Hi guys i was hoping someone might be able to help me....
i am making the edc pizza dough quite abit lately for yummy pizza pockets and sometimes (like last night) i find it nearly impossible to roll out the dough and very elastic, it just wont stay rolled out!  i hope you can understand what i am saying...
does anyone know what i am doing wrong??

thanks 

Recipe Name:   Melting Chocolate Puddings
Book Name:     Budget Busters
Review:           Could do with some improvements. Steamed the puddings for 25 minutes and maybe i should have cooked them for 5 more minutes as they tasted quite floury. ( this is the second go i have had at these and both times they tasted quite floury).  They were very sweet, so possibly the sugar could be reduced.  They have the potential to be good, so will give them another go and i think this time i will bake them in the oven as suggested as well in the book. 
Oh one more thing, 1 tsp vanilla essence is in the ingredients list but it is not mentioned again in the method.  I would just add that with the eggs and cornflour.
I am determined to get these right as they are gluten free so dh would be pleased!
Score: (out of 5*)  3* out 5*

So this is my first attempt at making my own lip balm, so anyone's advice or experiences would be appreciated!

Lip Balm

2 T beeswax
2 T shea butter
2 T coconut oil
few drops of your favourite essential oil or flavouring eg. vanilla or chocolate!

Firstly melt the beeswax, i started the temperature at 60 degrees but it wasnt melting too well, so went upto 70 then eventually 80 degrees.  it took a few minutes to melt, around 3 minutes.
Then add the shea butter and coconut oil and continuing melting at 90 degrees.  Add oils or flavours now.  
It only took around a minute or two for this to melt into a liquid.  Then pour into small containers and allow to set.

I am presently waiting for mine to set, but i have tested it while still warm and it feels lovely and moisturising on my lips!

I got this recipe off of a wonderful website i have been spending alot of time on lately called organic authority
oh one last thing i wasnt sure how well the beeswax in particular would come off of the tm bowl, but after washing it out well with hot water i can not feel or see any residue on the bowl.

I love a mint sauce or jelly to put on my roast lamb, so decided that i should make my own today and use up some of that mint that is growing wildly in the backyard.  I was surprised at just how simple it was to make!

Ingredients
5 Sprigs of Mint, stems removed
1 small Shallot
1 small clove of garlic
2 Tbs Cider Vinegar
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Put all ingredients in TM blend on spd 10 until pureed.  I found that i couldn't get a real smooth puree in the TM and that there was still some small lumps of garlic in the sauce but we still enjoyed it.  You could warm it up if you wanted to but you can serve it cold also.  Great for roast lamb and a good substitute for store bought!

Converted from norecipes.com website

My thermie has been playing up, not kneading properly and i tried to grate some parmesan cheese in it today and it couldnt grate it, it was like the blades were spinning but nothing was happening... and wen i got the blades out they were soo hot it burnt my finger. then i thought i would try to sharpen the blades and threw some ice in but they didnt chop either , same thing as the cheese the ice cubes were just bouncing around over the spinning blades but not cutting them! 
so i rang stuart from thermomix and he thinks it is the blade unit itself and i am getting some more sent to me, but i wont get them til next week.....   so it completely wrecked my dinner plans and left me scratching my head trying to remember how i cook a meal the traditional way!!  boy do i remember now how much i hate cutting onions and grating cheese lol!
anyway i was wondering has anyone else had this problem with there tm??
wish me luck for a weekend without my tm

We are very excited to being having a cooking class here in Corowa, so if anyone has friends or family in the area that might be interested in coming along, please let them know.  We don't get cooking classes out here very often so we are trying to get a good turnout!
It is on Sunday July 11 at 1.00pm at The Chocolate Factory, Mill Street, Corowa
Please see attached flyer for more details!
Thanks 

Name of Recipe: Chicken and Vegetable Hotpot
Number of People: Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Onions peeled and quartered
20g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500g Chicken Breast diced or chicken thigh fillets
Approx 300g Mixed Veg of Your Choice diced up( i used brocoli, celery, peas and beans, if i had carrots i would have used them to)
2 Potatos diced
1 tbl Veg Stock Concentrate or 1 chick stock cube
200mL water
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper
white wine to taste (approx 50-100ml)
1 tbl cornflour
3 tbl water , extra


Preparation:
Dice onions 5 sec spd 7.  Add 20g oil. Saute 100 degrees 5 min spd 1.
Add vegies and potato, stock, water, mustard powder, sage and season. Cook for 15 min 100 deg rev speed soft .
Add diced chicken and wine.  Cook for 10 min 100 deg rev   speed soft  .
If desired you can thicken by mixing cornflour and extra water and adding to dish and mixing in, but we liked it at the consistency it was

Photos:

Tips/Hints:
Not sure you can really call this a hotpot when made in the Thermomix???  
Adapted from Australian Healthy Cooking Guide by Caron Milham

members' comments

rainbow - it was very tasty, DH finished it off but I did feel that it was more like a soup than a Hot Pot, maybe I cut the vegies to small? We did enjoy it though.

JD - this was a nice, easy one to cook for tea. Only used 1 onion, added a clove of garlic, used 630g defatted thighs which I left in big pieces.  Thickened it with a mixture of gravox and cornflour. Might add a bit of sambal oelek next time but we really enjoyed it - thanks Em.

KerrynN - As JD did, we used chicken thighs, only 1 onion and added a clove of garlic.
I used fresh sage leaves and put in about 4 or 5 - I haven't used sage before and I think that this may have been a bit too much as I think it overpowered the other flavours. It was still good though and was a fantastic recipe for a quick, simple and healthy dinner. One I will definitely make again for a school night dinner. DH also thought we could add bacon next time.

Made this again tonight with the dried sage and the bacon added. Used different vegies (pepper, eggplant, broccoli, carrot, zucchini, mushroom) but the kids ate them all - much to my surprise! Loved this - a quick, simple and healthy dinner - even with the bacon.

Hally - Thanks, have had a taste, I would put bacon and maybe garlic next time. I used chicken breast, still moist and tasty. I am a chicken breast fan. I know ds will really like this.

Wonder -  Used peas, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and carrots. The vegetables went very mushy even though I only added the broccoli and zucchini with the chicken so the sauce is a nice shade of green! I had a taste of the gravy and it tasted pretty good, it should be lovely for dinner tomorrow after it's been left overnight.

Amy -  this was a quick, easy and tasty meal. I had this on the table in less than 30 minutes. Thanks for the recipe em.

So we are going to a themed 'countries of the world' dress and cook up party! we are going as scottish, so getting the kilts happening and learning a little jig, but i am abit stuck on what i should cook...... does anyone have any nice scottish recipes for tmx? and no we dont want to make haggis!!!!!
i have been googling it and will continue to , but nothing is appealing to my tastebuds just yet..
tia