Indian style grilled chicken & veg (GF)

you could easily do this in the thermomix but mine is in hospital at the moment... *sob*

this was based on a few of Jamie Oliver's recipes and is very quick and easy

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1cm slices
2 tab tandoori paste
4-6 tabs plain full fat yoghurt
1 tin coconut cream
1 red capsicum, cut into 2" pieces
3-400g pumpkin, peeled and thinly sliced
olive oil
salt to taste
basmati rice
frozen peas (around 1 cup)
vegies of your choice - we had cauliflower and snow peas
coriander, chopped to serve

mix tandoori paste and yoghurt and mix chicken through well. leave to marinade for up to 8 hours - i only did 5 minutes and that was fine though longer would be better!

cook chicken on BBQ grill. toss capsicum and pumpkin in a splash of olive oil and grill

add remaining marinade to coconut cream in small saucepan. add salt to taste and stir well. bring to the boil and reduce ot simmer. cook until all other ingredients are done  and sauce has thickened

cook rice by absorption method, adding peas

steam vegies (i did mine over the rice, adding the cauli half way through and the snow peas when the rice was done and sitting)

serve with the sauce drizzled over and sprinkled with coriander

Tuna, Rice, Cheese, Egg thingies with zucchini & semi-dried tomatoes (GF, TMX)

we had a meeting with rora's teacher last week and apparently rora has been turning up to school every day hungry (she has a toasted cheese and ham sandwich for breakfast most days at around 7:30am). she then tells her teacher i haven't sent anything for fruit break (she refuses to have anything sent and tells me she won't eat it if i do) and then eats only the high carb recess snack (i generally also include something with protein etc) and complains of hunger all the way til lunch - another cheese and ham sandwich...

so i had 'operation cook second breakfast for school' today...!!

i made:

• Magic Bean Cake, a chocolate cake with kidney beans in it
• the Banana and Blueberry bread from the TMX GF book: she won't eat the blueberries so i added some choc chips to it. i had no buckwheat flour so used a mix of (for a double batch) 50g lupin flour, 30g besan flour, 50g flaxmeal, 80g brown rice flour and the rest plain flour
• and these tuna and rice thingies... with a tad too much turmeric lol (the turmeric was to hide the zucchini ;))

1 large zucchini, chop ends and into pieces and place in tmx with 2 cloves garlic and some fresh parsley or other herbs and chop speed 7 for around 3 seconds or until as fine as you want.

put in as many semi-dried or sun-dried tomatoes as you want and chop on speed 5 for a few seconds

add in around 1.5 cups cooked basmati or brown rice, around 200g drained tuna, about a cup of grated cheese, 1/2-1 tspn turmeric and 4 eggs.

mix on speed 3 until well mixed.

spoon into a muffin tin and cook at around 150' for about 25-30 mins

Gluten Free "Turkish Rice"

you know that delicious rice you get from turkish restaurants, with the risoni pasta in it? obviously rora hasn't been able to eat it in the past 5 years...

i decided to try concocting a GF version and it was far more delicious than i expected! looked great too :)

only rough amounts as i didn't measure anything...

1 tablespoon red or black quinoa, placed in a 1/4 cup measure and filled up with
white quinoa
1 cup basmati rice
2 tspns vegie stock concentrate (or chicken, or 2 stock cubes)
finely chopped parsley, to taste
splash of olive oil

soak the quinoa in a bowl of boiling water for about 20-30 minutes. rinse well and place in rice cooker.

add rice, stock and required amount of water (i measure with my finger and thumb so no idea how much, is it 2 or 3 cups water to each cup rice?) and cook.

stir and leave to sit for 5 mins.

add parsley and oil and stir again, serve



we had ours with bbq'd chicken and lamb (with sumac sprinkled on), a tossed salad, dips and turkish bread (not for rora though next time i'm going to try making her a foccacia with kalonji seeds on it ;))

Green Curry Fried Rice

in order to use up half a chinese cabbage in my fridge i decided to make noodles and bought chicken mince and baby corn to do so :) then had no noodles lol
my plan for making this changed multiple times before and during making it, due to no garlic and some inspiration on the way :D

it's very quick and simple and easy to substitute whatever you have in your cupboard, to use things up.

ingredients:
cooking spray or oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
500g chicken mince (or any kind of mince or cooked shredded meat)
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 tabs green curry paste (or any kind of curry paste)
assorted vegetables (i used 2 packets baby corn, blanched & chopped, 1/2 green capsicum & small piece of red capsicum, half a chinese cabbage shredded, small piece pumpkin diced, frozen beans and frozen peas)
1 tin light coconut cream
soy sauce (or fish sauce or stock concentrate) USE GF if needed
cooked rice (jasmine or basmati)

gently fry eggs without stirring too much, remove and let cool then dice or shred
respreay wok and heat on high til slightly smoking, add chicken, onion, carrot and curry paste and fry til chicken is at least 2/3 cooked.
add the longer cooking vegies such as pumpkin etc and coo, stirring
add other vegies and coconut cream, turn heat down to medium / medium low (you don't want the coconut cream to boil)
add all other ingredient and mix well. our vegies weren't quite done so we put a lid on and left it on low for around 5 minutes.

serve with sweet chilli sauce and / or fresh coriander if desired :)

Bean and Bacon Risotto (GF, TMX)

based on the same risotto version as last time, and this recipe i found online (i was actaully looking for a recipe using green beans but decided i liked the sound of this one lol) sorry for the shocking picture! (don't click on it, it gets no bigger, i didn't have a single pic that wasn't out of focus! and yes, id idn't use my tmx to chop my bacon, naughty me lol)


3 bacon rashers, or 6 shortcut pieces, roughly cut into largeish pieces
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
15g olive oil
380g arborio rice
100g red wine
1 tin chopped tomatoes
900g water
1 tin borlotti beans, drains
chopped parsley, to serve
40g cream, optional


heat the thermomix 2 minutes varoma speed 1
add bacon, chop for 10 seconds on speed 5-6
saute for 3 minutes varoma speed 1
add onion on speed 5 for a few seconds
add olive oil
saute for 2mins 100C speed 1
pop in the butterfly
add arborio rice and wine
saute for 2mins 100c reverse speed 1
add in stock concentrate (or 2 stock cubes), tomatoes and water
cook for 11 mins 100c reverse speed 1
add borlotti beans and cream and cook a further 5 mins 100c reverse speed 1

Pour into thermoserver, mix to stir parsley through and leave to stand for 5 mins or so until more of the liquid is absorbed. serve with parmesan if desired




posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

a Delicious Risotto Variation (Chicken, Porcini, Pea and Pumpkin) (GF, TMX)

The other night I was making risotto but didn't want to wait til our F&V shop arrived (home with Geoff) so decided to use up some stuff in the fridge and freezer. this was VERY good!! I make my risotto now based on baf65's recipe, which is a good one, much better than the one in my copy of the EDC. (i do love Tenina's version with basil, cream and lemon zest though, mmmmm)

I made this risotto using peas from our garden! yay! they were delish (though they needed a little more cooking than I'd given them).

If you are doing parmesan chop it before starting (maybe 10 secs on speed 8 i think)
chop a medium onion on speed 5 for a few seconds
add 50g of olive oil
saute for 2mins/100C/speed soft
add in some dried porcini mushrooms then chop on speed 5 until you can hear they are mostly chopped
pop in the butterfly
add 380g of arborio rice and 100g of white wine
saute for 2mins/100c/speed soft/reverse
add in 2tsp of stock concentrate (or 2 stock cubes) and 1000g of water
cook for 16mins/100c/speed soft/reverse *

Pour into thermoserver and leave to satnd for 5mins or so until more of the liquid is absorbed. serve with parmesan if desired

* at 8 minutes i added in:
1 chicken breast which i had previous put into portuguese spices, then grilled and chopped into 2cm pieces,
around 1/2 cup fresh peas (though i think fresh need to go in at the start of the cooking, frozen would go in now)
and about 200ml of pumpkin soup from the freezer :)

posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Black Eyed Bean Jambalaya (GF)

I discovered a container full of unopened packs of dried beans in our pantry while menu planning last week, and resolved to use some of them! I have never cooked with (or eaten that I know of) black eyed beans so I had no idea what to make with them! I googled and found this recipe which sounded good, and got my beans soaking overnight.

that was on monday and i didn't get to the supermarket to buy the meat part til today LOL (i did drain the beans and put them in the fridge though, they didn't soak til now!)

I made some minor changes to this recipe and it was SOOOOOOO tasty - we loved it! a definite hit in this house!

Black-Eyed Bean Jambalaya

1 Onion, chopped
2 sticks Celery, chopped
1 green and 1/2 red capsicum, seeded and chopped
5-6 shortcut pieces gluten free bacon (or 3 rashers)
Oil for sauteing
2 c Uncooked rice (i used jasmine but would rather use basmati if i had any)
2 1/2 cups water
2 heaped teaspoons chicken stock concentrate, or 2 gluten free stock cubes
1 can diced tomatoes
400g dried black eyed beans, soaked overnight and drained
6-8 sliced of gluten free salami, diced
6 mushrooms, sliced
2 chicken breasts, diced
chillis of your choice, optional (i would use a couple of jalapenos if i could)

Heat oil and add onion, celery and capsicum. fry for a few minutes then add bacon. fry for another 3-5 minutes then add rice. cook for another few minutes and then add water, stock, tomatoes, soaked beans, salami and mushrooms. stir well.
let it come to a boil, lower heat and cover, then leave for 30 minutes. stir well and let stif ro 5 mintues then serve.



so easy and sooooo tasty. i meant to boil the beans before inlcuding them but forgot, but they were the perfect texture - just slightly chewy.

Thai Chicken Risotto - First Draft (GF, TMX)

this was soooooo yummy! bit too spicy though and definitely too much to go in the thermomix properly (oops lol) i will list what i used in it but please keep in mind that quantities need to be lowered...

1-2cm ginger, peeled
1-4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 onion, peeled & quartered
1 carrot, peeled & cut into 1" pieces
50-90g thai curry paste of any kind *
40g oil
370g arborio rice **
100g apple juice optional ***
1 tin coconut milk
make up to 1000g liquid with water ****
2 chicken stock cubes or stock concentrate
1 heaped tspn brown sugar (optional if using juice)
1 small chicken breast, cut into 1.5cm cubes
vegies (not sure on weight, i used 1 red capsicum, 1 tin baby corn, around 1/3 cup baby peas, & 5 small shallots / spring onions)

put garlic & ginger in bowl & chop on speed 6 for 2-5 seconds
add onion and chop on speed 5 for 5 seconds, add carrot and chop on speed 4-5 for a few seconds
add oil and curry paste and cook for 3 minutes on 100'c speed 1
add rice & juice if using and cook for 3 minutes on 100'c reverse speed 1
add coconut milk, liquid to make liquid up to 1000g, stock cube and sugar and cook for 10 minutes on 100'c reverse speed soft
add chicken and cook for 5 minutes on 100'c reverse speed soft
add vegies and cook for a further 5-7 minutes on 100'c reverse speed soft

place in thermoserver for 5-10 minutes and serve

* i used 15g of a thai green and then the rest was a mussamun curry paste. we use the aldi ones which are GF (check labels)
** this was too much rice, will reduce this amount to closer to 300g next time
*** I didn't have any :(
**** this will need to reduce with reduced rice, but you want a total of 1000g (or your reduced total) including your juice and coconut milk

Rice Milk

I am attempting to be dairy free (not succeeding really, i love my dairy so much, plus i keep forgetting it is in foods such as pesto etc lol) and have switched to rice milk in preference to soy milk which I'd rather avoid in any quantity.

This milk is really nice - i do find it separates so isn't great for coffee (i drink it with a teaspoon now so i can keep stirring lol) but it is lovely for everything else :)

it's from Jo at Quirky Cooking who i MUST add to my blog list! (i keep saying that but i've been totally slack at updating my blog lately)

Rice Milk
50g brown rice
30g raw cashews
960g filtered water
1 tablespoon grapeseed (or other mild flavoured) oil
30g maple syrup
pinch of salt

Place rice in dry TM bowl and grind for 1 minute speed 8. Add cashews and grind until it stops hitting the sides (30-60 seconds)

Add remaining ingredients and cook at 60 degrees, 7 minutes, speed 4

Puree on speed 8 for 40 secs, then strain into jug (i have washed out an couple of old 2L milk bottles and use those). It will need a really good shake before each use!

you can see some of Jo's tips for making this here

Middle Eastern lentils and rice with blackened onions

from the SMH Good Living magazine for 2/6

6 tab olive oil
6 onions, halved and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn ground allspice
5 cups water or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups brown lentils, washed and drained
1 cup long grain rice, washed and drained
1 cup plain yoghurt, drained through muslin lined colander for 30 mins
fresh mint sprigs to garnish

heat 2 tabs oil in large saucepan. add ONE onion, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and allspice and saute for four minutes until onion is softened and lightly coloured.
add water or stock and lentils and bring to the boil. reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 mins.
stir in rice, return to boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook until liquid has been absorbed and rice & lentils are tender, about 15 mins. season well with S&P
meanwhile, heat remaining oil in pan and cook remaining onions until soft, well coloured and beginning to caramelise and blacken at the edges, about 30 mins.
arrange rice & lentils on a platter and sprinkle with onion. servew ith yoghurt & mint.

Porcupine Meatballs

Just found this in an old notebook, one to try for the kids ;)

1 1/2 lbs mince
1 onion, chopped
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup rice
pinch herbs
S&P
plain flour * Gluten free if needed
1 tin of tomato soup ** check ingredients if GF needed
1 cup water

mix all but soup & water & flour.
shape into small balls, toss in flour.
heat soup & water to boiling, add balls.
cover and cook 40-45 mins, turn once.

Gluten Free Rice Bread, (GF, TMX)

I finally had a go at making my own gluten free bread today, after a friend loaned me her breadmaker to try with the possibility of keeping it. I'm not sure that i actually need it, given I had to mix the dough in the thermomix anyway lol the only advantage would be using the time delay setting which I'm assuming you could do with GF dough despite it being all mixed together the night before, because the book doesn't say otherwise, anyone had any experience with this?

the breadmaker is the Breville Bread Master Big Loaf, which is no longer available.

(i should mention here that i do actually have my own bread maker - which hasn't been used since buying the thermomix of course ;) - a sunbeam - but it doens't have a removable blade so is not suitable to use for rora's bread. i must get around to selling it in fact!! i much prefer being able to make my bread quickly when i need it, or making breads such as foccacias, plaited loaves etc, plus i think it tastes better than breadmaker bread)

anyway, this bread was very nice. it smelled and tasted very similar to "real" bread. the texture looked similar, though it did get soggy pretty quickly as a sandwich bread.

Gluten Free Rice Bread
400g white rice
180g brown rice
1.5 tbs guar gum
3 tabs sugar (hmmm i think i put 3 tspns instead!)
1.5 tspns salt
3 tabs milk powder
2 tspns dried yeast (i use lowan brand which is GF)
450g water
3 tabs oil
3 x 60g eggs
1 tspn apple cider vinegar

mill the rices in the thermomix at speed 10 for 2 minutes until smooth flour. (you might want to stop half way through, scrape down and check consistency)
add the other dried ingredients and mix on speed 6 for 2-4 seconds to sift and mix.

place a 1L bowl on top of the lid and measure out the water, add the other wet ingredients and mix together.

turn the thermomix onto closed lid, knead setting and pour the wet ingredients through the lid. continue on knead setting until mixed. you might find it useful to stop and scrape down the sides part way through.

using a spatula place dough into the breadtin and cook according to directions.
(for this machine it is basic bread setting, 1kg size, i did a light crust and it took 3 hours and 10 minutes)

Nasi Goreng, gluten free

Kazari posted this a few weeks ago and we really enjoyed it when i made it, so i thought i'd post the GF version of the recipe. thanks kaz! the only problem was that geoff overcooked teh eggs as usual (he likes hard yolks, i HATE hard yolks, blerg!)

Nasi Goreng
2 tbs oil ( i use grapeseed)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 red chilli, finely diced, optional for kids
1 medium onion, finely chopped (tmx)
1 carrot, chopped finely in the thermomix
2 Cups shredded cabbage
200g beef or pork mince
1 cup bean sprouts
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce (if available GF)
2 tbs tomato sauce (ketchup, GF)
2 tbs GF tamari
3 cups cooked jasmine rice
1-2 egg per person
1/2 cup diagonally sliced shallots/green onions
2 tbs chopped fresh coriander, plus extra coriander leaves to serve

Heat the oil and the sesame oil in a wok. Add the chilli, onion and carrot and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until just softened but not coloured. Add the beef and cabbage and cook until the meat has browned. Add the bean sprouts, chilli, tomato sauce, tamari and the rice and cook for a further minute, stirring to ensure everything is well combined. Turn off heat and cover the wok partially with a lid while you cook the eggs.

Fry the eggs in another pan.

Stir the shallots and coriander into the rice, then spoon into serving bowls. Top with an egg and extra coriander and serve with extra chilli and tamari as desired.

Pumpkin & Chive Risotto (Thermomix)

based on the "Fresh Mushroom Risotto" from Thermomix's Everyday Cooking.... for every family!

50g parmesan
50g olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled & quartered
500g arborio rice
100g white wine
1100g water
2 Massell chicken or vegie stock cubes, or 2-3 tspns stock powder
400g pumpkin, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
2/3 cup frozen baby peas (optional, i didn't have any :()
1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

pulverise parmesan for 10 seconds on speed 9
remove to bowl and keep for serving
place onion in bowl and chop on speed 6 for 2 seconds
add oil and cook for 2 minutes at 100'c speed 1
add rice and wine and cook for 2 minutes at 100'c reverse speed 1
add stock & water and cook for 5 minutes at 100'c reverse speed 1
add pumpkin and cook for 12 minutes at 100'c reverse speed 1
pour the risotto into a large bowl, stir through the chives and parmesan and serve

Rory ate 3 or 4 serves (like double what i had if not more :-o)

Brown Rice Salad

we're going to a birthday party tonight for our friend and chiropracter Michael. his wife Kristen asked us all to bring a salad. at first i had planned to make the Asian Noodle Salad i seem to have become famous for, but realised that i can't eat it on the core plan! (and will need my points for other things ;)) so i decided to make a rice salad.

At first i was planning a typical rice salad, but decided to go with brown rice and maybe something a little different. Inpsired by this recipe i am making my salad with:

brown rice
sliced baby corn
finely diced red and green capsicum
pepitas
sunflower seeds
sliced black olives
sliced shallots / spring onions

i can't be bothered to do my own dressing as i'm feeling lazy and planning to make a cake (the kids' choice) to take too, so i'm just using a purchased fat-free italian dressing.

the berries on the cake are just frozen this time too :( i couldn't get any more blueberries this week at choku bai jo

Links - Pasta & Rice

baked ziti with rapini & chicken meatballs

broccoli, sage & bacon pasta sauce

pasta with proscuitto and peas

Sweet:
indian spiced rice pudding

Links - Entrees, Appetisers, Dips etc

assorted dips : Basil & Fetta Cheese Dip, Beetroot Dip, Sesame & Ginger Dip, Blue Cheese & Bacon Dip, Avocado & Sardine Dip, Hot Crab Dip, Guacamole, Hommus Dip, Roast Pumpkin Dip, Salmon & Ricotta Dip, Smoked Trout & Dill Dip

Baked Suppli al Telefono - my sister used to make these when we were growing up and they are delicious! but deep fried :( now here's a healthier version!

Monkey Mix Snack Mix (slow cooker)

Thermomix Eggplant & Walnut Dip

Links - BBQ ideas (marinades, salads etc)

Asian BBQ chicken

Barefoot Contessa's BBQ Sauce

Barbequed Chicken

Beetroot & Haloumi Salad with Walnut Dressing

Garlic-Mustard Glaze (for meat)

grilled corn salad

Mango, avocado & red onion salad

Mom's warm potato salad

napa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing

Potato Salad with apples and bacon this one looks soooo good!

Southwestern three bean salad

Summer lovin' salad (with bacon, chicken, hard boiled eggs, blue cheese, dijon mustard etc etc mmmm)

thai noodle salad

wild rice salad


assorted recipes from eb (main meal ideas)

Day 1 - No-Meat Week

dinner tonight was pretty damn good. everyone enjoyed it :D (the kids didn't know there was no meat) thanks to bec for the inspiration! I take no responsibility for the lack of mexican authenticity ;)

i'll definitely do this again next time i have the chance to roast up a heap of vegies while the oven's already on...

Roast Vegetable Enchiladas and Mexican Rice

Roast vegies - i used pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and a small parsnip. i meant to do sweet potato and forgot. i should have done onion too!
olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced (if you didn't roast one)
pinto beans, soaked& drained, or a can of refried beans
spices - ground cumin, coriander and garlic (optional any kind of chilli spice)
10 tortillas
small amount grated cheese

gently fry onion and spices with a little olive oil
if you're using pinto beans put them in with enough water to cover all. put the lid on and cook for 5-10 minutes until the beans are soft enough to mash.
dice all your vegies (or chop in the tmx like i did)
mix your mashed / refried beans with the vegies and put 1/10th of the mix into each tortilla. roll up and place in a greased oven dish.
sprinkle with cheese
bake in moderate oven for about 15 minutes

1/2 onion, finely diced
olive oil
cumin seeds
ground coriander
garlic
around 3/4 cup of rice (? just guessing!)
1 tin of diced tomatoes or a jar of salsa or taco sauce etc etc
stock or a little salt & water
finely diced green capsicum
1 tin corn kernels, and the 'juice'
fresh herbs - coriander and / or garlic chives
optional - also great with sliced black olives, jalapenos

gently fry onion and spices with a little olive oil
add all other ingredients - and enough water to reach 1cm over the top of all the other ingredients.
bring to the boil
cover and turn down to low, cook until rice is done. (you can take the lid off and stir once or twice)
mix herbs through

i did use the thermomix a lot for this and you could probably do most of both recipes in it, but i wasn't in teh mood to play (plus i was making another slice in it lol)

PS: do you think i take too many food pictures? tonight ryan insisted i had to take one of them all eating, when he saw me taking one of my plate lol

that'd be right!

ryan and rory are miserable with middle ear infections so i decided to make chicken soup (i had put the chicken in the SC for a roast but didn't think anyone would feel like it tonight.) rory asked for rice so this recipe was born.

it's FAR too bland and tasteless for me but rory's onto her second bowl already lol

Chicken & Rice Sickie Soup

1 cup rice
2-3 chicken stock cubes
1 onion, finely chopped*
2 zucchinis, finely chopped*
1 large carrot, finely chopped*
1/8 of a cabbage, finely chopped*
3-4 tomatoes, blended into puree
around 2 cups of finely shredded cooked chicken
lots of garlic - around 4-5 cloves or more, finely chopped*
pinch of saffron

simply place ingredients into the saucepan and top up with enough water to read 2cm below the top of the pan. bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer, cook until the rice and vegetables are soft. you will get some scum on top but keep stirring it in and it will pretty much disappear when the soup is done.

serve with parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper


* i chopped them all in the thermomix but a food processor would work just as well.

I'd imagine this would be very easy to make in the slow cooker and would probably take about 4-5 hours on low.