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Messages - Merlin

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646
Vegetarian / Re: Lentil Bolognese (with photo)
« on: October 20, 2010, 09:55:18 am »
Have made this as well. Have to confess that for my twins ( one of whom is low iron deficient) I did add a small amount of beef mince but my 17 yo stepdaughter who is vegetarian absolutely loved it and believe me, she is extraordinarily fussy with whatever food she eats. Obviously I had to make two batches, one with and without meat. Also leftovers freeze really well and as my stepdaughter doesn't live with us  full time I just throw it in the microwave for a quick dinner when needed.

647
Soups / Re: Chicken & Vegie Soup
« on: October 20, 2010, 09:35:44 am »
Thanks for recipe Judydawn. Made this and even my husband who is very fussy ( read anal) about food said it was delicious. Also, fantastic way to use up leftover bits of veggies in fridge. The way I cooked it was with leftover roast chicken. I reduced the overall cooking time as the chicken was obviously  cooked already and I just deboned the chook and took the skin off. I added the chicken after 15 minutes of cooking time and overall used about 30 minutes cooking time to make sure the vegetables and chicken were well cooked through  As I use gluten free pasta I added GF angel hair pasta about 3 minutes before the end of cooking time and the final result was magnificent. Thanks again- I could almost feel the therapeutic benefits of the soup occurring whilst we were all devouring it!,

648
Vegetarian / Vecon vegetable stock
« on: October 08, 2010, 03:29:42 am »
I have used this product for a while now. I get it at my local health food store. It is vegan and has GM free ingredients as well as being gluten free. It is a concentrated stock similar to the one you can make in the EDC. As I had a jar of this open when I got my thermomix I have been using this in recipes which need the stock concentrate. When I have finished this jar I will make my own vegetable stock concentrate and see how it compares but it would be interesting to see if other people use it and what they think. 
I know it is better to make your own so you know what precisely goes into it but i just thought I'd mention it especially with summer holidays etc coming up in Australia and if people take their TM caravanning etc it might be a good product to take along for convenience etc.

649
Chit Chat / Re: Trotters
« on: October 05, 2010, 10:20:31 am »
Don't tell my Dad!!! My parents are German and my Dad's favourite dish of all time is called Eisbein which is literally pickled pigs trotters. If he ever goes to Europe for a holiday, it is the first thing he orders on the menu. Don't ask me how to cook them- I believe it means a lot of slow cooking which our thermies aren't designed for but I can tell you I have eaten some of his pork trotters occasionally and whilst they might sound awful at first hand, they taste absolutely delicious, especially if you add in some sauerkraut or rotkohl (red cabbage) and Kloesse (potato dumplings).
Actually whilst I am at it, does Gretchen (Gertbysea) have a specific recipe for Kloesse for the thermomix???? I have already made Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) with Apfelmuss (apple sauce) which my kids loved but I would love to know if you can do the dumplings in the varoma or are they better to make the standard way??

650
Introduce Yourself / Re: I got a surprise Thermomix for my b'day......
« on: October 03, 2010, 10:26:20 pm »
The noise is unavoidable and my kids always tell me to stop the TM when they're watching play school or whatever so I tend to do the noisy stuff just before I get home from work and pick them up from creche or if my husband has them outside when they won't notice the noise! I just figure the noise is a  small price to pay when you consider what you're actuallly asking the machine to do and how powerful the motor is.

651
Introduce Yourself / Re: I got a surprise Thermomix for my b'day......
« on: October 03, 2010, 08:21:19 am »
Congratulations on your present. I have coeliac disease and two young kids and not a day doesn't go by when I don't use my thermie. To cook gluten free food from scratch as well as the speed of getting everything prepared and cooked has been a godsend. The special diet section of this forum  is especially good  for tips on gluten free recipes and ideas. I also bought the wheat free cookbook that thermomix puts out and this has some nice recipes in it also. The thing you'll find though is that once you get started on the EDC and other specific thermomix recipes  you learn quickly how to adapt any other favourite recipes you might have. Also, a lot of the forum members here obviously have a wealth of experience and I've found that people discuss just about any topic. If you have a question you'll  usually get a very informative response really quickly and everyone is so passionate about cooking with their TM.  Enjoy your new gadget because your cooking won't ever be the same again!!!!! 

652
Desserts / Re: Custard powder
« on: September 21, 2010, 12:31:37 am »
Thanks everyone.
I currently use the Orgran brand custard powder and I also normally buy organic produce especially gluten free products from a fantastic gluten free health store we have in Ormond in Melbourne or Thomas Dux stores. I am normally very careful about additives etc especially when it comes to feeding the kids but I also abhor wasting food so that is why i wanted to see if I could use the custard powder for anything else. Also, as all of you coeliacs out there or those on a gluten free diet know, GF products are normally much more expensive than nonGF products so it seems a shame to waste it if I can use it for other things.
I actually tried the suggestion of replacing the cornflour with the custard powder (the same amount as in the recipe) and it worked out really well. 

653
Main Dishes / Re: Moussaka
« on: September 20, 2010, 05:00:33 am »
I made this last night and it was amazing. I only had 600g lamb mince and this worked out really well ie not too liquidy. The white sauce I made with gluten free plain flour and since I have had my diagnosis of coeliac disease I have never had white sauce this good in my life (even before my diagnosis!!). The only problem with the recipe was the eggplants could have done with a longer steaming time in the Varoma particularly as I thought I had sliced them thinly enough to steam properly.Thoroughly recommend making this one again- even for dinner parties! Oh and one of my 4 y.o. twins who is veggie phobic absolutely devoured the moussaka not even realising there was eggplant in it. Maybe it was the white sauce and grated cheese on top that disguised it though!

654
Desserts / Custard powder
« on: September 18, 2010, 05:47:32 am »
Thankyou to everyone who has replied to my question re GF pizza dough. I have had my TM for a few weeks now and loving it. Can I ask another (dumb) question. I have made wonderful custard out of the EDC especially as I have a lemon tree and need to use up lemons at the moment. I am guilty though of having some opened packets of custard powder in the pantry and how can I use these up to make custard in the TM just to get rid of them or should I just give them the flick and be ashamed of admitting that I used to be a custard powder user????


655
Desserts / Re: Stewed Apples? Question
« on: September 13, 2010, 04:39:49 am »
I made stewed apples the other day with Granny Smith apples and didn't even bother to peel them. I just cut them up and cored them and the result was beautiful. My kids gobbled up the stewed apples in no time and you wouldn't have known the apple peel was in there. I just added water and no sugar whatsoever.

656
Special Diets / Re: Gluten free pizza dough
« on: September 10, 2010, 06:10:13 am »
Yes, I either use the Woolworths Freefrom Pizza dough mix or make my own with GF plain flour/ yeast etc. I have tried my normal ratios of flour/water etc in the TM and it doesn't seem to work as well. I thought somebody might have a more reliable recipe using particular quanitities of flour/water/yeast etc. The GF plain flour mix I use is just one of the commercial ones eg White Wings or FG Roberts etc.

657
Special Diets / Re: Gluten free pizza dough
« on: September 10, 2010, 04:52:19 am »
Thanks for the info. Will try. I guess the beauty of having such a great machine is that we get to experiment with all kinds of things and it is all part of the fun if we stuff it up!!!!

658
Special Diets / Gluten free pizza dough
« on: September 10, 2010, 04:45:26 am »
Can anyone please help me with a fairly foolproof way of doing gluten free pizza dough in the TM? I am used to mixing dough in my kitchen aid mixer and being a new TM owner and also coeliac I want to know if there is a way of converting this to the thermomix, particularly as I have young children and we love to make our own pizzas and toppings. 

659
Introduce Yourself / Re: Hi from Sandyleigh
« on: August 30, 2010, 01:41:18 am »
HI Sandyleigh,
I have just ordered a thermomix (having had my eye on one for ages) and I can't wait for it to arrive and to start cooking with it.
I also have coeliac disease and when someone told me the health benefits of using the TM by cooking from scratch etc, I was sold (probably the way you felt also).
I am in the middle of getting my 3 yo twins tested for coeliac disease but even though I am an avid cook and love being in the kitchen I can't wait to be able to spend more time with the kids out of the kitchen instead of stirring/mixing etc. Being able to get rid of half of the packets of stuff in my pantry let alone a lot of appliances alone is worth the price of getting this amazing machine.
Please keep us all posted on any gluten free recipes you discover as I am keen to start posting recipes once I get used to my new thermie!!

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