Variations on a theme - tonight carbonara

[droverjess]

I have been dying to try this recipe http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=899.0

Today with hubby away was the day. I'd planned to do lots of cooking and some shopping but as is the way with livestock farming the animals decided otherwise and I spent most of the day fencing....  And then the new bull ( in isolation for 30 days) was not eating or drinking. I gave him a change of food and he is eating now and will see tomorrow if we have a bigger problem. Hope not.

So I came  in to an empty house very tired and hungry and decided to put this on.

I like onion so added an onion and chopped with garlic. I also added 1T OOil and cooked 2 1/2 mins 100  while dicing 3 rashers bacon as I didn't know how much is in a tub?
 
chucked everything in and didn't know if MC should be on or off so did a mix of both. 2 mins before end chucked in 2 good handfuls washed baby leaf spinach and a chopped hard boiled egg as I found I had no raw eggs left!
trouble with rural living is lots of cooking is determined by what is available as no shops on the corner, even in the UK. I think mushrooms would be good.
Has anyone tried single cream? (pouring) as I'd like to reduce fat content?

Clean plate, yummy. Enough for my lunch tomorrow too.  I am allergic to Parmesan and cooked cheese so never use it, but often make bechamel take half out and cheese for DH.

So that was my variation on a theme of carbonara. What are your variations?

[judydawn]

DJ, glad to see you have so much confidence and just do your own thing with recipes so early in your TMX life.  You must have been a great cook pre-TMX.  I wasn't a bad cook but no way did I start just throwing things in or replacing ingredients so early in my TMX life.  Good on you and it sounds as if you are as adept on the farm as you are in the kitchen.

[droverjess]

Thanks for your very kind comment judydawn.

This forum has the best teachers. I have been on it every day from before my Thermy came and just read and read and marvelled. it gave me confidence. I did the worst things already drowned the machine and covered the ceiling in choc pudding!

I am a kinda throw things in sort of cook anyway, guess you have to be when not shopping often.

[meganjane]

Droverjess, I can empathise with you completely. I'm also in the country and although we have a great little shop in the town that I live in, it doesn't stock everything.

I often have to substitute halfway through making something as I don't have an ingredient. Some great recipes have developed over time!
I now have a pantry that is absolutely crammed full of everything you could ever imagine needing in your lifetime!! 

[droverjess]

I like the sound of that meganjane. But we have moved house 2x in last 9 months and am still not fully restocked.

[mcmich]

I too marvel at the way you are able to adjust recipes so easily.
I suppose that's part and parcel of living on properties so far from the shops.

[droverjess]

Thanks mcmich.
The young ( can't say children any more) sometimes say oh no it's another of mother's fusion meals..... They don't all work! It is not just since the tmx that I have played about with recipes.
But it is really down to reading (in bed) all the tips and hints on here and recipes of course. Somehow they've just sunk in and I think way hey lets try that. I think the members on here give each other confidence.

On the bread front am always looking for best recipe, best flour etc. now got flour sorted from a specialist mill, delivered in a sack.

Am getting there with some recipes like English muffins and no longer experiment. It is because I try  to make them as healthy as possible (as much fibre as poss) with as much flavour as possible. I use slow old fashioned methods like sponge and dough and NO bread improvers etc ...
I support the real bread campaign which is all about artisan bread.
It is fun too.

[DizzyGirl]

DJ our nearest corner shop is 35 km away and doesn't stock a lot. Our nearest big shop is 60 Kim's away. It makes cooking hard when you forget to buy something. I forgot white sugar, baking powder and SR flour last shop and had to substitute yesterday. Will stock up today as I am work near the corner store.

[droverjess]

I had a working holiday 30 yrs ago in Australia on farms and was always miles from shops. The distances compared to,here are IMMENSE.
Then in uk when first married with smalls I was 13 miles from any shop. In uk that is far!

Now 3 miles from corner shop and 6 miles supermarket. But am so used to making do I still carry on, plus the less you shop the less you spend, and it saves on fuel which is so v expensive in the uk.

[mcmich]

Do you girls have bins of flour and sugar etc?

[DizzyGirl]

mcmich, I don't have the room for bins of flour etc. I usually have spares in the cupboard but had used them too.

[mcmich]

Well, I won't be complaining again about the shopping in Lake Macquarie. I thought it was ridiculous that I had to go all the way into Newcastle (40mins) to find a health food store that stocked Dulse flakes.

[obbie]

We have to drive 20-25 minutes for a supermarket.

[stacelee]

I will NEVER complain about having to grocery shop again....I usually duck into a grocery store at least every second if not every day now.  I have a choice of a reasonably decent fruit store, a slightly bizarre indian grocery store, two aldi's, two coles and two woolworths that I drive directly past on my twenty minute drive home from work.  I complain because I don't have a good deli or GOOD fruit shop on the way home and have to drive about twenty minutes out of my way from home to get to one!...I think I'm a spoilt brat!!!!!

[mcmich]

Me too Stacelee. I have a decent Coles, a really small Woolworths and an Aldi all 15minutes away.
I feel petty whining about specialty items.