Quality MyCook thermalcooker... for a bargain in February

Are you tossing up about buying a thermal-cooker? The decisions between the quality you prefer and what your wallet can survive are huge. For some lucky customers, quality has never been more affordable. 

This beautiful machine has quite a following in France and Spain. Designed in France; manufactured in Spain, this little beauty is the reason that other Thermo-machines did not enjoy quite the same success in Spain that they have in other countries.

You may be sick of hearing me say it but I love my MyCook. If you are planning to buy a quality thermal cooker, with a powerful motor, high quality stainless steel, one button knead function and more... now could be the time to buy. For the month of February, a MyCook Premium could be yours for under 1K if you go here to te OzCook website.

I am not denying that there are other quality thermal cookers out there, and sometimes it can feel like its a "my cooker is better than your cooker" type world. 

Having a thermo-mixer keeps my sane on my gluten-free lifestyle. It means that I can enjoy fantastic food without the gluten or reactions my body has to eating glutenous food.  It is that simple.

Pros

• No reverse... that does not sound like a pro I hear you say. I didn't think so myself, at first. However the softest speed actually goes so soft that I have not missed a reverse function (even making creamy risotto and corn relish). In fact mince sauce stays nice (not over-fine) without having to cook it in the rice basket (which is stainless steel, not plastic).
• When chopping herbs; the shape of the jug (jar) ensures that the herbs stay closer to the blades. Which is perfect for making dips
• It can mill 500g of rice in one go
• It goes up to 120c and a one-touch sauté button that chops the onions and garlic as it cooks them at the temperature you determine. 
• One touch knead button
• One touch turbo/pusle button
• Well designed lid that ensures that less splash-backs and spitting from food
• In-built safety features such as lid can only be removed and put on when jar is in unlocked position, warm/hot food can only be cooked at speed 5 or below, to purée, press the turbo button while on sp 5 - perfect
• Inbuilt scales
• No electronic parts on the jar, safer in the dishwasher
• Fantastic easy-to-use recipe book with lots of great recipes
• Stainless steel steamer (tray and lid are plastic) which grips the jar for safety
• Induction heating cooks food faster
• Helpful facebook community here called Mycook Groupies.

Cons

• There really are not that many; Scales go up in 10g increments, however I was surprised to note that this has not really made any difference to the outcome of my cooking. For times that really precise measures as with my TM, I always use a kitchen scale, otherwise volume measures are handy such as Metric Cups, Tablespoons and Teaspoons etc. 
• Temperature measures the heat of the element rather than the heat of the food, so for rare recipes (such as yoghurt) when food temp is required, a food thermometer is handy 
• Not suited to raw-food preparation, if that is how you eat, as the minimum temperature is 40c not 37c

Happy shopping, no matter which machine you drool after and which one ends up in your kitchen all are welcome and will continue to be welcome on this blog site and in my facebook group Thermo-Science and Mixin-Fun here.

Aunty Thels Df Gf Ef pastry.

I am so thankful for my BFFs Aunty Thel: the clever lady who made a recipe for biscuit pastry and her lovely family who allowed me to share her recipe. This pastry has changed my life. Today we found that not only can this recipe be made gf and df but also egg free to  this makes a huge difference for parents trying to make lunches for kids with allergies (their own and classmates). If you don't put meat sauce inside the pie it's also perfect for vegans too

Gf Df Ef Aunty Thels Biscuit pastry.

2 *chia eggs* (2x 1 tbs chia seed, 1/4 cup boiling water, stir and leave to sit til cool)

2-3 tbs coconut oil

1 cup gf self raising flour

1/4 cup corn flour

Measure flours and oil into MyCook jar

Mix 5 seconds sp 5 till combined

Add 1.5 chia eggs and press knead button (This dough did not come together the way an egg type does but when you take 2-3 small dough balls, they squish together it's ready allow dough to rest)

Half hour in fridge is good.

Roll dough out.

Cut to size pop in pie maker add filling and lid.

Cook.

You can use any thermo-cooker to make this pastry, or even a food processor. I have chosen the MyCook terminology as it is a little less confusing... Jar is called TM bowl or jug in Thermomix world).

** Results

Dough was easy to roll, a tiny bit chewier than the egg kind but still delish.It dod not brown as the butter and egg type. If doing again and not feeling so lazy in the morning; I would grind the seeds before adding hot water.

*** Fridge dough was made into pies on day 3. Both doughs were a little stiff, but chia dough stiffer. I added some water and worked the dough and it rolled very well. Each dough gave me 1.5 more pies and a small biscuit. I used the base of the chia and lid of the egg dough to make the 3rd pie.

What to do if you have too any pies... You can keep in the fridge for as long as the meat will allow ie if you have fresh meat 3 days, if you are using 3 day old meat obviously it will not last in the fridge. The pies also freeze well too. I have microwaved pies and eaten them cold. You can also reheat them in your pie maker (if that's what you cooked it in). I would also venture to say that they can be warmed in the oven as you would a store-bought frozen pie. 

Meat sauce - MyCook method

4-5 steaks, cubed (stewing meat)

1-2 onions (can use 1 onion and add onion flakes

2-3 carrots

1 zucchini

2 MB's wine (200g)

1 MB water (It was slightly too much liquid so it may pay to add 50g water instead of 100g or less wine)

heaped tbs corn flour (I would add more next time, 1.5-2tbs heaped)

heaped tsp gf *vegemite* (whatever passes for vegemite at your place)

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

pinch salt and pepper to taste

good shake of paprika

Dash of olive oil

Handful fresh basil

Grate zucchini and basil, remove from jar.

Wash out.

Add oil, set timer for 1 minute 120c, Sauté

Add onion 5 mins, 120c, sauté

at 4 min mark add carrots, 1 min mark add vege stock paste.

Add cubed stewing meat, cook 120c 10 mins sp 1.

Add rest of ingredients cook 100c 60 mins; MB on.

When done check if meat is tender if yes give it 10 mins MB off and allow to reduce. If not do this step with MB on until soft then reduce sauce.

  

Meat sauce - GSM/TM type machine method

Grate zucchini and basil, remove from jug.

Wash out.

Chop onions and carrot, sp 5 few seconds. You want them chopped but not mushy 

Add oil, set timer for 1 minute 120c/Varoma/Steam

 at 1 min mark add vege stock paste.

Add cubed stewing meat, cook 120c/Steam/Varoma 10 mins sp 1/soft...  use blade cover, blunt blades or reverse if available.

Add rest of ingredients cook 100c 60 mins; MC on.

When done check if meat is tender if yes give it 10 mins MC off and allow to reduce. If not do this step with MC on until soft then reduce sauce.

Mini pie method

Find a big glass and a smaller one. The big glass should be about 8.5-9cm in diameter and a nutino glass is perfect for the smaller. It should fit snuggly into the top of your muffin tray.

Roll dough out, use large glass to cut the dough into pie bases

Place pie bases into muffin trays

Add about 2 tbs of pie meat

Carefully pick up smaller dough disk. Run some water around the edge with your finger to help it stick to the base. Add lid.

Cook in moderate oven 10-15 mins

** small pieces of chopped apple are also nice in small pies. If you use pink lady apples no extra sugar is needed. For extra flavour try a little allspice, cinnamon,or Chinese 5 spice.

   

Cooking with MyCook and Kids

Pie News

First some bad news my estimates completely out as I measured out the mince sauce with a 1/3 cup but the recommended size is 1/2 cup. This resulted in a rather disappointing set of pies with overcooked bases and undercooked lids.

My neice was visiting over-night and I was keen to divert her from the devices today... the easiest way I have found to do this is to offer cooking... so we made more pastry and made some more pies today and added peas (not mushy) and stirred them through the mince before cooking.Everyone was happy except mr Fussy (who does not like peas in his pies).

Gluten Free Bread (Egg and Dairy free too)

We decided to make pies and Gluten Free bread... a new recipe I found here. You do not need a thermo-machine for this recipe. A mix master should work or even mix by hand. I love it, if I didn't prefer whole meal for health, this would be my go-to bread. Basically I needed fresh bread crumbs and thought that if it didn't taste nice it would be an easy way to get some... fyi if wondering, yoghurt bread works out more expensive and goes funny in the freezer. 

Me being well me... I made a few changes...

Orgran for Freefrom gluten flour (I measured 500g)
Oven for slow cookers
Thermomix for MyCook

TBH I was concerned that the lowest setting for MyCook was 40c and I wondered if it was too high. However when browsing actual MC yeast recipes I found that 40c was recommended so I proceeded.

I was surprised that there was no sugar included in the recipe but the yeast did its thing quite well.  Miss J commented that the mixture looked like chocolate chip ice-cream... She was not so impressed with the taste raw, but enjoyed it warm with butter and mighty-mite.

After a quick safety lesson, Miss J was also proficient in using the MyCook lid and found no difficulty getting it on or off.

The bread was lovely and moist with a soft crust. It did not brown as the artisan bread does, but straight out of the oven it was delish. This bread was as easy to make as the "easy bakers" bread from a packet but is nowhere near as salty.

Judie

Australia Day Food... Meat Pies

Meat pies, what can I say... they are yummy and they are Aussie, but if you a gluten free they are frozen, expensive, hard to find and/or disappointing. The really great pies are usually found in small country bakeries... I have fond memories of Bernies (in Rocky), Gracemere, Emu Park, Yeppoon and Mt Morgan (in that order) pies with mushy peas and several flavours to choose from. The decisions - this pie has the better filling; but the base on that one is divine... its all part of the pie-eating culture the ranking of personal favourites then discussing it with your mates... Upon reflection; BP had a nice gourmet pie and so did the chain of bakeries - in Shopping Fair (who calls it Stockland???) and Allenstown plaza. Bakers Delight is on the tip of my tongue but its the other one.

The secret to getting someone to pay $4 - $6 for a pie when they could just get a pack of them for $6 - $8 is making it unique, something they could not make at home, and leaves the eater thinking... I want another one. I cannot say that I am there yet with my pies but they are better than frozen and some gluten-eater bakery pies I have tasted and certainly better than the majority of frozen GF pies I have eaten. Moreover they are much more cost effective, can be eaten cold and are easy to make. 

I have shared with you Aunty Thel's biscuit pastry recipe, on this blog and here but did you know that if you remove the sugar it makes an awesome savoury crust. 

Each brand of GF flour is slightly different. If dough is too sticky just add more flour when rolling it out. If it is too dry add a little water.

• 160 grams Self Raising Flour, I use Gluten Free (1 Cup)
• 60 grams Butter
• 1 egg + a spare yolk or white (whichever you prefer parting with)... if making a double batch just use 3 eggs.
• Corn Flour, (1/4 cup)

MyCook method (works for TB1 type machine too)

Put dry ingredients into the MyCook jar, close lid

Press turbo for 2 seconds to sieve the dry ingredients.

Weigh in the butter- 60g = 3 tbs, use speed 5, 5-10 seconds until mix looks like breadcrumbs

Add egg, turn dial to closed lid position, press the knead button (Looks like a dough roller)

If making a double batch wizz on sp 5 for 20 seconds first. 

Dough is ready when it looks like a ball of playdough, if it has trouble coming together pop some water in half an egg shell and tip in.  

If it is too sticky just add a little more flour when rolling dough out for cooking. 

GSM method (TM, TC etc)

Put dry ingredients into the jug, close lid

Press pulse for 2 seconds to sieve the dry ingredients.

Weigh in the butter- 60g = 3 tbs, use speed 5, 5-10 seconds until mix looks like breadcrumbs

Add egg

Wizz on speed 6, 10 seconds then speed 1 for 1 - 2 mins. (If using a machine that has a knead button press it and knead till its done)

Dough is ready when it looks like a ball of playdough, if it has trouble coming together pop some water in half an egg shell and tip in.  

If it is too sticky just add a little more flour when rolling dough out for cooking.

 

Meat Sauce (MyCook)

Heat oil in MyCook jar for 1 minute 120c on Sauté 

Add onion (quartered) some pepper, paprika and any seasoning you like... I added onion flakes as my onion was a little small. 5 mins, sauté 

** if adding Tomatoes or Carrots you will want to add them here**

Towards the end of the 5 mins, add a tbs Veggie stock paste

Set timer for 10 mins sp 1 - 2 (If using a TB1 type machine, add bade cover here)

While blades are moving add mince in large chunks through the beaker hole in lid. Then add 1 tbs corn flour and another of tomato paste; 1 measuring beaker each full of water and wine, a very heaped tsp of whatever passes for Vegemite in your house, any veggies you want to add.

Keep an eye on the mince. When it is cooked turn it off and pop into a casserole dish/thermal dish 

Meat Sauce (GSM, TM, TC etc)

Chop onion sp 7 add oil to jug for 5 minutes, sp 1, ST, Varoma etc (higher than 100c) to Sauté 

** if adding Carrots you will want to add them here, "grated" with onions** 

Add some pepper, paprika and any seasoning you like... I added onion flakes as my onion was a little small. 5 mins, sauté 

** if adding Tomatoes you will want to add them here**

Towards the end of the 5 mins, add a tbs Veggie stock paste

Set timer for 10 mins sp 1 - 2 / spoon + reverse (If using sharp blade swap to blunt)

While blades are moving add mince in large chunks through the beaker hole in lid. Then add 1 tbs corn flour, and another of tomato paste, 1 measuring cup (100mL) each full of water and wine, a very heaped tsp of whatever passes for Vegemite in your house, any veggies you want to add.

Keep an eye on the mince. When it is cooked turn it off and pop into a casserole dish/thermal dish

I have not tried this yet but it may work to steam the meat in the rice basket with some salt and the wine and add to veggies in the last minute of cooking.

Pie Peas

Honey does not agree, but what is more awesomely

Queenslander than peas in your pie... Add some frozen peas and water to your jar (we like McCains), cook 

If peas are cooked but not mushy pulse your turbo button for 1 - 2 seconds. Repeat if needed... Making your own mushy peas helps to avoid the additive tartrazine in your children's food.

 Judiet

  

Mayo Madness

I have probably mentioned before that I hosted my besties first ever Thermomix demonstration. She asked me if I could get a few friends together, supply a few ingredients and eat some yummy food so that she could practise on us. Out of that party, my friend sold one TM31 that night, another person at the party had bought a TM from her within 3 months and at the party of the first buyer yet another TM was sold. 

I will never forget how her confidence as a person soared becoming a demonstrator... and I will never forget one line "Thermomix consultants make their own mayonnaise"... I don't know how many times it took my bestie to get it right but here is what it looked like for me.

The first time I tried making mayo was with a TM31 and the Everyday Cookery book recipe (the original, I am not sure if it was updated in the newer book). Dismal fail. The 2nd time was with the 4 Blades magazine recipe using the Kogan TB1. Perhaps it was because it required a 37c but the Kogan goes has a 40c setting. I was tired of wasting precious ingredients and gave up entirely.   

This is a thing I had struggled with. I didn't like consuming all the "nasties" and finding a good brand that used free range eggs, no gluten and a decent enough oil was a nightmare. I found a supermarket brand we liked, and then it was discontinued. I played with a few organinc ones and we did like the S&W brand and Macro... but they just were not quite the same.

It was time to face the mayo dragon again. I decided that if it did not work this time, I was getting a stick blender... I saw this exciting method of making fool proof mayo a while back here.

So this is the recipe I tired first. I cannot thank this blogger (Rachel) enough because her demonstration of the MyCook recipe led to the first mayo that ever worked for me.  

If you have to buy eggs or your chooks are lazy/broody or you can get oil for a mad discount etc this is a good recipe. It is a little oily compared to bought brands but you can definitely play with it, and the potato salad I made with it was awesome. If I made it again I would add French mustard and herbs at the beginning. 

Last night we tried this recipe Honey liked it a lot better. The website photo does not do it justice. We added 1 tbs French mustard  at the beginning. I plan to experiment with some sugars and acids soon to get it just right for us.

The dregs of mayo left in the jar were used to make a yummy coleslaw. The next night I persevered with the silicone spatula. Most of the first batch went to making Potato salad. The rest (along with some of the 2nd batch) went to making pasta salad. 

We use the EDC coleslaw recipe but I never bother measuring anything...

Mr Fussy's clone of Mrs Crockets pasta salad

Mayo

1/4 onion

1 capsicum (use red for authenticity but what ever is cheaper works for taste)

Pasta

200g Cheese (use less if you want the sauce "runny" like Mrs Cs)

2 small carrots or 1 large

Optional Frozen corn

Boil some water and add some salt, olive oil and half a pk of good quality pasta... I used San Remo spirals (about 250g). 

When done strain and flush with cold water... allow to cool (if your family like corn, now is a good time to sir through some frozen corn) and grab your fave machine... 

Grate 1/4 smallish to medium onion, 2 skinny carrots or a large (peeled) and a capsicum. 

Wash out jar (if you are like me and had no grated cheese) Grate a 1kg pk of cheese save about 200g and pop the rest in the fridge for next time. 

Grab pasta, check that it has cooled. 

Add veggies and stir

Stir through most of a jar of mayo (if using a cheep one go half/half with some cream or sour cream) 

stir though cheese then add the last dreggs of mayo and give one final stir through.

I have been advised that a gluten Free version of this could be made with Barilla but I have not attempted it yet.   

Mr Fussy's Potato Salad

1.5-2kg Potatoes, peeled

Handful *eschallots

Bottle of Mayo

Salt and Pepper

 

Bite size potatoes boiled in water with a pinch of salt.

Wizz some eschallots add to potatoes and sir through.

Season with a little salt and pepper

Confession: I need spice jars - the big ones; so I am using Masterfoods Chives lately instead of eschallots. Buying chives is one of the cheapest ways to get the spice jars... cheaper is if someone gives them to you or you can get them from Vinnies.

Judie

I love all things European... MyCook Premium and Linux - a closer look

Linux vs Windows

This year I decided to see what life would be like if I went Microsoft free at home... and mostly I have not looked back. Blogging however; has been a different story. I used to write my blogs from Windows live writer and there does not yet appear to be a comparable Linux blog writer... so apologies for the long delay between blogs. I'm backstage of blogger atm trying the "blog-thing online". If you like to stay up-to-the-minute please feel free to join my facebook group here. I write micro-blogs at least weekly, which are much easier to do from a tablet or phone.

Honey is still plugging away on his Win 7 (now 10) that keeps crashing, and complaining on each month around "Patch Tuesday" when his computer gets hijacked and forced to restart. For TAFE purposes I used open Suse, that was ok... but since finishing my course I have played with Fedora and smelled the fresh breath of Linux Mint and have had no regrets. It annoys me the way MS seems to permeate the Queensland education system... offering cheap licences to get people "hooked" and biting them with huge fees later.

Since first writing this post I have found that I can quite easily blog from the blogger dashboard and adding pictures is actually easier this way; however tagging them and cropping is slightly harder. Hence it hasn't been done since I stopped blogging with Microsoft. I can access this from my tablet and have written some blogs in a comfy horizontal position, and made minor changes later with my computer.

I love my MyCook

Now for some news... we have a new addition to the Rutterbugs thermo-machine family... Introducing the MyCook Premium or as I like to call her Mykah.I bought y myCook Premium from contacting the Australian distributors here.

It started a few months back when I saw this. Then this article too.It made me mad, that once again we were being blindly guided towards just one particular machine without really being told of the other fantastic alternatives there are in the world. I wanted people to know that they had options, and the best way to learn about a machine is to play with it.

The MyCook Premium lid could not be that difficult to remove, I reasoned and that was the only look in that viewers received about the Spanish machine. It had great reviews on YouTube. One chef in particular saying that young staff members were using it with ease. So I wanted to see if I could find out for myself if the MyCook Premium was comparable to my other "kids".

I am very glad I took a closer look as she has been a wonderful addition to our home.

First thoughts:

I remember thinking to myself straight away that I did not now think that either the ThermoChef or the Thermoblend 1 were modelled on entirely the TM. The TB1 jug, blades and mixing paddle or aka "butterfly" were very similar in shape. The lids both have "waves" on the top that are fantastic for keeping "spitting" to a minimum. The plastic and stainless steal of the MyCook Premium having a feel of quality, heavier and sturdier. Like the TC she was dark grey with pretty lights and most importantly the steaming baskets were stainless steal.

Lid

I have not found it any more difficult to remove or put on than any of my other machines. My sister who is a lefty really liked how it was not "right-centric" as some of the cheaper machines of mine she had used were. As I said above the waves help keep splatter to a minimum and are easily cleaned with a brush.

Beaker

You may know it as (Measuring cup, MC)... cute, stable (once again clear and easy to "overlook" when trying to find it in a hurry *wonders* can we get it in pink for Breast Cancer month? Handy to know... TM31 and TB1 measuring cups fit too... In case you are thinking of upgrading from TB1 (or believe having 2/+ machines helps run an efficient kitchen).

Jar

(aka Jug, bowl). Actually the same capacity as TM31, Bellini, Mistral and TBs 1 and 2. The base is a little more narrow and taller, though it is seated about 10cm into the machine so size is deceptive. I love that it has a plastic clip on the base (unlike TB1) which means that I can pop it into the fridge to cool when making French Onion dip, and saves my fingers from accidentally touching the hot base. I hae even seen it popped straight into an ice bath to cool while making yoghurt.

The narrower base makes it great for cutting herbs as they stay mostly at the bottom of the jar.

Recipe books

The MyCook recipe book has a list of gourmet meals very popular in Europe. The recipes are well set out, easy to follow on glossy paper which wipes clean.  I have tried a few recipes such as Spaghetti bol and churros (also available here) which is the recipe book for the older model MyCook professional. So far from the new book

I have tried 2 lots of dough and I intend to try more recipes from the included book once our family favourites are tried and tested.

 

Speeds 

I was sceptical but found it to be true that the slow speed is so soft that a reverse function or blunt blade is not necessary. In fact the slow speed is so soft it makes perfect spaghetti bol sauce without needing to cook the mince in the steamer and add at the last part of the cooking.  

I recently made corn relish with the intention of making corn relish dip for a work function. I used a Recipe Community recipe and noticed in the comments that the other mixers had shredded the corn slightly however, the corn was perfectly intact with Mykah's efforts.

knead function apparently has a method of "working the gluten" by "tossing" it with each spin, as I don't eat gluten I didn't really need it to bother, but found the one touch button handy for making pie and pasta dough.

Dishwasher

I love that everything except the blades are dishwasher safe... there is no *good* place for the blades in the dishwasher anyway. I find that they are easily cleaned with some water a toothbrush and dish-washing liquid. I love that there seem to be no places for the dish-washer water to *remain* and spill on your dry goods when unpacking the way my cheaper jugs and even TM bowl does. I love that there are no electrical bits on the bottom needing to be carefully dried before replacing back into the machine.

Functions

The sauté function is a fantastic touch, I find that I often use it in conjunction with my multi-cooker. It chops and sautés at the same time and being able to reach a hotter temperature gets the onions tasting just a little nicer.

Induction heating means that food cooks slightly faster and more efficiently.

You can set the timer for longer than 1 hour. Very handy for "stewing" meats saving some money and getting a great tasting product. I used cheaper cut meat to make stroganoff and curries cooking it for longer with great results.

Drawbacks

There is always a few with anything. There is no "fast" way to get to a minute (like pressing the - button first as with the Mistral and TM), but holding the + button more firmly makes digits spin over faster.

Burn marks; if you are using a TM recipe and forget to back the cooking-time off a bit (as I did) there was a nasty burn mark. However, I covered the mark with water adding 3 tbs bicarb soda, 5 mins 120c sp 4 and it came of very easily.

The temperature is what the machine is set to not what the food is at. If cooking something like cheese or yoghurt, a kitchen thermometer is handy (I needed one for my TB1, so this was not a problem for me).

There is no quick way to *wake up* a sleeping MyCook, it must be switched off then on again. But I like that it saves me some power in sleep mode. 

The whole *difficult lid* controversy

All I can say about that, is that it has never been a problem for me or the other MyCook owners that I have met online. Click on and off while in the unlocked position and it works every time... steamer and lid. I have cooked with kids (my neice and nephew, 10 and 11) who worked the lid with ease and also mentioned that they found it less tricky to work than their Mum's TM (they are Pro's at cooking rice).

Overall

I have lent each and every one of my thermo-appliances except my MyCook. I did so because I believed at the time that could live without them... and I did not miss them while they were gone... The same cannot be said for the MyCook. I use it almost every day and often multiple times in a day. It has features that I use often like a knead button, sauté function and can go up to 120c and I love that I can pop it in the dishwasher, go do other jobs and be ready to cook again in 30 mins without having to dry the jar. 

Pritikin Survivor

As a child of the 80s who grew up in a conservative protestant home I was scared of many things… ACDC, Dungeons and Dragons, Madonna (and more)… I laugh now, but nearly as frightening as the devil and “his music” was the cholesterol injected food that tasted so good such as white flour, rice and bread (not a fan of the taste and empty calories these days) and the Ohhhh so evil butter, egg yolk and cheese (unless it was the revolting stuff like fat-free cottage). It was maybe 2ish years that we lived on that food, but it felt like forever. To this day; I hate diets and all the fat I lose tends to find me again and bring its friends that is why I am a huge fan of lifestyle changes and making healthier eating and exercise choices fun. Yes we had the Pritikin diet shoved down our throats and lived to tell the story, but in my 20s I had a lot of “unlearning” to do.

I’m not really angry at my parents, they were worried about the junk we ate and Dad needed support when he had to lower his cholesterol so the whole family had to partake of the diet restrictions. Some of the food was not that bad, but we were certainly the weird family in our circles- and that was not a good feeling when all you want to do was blend, in my 30s I don’t mind being outstanding and I look at music a lot differently to the way I did when I was a child.

GF Focaccia

Herbs

I tried the herbs and cheese focaccia bread this week which I took to a party. It was very well received. I made a quarter of my artisan dough into small dough balls and sprinkled herbs and cheese on top. For next time, I will knead some herbs into the bread first, to give it a little more flavour.

Bacon and Cheese

I wizzed some frozen chunks of shortcut bacon in the TB1, 2x Turbo for 2-3 seconds. Scraped some tomato paste onto the dough (1/4 divided into 6 ball shapes)  then dipped each dough ball into the bacon pieces carefully placing them into the slow cooker and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

Dairy free custard

I made some DF custard this week and tried it out on some friends who agreed to be guinea pigs, it was a hit, though I added a little too much GF corn flour so it was a bit thick. As you can see by my picture; I still think Passata jars are excellent for storage, but I don’t have much luck getting rid of the macro label.

Recipe 1

500mL coconut milk, 25g Corn flour, 2 egg yolks (I can hear Nathan Pritikin tsking), 20g sugar (or to taste), cocoa pdr or vanilla essence (I made vanilla). 100c, 10 mins, sp 4 or 3 for GSM machine… this was a little too long I noticed it was cooked with about 2-3 mins to go. So you can back off the time a bit. I had very +ive feedback, and my friends were surprised that it was DF… requesting a bounty flavour next time using chocolate flavour.

JuiceBlendz ThermoBlend style

I am not sure how long it takes to blend a juice in the TM31, what I do know is that you can fill the jug with orange halves, wizz it and add coconut milk by drizzling through the space in the lid around the MC… then wizz some cinnamon in and you are done… a crowd pleaser. I can now tell you that it works pretty much the same with the TB1 as with a GSM machine.

Dairy Free(Cheese-less) Pizza… before it was cool 

As you may know, I have been experimenting with some DF along with my GF foods, mostly so I know if I have a DF guest what I could serve that tastes nice. I was thinking about alternatives to dairy this week, my sister went through a vegan phase and bought soy cheese which was very nice (but expensive) and some people are uncomfortable with soy these days. Then I remembered…

I will never to this day forget the look on the youth leader’s daughter’s face when I mentioned at youth group that actually pizza without cheese tastes ok… she looked at me like I was a martian. For some reason the topic came up that pizza without cheese is ‘without’ I am not sure of the context or what we were supposed to learn that day… I learnt that I was weird and not in a good way.

But Mr Pritikin did get something right decades ago that could help people today. I remember Mum telling us that she read that he made a pizza for his kids filled it with heaps of toping held together with egg white (keep the yolk for authenticity in appearance, it’s really not evil food) and they didn’t notice that the cheese is missing (and nor did we).

This would be a problem for your child if they cannot do dairy or egg, but if you are out of nut cheese and lack time to make it, this could work for you.

Judie

Brown Basmati and Amaranth grain

For people who have followed my blogging bread adventures for a while; you may remember that I  liked Amaranth flour as a substitute for sorghum and dreamed of adding brown basmati rice to my bread. A few months ago I purchased a bag of brown basmati rice and was very excited. My dreams were dashed for a while as I cooked some for dinner that night with an Indian curry which was ruined by little woody bits through the rice.

This is not a ratio representation of rice to woody bits, a 2kg (- what I cooked that night) package had about 3x that number of woody bits. The rice has now been milled, is safely in my freezer and in the next few weeks will be turned to bread. There may be different brands of brown Basmati rice available without the woody bits, I think that availability comes and goes. I would love to have had access to BB when I was living back at home for a bit… My parents being diabetic would only eat basmati, I (for health reasons) preferred whole-grains. I had looked everywhere in Rocky Health food stores and Asian store, back then I could have gotten brown Jasmine (which is not available now though how good would that have been in bread?)… I will keep up my search. 

Amaranth flour is available from local health food stores, for around $5-6/500g or the same price for 1kg of grain. I will be testing how well each machine mills the grain in the near future. For some people rice is the more affordable grain, but amaranth being an ancient grain has many health benefits that it can bring to the table.

Thanks Honey for my new ThermoScience banner that links to my Facebook page…

Varomas and Teeny Slow Cookers

You may know that Sand Cake is pretty much my favourite go to recipe. Once I tasted it I decided I was never going back to a packet mix. I always make it Gluten free and have turned it into golden syrup pudding, caramel flavour, cupcakes, lamingtons and strawberry short cake. It is so versatile and this week I turned it Dairy Free chocolate flavour, which I think would also be ok for diabetics too. Served with GF custard, this was a lovely treat.

I had told Honey a while back how delish my mums orange meringue used to be and was delighted when she made some one evening for our relatives that were visiting. Yeek she used fake sugar, it totally did not do the dessert justice. So I wanted a dessert up my sleave for “next time” that also was handy for people who cannot do dairy.

My green grocer ages ago told me about a trick for replacing eggs and fat with apple sauce in cakes and how nice they turn out. I needed to use up egg whites so I just replaced the butter this time, making a 1/2 batch in case it did not work out, so I also wanted to steam them in the varoma so I didn’t have to turn the oven on… To my delight it worked, very well. The batter divided evenly between 2 ramekins and I used the TB1 on 120c for 15 mins. It probably could have gone for a shorter time. If you decide to make this for yourself, please keep an eye on them.




Mini Slow-cooker bread

At last I was able to test my smallest slow cooker (1.5L) with bread baking. It worked rather well, though it did get rather humid on the lid, so the crust was a little moist. This may improve with a tea-towel under the lid which I plan to try in the near future. when the bread cooled however the crust was normal and the slices a lovely shape. If I had not had access to my new GF toaster or the sandwich loaf pan this would have been more of a fantastic thing for me, as the slices were quite well-suited to sandwiches… for GF bread that is. Finding that the yeast bread can be made in the slow cooker without a 2nd rise has taken a lot of the headache out of bread-making for me.  I like that the dough can be left in the fridge until needed for up to a week and popped into the slow cooker. I have also frozen some slices in pairs for the forthcoming crazy weeks ahead with TAFE. Once again recipe here

Larger Slow-Cooker Artisan Bread

Artisan bread is simply a miracle I think and the Healthy Bread in 5 minutes recipe writers are geniuses. I thought I was the first person to cook their bread in my slow cooker… Obviously not after reading this today. Which was very timely as I had already put my bread on for a second rise 60 minutes before finding out that it can go straight into the crock pot. This is beyond handy to know, as the 4x with yeast mix can be made up to a week in advance (it’s better tasting the first few days). Depending on your Slow Cooker  you would then just take out a ball pop it in the machine and have fresh bread 90ish minutes later. You could also have the dough ready for pizza, calzones and focaccia.

I have been asked “Will the artisan bread work in a larger slow cooker?” the answer is yes. I took advantage of the Big W 5.5L for $20.00 deal this week. Honey thinks it was because he wanted Pea and Ham soup cooked with a ham bone… we know it was really bought to check out if it was good for cooking bread. While I was at it, I grabbed a cute little slow cooker to test from Woolworths, also $20. As we speak I have 2 yeast cobs in the slow cooker and earlier this week I did a yeast free loaf, which took closer to 2 hours than the 1.5 in the 5.5L slow cooker, but it got there and the results were just as delish.

I also have cooking away in my camping oven a small tin loaf using yeast this time. I think last time I over-did the water and didn’t put in quite enough this time, the crust is looking a little dry. Worried for nothing, it was perfect.

My multi-cooker also arrived this week. I have only cooked brown rice in it so far (high pressure, ready in 14 mins), my toddler nephew was here this weekend he saw the cooker and asked for rice, so we gave it a go. The “keep warm” function kept the rice at the perfect temperature till dinner time when we made sushi with it. I also saved some rice for the next evening when we had tuna mornay (warming it in the varoma as the sauce cooked).

Good news, our Conversion Chart for making smaller Artisan loaves has been uploaded.

Alternative bread baking part 2

Everything I have made in my Thermomix or any of the clones and blogged about, has now been added to a new category which I created recently called “ThermoMachines”… I had not remembered that I enjoyed the Quirky loaf, but having a bread tin (as opposed to a rectangle cake tin… small one for GF bread) has made a huge difference to my enjoyment of the bread as it fits better in my GF toaster ($8 from wollies and I can keep it as hot as I like without Honey burning his toast or contaminating mine). It has a huge purple nail-polish Gf on each side… So far I have made artisan bread into a loaf 2x, Tania Hubbard’s nut bread (expensive but nice) recipe here, we changed 2 eggs for apple sauce in one lot and 1/2 a mashed banana in another lot… I liked both, Honey preferred apple sauce recipe… and date muffins as a loaf recipe here also switching some ingredients to make a savoury loaf too.

Would you like to know more about our thermo-experiments? Join my ThermoScience and MixinFun group on Facebook for up-to-date information on all the tests we do, you can even make requests… here

I had not realised I made my first ever yeast free dough rise for 40 mins… who has time for that, 10 is pushing the limit these days… time is of the essence and it appears to be a much better loaf. I found another gluten free bogger, here; very interesting information yet I cannot understand the fascination with cutting the top of the loaf before cooking… they all do it; it’s a pain to remember and I think it makes the shape of finished product a bit annoying and have noticed no great benefit to the cuts. The absolute best way I have found to cook an artesian loaf is in the slow cooker (I have a round base which is perfect for the small loaf), does not heat up the kitchen in Summer and saves electricity…

Todays experiment is in response to a query I had regarding school lunches. I can little imagine the frustration as a child with even more limited options for a yummy lunch than it can be for an adult. At least at TAFE, we had sandwich toasters and microwaves available. Pizza is awesome for lunch but finding a good base that is nice cold is a challenge. On holidays there is little to complain about with polenta bases and yoghurt dough fresh from the oven, but the next day when they are cold… can be rather chewy. I grin and bear it, but if I was a school kid missing out I think I would be pretty ticked off (and they wonder why there is a high incidence of depression among the GF population)…

Usually when I make pizza it is with the 5mins/Quirky dough, 1/4 rolled out between 2 sheets of baking paper with oil between, transfer it to the cast-iron skillet which is on a heated element, begin adding topping and cover for about 10 mins then transfer to hot oven… this is delicious, wood-fired would slightly top the experience. But not every one has a cast-iron skillet and I don’t think I have ever attempted pizza with the yeast free bread dough. So tonight 2x quarters are cooking in a loaf tin in the toaster oven, 1x quarter is in the slow cooker and the other quarter is busy in the oven on a normal pizza tray with leftovers from our ridge/freezer… chorizo, chicken, avocado, tomatoes a few herbs and cheese. I will try not to eat it all so I can try a piece tomorrow for lunch.

Straight out of the oven, it was good… we were hungry so I didn’t get a shot first… but it looked like pizza should. Snuffy our fury 5yo took my last piece of pizza when I got up to check on the bread… fortunately I had a small sliver in the fridge for tomorrow.

Bread smells like honey, and is slightly darker than usual but the crust is quite soft to touch and I am looking forward to breakfast in the morning.

Day 2

Once again the bread was perfect the next day, however there is the slight taste of bicarb soda in the bread, so next time I will back it off a bit. For each cup of flour I added to the mixing bowl; 1 tsp of Bicarb soda was added, perhaps that ratio was a little too high;, or perhaps the bread dough needed more time to relax before being popped into the oven.

ThermoMachines… My 2c worth

It seems everyone has an opinion these days about which is the best Thermo-machine and 80% of the time it’s the brand that is sitting on their own kitchen bench. Some people cannot justify the 2k of a TM and others cannot justify the extra landfill from a clone.

To some people considering help in the kitchen; 2k is almost what they paid for their car (both cars I have bought actually), “rego-ish” is more in their price range. Whichever side of the fence you are on I encourage you to research before you buy. 2k is a lot of money to pay for a thing that sits in your kitchen and does nothing, but so is $250 for a clone (when they are on sale).

Some readers may be aware that I own a TM31, a TB1, Bellini 1 and a Mistral (and now a MyCook). They don’t all always live at my house, they often (like children) go to visit my friends. Recently I was accused of being (by Honey) a Thermomix snob, that is because I loved my TM waaaaay more than our first clone (Thermoblend1) the base was smaller and harder to clean, he kept “biting” me- the blades are sharper ( I think they start out ridiculous and go blunter over time, whereas the TM blades are able to be sharpened by grinding ice). He went to visit my bridesmaid, Ebony, and she had no pre-conceived ideas of what a thermo-machine should be. She enjoyed his stay, and like me found making TB1 custard a nightmare too (but it’s fun to drink). Ebony also had a better TB1 sized scrubbing brush, which made cleaning the jug easier. Lending the TB1 actually helped me to enjoy it more when it was returned... I even missed him while he was gone.

I bought the Bellini while Davo (our TB1) was visiting Ebony. The day I dropped him off, Ebb had a friend visiting who was a proud Bellini owner, I had a fantastic chat with her as she was the first Bellini owner I had actually met… and she knew someone with a Mistral. I had researched both machines after popping a comment on a FB group that I am a member of asking if anyone had Bellinis that lasted longer than 6 months. The response was overwhelming. Ebbs friend offered to let me play with her Bellini, and I was excited; then they came on special and I decided I really wanted to try it; so bought it.

Making dinner that night Honey said to me… I thought you would be using your new toy… I was like this is the new toy. The jugs looked so similar. The Bellini (Rebekah) was christened with Quirky's Paprika Chicken… I use boned chicken as it’s cheaper but it takes a little longer. We loved it.

And my Thermomix brush works very well on both machines. If you own a TM or a TB pro, Mistral, Bellini (or probably any Thermo-machine with a wide base) I highly recommend these brushes. They last for ages, soak in bleach and water once a week or pop in the dishwasher. Honey uses my old one for cleaning the pet food cans before they go in the recycling.

I took advantage of the Christmas sales to purchase the Mistral. Mistakenly believing this one person on the thread who told me that her Mistral was far superior to a Bellini (admittedly she was comparing it to the older model what was recalled a while back, the updated model works very well). Really the only differences in the 2 machines is the shape of the base, the shape of the scales and that the Mistral has a sleep mode, which is handy. I’m not too annoyed though about the misinformation having 4 T-Ms (thermo-machines) going to make fudge over Christmas was fun and super handy. Rebekah is visiting my friend in Brisbane for a bit but not before we did some tests with the “kids”. I found that the Recipe Community caramel fudge recipe works just as well in a GSM model as in the TM31. To my disappointment (and the chooks delight) I found that the TB1 needed a different recipe.

While I love my GSM machines I don't think that they are best for milling and kneading if you plan to do a lot of that, you are better off with a Thermoblender type clone or if you can afford it, a more heavy duty machine. If ease of cooking meals that do not come out of a bottle is more your thing than a GSM machine is a fantastic machine that will save you and your family from eating a lot of junk as far as additives goes. 

I think that the MyCook Premium is the best value for money machine that I have tried... Blog here. I recently lent my TM31 and did not miss it at all. Of all my machines the TM31 and the Mistral are the only ones which have broken. I am currently negotiating to get them fixed and will blog what I think of their customer service.

Updates:

Bellini is upgrading their intelli machine, it has caused some mayhem in that People who have multiple jugs want to be able to keep buying Bellinis as they do not fit into Mistral machines. I am sure that in my research, I have read that the Bellini jug fits the Kogan Thermoblend pro machine, which is available from Kogan with a 5 year warranty. We have certainly found that to be very handy for us.

I found this website which is a collection of owners who have given their feedback on what they think of their devices. It is not just thermal cookers but heaps of gadgets.

MyCook appears to be available for purchase in some stores such as Betta, Bing Lee, Retravision, The Good Guys and Vitality life.

Judie

Oven Alternatives for cooking Bread

Blech in CQ it is ridiculously hot... Honey and I have been seeking refuge in our air-coned room this week and today when I went to cook, I realised why we hide away so much... I had to have a shower after 20 mins prep... I was not going out there doing calculations in my head with this heat so I made a full batch of bread dough. Recipe Here. This is my go to GF bread recipe, it’s yummy and cheaper than the nut bread. But lately I have not bothered making it much due to not wanting the oven to contribute to any more heat in our house. I started to think of alternatives…

As soon as I heard of this, I have been wanting to try out the slow cooker method for making bread and as this is the yummiest cheap recipe I have found I decided to see if it would work, I had my doubts due to the differences in cooking styles, but the end result was quite nice. Very handy for days when I need to run a few errands, come home to delicious bread. I also thought of my toaster oven, both appliances use less energy/hour than the oven too which is a bonus.

I am out of yeast so am doing this bunch with baking powder, I actually prefer this method as it saves a lot of time having to juggle rises but it is slightly nicer with yeast, but not 5 hours nicer. Today instead of sorghum I am using maise corn, grown by our L2L member, Robert. I have tried in the past popping corn and rice as well which we love, while chia, quinoa and besan- not so much... well not at all really (you will see my thoughts on that adventure in the cooking section of this site).

 

For the milling, I grabbed from the freezer rice and corn flour that I had milled in experiments using the TB1, TM31, Mistral and Bellini. Mistral and Bellini mill slightly courser than the TB1 and TM31, but the flour is very usable and gives a crustier crust. If you are on a low gluten diet, this rice flour found in the Asian section at Coles, may help you to achieve a smoother result (should you require it) if you are worried about the “glutinous” check this out. You could use it instead of the brown rice flour or sorghum flour. I will be testing this flour in another blog. Right beside it, similarly packaged was the tapioca flour, I usually buy the pictured arrowroot flour, but decided to give this a try today. It was fantastic, and cheap.

So can this recipe be used to make a sandwich loaf? I was keen to test that theory too, I woke up hungry; no leftovers as we ate out last night, the kitchen was stinking hot, so today was the day to test all cooking methods. One quirky dough makes 4 small loaves as I was not going to be bothered to do maths in the summer heat of our kitchen the division of bread dough went as follows: 2 lots in the bread tin in the oven, 1 lot in the toaster oven, 1 lot in the slow cooker. All were delicious. The drawback with the toaster oven was that it needed to be reset after an hour, and t took about 1hr 40mins to be cooked with a nice crust (200c with a water bath when adding the dough to the oven). I popped the bread dough (which was a little sticky so I kneaded in some more flour- all purpose GF Woolworths select brand, and lowered it down into the SC with the baking paper). I am very impressed with the loaf of bread in the tin. It worked very well and I look forward to yummy sandwiches with it tomorrow. I will try cooking it next time in the toaster oven to save energy. Perhaps there will be a larger SC batch in my future too.

Day 2

All bread was still moist this morning, my thoughts of toast for breakfast were supplanted when I had a nibble of the yummy moist bread… so nice I ate it plain (though I had been drooling over thoughts of butter and OzEmite). I cut each loaf into slices and placed some in the freezer and kept some on the counter. The Loaf from the tin had an air pocket in the top, I will need to research ways to get rid of that for the future; however it does not effect the flavour.

Day 3 and 4

Bread had been refrigerated and was a bit hard due to it being colder. It was very nice toasted.

I also made a chart for easy reference, as sometimes it is tricky to do the conversions in, I have been unable to upload it but if you would like a copy please check out our Facebook page in the files section or click this link otherwise, pop me an email and I will get it to you.

Judie