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Topics - Debbiebillg

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1
Festive Seasons / Santa Christmas Cake
« on: November 15, 2013, 01:26:12 pm »
This recipe was on FB on Spread the Nollaig's page and I thought I'd share here.

I think you can just use any cake underneath (vanilla ILB cake maybe ?). Very clever, I thought and how cute for Christmas.


Strawberry Santa Cake

 Ingredients

 1 lb large strawberries
 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
 3-4 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or sugar substitute - to taste)
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 1. Rinse strawberries and cut around the top of the strawberry. Remove the top, (enough for a hat). Clean out the whole strawberry with a paring knife, if necessary (some of them are hollow already. Prep all of the strawberries and set aside.

 2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or Ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill the strawberries with cheesecake mixture.

 3. Once strawberries are filled, top with the 'hats.' Decorate according to photo.

 4. If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving.

2
Babies and Kids / Fairy Dust
« on: October 24, 2013, 02:27:01 am »
This would be very cool to do with your kids. Making fairy dust ! I saw it on Brisbane Kids FB page and thought I'd share it here too.  Better than lollies !

http://schoolmum.net/games/fairy-dust-recipe/

Last Christmas my daughter was living and breathing Rainbow Magic. On Christmas day she woke to a small jar of fairy dust and a letter from her beloved Rachael and Kirsty. There were so many gifts exchanged on the day, but nothing was near as exciting as the little jar of fairy dust and her special note.

Fairy Dust

500 grams of strawberries

Squeeze of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 65 degrees Celsius or 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

Puree the above ingredients until smooth. Pour thinly over the baking paper. Bake for three hours, peel away from the paper and quickly pulse the dried strawberries in your blender or food processor until it resembles a fine powder.

This only makes a small amount, depending on what you are using the fairy dust for you can quickly whiz up some desiccated coconut or rolled oats and mix it through until well combined.

My daughter has a pinch of fairy dust and it takes her to fairy land, it enables the fairies to hear her thoughts and she can speak to them, this was all explained in her little note from her Rainbow Magic friends.

We have sprinkled our Fairy Dust on cupcakes, frozen bananas and many other things. I also think it would be great if you had a fussy little one who could sprinkle this on her meals. Be sure to let me know how you use it, I hope your little fairies love it!

3
Hi All,
We have been saving Qantas frequent flyer points as we would love to take our 3 kids to America for the ultimate holiday ! Before kids I used my frequent flyer points once for a trip to the UK and all it cost me was points. Nowadays though this is all so much different ! If you book a rewards flight, it can cost sooooo much in Airport taxes etc etc and in the end you can sometimes get a much better deal by paying for you flight ! Sooo what's the point !

I was speaking to my neighbour today, and they never use their frequent flyer points for air travel. They use it to pay for accommodation or car hire and they just pay for their flights and get the best deal  ! So I wondered since there are many travellers on here, what do you all do to get the best value for your points ? We have quite a lot of points, and we're probably not looking at going until DS4 (nearly 5) is about 7 and we just want to work it that we get the best value after saving all these years !

There's got to be tricks to all of this, so I'm hoping you all have some good advice !

4
I have been offline for a few days so I apologise in advance if anyone has already posted about this, I did a quick search and couldn't find anything in Chit Chat, so here goes ......

My laptop has been running like a dog lately when using this site only !! My kids do get on my pc and do all sorts but ?? Anyhow I have been whinging at my techo head DH about not being able to get on the forum properly (for about a week I think)....... I could connect but it was verrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyy slow to load a page ! So I just couldn't use it.  So, today he has had my pc in bits thoroughly cleaned it, wiped everything and reinstalled windows etc etc

So I went into google, and in the address bar at the top I typed in www.forumthermomix.com and it takes me to www.recipecommunity.com.au ????  How did this happen ??? Once I hit enter I can see the address change to Recipe Community ?

If I do a google search for Forum Thermomix and then click on Forum Thermomix in the returned search then it takes me here !

Is anyone else finding this as well ? So is this HO taking control and redirecting everyone ?

5
Non Thermomix Recipes / Tandoori Chicken Salad
« on: August 16, 2012, 11:53:57 am »
Now for those who don't like a plate of salad too much (like me), give this a go.  It is really, really delicious. I could eat this over and over for dinner, it is so tasty ! You don't get left with that unsatisfied feeling after you've just had a salad for dinner ! Everyone always raves about this !  It's even good enough to serve to visitors and the salad can be made in advance.  I copied this from a coffee shop.

This salad is made in individual serving bowls.  They need to be large and deep bowls.

Ok so this is what you do:

Layer in the bowl

Finely shredded lettuce
Finely sliced red onion or eschalots
Sliced cucumber
Sliced raw mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes sliced in half
A thickish layer of grated carrot
A thickish layer of grated cheese

Of course, anything else you like in a salad (ie avocado, baby spinach)

When ready to serve, put some balsamic vinegar on the salad.

Salad is done ......... now for the chicken.  I have made this since pre-TMX days so I always buy a jar of Pataks Tandoori paste (not the simmer sauce, must be the paste, I used 3 heaped teaspoons for 600g chicken).  In a frypan I fry some chicken breast sliced into like stir fry pieces with a little oil (the photo shows cubed chicken as that's what I had in the freezer, strips are better or whatever you prefer).  Then mix in the tandoori paste.  If the chicken is dry you can add a little yoghurt / sour cream (I found it didn't need it).  Just enough to cook the chicken,  but do not add too much as you don't need any sauce on the salad.  Cook until the chicken is cooked.

Place the chicken pieces on top of the salad. Put a really good dollop of yoghurt or sour cream on top and if desired some sweet chilli sauce or chilli sauce or whatever you like.  

Another tip, we also sometimes do this salad with cooked and sliced chicken schnitzel on top, then sour cream and sweet chili sauce. You could play around with any meat you like really.

If you ask me this is the only way to eat a salad, it's so yummy and healthy too ! We are having this for dinner tomorrow so I will try and put a pic up tomorrow !!!

6
Chit Chat / Suet replacement ???
« on: May 17, 2012, 01:22:12 pm »
Hiya everyone, we are making a very traditional English meal here tomorrow of Steak Puddings ! In the UK they are sold in fish and chip shops (but they have kidney in them and there's no way I'm making them with that yuck !) They are very rarely made in our family and everyone's flocking to my house tomorrow night ! Basically you make a suet pastry and then you make a steak filing and then you make them up in miniature pudding tins and then steam them (we're doing them in the pressure cooker).  Here's a link to a recipe and picture if anyone's interested. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/01/how-cook-perfect-steak-kidney-pudding
'The recipe calls for suet and the only suet you can buy here is a mix of dehydrated suet and flour. I'm really not keen on using the animal based suet.   In the UK they sell a vegetable based suet replacement but that isn't available here. 
Does anyone have any ideas on what would be a suitable replacement ? Would copha grated work maybe ?
What do you think ?  This has to succeed lol or we'll be very hungry lol !!

7
Chit Chat / What brand of pasta machine is best ?
« on: October 10, 2011, 12:19:50 pm »
I bought a while ago a cheapo manual pasta machine from Aldi.  Thought it would be a bit of a novelty fun thing to do with kids here and there. Well to my huge suprise, it was my husband who got right into making pasta. But the cheapo one broke and of course it was half way thru making pasta for dinner that night so hmmmm, very untimely. Funny thing was though I was out and he started making pasta as a suprise, but the only problem with that was he hadn't organised anything to go with it.  That is such a male thing isn't it lol. And after all I was at the shops so I could have easily picked up something ........... that's a whole other story but, had to share lol.

Anyhow, now he wants a good pasta machine.  So what is a good pasta machine and what do you use ? 

8
I just saw these on ebay and thought they'd be good also to make meat balls. My kids love meat balls but I get dermatitis and hate getting my hands into mixtures like this as it can really set my dermatitis off.  So I thought these would mean I could make them a whole lot quicker (and hence more often) without having to get my hands into the mixture.

What do you think ?  Might also make some falafel too, mmmm.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FALAFEL-MAKER-SCOOP-PROFESSIONAL-GADGET-ISRAEL-KOSHER-/110594084729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bfebcf79

P.S Can you tell I love ebay lol

9
We do cruises fairly regularly and our travel agent we normally use rang us to offer us a too hot to miss deal on a 14 night cruise to NZ. So we've booked it and we're going on the 29th January !  Good thing about booking at the last minute is you don't have much of a countdown.  Just a couple of weeks to go and we're off. I think in 14 nights I may even forget how to cook and clean ! Our kids (6, 4 and 2) are all excited. So can't wait ! I may just miss the Thermomix just a wee bit.

10
Chit Chat / Are there any consultants here from Brisbane Southside ?
« on: November 11, 2010, 11:23:27 am »
A friend of a friend is looking for a consultant on the Southside, could you please provide your contact number/s.
Thanks
Debbie

11
A friend gave me this recipe today and have just made them using the TMX.  They are sooooo yummy.  I didn't write down what I did though but it's pretty easy to convert and when I did a google search I found the recipe she gave me on Better Homes and Gardens so have included the link as well.  They are an Italian biscuit.

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/tv/-/watch/22339171/pinolate-biscuits/page/2/

You firstly need to toast 100g of hazelnuts and let cool.

Process 120g blanched almonds and 200g caster sugar until you have a fine powder and then add 3 egg whites. Pour mix into a separate bowl.

For the second mix add the 100g of toasted hazelnuts removing skins (I just rubbed a handful between my hands and the skins flake off easily), add 200g ground almonds and then 200g sugar, 1tbsp honey, 80g butter and 1 egg white. Mix, together.

Gently combine the two mixes and then put in the fridge for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 150g.

Chop 150g pistacchio nuts and 180g pine nuts coarsely and put in a bowl. Once the above mix is chilled take small balls and roll in the nut mix (pistacchio and pine nuts) and place on trays (flatten slightly, but they do spread so not too much). Wet your hands because it is sticky.

Cook for 20mins or until lightly browned. Let cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Ummmmm they won't last long, they're so yummy.




12
Starters and Snacks / Coconut Prawns with Mango Sauce
« on: October 15, 2010, 01:11:46 pm »

Name of Recipe:  Coconut Prawns with Mango Sauce
Number of People:  MMMM depends they really are very morish; there's 2 adults and 3 kids here and it was a struggle
Ingredients: 

Coconut Prawns:  1kg of large uncooked prawns, Roughly 1 cup of cornflour, 2 egg whites lightly beaten, 140g Shredded coconut

Mango Sauce ingredients: 425g can of mango slices, 2 tbsp mayonnaise, 2 tbsp mango chutney


Preparation:
MANGO SAUCE:
Place all ingredients in the tmx and mix on speed 5 - 6 for a few seconds until there are no lumps. 

PRAWNS:
Peel the prawns, removing the head but leave the tails on. Dip the prawns in the cornflour and shake away any excess. Then dip the prawns in the egg white and then in the shredded coconut.

Deep fry in oil of choice (the oil will need to be thrown away afterwards so don't spoil the oil in a very large deep fryer if you have one, maybe use a saucepan with a smaller amount of oil ?). The oil needs to be quite hot, they should cook quite quickly, and cook until golden.

Photos:

Tips/Hints:  If you're from Queensland and you've ever been to the Thai Orchard Restaurant (at Mt Gravatt or Springwood), these taste the same, they are sooooooooo yummy and great even as a meal with salad thru summer. 


13
Hi All,
I have relatives coming over from the UK in November, and am wondering whether to grab the opportunity to purchase:

“Fast and Easy Cooking” for TM31 with 300 Recipes, 3rd Edition
“Everyday Cooking” for TM31 with 214 recipes

I would get them sent to my Aunty in the UK for her to bring out to us. She's near Blackburn, so hopefully postage to her would be a lot more reasonable than to Australia.

Given our English background, I'm hoping these books may have some traditional UK recipes.  One in particular we'd really like to get hold of is Malt loaf.  My mum and dad looovveeee malt loaf and you don't really get anything like that here.

Thanks in advance if you can help.

Debbie

14
Introduce Yourself / Hi From Brisbane
« on: August 09, 2010, 02:32:13 pm »
Hiya all, and what a fantastic forum. Such lovely members and a wealth of information. I have had my thermomix for about 6 weeks now. Funny thing was a g/f of mine has had one for 18 months, when she bought it she was living interstate and I freaked at how much it cost (her husband bought it as a suprise christmas present over in Perth). She's now back here and I have watched her use it with interest. My dear friend before moving to Perth could only cook if it came out of a packet or a jar and the standing joke now with her husband is that he brought home a different wife from Perth ha ha.  Anyhow we finally decided to get one after doing much research ourselves as well (I did a lot of lurking on the forum). My g/f always used to tempt my husband with rock cakes out of the EDC. When I discussed buying one with him (he's pretty cool), he said yeh great we can make our own rock cakes.  Well suprise, suprise HE made his own rock cakes a couple of days ago.
We have 3 young boys (an almost 6yo, 3 1/2 yo and an almost 2yo) so we find it great with the kids. I love how when you cook on heat once the time is up it keeps stirring it for you (so easy to forget things on the stove with kids). We have made cheese and bacon rolls quite a few times now (last lot was a triple batch but did the dough in 3 lots though). This is all my eldest son wants for school lunches now! We have made the dough for a few of our friends so they can finish them off at home, and everyone loves them. Tonight we made Butter Chicken from the Indian cookbook (after checking reviews on here) and then chapati bread to go with it.  It was very yummy, we love curries. I'm a bit fussy with chicken and only like chicken breast so I avoid ordering in restaurants so great to cook my own. I think I've typed too much now. But just wanted to thank everyone for your invaluable information. Debbie

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