Gift Ideas for the Thermo-Chick

I may have mentioned some of this information before, but there are some updates...

Greek yoghurt... I buy it mostly in buckets the Jalna brand has no “weird” ingredients... just milk, cream and bacteria... I found this site a few days ago

 http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2010/10051/thermomix-gourmet-kitchen-gifts.html

Really the main reason I do not make my own yoghurt much is the straining. It takes up so much room in the fridge. I love that this strainer is a taller and narrower which would take up less shelf space. I use Greek style yoghurt and sometimes labneh (which is strained Greek yoghurt or Lebanese yoghurt-cheese) instead of sour cream... and its healthier, add some honey or maple syrup and its nice with fruit for breakfast, love it in juice shakes, pancakes and guacamole the list is endless.

Unsalted tomato paste... I used to buy it in the plastic but that's not so healthy and glass is so much more useful. To stop the green taking over... a trick I learnt when I was a nanny is to add some extra-virgin olive oil to the TP close the lid and roll it around so that the TP is covered...that seals makes a barrier so the air cannot get in. If the EVOO is runny, re-use it; if its hard pop it in to whatever you are making for the oil part.

Tomato passata... this recently replaced canned tomatoes in my kitchen. Glass is so much easier to re-purpose than tin and re-purpose is more earth friendly than recycling. In the past I have even used these lovely shaped glass bottles as vases to gift flowers in, with a little ribbon to cover the top.

Red and white wine... what can I say it gives the meat dishes depth.

Rice... sweet, savoury breakfast, lunch or dinner, grind it to a flour love it.

Block cheese... wizz it in the TM and you have grated cheese. The block seems to keep better in the fridge though and is a bit cheaper when you buy it in the 1kg blocks.

Parmigiana cheese... not the powder, the fresh stuff. Keeps very well in the freezer.

Italian herbs, Tuscan seasoning, veggie stock, Mexican Chilli, smoky paprika.

Powdered milk, so handy. When making things like custard and béchamel sauce... most people really can't tell the difference so if you are trying to keep your fresh milk for coffee and breakfast... this is a clever substitute.

Pink silicone spatulas... very cheap from spotlight and so useful.

I still have a grater, because sometimes I forget to grate the cheese before I cook in the TM. It makes me appreciate the times I can just wizz it up.

And a gadget I would absolutely love is a zoodle maker. Not the fancy one on this site, just one that looks like a peeler. The oil does not interest me either but how cool are these... http://thermomix.superkitchenmachine.com/collections/all/products/thermomix-cleaning-brush sometimes it is a lot of work to clean the blades. Don't know that I need 40 of these though, but they look very handy.

JUDIE