horror! Seriously, I usually have at least 4 packets of this stuff floating around. I was ready to give up but then remembered the chicken had to be cooked and I didn't want to be wasteful.
Light bulb moment... why not mill my own Taco seasoning in the TMX? I googled blends, found one that I had the herbs and spices for and literally 30 seconds later, was back on track with my own Taco seasoning.
Seriously, how good is that!?

Lately I've whipped up the Egg & Bacon Pie from the 4 Blades magazine Budget Issue. Super easy, my only tweak is to whisk and combine the eggs with a little milk and seasoning before pouring it over the bacon ... I throw in some extra cheese too ;)
Its a quick tasty dinner or an easy lunch (served hot or cold as the weather warms) as we almost always have the ingredients on hand - even the day before grocery day.

Individual lasagnes have also been a big hit. I use a basic bolognaise recipe from the EDC with beef mince and lots of veg in the base, fresh pasta sheets and a dash of ricotta on top. S loves them cold for lunch at work and the boys scoff them for dinner. They're pretty fuss free to make although don't do what I did and try and form the uncooked pasta sheets ... they tear and break.!  If I read the recipe properly instead of skipping ahead, I would have realised they need blanching first.


And my favourite find recently was again from the 4 Blades magazine, the Asian Noodle Cakes with Bok Choy. Such a simple use of 2 minute noodles and tasty enough for the whole family. Also another perfect meal for Summer weather and packed cold in lunchboxes (if they last that long). They also freeze quite well so I keep a batch in the freezer for weeknight dinners and kindy lunches when I haven't got fresh bread on hand.

Do you have a Thermie (or a Bellini)? What are your go to recipes?

With the cold upon us, its time for warm comfort foods and easy options as its dark so much earlier in Winter and we all can't wait to snuggle in our nice warm beds - okay that's just me wanting early nights, the boys would be happy to play until they drop.

I am still thermo-mixing and loving my machine possibly even more than I used to. So much so I convinced my boss to buy one (and I've only been back at work a week) and my amazingly talented in the kitchen aunt when she visited for a weekend last month ... yep, I'm that persuasive when I love something.


Our favourite recipes on rotation at the moment come from my favourite Thermo-mixer, TRTLMT (The Road to Loving My Thermo-mixer). Peta has some of the most seriously amazing yet seriously easy recipes for our whole family and I use her list almost daily.

I intended to start a monthly bucket list back when I started maternity leave but somehow just never got around to it so here goes now...

I have officially discovered one of the easiest Thermomix dinners to prepare during 'arsenic' hour with a screeching overtired toddler at your feet and a cranky baby strapped to you in the baby bjorn!

Honey soy sesame chicken ... and yes, it is delicious! So much so that even the toddler ate a few mouthfuls - which is a huge win here if you have been following along for a while and know about E's hunger strike.

You literally throw in a garlic clove and piece of ginger, blitz.
Add some olive oil & sauté for 2 minutes.
Add chicken and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Toss in soy sauce, honey, cornflour and water and cook for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve with rice  and some greens - microwave of course (or a pre-cooked sachet) and you're done. Even the husband was impressed to walk in to dinner on the table and praised me for the effort... I may have omitted the ease of the recipe to him.

I also managed to whip up a batch of fresh baked roasted almond and choc chip cookies during nap time (yes, my one saving grace for my sanity is I can usually get both boys down to sleep at the same time) and sensibly gave half of them to my dad to enjoy and popped half the dough in the freezer for those days when the cupboard is bare and someone pops in.



Any other recipes this easy that other Thermomixers can share with me?

FYI - I did not leave the boys napping together like that, I put C in his bassinet after the photo.

So I've been slow to update on the Thermomix but after a couple of weeks/months, I am even more in love with my TMX ... and so is S!

I've noticed a grocery saving of around $50 a fortnight (we've always had a pretty low bill thanks to meal planning) but more importantly, a massive cut in wastage of fresh produce and a much healthier diet overall with less tinned/packaged food and more whole ingredients. I have to say, we are loving the one pot clean up too!

And it's set to get even better before the week is over.

So I've officially been on maternity leave for a week and a half now. I've enjoyed a lovely Easter break with family, observed Anzac Day complete with attending a dawn service with my dad and of course all the fun parts of being a stay at home mummy including rhyme time at the local library, swimming lessons, milkshake dates and baking.

So to be entirely truthful, I was still not one hundred percent sold on the Thermie when it arrived - worrying given the cost but my mum was so enthusiastic on hers that I figured I'd fall in love eventually. Fast forward a few days and I am head over heels! Everyone needs to have a Thermomix now in my mind.

So when your Thermomix arrives, the consultant delivers it to your home, does a little run through of assembling and washing the machine, flicking through the manual and cookbooks and then gets you started by assisting to make a vegetable stock paste from scratch. Can I say, what a breeze it is to make stock! Roughly chop a heap of ingredients, toss it in and 20 mins later, fresh homemade stock paste.

Sunday was my day to really 'attack' the Thermomix as we made it to the markets in the morning to stock up on fresh produce and then the supermarket. My mum had already made us cheesymite scrolls in her TMX previously and we were all a fan so I thought fresh hot scrolls would make E and I a yummy lunch. They took all of ten minutes to prep (not including dough rising time obviously) from tossing the flour in the TMX to sliding them into the oven with relatively little mess or fuss. Hot out of the oven, E finished a whole one with gusto and I scoffed at least two... maybe three. Buoyed by the ease of preparing a tasty lunch for E and I in record time with no unknown extras, I was looking forward to dinner!

I had decided we would try the creamy tomato and salami fettucine from the Basics cookbook for S and I. We unexpectedly had my niece for a few hours in the afternoon so E went down late and it was 8pm before we were ready to get started on our dinner ... this would be a true test of the TMX value in our eyes - could it provide a healthy dinner quickly and with minimal cleanup. We took our time working through the steps, double checking instructions etc and threw in a few extra's but within 30 minutes we were sitting down to a restaurant quality pasta and both 100 percent sold on the investment.

S has started enjoying cooking but likes to follow a recipe to the tee and is very precise with his measuring, chopping etc which of course takes time and creates a lot of mess. I'm a little more haphazard with quantities etc born from years of cooking and experimenting. Both of us loved that the TMX weighed each ingredient as required, cooked it all in one pan (instead of having frypans, saucepans, knives and boards to clean), timed and stirred it and beeped when ready. It was as good as eating at a restaurant and S told me he was so happy we bought a TMX!

Feeling confident after watching me prep dinner, S got up early this morning and made us some CADA - a fresh muesli of coconut, almonds, dates and apples in the Basic cookbook. He added some greek yoghurt and fresh mango to serve and told me he couldn't believe it only took him 4 seconds to chop the ingredients for a breakfast he would pay over $10 for in a cafe.

I'm looking forward to trying out a few other recipes this week and so our menu looks like this:

Mon
Chicken cashew nut with steamed veg and a soy ginger sauce all prepared in the TMX

Tues
Balsamic steaks on the BBQ with a side of Mediterranean quinoa salad prepared in the TMX

Wed
Chicken and veggie sausage rolls - filling chopped and combined in TMX

Thurs 
Beef stroganoff on mash all done in TMX (including unpeeled potatoes mashed to a creamy texture that disguises the skin!!)

Fri
Home made pizzas with dough made and veggies/toppings chopped in TMX

I will also make up some apricot balls and mini quiche mix for baking one night this week in the TMX to cover E's lunches and snacks.


So, while I've always had a healthy approach to E's diet and at the very least, a balanced one to S and my diet,  I've never been one to read labels every time or rigidly monitor additives etc. but knowing that I can prepare fresh food quickly for my family that is wholesome and healthy definitely makes me happy. I can also see how valuable the TMX is going to be for time saving once B2 arrives as in those early days with E, and even now, there are nights we have toasted sandwiches at 9:30pm because we are both exhausted and can't be bothered prepping anything else.

I would love to hear some of your favourite Thermomix recipes to try.

It's our third wedding anniversary today and in true romantic style, S has gone above and beyond with a gift to commemorate it.... He agreed to the purchase of a Thermomix! I know, it doesn't get much better than that and to say I'm excited is an understatement. Enough to make up for the fact that I'm home watching The Block with a sleeping E while he is playing soccer. That said, we did have a night out earlier in the week to make up for it.

So If we were following gift guides, it should have been leather on the traditional list (hmmmm could have been interesting) and glass, crystal or pearls on the modern. I wouldn't say no to a strand of pearls but hey, a thermie will end up being a heck of a lot more useful and particularly with B2 joining us soon.