Pesto style salad dressing (GF, DF, TMX)

For more info and links on thermomix, gluten free, eating out in canberra come over and like the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glutenfreecanberra

 Needed a quick salad dressing for lunch so threw half a bunch of fresh basil in the thermomix. added maybe 1/4 cup pine nuts (or almonds or cashews), good sprinkle salt and a few tabs of olive oil. I used a blood orange flavoured one. chop on speed 6 for maybe 5 seconds.

i found that this wasn't enough ingredients to get a smooth dressing happening but it was a nice chunky dressing.

I served mine over mixed leaves, cooked chicken and avocado, but i think something to add a little sweetness - some cranberries, or roast pumpkin or sweet potato, would have added to it.

Graeme's Chiang Mai Pork Balls (GF, TMX)

my boss's partner shared this recipe with me and I finally got around to making them. a much milder flavour than i expected but definitely very yum and surprisingly quick and easy to make (especially when you don't need to run out half way through to buy whatever mangy coriander woollies has in stock after 2 public holidays...). anyway here's the recipe with a few minor changes from me

1 tspn coconut oil
1 tspn ground coriander
1 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground turmeric
1 stick lemon grass
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
2 green shallots / spring onions
roots and stalks of 1/2 bunch coriander (washed well!)
chilli to taste
2 kaffir lime leaves, or one piece of lime peel
around 500g pork and veal mince
2 tspns coconut oil
satay sauce of your choice - Graeme recommended masterfoods
1 tin (400ml) coconut milk / cream
snowpeas or other vegies of your choice
chopped coriander leaves to serve

 melt coconut oil & heat bowl - 2 minutes, varoma speed soft
add spices and cook 3-4 minutes varoma speed soft
add in lemon grass, garlic, ginger, shallots, coriander roots / stalks, kaffir lime and chilli and chop on speed 6 until it stops hitting the sides. scrape down and repeat.
add mince and mix by turning knob to closed lid and pressing turbo several times until well mixed
melt 2 tspns coconut oil in fry pan then shape mince into large balls and add to pan. cook over med-med high until browned all over
add coconut cream and several large dollops of satay sauce to taste (you don't want a strong satay taste, just mild). turn heat down and simmer gently for about 5-10 mins
add vegies and cook just long enough for vegies to be slightly soft.

serve sprinkled with chopped coriander. serve over rice, or if carb free i think you could either eat it on its own, or eat over shredded wombuk (chinese cabbage)

photo soon!

First trial - Gluten Free Turkish Bread (GF, TMX)

I thought this was so-so and plan to play around with it more but both the girls loved it and ate almost the lot with beetroot dip!

here's my VERY rough "recipe"

i used 500g plain GF flour (orgran brand). i added in around 2-3 tabs each of:
coconut flour, potato starch, lupin flour, tapioca starch and flaxmeal
about 1 tab coconut sugar, 1 tspn salt, 1-2 tabs plain yoghurt, yeast (around 1 sachet) and 1 egg.
i mixed it in my thermomix and just added enough warm water to get the dough i needed. i did 3 minutes on the knead setting
kneaded it a little til smooth and pressed out to shape. let it rise for 30 mins then topped with beaten egg, nigella and sesame seeds and baked at 200'c for 25 mins 

Super easy Chicken & Lentil Korma (GF, TMX)

enough for 2-4 depending on serving size, and whether you're eating it with rice or not.

1 heaped tspn coconut oil
1 large tablespoon full of korma paste
1 chicken breast, cut into 2cm dice
1 tin of coconut cream
1 tin of lentils, rinsed and drained
1/2 bunch coriander, chopped

place oil and paste into thermomix and heat for 4 minutes 100' speed 1

add chicken and cook  for 4 minutes 100' reverse speed soft

add coconut cream and cook for 13 minutes 100' reverse speed soft

add lentils and cook for 5 minutes 100' reverse speed soft

add coriander and stir through and serve :)


i think you could toss some baby spinach through at the end too - i meant to and forgot!

Quickest breakfast ever! (GF, TMX)

So I'm back on my carb-free diet. most of my past recipes don't strictly meet the diet i'm on unfortunately but i'm getting creative again.

breakfasts are a little boring because i can't do toast, cereal, bacon etc. so I vary between eggs in a variety of ways and then decided to go with yoghurt for something different - also for a quick breakfast at work when i haven't had time to eat before we leave for the day.

last week i went into supabarn to get nuts and seeds to put with the yoghurt and found a yummy mix already prepared! but at $10 a jar (the size of a pasta sauce jar) i realised it could only be cheaper to make it myself at home, which I've just done.

you could use this mix in anything - over salads, over the top of a casserole with cheese for a crunchy grilled topping etc

Mixed Nut and Seed Sprinkle
1 part raw almonds
1 part pepitas
1 part sunflower seeds
1 part linseeds
1/2 sesame seeds

place all in thermomix, turn to closed lid. press turbo button once or twice until your mix looks like mine - mostly chopped with a few larger pieces.

pour into jar/s.

i'm keeping mine in the fridge as i know linseeds can easily go rancid but i'm not sure if it's necessary.

Quickest Breakfast Ever!
Plain full fat organic yoghurt for one
3-4 spoonfuls of Mixed Nut and Seed Sprinkle
6 drops stevia (equivalent 2 tspns sweetener of your choice)

mix and eat!

Satay Tofu and Veg (GF)

surprisingly good, this looked like a disaster for a while (i didn't put enough coconut milk in at first and it was nearly solid!) LOL

use any veg, herbs, protein or nuts that take your fancy

about 1/3 cup almond butter (see recipe a few days ago)
1 tin coconut milk
about 10 drops stevia
about 1/2 tspn curry powder
1/2 tspn stock concentrate
juice of half a lime

heat, mixing frequently, until it thickens and gets slightly darker. let cool a bit while you prepare the rest

extra firm tofu, diced
brussels sprouts, quartered
handful of sugar snap peas, ends removed

cook lightly - steam, fry, whatever you want, cool slightly

handful of nuts, lightly toast - i used macadamias and cashews

small cucumber
half a red capsicum
fresh mint

dice / shred

mix the tofu, nuts and vegies, pour sauce over and serve

Almond Coconut Balls (GF, TMX)

These balls were actually a little too coconutty for me. but i think i'll try them again with some lemon and lime zest in them, or with some cacao nibs and cinnamon, or with hazelnut butter and cacao - yum!

270g almonds (i use the organic ones from costco)

you'll need to scrape down every so often as you make the almond butter

Grind on speed 8 until you can hear the change in sound - around 5 seconds

continue to grind on speed 6 until you can hear the sound of the engine change - around 5-10 minutes. as they grind the temperature will rise, that's normal :)

reduce the speed to speed 4 and keep going for another 5-10 minutes until it becomes almost runny and looks like peanut butter.

turn speed up to 8 for a few seconds and you're done.


add in:
80g coconut flour
35g shredded coconut
50g coconut milk
80g coconut oil
9 drops stevia

mix on speed 4 for a few seconds, roll into balls and refrigerate until firm.

homemade almond butter

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

Sang Choy Bow (GF, TMX)

Quick, easy meal that is still healthy and (supposedly) kid-friendly :)

of course in my family i was surprised by ryan eating one small filled leaf willingly and saying it tasted OK ("not good mummy, but OK") before making himself a pesto sandwich (pesto being one of his current 'things'). Rora ate heaps of the meat and tried the lettuce. Emelia on the other hand - usually my least fussy child - put up a huge fuss and barely tried and spat out a mouthful before almost being sent to bed for the fuss !!

on the other hand geoff and i loved it!

1 iceberg lettuce
1 large carrot
4 large firm mushrooms
1 medium red onion
2 tspn rice bran oil
1 tspn sesame oil
500g mince of any kind - i used beef but a friend recommends a veal / pork blend
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbspn gluten free oyster sauce (i used ayam's brand)
 1 tbspn gluten free black bean sauce (i used ayam's brand)
1/2 tspn sweetener of your choice (i used apple juice concentrate but considered maple syrup)
1 tspn cornflour? (optional, i didn't  use it but was thinking i should have as the meat was quite wet and runny)
coriander, finely chopped, to serve

remove the heart / stem of the lettuce and carefully peel each leaf off, keeping it whole. remove the thicker part in the centre bottom of each leaf

wash carrot & cut ends off, cut into 3-4cm pieces. wash mushrooms. peel onion and cut in half. place vegetables into thermomix and chop for 5-10 seconds at speed 6 until finely chopped.

heat oils in frypan then add vegetables, fry, stirring for a few minutes then push to edges of frypan. add meat and break up in smaller pieces. add garlic and fry, stirring. add sauces and cook until mince is cooked through.

if using cornflour sprinkle over and stir for a couple more minutes to thicken.

place a few spoons of the meat / vegie mix inside a lettuce leaf, sprinkle with coriander and roll / fold the edges around it -  and eat!

you can also add finely chopped water chestnuts with the other vegies, or chang's gluten free fried noodles to serve

Waffles (GF, DF, TMX)

based on the recipe that came with our waffle maker.

makes a lot of waffles - around 20 small ones in our maker.

280g self raising gluten free flour, or:
     30g coconut flour,
     20g besan / chickpea flour
     30g flaxmeal
     200g gluten free plain flour, and
     1 tab baking powder
230g rice or other milk
90g nuttelex, melted (or you could probably use rice bran oil)
2 eggs
20g maple syrup
water as required

put everything except water in the tmx and mix on speed 4. scrape down and mix again. then, with tmx on speed 4, slowly add water until batter is just pouring consistency.

cook according to directions for your waffle maker...

HOWEVER: i found that if you wanted crispy crunchy waffles it was better not to spray the maker with cooking spray -if you wanted slightly softer ones, better to spray between EVERY waffle :)

we had ours with maple syrup and chopped fruit (strawberries, mango and watermelon). rora also had hers with nutella.

trying to get motivated for dinner...

where's your favourite place to look for dinner ideas?  especially if you have a thermomix?

even though I don't hang out there so much now, i still head straight for forum thermomix every time I want thermomix recipes :D

not sure if it's because i'm a creature of habit or it's just the best place to look! i love all the blogs and other sites around now but i just can't be bothered to look in a heap of different places. i will quite often google if i'm not sure where i might find a recipe, and often end up on a blog or on taste.com.au, but if i know i'll find a thermomix recipe there, i go straight there :)

so tonight i've got chicken and i'm thinking about..............

Honey Soy Chicken?

Salt and Pepper Chicken with a Thai Dipping Sauce? (could i make this without frying do you think?)

or maybe Chicken Moolie...

Chocolate Balls (yummo!) (GF, TMX)

Based on this recipe...

150g almonds

place in thermomix and grind on speed 8 for 10 seconds

add the remaining ingredients and chop / mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds:

120g pitted dates
1 tspn vanilla
good sprinkle salt
25g cocoa *
35g shredded coconut
15 coconut oil

roll into balls - or you can flatten into a tray, refridgerate and cut into pieces.

* I've tried grinding cacao nibs and using them but they had very little taste - i'd suggest using more if you want to try them.

quick butterscotch custard (GF, DF, TMX)

i wanted a quick dessert tonight, kids had already had icecream so i only made half the usual custard. unfortunatley (?!) they all loved it and tomorrow i'll have to make more LOL this will make a really thick custard

butterscotch custard for 2
30g brown sugar
1 egg
30g gluten free cornflour
250g soy milk (or any milk you like)
splosh of butterscotch liqueur

put all in the bowl, cook for 7 minutes 90' speed 4

i had mine with sliced banana, yum!

Amanda's Brownies (GF, TMX)

Emelia and I just made these brownies for vacation care next week.  Based on Amanda's Fudgey Brownies
(my recipe is doubled, converted to GF and less sugar though i suspect i could lower the sugar further next time...)

280g gluten free plain flour (or 90g brown rice flour, 90g maize / corn flour and 100g tapioca starch)
10g salt
300g brown sugar
300g castor sugar (or low GI raw sugar)
95g cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
420g rice bran oil
8 eggs
110g cold water

1. Heat oven to 140’c. Grease and line 1-2 slice pans (depending on size).

2. Place everything in thermomix and mix on speed 7 for about 20 seconds.

3. Scrape down sides and mix for another 20 seconds speed 7

4. Pour mix into pans and bake for around 30 minutes

5. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

looking for Thermomix recipes???

I'm too scared to count how many links I have on this list now, i'm sure it must be getting close to 100.  It seems hard to believe - it seems like just yesterday that I would google and come up with my blog, Thermomix-er's blog and well, that was nearly it! I'm sure i'm not even close to a full list of what is out there either...

so, if you are here looking for thermomix recipes, and you can't find what you want on my blog, please check my list of blogs, sites and forums! http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/2009/07/where-can-i-find-more-thermomix-recipes.html

Banana Cake (GF, TMX)

I've been searching for the perfect Banana Bread recipe for years, with no luck. This is not banana bread (alas) but is the best banana cake recipe I've ever had!

Modified to gluten free from Trudy's recipe.


115g butter
190g Gluten free Self Raising Flour
150g brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon bi-carb soda
3-4 over-ripe bananas
2 eggs
50g milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Insert the butterfly whisk.
Cream the butter and sugar - whisk at speed 4 until creamy (approx 1 min), stopping once or twice to scrape down sides of TM with spatula.
Add eggs and chopped bananas, whisk till mixed (approx 10 secs). Scrape sides of TM
Add flour, milk, vanilla & bi carb, whisk at speed 3 until combined. Scrape down sides of TM
Spoon mixture into greased and lined tin (I use 20cm ring tin).
Bake approx 40 mins 180C or until skewer inserted in the centre of cake comes out clean.

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

testing - i'm trying to find a program that will format my recipes better for printing etc - but it looks like this is not it - not if it won't actually publish the recipe on my blog.... i'll have to C&P it here!


Gluten Free Waffles

90 g	butter
230 g	milk
2/3 cup	water (forgot to weigh sorry!)
280 g	gluten free plain flour
2 teaspoons	baking powder
2	eggs
2 tablespoons	sugar

1. Place butter in thermomix. Melt - 40 seconds, 80', speed 2
2. Add all other ingredients. Mix - 20 seconds, speed 4 - scrape down half way through.
3. Cook following directions of your waffle maker

cookies for teachers... (GF, TMX)

IMAG0178, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

yesterday i attempted making Lana's gingerbread for teacher gifts but unfotunately put in 2 tablespoons on bicarb instead of 2 teaspoons - bleh!!!! as i was out of ginger i decided to make the German cookies instead

they worked quite well. turns out the conversions to metric i had on the original recipe are WAY out! (1kg flour??!!! should be 450g lol) and i had to add a little xanthan gum for the gluten free version to work properly.

heat oven to 180/190'. line trays with baking paper

450g self raising or plain gluten free flour
225g brown sugar
1 tspn xanthan gum
1 tspn bicarb
1/2 tspn cream of tartar - ONLY if plain flour used

mix on speed 4-5 for around 10 seconds until well mixed and 'sifted'

add 225g soft butter

mix for around 10 seconds on speed 4 until breadcrumb like

add 50g treacle and 1 egg

mix for 2 minutes, closed lid, knead setting.  you may need to give it a stir half way through.

using a well floured board and rolling pin, roll out to around 3mm and cut out shapes. place on trays and bake for 10-12 minutes.

with the original recipe you could join them with jam but i think these are a little fragile for that. you could definitely ice and decorate them like gingerbread though :)

Quirky Jo's Dairy free cream cheese

IMAG0112, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

Finally got around to making this when i was out of avocado for my bagel - mmmm yum! Rora wasn't keen (it's also gluten free) but i really enjoyed it!!!

here's the recipe http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com/2009/06/dairy-free-raw-cream-cheese.html

Flourless apple & lemon cake (GF, TMX)

well, this is not a recipe (yet) as i didn't measure anything when i made it! next time i will write it up i promise!

however i just wanted to report in that I made this after a facebook friend gave me the link, and it was delish!!!!!

i reduced the amount of sugar to 2/3 cup (could possibly reduce to 1/2 cup) and used 2 apples.

basically i ground the chickpeas and added all the ingredients except the apples and mixed on speed 8 until smooth. then added the apples and chopped them on speed 5-6 until i couldn't hear any more big chunks in there.

YUM!