I love my Thermomix

I really do. I love it so much I think everyone should have one.

Last year when my daughter was about 20 months old and my son was about 2 months old my husband went on a promotions course for the Army. It was local, but very intensive and he was required to live on base. He would come home a couple of nights a week after our daughter had gone to bed, do some housework, give his son a quick cuddle, and leave again.

It was a very intense time and we were truly in survival mode.

So we weren’t eating very well. At all. I’m afraid to say it but sadly it’s true we used a lot of packet and convenience food during that time.

Until a friend of mine told me about the Thermomix. And the interest free special that month. So when my husband returned from his trip away we ordered it. He was apprehensive.

You see he’s not just an Army guy, he’s an Army cook. And in my life before children I was a navy cook. So if anyone should be able to cook a delicious and nutritious meal for our family with relative ease, it’s us. And when life is easy we can and do.

You see when I was a cook at sea all I did was cook. Preparing, cooking, serving and cleaning up after meals for hundreds of people is a big job. So to start with you have many people doing that job, and you have the kitchen manned 24 hours a day when at sea. If you walked into a navy galley at say 10am while at sea you’d see someone cooking lunch, someone preparing the next days meal, someone cleaning, someone making sides/salads/desserts, someone overseeing the watch, someone doing paperwork, there would be a cook down in the storeroom taking inventory or getting the food together for the next days rations, and there would be a cool sleeping in his/her mess preparing for the night watch. Cooks at sea just cook on an ordinary day.

There is laundry done at sea, it’s someone else’s job. So is cleaning the toilets. So is manning the ships canteen. And running PT. And steering the ship. Cooks just cook.

So for me, even though I am a trained cook, I did struggle to cook a brilliant meal while getting everything done. Sure cooking for just me and the toddler was different from cooking for 250. However, when I was cooking at sea I didn’t have to do laundry, vacuum carpets, clean up after a toddler, breastfeed a baby, do grocery shopping and well you get the idea. I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 4am. Now it was only 6 hours sleep but they were in a row uninterrupted. It was a totally different ball game.

Dinner was something organized from as soon as lunch was packed away, I wasn’t getting to 5pm and thinking “oh no better pull something together!”

Having two children also limited my options as I had to often cook one handed.

Enter the Thermomix.

One handed, quick, easy cooking for the busy person. Delicious, nutritious cooking that is just so easy. Every single step is outlined in a very easy to follow format and there are thousands of recipes online and in the many cookbooks. I will say I use the cookbooks more as I love cookbooks, plus my Internet reception drops out and a few times I’ve had to wing the last few steps because I’ve lost the website

My husband is away again, as that’s the way life goes and it’s been 1 week. Now I have two toddlers who are incredibly active and only 1 who has a nap and that’s only 1 nap per day. From when they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night it is go go go.

So what have we been eating?
Beef stew and dumplings, Gozemelê, spaghetti and meatballs, corned beef (I did that on the stove) with warm potato salad, tri-colour tart, and coconut chicken. Apart from the corned beef I have done everything in the Thermomix.

I start off the day with a Thermomix coffee. I’ve made two loaves of 5-seed bread. I’ve made sunshine balls and popcorn bars for snacks for the children. I’ve made smoothies for myself when lunch needs to be one handed.

I’m no longer stressed about making dinner. It just happens. I made a meal plan when I did my grocery order (online shopping and delivery, all about making life easier) and in the morning I just look at the plan on the fridge and make sure whatever needs defrosting is out. Too easy.

Now I found the price off putting at first, it does seem like a lot of money for an appliance but there are many payment plans available from weekly, to 3 installments or an outright payment.

A demo is what sold my husband on it. I had already bought it when I had my demo but I don’t think my husband would use it as much as he does if not for the demo. If in doubt then see it in action!

If you’re in Townsville and you’re interested in coming to a demo I’m having another demo to learn some new tricks on the 21st of April children and partners welcome, contact me through my Facebook page.

Or if you’re interested in having a demo of your own then contact Susanne Moodie – Independent Consultant. Sue is absolutely wonderful, she’s a true professional and just great at what she does.

Not in Townsville? Head on over to the Thermomix website and use their contact section to find yourself a consultant in your local area.

A few weeks ago my husband was here at home on his own for a week while the children and I spent some time with family in Brisbane. I thought the TMX would go unused for a week. So when my husband told me he had pizza most nights I figured he had ordered in. Actually on night one after work he had made pizza dough in the Thermomix and let it rise while he did his ironing. Then rolled the dough out and froze them in individual pizzas and had pizza all week! He also used it to grind spices and a few other bits and pieces. Pretty good for a guy who didn’t think it was worth the money.

What stops me going postal

Alright, confession time.

This is what I look like before my morning coffee.

And here is what I look like after.

Cappuccino, frappucino, Spume al cafe, latte, flat white, macchiato, short black, I don’t care make it caffeinated.

Now as for which is my favourite, here’s what I make every morning in my thermomix.

1 tbspn granulated coffee
1 tbspn raw sugar
10 second speed 1
200gm ice
200gm milk
5 minutes speed 6-7

Serve in a big cold glass with a straw.

Coffee, what would I do without you.

Mango season!

Well it’s official, mango season is upon us. And what a tasty time of year it is! I recently bought 8 mangoes for $2, and of course I ate one as soon as the ankle biters, I mean beloved children, were in bed.

Using the Thermomix I have made mango cordial using the berry cordial recipe from the EDC.

I’ve also made mango lassi, mango slushies (mango and ice blended together until smooth), I’m debating making mango sorbet, mango has been sliced and devoured by the small boy, frozen in cheeks for future smoothies, added to the daily green smoothie. We’re loving it!

And bananas are cheap too! I’m contemplating banana splits for dessert tonight, perhaps even with mango flavored ice cream. Okay so I better get cracking if I want to do that!

I’ve said it time and time again, eat seasonal and get the freshest and cheapest produce possible.

It’s also stone fruit season and I’ll admit to eating 8 yellow skinned nectarines in the last 24 hours. Oops. I had dreams of making fabulous desserts with them. Guess I won’t be doing that.

Alright fruit slushie ‘recipe.’. I make mine in the thermomix but a high powered food processor will do the trick.
Equal parts fruit and ice.
Blend until smooth.
Enjoy.

Thermomix – the other love of my life

Earlier this year I bit the bullet and had a look at this thermomix everyone seemed to be talking about. I was a total skeptic. How could a $2K kitchen appliance really be worth the outlay.

I had a toddler, a baby, and a husband working very long hours. Despite going to culinary school and knowing how to cook we were eating pretty simply and a lot of pre-packaged crap. Life was hard. My son is a Velcro baby and is very rarely away from my side. Any meals had to be quick and simple and involve very little preparation.

So I had a look at a thermomix thread in the cooking section of a Homebirth website and was blown away. Recipes galore for delicious food and mums bragging about cooking it one handed! Recipes for every single meal of the day.

Next stop was the website – www. thermomix.com.au – and I was so impressed, but not yet convinced. Shortly after a good friend came over and it came up that she has a thermomix and uses it to feed her family of 6. And it was 9 months interest free that month only!

I was sold. I contacted the demonstrator and had to have one ASAP. And it wasn’t long before one was on my bench. I had a demo and that in turn has meant another friend has bought one and then one of her friends.

I use my Thermomix daily. I make so much in it. Crumpets, pancakes, smoothies, juices, pancakes, sorbet, ice cream, coulis, stews, meatballs, boil eggs, cook rice, jams, cake batters, knead bread. I love that I can make a sauce, cook rice and steam chicken and vegetables all at the same time.

Generally, when the baby is happy playing mid-morning I cut the vegetables (into large chunks) and defrost the meat for dinner. Takes about 5 minutes. The rest of the cooking happens with the baby square on my hip.

If I had my time again I wouldn’t have bought half the stuff I bought my first baby, I would have bought basic clothes, a baby carrier, a bassinet, a car seat and a Thermomix. They are a mothers best friend!

How many mums with new babies just don’t have the time to cook and therefore don’t eat well? Good nutrition is important to a healthy milk supply. And those thy cook before the baby is born and freeze the meals, how often do you find the meals to be completely unappealing when defrosted?

Anyway, Thermomix, 10 out of 10, don’t have one? Get one!

Made by mum not by machine

My mum is a good cook, my grandmothers are good cooks too. I remember a special breakfast at home was pancakes or French toast. Mum would cook all sorts of different leaks and desserts. On occasion we’d have dinner out or take away, like on a birthday, but generally it was cooked at home.

I remember using my grandparents 100 year old woodfire stove. Sitting on Pop’s knee and holding a long poker out cooking toast. I remember their home grown vegetables and I remember Nana’s potato salad.

I remember sitting at Granny Gray’s long table eating plate after plate of delicious food. Or waking up at their house to smell cinnamon bun proofing.

My best memories of food and my family are not of fancy dinners out or take away, but of meals made by the ones I love and shared around the family table.

My dad, by the way, is also a good cook. I love his spag bol and his savory pies. He doesn’t do desserts.

I cook mostly from scratch here. It’s made easier (and cheaper) with my Thermomix. I made crumpets today. Now they weren’t all uniform in shape or size but they tasted so yummy, and were a fraction of the cost of packaged ones.

Sure they take more time then pulling them out of a packet and popping them in the toaster, but most of that time is spent waiting for dough to proof, or waiting for crumpets to cook. The kitchen is the heart of the home, where conversations happen, I regularly have a toddler and a baby playing at my feet. Quick breakfasts of toast and cereal happen here, but lazy mornings call for fun foods that take a little more time.

The Thermomix makes cooking easy to do even with a baby on my hip.

Curious about a Thermomix? Book a demo!