new owner - where and how do I begin?

[Moonmobile]

I hope this is the right place for this post - I looked at the meal planning thread but this post didn't seem quite right there.

I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities thermy opens up!

As a new thermomix owner I was wondering what other people did to start a systematic  plan of food preparation with the thermomix. I want to get myself into a system - instead of my current ad hoc last minute - I'm starving - must eat - kind of thing. I am on a restricted diet (gluten, sugar free) and am only preparing food for one - me!

I can plan recipes - but there are so many to choose from! What's an easy way to start so I don't have to drown in decision making?

Did you just work systematically through the EDC? Or just pick another recipe book and follow it through? Or did you have other methods? How did you organise it?

Help!

[whisks]

the first thing i did was to make some vegetable stock concentrate. that gave me something to work with.
then i made a couple of soups, and that gave me tha basis of many other soups.
risottos came next. omitting the mushrooms in the mushroom risotto gave a basis to work with - i could just roast any vegetable and top the risotto with that.
once you get those conquered, the variations are infintie.

[courton]

You will find the EDC too full of fat and sugar! Certainly use it as a basis but really cut down the unnecessary fats and sugar. I have just bought the Taste of Vegetarian cookbook which seems full of healthy recipes... haven't tried anything from it as yet. I find the forum more useful than the EDC!

[judydawn]

I would try some of the recipes on the forum moonmobile - tried & tested.  Probably do half quantities just for yourself and freeze leftovers for when you are starving and want the food NOW. Some good advice from whisks too. You will find yourself on a roll once you get into it and there will be so many recipes you want to try that you won't know which one to do first.  It depends on just what you fancy on the day a lot of the time.  Why is it that we go through our recipes or books and pass over certain recipes time after time but then one day we decide that is what we want for today  

[Moonmobile]

Thank you for the advice - particularly about trying forum recipes. Maybe I could use that as a method to limit the choice a bit and know there is a good chance of things turning out! I need to just sit down and systematically go through and print things out and put them in a folder - then start cooking.

Hi whisks - coincidentally vegetable stock concentrate was the first thing I made with my thermomix too! Great idea to get some soups going. I used some of the stock to make one pot dishes - but a good supply of soup is something I have been thinking of. I love soups.

Judydawn - the problem is indeed that I don't know which recipes to do first - there are so many exciting ones! So I have ended up a bit stuck (and panicked) as a result!

Today I made a breakfast smoothie with frozen rice milk, dates, strawberries, apple, blueberries and a seed, gluten free grain and almond mixture made by Pura Veda. For dinner I mashed up some sweet potatoes and butter in the tmx to have with my lamb cutlets and zuccini. At least I am making a start I tell myself!

I am so glad this supportive forum exists.

[achookwoman]

I agree with JD and whisks,  good advice.   I started with soups also.  Good to have on hand when you are in a rush or can't be bothered.   Have a look at the Coconut flour to use as a thickening agent,  instead of wheat flour.

[cookie1]

Moonmobile would it help you at all to menu plan? Then you can decide that you'll have 1 pasta meal,1 risotto, 1 beef, 1 lamb, 1 fish, 1 vegetarian etc for the week. Then decide what type of pasta etc trying a new one each week. Then you can incorporate the meals you have frozen if you are late home etc.

As several people have suggested look at the recipes here and read what people have said about them. When using the books check and see if anyone has done a review of the recipe you want to try. (In recipe reviews). If you make custard you could use some as custard and freeze some as iceblocks to have as icecream later. Soups are very quick to make. Bread can be done and frozen to have with your soup. For this look in the bread section and Isi has put up lots of recipes and people have commented on them.
Good luck. I know you'll have fun.

[Moonmobile]

Hi Cookie, Thanks for this. Menu planning is certainly the way to go. I bought myself a dedicated diary just for this job a few weeks ago. Where I got stuck is how to start doing it with so many recipes around! Your ideas on how to start are most useful.

[bartoncs]

Hi Moonmobile, like you I am on a restricted diet (vegetarian, carb, sugar and additive free) and generally I am only cooking for one.

the recipe books I have are EDC, Vegetarian, Healthy Eating, Gluten free, Entertaining, Budget Busters, Indian and Steam ahead.
I also have a big fat file full of recipes printed from this forum and a few other sites.

On the weekend I sit down with my books and look through my fridge and cupboards to see what I have on hand, from there I decide on 3 - 4 meals I will make for the week plus a sorbet (I freeze into individual cups for yummo dessert), by flicking through the books and seeing what takes my fancy and what will use up what I already have. I then go do my shopping based on these recipe choices and I generally cook every second day, using leftovers for lunch and dinner on the nights I am not cooking (I make the full recipes which are usually for 4 people so there is plenty of leftover to freeze) I also usually write down one or two things I would like to try for fun (low carb bread substitues usually!)

I find the best way to choose recipes is
- What you like and meets your requirements
- What will use up what you already have on hand
- What you are confident to make
- What will freeze well (soups are great!)

Even though the EDC recipes can be too high in sugar, they are usually modifiable, for example the sorbet recipe call for like 150g sugar!! I make it with abot 20g apple juice concentrate and a few drops of stevia, or some xylitol, or some rapadura (only when I am being bad!)

Hope this helps!

[faffa_70]

Hi Moonmobile and welcome  I have been a little AWOL lately - so busy but have just started menu planning in the last month - finally inspired by the menu plan thread - those girls a so clever!!

I can't believe the difference it has made 

I set myself some targets in my planning when I first started though some won't apply to you yet as all the recipes are new lol. I set things like trying two new recipes from the forum a week. Cooking at least one vegetarian meal a week and things like that.

I menu plan on an Excel page and the first things I do is put in anything that I have on (ie appts etc as we are a large family) so if I need to have an easier meal for that time I can or at least do any prep work before hand.

The next thing I do is put in the forecast temps for the week as I am such a sook and none of us really like eating too much when it is really hot - so I plan around the weather as well.

I just sit down with my file and books and look until I become inspired. If I think I will have ingredients left over then I try to find recipes to use it up during the week.

Good luck 

[judydawn]

Missed you Kathryn 

[faffa_70]

Thank you, Can you imagine how much I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL??!!!!!!!!!!  I thought it was supposed to get easier when the kids went back to school 

[Moonmobile]

Thank you for additional suggestions and supportive comments!

I am gradually starting to launch out and I made a meatballs iin tomato sauce from the forum - which I modified to make gluten free, a mango gelato with organic milk, egg white and using xylitol instead of sugar and this morning poached eggs in tomato shells from the vegetarian cookbook.

I am thinking of doing steamed fish from the EDC tomorrow night...

I am keeping a record of my efforts on my blog - for myself really so I can remember what works and what doesn't!

[Thermomixer]

Good work Moonmobile - if you record what has happened and are willing to adapt and not throw recipes away when they fail then you will succeed.

Definitley look at reviews of recipes from the TMX books before trying to replicate them and slow and less time for chopping things like the onions is a big piece of advice.

[Moonmobile]

Thanks Thermomixer, I had a couple of early disasters on the onion chopping front after following directions in the EDC, so this is good advice!