Hi from JuicyFruit & Stella ..

[JuicyFruit]

Hi all you Wonderful Thermomixers .. I was a quiet/lurking member here once upon a time, but I couldn't remember my log in details and my email wasn't recognized, so I opened a new account   

Anyhoo, my name is Clare and I'm an Aussie (Perth) gal who now calls New Zealand home .. And I've had my TM (Stella) for about two and a half years?  As I'm sure you'll all appreciate she's the star in my kitchen, but even though I keep her active at least every other day, I know I'm not using her to the fullest potential .. Hence my renewed interest in finding great recipes and ideas!

So while searching online for this forum & blogs, I decided to really make it a mission to  a) using up what I already have in my cupboards/fridge/freezer, and b) trying a new recipe every day this week .. So far we've had:


Saturday: EDC Cauliflower Soup http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=9503.0 made with a very sad looking cauliflower & extra broccoli to get the required weight, plus I followed judydawn's suggestion and added 2 onions .. It was fabulous, and I have two extra portions in the freezer - one of which I'll be sure to try as a dairy free lasagna (white) sauce ..


Sunday: farfallina's Spinach, Lentil & Buckwheat Soup http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=8953.0 I used brown lentils and the EDC stock, and a lot more spinach that it called for .. The texture of this was absolutely perfect, but I found it somewhat lacking in flavour, so next time I'll try adding spices and maybe some tomato paste too ..


Monday: Well it was freezing here yesterday, which got me thinking it was a good day to try making pastry for the first time lol .. I used meganjane's Rough Puff Pastry recipe http://bushgourmand.blogspot.co.nz/2011/05/rough-puff-pastry.html and Cyndi O'Meara's Vegetarian Sausage Roll Filling that everyone on here was excited about http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/node/17055 .. I can certainly see why a lot of you are fans of it, because even tweaking it to what I had on hand (extra walnuts & oats, plus mushrooms instead of breadcrumbs) they turned out great! My pastry was good too, but I think maybe I overworked it as it didn't really 'puff', but it could also be that I rolled it too thick .. No biggie, I've got half of each (pastry & filling) left over to try again ..


Tuesday: well I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking quirkycooking's Brown Rice Mushroom Risotto with Macadamia Cheese (only I'll have to sub the Maca's for Cashews or just use Parmesan/Fetta) .. Must say the Cashew Honey Vanilla Bean Custard http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/cashew-honey-vanilla-bean-custard.html sure is tempting too!


Other things I use Stella for is making nut milk, green smoothies, banana 'ice-cream', AtV's Raw Vegan Sour Cream http://www.addictedtoveggies.com/2010/12/atv-staple-recipe-raw-vegan-sour-cream.html (brilliant in salad dressing & dips), and general chopping/grinding/blending ..

Well thank-you if you read all of the above!  I'll do my best to be an active forum member from now on  ..
Oh and my username just popped into my head, but I guess it's because I eat A LOT of fruit

~ Clare aka Juicy ♡

[obbie]

Welcome to the forum Clare

[goldfish]

Hi JF . . and a very warm welcome to the forum!!  That was one heck of a first post!! Thanks for that.  You'll enjoy it here - tons of help and advice on every topic imaginable . .and food, too!! Welcome - and we'll be looking forward to your adventures with Stella . . 

[judydawn]

Hi Clare, I enjoyed reading your post.  Thanks for rejoining us - it sounds as if you have a renewed interest in your machine for sure.  Setting some goals is a great idea to motivate yourself and spending some time on the forum will also help in that regard.  Thanks for your reviews of the recipes you have tried and I look forward to a lot more of them in the future.

[Aussie Brenda]

Hi JF, you have done well, I'm not quiet as adventurous as you in trying new things but I love reading about them. thanks.

[MamaMix]

Hi Clare!
Welcome!! I'm in New Zealand too, whereabouts are you??
That is a really awesome way to get "back into it", challenging yourself with new recipes every day, well done! It's what I wanted to do for the first few weeks - I've only had my TMX for a week, and I've definitely used it heaps, but I find myself shying away from the more complicated recipes (well, I don't know whether they actually are complicated or not - but stuff like puff pastry etc.) just because I've been so busy with kids. I'm daydreaming about my husband taking the kids away to his parents for a weekend, and me just being able to cook to my heart's content for a whole weekend. But then again, what's the fun in cooking if you've got nobody to share it with?
Thanks for all the links anyway, I'll definitely try some of the recipes you posted!!

Maia

[mcmich]

Hello and welcome to the forum clare.
It's good to see some more Kiwis among us.
You certainly have been busy using up your pantry and freezer contents. Thankyou for linking the recipes too.
Look forward to getting to know you.

[Grannysmith]

Hi to Juicy and Clare,

Well, I'm a Kiwi living in Perth!

Welcome to the forum. Your recipes sound like fun.

Granny (Helen)

[dede]

Welcome back to the forum Clare,
I'm glad you decided to re join us. As your an old hand at TMing I'm sure you will be able to add experience to the forum.

[JuicyFruit]

Thanks for the warm welcome (back) everyone 

Renewed interest is exactly what's happening for me .. It goes to show how awesome this machine is, that after all this time I'm just as impressed and excited about owning a TM as I was the day she arrived lol ..

Great to see some other Kiwi's on here too!  I'm in Golden Bay, which for those who don't know NZ geography is a semi-isolated rural valley at the top of the south island .. It's really quite special here, being surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges, and the ocean to the north .. *waves* to MamaMix  -  I totally understand where you're coming from as far as shying away from complicated 'sounding' recipes, yet wanting to get in there and try it all too .. I was exactly the same when I first got mine, and must have whipped up at least four things every single day the first month .. Lots of ice-cream & sorbets, bread & dip *yum*

Oh I must share what I ended up doing for dinner tonight because it was soooo good .. I decided to make a modified version of the EDC Mushroom Risotto, and tweak it to use what I had - Jasmine rice instead of Arborio, freshly pressed apple juice instead of wine, and a bunch of other goodies thrown in (tomato, red pepper, green onions, lemon zest, spinach, fetta) .. It's hands down the best Risotto I've made; full of flavour, and neither gluggy nor soupy as I've had them turn out in the past .. My son (10yrs old) ate a great big bowl full, and between you & me I'm sure even Gordon Ramsey would have approved   

And best of all, dishes are nothing more than wiping off the chopping board & knife, rinsing out the bowls & TM = finished in 5min flat!

Not sure if pics are the done thing here but I'm always taking photos of my food (actually I take photo's of everything?!):

[cookie1]

Welcome Clare. The photos are lovely.

[Cuilidh]

Hi Clare.   Welcome to the forum.  I'm another Kiwi from Wellington, now living in Melbourne.  Never been to Golden Bay but love that whole area and wish I had had more time to travel around the Sounds and surrounding countryside.  Thanks for the link to the Addicted to Veges blog, I'm have a great time fossicking around there.

[gertbysea]

Hi Clare and welcome back . Lovely,photos and great tweaking.

Yes you live in a very special place. Very lucky you .

Gert

[Halex]

Welcome & your food looks great

Halex

[JulieO]

Hello and Welcome Clare.  Love the photos too, please keep it up.