What are you cooking today?

[cookie1]

Fellow TMXers from SA and VIC, I hope the weather is a little bit kind to you. I'm afraid I dislike hot weather intensely. The TMX does little except make sorbets and iced coffee.  Don't melt in your hot weather.

[judydawn]

Today I have made Chicken Skewers and satay sauce for lunch, apricot jam, stewed apricots, a double batch of raspberry/blueberry cordial and isi's Light Coffee Cream dessert. Will post a review of the dessert when it has set.

[achookwoman]

Thanks for the kind thoughts Cookie.   Was 36 in Melb today but only 29 up here.  If it gets too hot I'll do as JD does and put on the AC.

[Kali Ma]

As well as what id mentioned in my previous post i have made yogurt and chocolate custard.
Loving it.. 

[Babymaker]

Juice, Spag Carbonara, Bread and will do some biscuits too.

Made Apple Rubarb Crumble with lemon-lime custard last night- OMG it was good!

[Purplehat]

We really need to get some icecube trays so we can make some of those yummy sorbets - or even just a cooler smoothie! We freeze the bananas for smoothies, but some ice would be nice!

We made the potato pancakes and apple sauce and a smoothie for dinner! The normal breakfast too - smoothie and rice porridge.. that's 5 different things just today. I love this machine!! Last night we tried the coleslaw and it was good too! Our kitchen heats up pretty quickly in the summer, so the less time spent sweating in there the better!

[judydawn]

Today for lunch I made vivacity's GF tomato rice with leftover ham (although we are not GF) and Depome's Potato & Bacon Pie for tomorrow's BBQ lunch. I also made a steak Diane sauce to go with the T-bones tomorrow, will post that. Can't seem to find anywhere for sauces - can one of the moderators please give me a clue as to where I can post this recipe please 

Found some sauces in Jams & Chutneys so will put it there. Maybe the heading should be Jams, Chutneys & Sauces

[Amanda]

No air-con in our house and 43C today so no cooking here!
Bbq and cabbage salad with a fantastic tahini dressing which I can post if anyone is interested.

[judydawn]

Yes please Amanda, have a jar of tahini just sitting there as no-one likes hummus much in this house.

[Babymaker]

Not much today, we were out at a birthday party that extended into afternoon tea lol, used TMX to chop up onion for Beef Guinness Pie, was going to make in the TMX but discovered my frozen meat lump was 1kg not 500g so figured it would be too much in the bowl so I bunged it into the slow cooker while we were out, made mash potato which 2yr old scoffed then asked for MORE! I thought that 1kg of potatoes would do us 2 meals but nope

Will do a loaf of bread between now and going to bed and probably some desert.

[andiesenji]

We really need to get some icecube trays so we can make some of those yummy sorbets - or even just a cooler smoothie! We freeze the bananas for smoothies, but some ice would be nice!

An easy way to produce ice for drinks, etc., is to partially fill a plastic freezer bag with water, lay it flat in a baking dish or pan, slip it into the freezer until it is solid ice.
Wrap a towel around the bag, smack it a few times with a mallet, hammer or whatever you have that won't break and you have cracked ice. 
I've done this when my icemaker decided it was going on strike in the middle of summer and I needed ice.  I used the jumbo Zip-Lock bags but any fairly sturdy (food-grade) plastic bag will work. 

[Katya]

If I need ice at the moment, all I have to do is go into the garden     We now have 8 inches of snow and a lot more is forecast for tomorrow. 

TMX is really coming into its own in this weather - we are having soup and bread every day for lunch and today I did shepherd's pie which was real comfort food.  We are also having porridge every morning and I'm getting better at cleaning the bowl afterwards.   Our kitchen is really cold so it's nice not to have to spend too much time in there and just leave TMX to work its magic on its own.

[achookwoman]

JD,  don't know if you like Falafels ( i've just posted a recipe,)  they go really well with a yogurt sauce that has a bit of Tahini in it.

[judydawn]

I've never tried them Chookie, will check out your recipe. Thanks for thinking of me 

[Amanda]

Judy this is the recipe for the dressing.
3 tablespoons raw tahini
1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (optional)

It is a bit asian in flavour, but actually came from a lovely Israeli lady called Janna Gur whose website, A Taste of Israel,  -
http://www.jannagur.com/site/detail/detail/detailDetail.asp?detail_id=1285845
has loads of delicious recipes.  Israelis are big on salads and they do them well so it is worth a look for those of us in areas where it is currently too hot to cook.  I just adore any kinds of North African or Middle Eastern food, so I am always finding intersting sites like this one!
I made a coleslaw-like thing with chinese cabbage, julienned carrot, celery, cucumber and toasted walnuts and used the dressing on that - delicious!

Falafels are very easily made and taste great, too!  They freeze well, so you can make a big batch and then just nuke a few when you want them.  Served with hummous or tahini mixed with a little plain yoghurt - perfect!