Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Suggestions and Complaints => Topic started by: wapred on October 05, 2010, 05:44:20 pm
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Hi,
I am a mother of 2, who works full time. I bought my Thermomix about 10mths ago, thinking this would save me lots of time and healthier cooking.
I find it is great for cakes, biscuits, smoothies and dips but not really happy with the meal cooking. I find everything I do, does not turn out good and bland. My family are beginning to dread what I am going to put in front of them and now I seem to be lost for ideas and I am becoming very negative. I have been to the local cooking classes but find them the same all the time and don't really learn anything new. I have just gong through the website again tonight to try and inspire myself, maybe I don't have the time that you need to experiment with the Thermo.
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hi wapred
wat a shame that you r feeling dissapointed with your tm. my thoughts on things not turning out, could possibly be because of overprocessing or for the blandness part not enough seasoning. i have always found wen it comes to cooking, i cook things to my taste, by this i mean tasting it if it seems bland seasoning it accordingly.
some of our favourite recipes from this website are the cacciatore chicken risotto and the guinness stew.
from the everyday cookbook we love the lasagne recipe. i also have the indian cookbook which have some really tasty recipes in it such as the butter chick or the chicken in yoghurt, this one especially quick and easy to prepare. the meat on the menu cookbook is also full of really tasty meals and soups.
anyway sorry if i have rattled on abit, i hope i have given u some ideas of things to try if you havent already!
dont give up on ur tm, i also have 2 kids and my 3 yr old eats so much more now i have been cooking with my tm! it might just be a case of trying completely different things to wat u have already been doing and seeing how they turn out.
:) happy cooking
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Hi Wapred,
sorry you're not getting on with your TMX yet. I can understand what you mean, and also found many of the main meal recipes bland initially (as does my Mum). Maybe because not so much water evaporates the flavours get diluted????? No idea.
I prefer to go with main meal recipes from this forum, or which were recommended by the forum, rather than from the main recipe books from Oz and UK (although some are lovely).
Why don't you give the meatballs a go, with the sauce. They're great. I also love to do rice, fish and veggies with the feta and lemon sauce which is in Full Steam Ahead.
Brazen's 'Creamy Chicken' is another nice, easy main meal (I may have the name slightly wrong on that, but close enough to find it, I hope :) )
I find that if others on the forum have tried a main meal recipe and enjoyed it, then generally speaking so will I and my family. We have a lot of discerning foodies here, plus busy Mums with a family to please ;D
My Mum says that the apricot chicken in the Oz recipe book is lovely, but I can't get the proper ingredients here. That's another one to try.
The risottos (in the UK book at least, haven't tried the Oz recipes) are also very nice. I always use a bit more wine than they say in the recipe for a bit more flavour.
Hope you get some success soon. It must feel very disheartening.
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Sorry you aren't finding main meals you like.
Have you tried converting your usual recipes?
I find the risottos too bland for my liking (think I've given up on risotto).
Going by recipe I like the chicken in yoghurt and the butter chicken, both mild but full of flavour.
The honey soy chicken wingettes are really yummy.
I do a chicken stir fry that is great.
The Beef in Beer was nice. You could always add whatever flavours you like ie more garlic, chili, whatever you usually use to add flavour.
What have you made? What do you normally eat?
Caroline - feta and lemon sauce - that sounds divine!
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Sounds like you may just have to have dips and cake for dinner everynight! ;)
It may be linked to the foods you ate prior to having your thermomix. If your food (knowingly or unknowingly) had lots of additives in, you'd be used to quite intense 'untrue' flavours. Most people are these days. We had to go additive free about 18 months ago due to my daughter's reactions to them and intially all of the food seemed tasteless and boring. Now though, our tastebuds are used to simpler flavours and our thermie to us, produces heavenly tasty food.
If you haven't read into it much, I can recommed the books 'additive alert' and 'fed up'. I think they both have websites with info too if you do a google search. At sue dengate's recent talk in adelaide she was saying that not only do they sneak msg into our foods under different names and numbers to trick the consumer, now they have another number (can't remember it I'm afraid) which more than triples the effect of msg! Frightening!
Give your tastebuds time to adjust and keep experimenting. I love the butter chicken-packed full of flavour :)
Let us know how you go down the track.
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I also was sorry to read this thread wapred but i can relate to your problems as I didn't like anything much when I first started out and the EDC had nothing that really turned my tastebuds on. The first recipe I did from the forum that I actually liked was this one for rabbit stew (substituted chicken thighs for the rabbit though) http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=149.0.
There are heaps of delicious recipes on the forum, just browse in the mains section to start with and check out the reviews. You soon find out which are the most popular and with the tweaks that go on from our members, there are so many more flavours that can be added or ingredients altered to suit what you have or what you like to eat.
Thermie crew is right in her posting - the TMX is a completely different way of cooking good, healthy food from scratch. Often the casseroles taste even better the next day when flavours have had more of a chance to develop.
Keep at it, try the recipes with the most reviews and you will end up loving your TMX like the rest of us.
Try to convert your own favourite recipes, if you need a hand just put the recipe up here and someone will convert it for you. It all takes time but after a few conversions your confidence will be sky high. Good luck.
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I think that's definitely the answer, JD - learn to convert your own recipes, since that's the kind of food your family likes and is used to eating. That's what I mostly do, though I do use recipes from the cookbooks too, just tweaking them to add more flavour, or change the flavours to what we like.
Eg. For risotto: chop onion & garlic, add 200g cubed chicken & oil, cook 4 mins, then add everything else (but use 380g rice + 180g mushrooms so it doesn't overflow, plus 2 heaped tsps of vege stock concentrate to give more flavour)... and sprinkle with parmesan and freshly ground pepper. Whenever I make this at a demo, everyone loves it, and says it's full of flavour.
I usually add more tomato paste to dishes with tomato in them (eg. bolognaise/pasta sauces), as well as a splash of balsamic vinegar, a tsp of Rapadura (or brown sugar) and usually more vege stock concentrate than it says. I'll often add more herbs and spices too :)
If you need help converting some of your family favourites to tmx, let us know :)
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I agree with what everyone has said so far, so I won't add to it. (sorry I did add to it!) Have you tried Baf's chicken dish?http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1063.0
This is an all in one dish that your family may like. I've had my TMX for almost 2 years (wow we must have a party for him!) I still cook most of my main meat dishes out of the TMX. The family generally prefer this, but then I use the TMX for vegies, bread, biscuits, cakes, sweets, sauces, custards and of course all the chopping etc needed for the main meals.
eg if we're having a quiche I'll make the pastry in the TMX, chop and cook onion, bacon etc in the TMX, them combine the milk and eggs in the TMX before putting it into the pastry.
Keep trying and the best of luck.
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Hi,
yes all suggestions so far have been spot on. I want to say that if you haven't made the TMX stock that is a good place to start and do add it to just about all the main meals you cook, it will certainly help to enhance the flavours. It makes a huge difference to the taste and then you know it is healthy and it should overcome some of the blandness factor.
Do let us know how you get on and hope that things start looking up soon.
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I also use my TMX more as an aid for preparing food rather than trying to cook up full meals in it. For example, lasagne - I chop up my veges (and even meat sometimes) and then I'll fry them in a separate pan. I'll grate up the cheeses in the TMX and then make up a bechamel. It is a big time saver.
I've converted a few of my curry recipes - anything casseroley seems to work okay and I'll sometimes make up a quick pasta or rissottod in the TMX. The Moroccan Lamb recipe on the forum was also a winner in my family. But these full meals are more of an easy stand-by than a regular feature in our household.
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It is so interesting to see how everyone uses their TMX. I use mine every night for cooking our main meal, but will probably go back to using the stovetop once or twice a week when our boys are a little older and life gets easier (for things like bolognaise).
I also think the best advice is to try a few of the forum favourites and also try to convert a few of your own recipes. If you can find a few staple thermomix recipes that you all enjoy it will save so much time and energy each week. Perhaps let us know the types of meals that your family enjoys now and we can point you in the direction of some similar forum recipes. We have just about everything on here - burritos, stews, bakes, soups, pasta meals, quiches, meat and three veg and heaps more. :)
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when you bought your TM wapred what sort of meals did you envisage yourself making in it?
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wapred, if you could tell us what you would like to cook as a main meal, we could help you convert it to get you going. Working and with kiddies you obviously don't have the time to play around. Let us know what will help.
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LOL yeah I can totally see where you are coming from. I am not a "cook" and my family are all "plain" eaters, meat and 3 veg type stuff. So it is hard to find recipes to use every day in the Thermomix. I am a newbie too and have very little time on my hands to experiment. My first go at bread was a flop, it didn't rise. I then tried converting one of my own recipes and this was a minor disaster, mainly because I put way to much ingredients in but I'm going to keep trying. I love this website for inspiration http://cookdinner.com/ it has some fantastic recipes. The recipe I tried to convert was Herb Cream Sage & Oregano Penne but I also tried adding chicken to it so it ended up a bit too thick. Once I have got it right, I will post it.... unless someone beats me to it lol. It is sooo full of flavour, even my pasta hating husband likes this one. Good luck, willl be very interested to hear how you get on.
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it took me a few months of using the tmx before i felt like i wasn't having disaster after disaster 8)
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Don't give up warped, I'm sure with the forums help we can get you through this problem.
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I agree with what everyone has said so far, so I won't add to it. (sorry I did add to it!) Have you tried Baf's chicken dish?http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=1063.0
This is an all in one dish that your family may like. I've had my TMX for almost 2 years (wow we must have a party for him!) I still cook most of my main meat dishes out of the TMX. The family generally prefer this, but then I use the TMX for vegies, bread, biscuits, cakes, sweets, sauces, custards and of course all the chopping etc needed for the main meals.
eg if we're having a quiche I'll make the pastry in the TMX, chop and cook onion, bacon etc in the TMX, them combine the milk and eggs in the TMX before putting it into the pastry.
Keep trying and the best of luck.
Good that Cookie stepped in! This is the recipe which I was trying to describe, but got the title hopelessly wrong :-)) :D
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My Mum says that the apricot chicken in the Oz recipe book is lovely, but I can't get the proper ingredients here. That's another one to try.
If it is the apricot nectar that is the issue, I don't use it, as I have a pantry full of preserved apricots (like canned apricots). I use the syrup from them in the first part of the recipe, and then make up the weight with the fruit halves, works just as well and yes this is a yummy recipe. Sorry to hear that Wapred isn't happy, I say stick with it too!
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My Mum says that the apricot chicken in the Oz recipe book is lovely, but I can't get the proper ingredients here. That's another one to try.
T
There is a recipe on this site for apricot nectar if that's any help.
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=2310.0
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yoohoo wapred, where are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu??????????????? ;D
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Thanks both - yes, it's the nectar that's the issue. I tried doing a substitute (I forget what I did) but it turned out far too sweet for us and I really didn't like it. However, Mum isn't a sweet thing person either, and said that it isn't particularly sweet when she makes it. So clearly it was my substitution that was the problem.
I'll get around to trying your suggestions, as she really does enthuse about this recipe.
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carolinew what about just natural apricot juice or a tin of apricots drained of the liquid/syrup and mixed up in the thermomix with maybe adding a little water if its too thick as a replacement?? we can get nectar in france so its funny you cant get it in the uk ..it is the uk right...forgive me if this is not at all what you were talking about as my brain doesnt seem to be functioning much these days being kept awake by my 2yo DD!
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I use pear juice as the apricot nectar in Aus is full of crud - sugar and stuff. Otherwise just use a can of apricots in natural juice. They both work well.
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Well I wish I new you all in person you have been so inspiring and I have taken all your comments on board. Thank you soo much :) :) :).
I have this week made a huge effort. I have done the meatballs and penne but with chicken which has turned out great, made Is's bread rolls another hit and also the chicken kievs which were very sucessful I must say. Did the mash but still came out quite lumpy, any suggestions???? I have made my own savoury mince which was good as find the kids hard with the TMX.
I made the Nutella for the kids but used milk chocolate and only put half qty of cocoa powder and half of powered milk. I must say this tasted like it had come from the supermarket shelf & the best ginger nuts ever yum yum. Tomorrow I am going for the mongolian lamb. I am also attempting my own vietnamese rolls so I will see how these go..
I think I am seriously waffling now, so sorry I could now type on here for ever.
Thank you all
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ok, so you seem to be travelling alright and I would say you need to cook your potatoes more if they are lumpy and puree. don't try and 'tweak' recipes before you have tried them - you are only a newbie after all, and don't get hung up on being perfect cos no one ever is. follow the recipe and then tweak if its not to your liking.
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So glad to hear you are having successes. The potatoes may be in too bigger pieces. I know I cut them too big the first few times I did mash and they weren't cooked.
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Waffle on as much as you like wapred, it's wonderful to hear things are starting to go well for you now that you've decided to seriously give mains a go. I dice my potato no more than 3cm, never any lumps ( I cook them in the basket). Better to overcook than undercook them for success. Nice to see you are tweaking recipes and creating others to suit what your family likes - no holding you back now. This forum has done what it does best - inspire people. Another happy customer 8) 8)
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glad things are improving!!
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all sounds positive, a recipe we go back to regularly is the Beef strog EDC, we have tweaked it by leaving out the 100ml wine, using 800grms of meat (both to reduce the liquid to solid ratio) and adding a dash (20 - 40ml) brandy.. oh yeah I am going to make this tonight now.
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Fantastic news wapred. Don't forget to let us know about your successes and failures.
Have a look at my holey cake here for an incredible failure. It tasted lovely though.
http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=3779.0
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Yay! Glad to hear you're feeling more inspired - sounds like you had a much better week!! ;D
Don't worry, when I first made mashed potatoes I cut them too big, and probably mixed them too fast with the butterfly (can't remember) and bent the butterfly!! :-))
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Hooray!!! So happy to hear you are having some success. I remember when I first bought my machine I overprocessed everything and ended up with mush (in a variety of different flavours ;)). It is such a different way of cooking that it takes a little while to adjust too. Once you find a few more main meals that get the tick of approval you won't look back. :)
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Don't give up wapred......perseverance does pay off ;)
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Great news wapred, I love hearing about what people have been making in their TM, whether good or bad.Like Chelsea, I overprocessed everthing when I first had my TM, made some interesting soups :D :D :D
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I love soup......................................... ;D
Glad to hear is is going better for you.
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We had our best soup yet the other night, even thoughit came about because of a stuff up. Made the buritos from the meat on the menu cookbook, and started out halving the recipe as i only had one can of beans. Got distracted by children, and added the full quantity of water. The 'sauce' was soup texture, so I then added a tin of baked beans- still too thin so I added the chicken to the soup and turned the burittos into casa dia and served them on the side. My husband commented on what a great soup i had made- very flavoursome! I was glad my disaster worked out ok. ;D good to hear you have had some successes wapred!
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That's whats forum member Bron always told us to do in the early days - turn savoury mess ups into soup and desserts into ice-cream. I think more disasters are caused through either over processing, lack of reading or reading incorrectly than perhaps the recipe being incorrect. I usually make a note down the side of 1/2 quantities otherwise I am likely to do exactly the same as you pinkscrapbooker. You only need to be distracted, as you now know.
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In the early days though (before the book was reprinted) if you carefully followed almost any of the EDC savoury recipes you would end up with mush. Thankfully now they have revised their processing times. :)
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Try the beef stroganoff with either chicken or beef in the EDC cookbook cook in the morning or the day before and heat up as desired our family favourite serve with pasta
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This is such good news wapred!! I was feeling really depressed for you - it made me write to all my customers to see how they were going. Good on ya for finding confidence in yourself and the TMX! :-* :-*
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warpred, glad you have come through OK. We all make mistakes when we first got our machines, my chooks ate very well for a couple of days. I didn't even have an excuse of working or kids, so you are doing really well. I still don't cook a lot of main meals in the TMX, but when I do I am surprised at how good it is.
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I'm so pleased that you've had some success wapred. We all have failures from time to time, but they are usually well balanced with wonderfully delicious successes!
Do check out the main meals section and make sure you look at the Recipe Book Reviews section. Good luck for your continued triumphs!
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Glad to hear you are having some successes now. Keep at it and concentrate on family faves
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Yes, great news Warpred. Look forward to hearing more from you as you have time.
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Hi there. I stuffed up my Hollandaise sauce completely the first time. Also, the first time I made mashed potatoes I used Dutch cream potatoes and when I was supposed to put the butterfly in I found everything was one big mash anyway. I just found it is a big learning curve at the start and I am at the point now where I have only had my thermie for about 6 weeks but I couldn't live without it. I actually find it exciting to try to modify old favourite recipes but if you muck them up at least you pretty much know they will taste great but may not look perfect!! after the first few tries I thought I had made a huge mistake by buying a thermie but I honestly can say that this the best kitchen appliance I have ever owned. Keep persisting!