Forum Thermomix
Welcoming Center, Management and General Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: trudy o on May 24, 2009, 04:57:24 am
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Hi all,
Im going to see my family next weekend and am taking tmx with me - i'm sure they think it was a waste of money but they've never seen it yet lol
so, thought i'd take it down and cook dinner for everyone - there'll be 8 adults and 3 toddlers.
would love your opinions on what to cook with minimal effort but shows thermi off (i totally love it by the way and am sure they will once they see it going).
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
oh - it's a 3hr drive so can't really prepare much cold stuff earlier at home to take down with me.
thanks
trudy
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Hmmm, make something that usually takes 3 saucepans & a frypan & several other bowls - that will impress those who cook. Especially when washing up consists of the TM, chopping board and knife.
As for what exactly, I would do a soup for a starter, they are so effortless. The main though... someone else will have to come up with that one :)
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i was thinking tomato or potato and leek soup from the book but not sure if its too boring lol
and don't know about lasange or something for main???
custard is always a winner too
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You will obviously have to do it in stages (like they do at demos) eg start off with a simple dip, make them a drink of some sort (cocktail or non-alcoholic), perhaps make pizza dough and get them in the oven whilst doing something else. I'd try Aglio Oilio & Peperoncino (garlic oil and chilli) pasta baf65's recipe in Main Dishes on the forum (it is brilliant) and so quick to make. You are cooking for quite a large number of people so they will only get a taste of this and that but if you keep the goodies coming, they will end up quite full. You could do Bron's steamed garlic rice with some sort of curry too. Custard or rice pudding or sorbet for dessert would be easy too. I take my hat off to you for trying something like this. Have a bit of a practice throughout the week and good luck to you next weekend. Let us know how it all went and what you decided to do.
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I have made the minestrone, and also pumpkin soup for guests, and they both went down well.
The lasagne is amazing, and pretty easy for a lasagne too.
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I have made Pumpkin Soup from the book using half pumpkin, half sweet potato then adding a small piece of ginger and a small chilli and if you like it a small amount of fresh coriander. This is a hit, especially if you use butternut pumpkin and don't peel or deseed it. I never do but blitz for a little longer at the end to ensure it is smooth. My guest always marvel at this one, little prep, all the goodness from the whole veg and tastes great.
The chicken and cashew isn't too bad either from the book, that with the rice in the basket is a good example of use. The ideas will keep coming for you...practice during the week and make a decision based on what you are comfortable cooking successfully so you can prove you point...god damnit don't you hate having to prove it is worth it's money when you just know it's value lol
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great ideas thank you so much
i've just made the lasange from book for dinner tonight and it went beautifully. so easy and really tasty
i'm about to look up the other recipes you've all suggested so i can have a go at them too
thanks
forgot to add i also tried the quiche lorraine from the book yesterday and it too was absolutely beautiful
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what about using your Varoma to make something for the main?
put say a litre of stock in the TM bowl, (water and stock concentrate if you are making the stock yourself)
potatoes chopped up in the little basket
chicken breast cut into strips in the varoma dish (bottom layer) sprinkle with some Herbamore or other seasoning
vegies on the top layer of the varoma dish (whatever vegies you like, fill it up!)
cook potatoes on varoma temp for 10mins speed 4
then put the Varoma on the top for a further 20mins
if all cooked, remover varoma and potatoes, set aside
add 150g block of philly cream cheese and about 30g of flour, cook for 2mins on speed 4, 100C to the remaining liquid left in the TM bowl
that then becomes the cheesy sauce to pour over the chicken vegies and potatoes
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What a great idea Baf65 - must try that ;) ;) ;)These are the ideas that need to be shared with us all.
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Absolutely love this idea Baf, another one earmarked for the family. You are all such clever little cookies!
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How old are the toddlers? Whats the weather like? Need to take these things into account!
Kids always love lasagne or pizza. Grate the cheese to really show off, how to grate in 5 seconds! Make some fresh orange juice for the little ones!
I would make some bread too, make that first and leave to one side whilst you cook everything, and then just pop it in the oven.
Make something different for the kids and adults, Like Baf suggests something made in the varoma is an excellent idea. I have made fish and veg above, and made a soup below at the same time. Although my garlic rice is deeelicious, and you could make that, cover it or heat it up in microwave to serve, meanwhile make veg and meat/fish dish.
Ice-cream or sorbet is very good too (if the weather is ok?), get them to freeze some fruit for you now. If not rice pudding, or apple crumble with hot custard, In one of my new books I have some recipes for cocktails, Thermalena will enjoy herself showing off! :D :D :D
Cocktails are Daiquiri, Banana Daquiri, Piņa Colada, Margarita,Tequila sunrise, Gimlet, Gin Fizz, Pisco sour, Mojito, Caipirinha, Manhattan, Cosmopolitan, San Francisco (non-alcoholic) Let me know if you would like a recipe and I can post it for you! :-*
You could also knock up some dips for a starter. Take a pate with you, oh I love showing off! My DD said to me today...Mum, why don't you just open a restaurant? Always soooo much food in my house! We are 5, but all their friends end up here too! ;D ;D ;D
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great idea baf65 - just got the ingredients out to try that tonight for dinner
bron the kids are 3, 3 and 1. i'd love you to post the apple crumble recipe if possible. also the san francisco if that's OK.
getting excited at the idea now can't wait
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We had baf65's idea for lunch today so thought I'd let you all know how it went as I'm sure heaps are going to try this idea. I had a packet of 3 of those chicken breast steaks from Foodland (I think it is 1 chicken fillet sliced through thinly to get 3 pieces). I marinated it for 1/2 hour in 1 tablespoon chilli jam stir fry paste. Because they were so thin I only put them in the bottom of the varoma dish for the last 10 minutes of the total cooking time of the vegies. I cut the potatoes into quite large chunks, did cauli, broccoli, thin slices carrot and pumpkin and whole beans and they were all cooked to perfection in the time given. I think the chicken steaks would have only needed 8 minutes though. The cheese sauce was very thin at the end so I had to add more cornflour but it was still too thin (delicious though) so next time I will tip some of the stock out and just leave 500g of liquid in there.
With a bit of tweaking we found this to be a quick, delicious meal. Thanks baf65, anymore ideas?? :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Tolive, have posted yummy apple crumble last week (I think).
Apple crumble is lovely as you can pop it in the oven just as you are going to sit down for dinner, as it takes 35 mins, should be just ready when you have finished eating, make the custard and voila! Will post San Francisco for you this evening!
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oooops i should not have relied on my memory everyone! It is in fact
500 g of stock
500g potatoes
500g chicken breasts
500g of veigies
100g cream cheese
20g flour
that should make perfecto sauce!!
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Eggs in Mustard Sauce
a similar recipe to the chicken one but using eggs, not sure Im thta keen on all those eggs but the sauce is nice!!
400g water
1 bay leaf
1tsp stock concentrate
8 eggs (whole in shell)
400g leek
800g pototoes
Sauce
200g leftover cooking liquid
200g cream
15g wholegrain mustard
15g dijon mustard
30g flour
30g butter
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
Put water, bayleaf and stock in TM bowl
Wash eggs and place into varoma
cut leeks into strips and place on top varoma tray
cut potatoes into cubes and place in TM basket
Assemble and the cook 25mins Varoma speed 1
Put leeks and potatoes into Thermoserver
Cool eggs under running water
Reserve 200g of the cooking liquid
Add rest of sauce ingredients to the cooking liquid , cook 4mins/90c/speed 3
Serve
Recipe from Lis Higgins
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Thanks baf65 - have put the chicken recipe in mains (with a little help from brazen) and Eggs in Vegetarian - ta.
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Had the chicken last night for dinner and used the changed mentioned. It was beautiful. will definately cook that again thanks
about to look up the apple crumble now thank you
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Trudy, will post the San Francisco for you! ;)
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Cocktails are Daiquiri, Banana Daquiri, Piņa Colada, Margarita,Tequila sunrise, Gimlet, Gin Fizz, Pisco sour, Mojito, Caipirinha, Manhattan, Cosmopolitan, San Francisco (non-alcoholic) Let me know if you would like a recipe and I can post it for you! :-*
If you get a minute not consuming eye-candy, could we get some of these in the Drinks section - Tequila sunrise, Gimlet, Pisco sour, Mojito, Caipirinha in particular. Love Mojitos in summer and never heard of a Pisco sour. Pleeeease :-*
You could also knock up some dips for a starter. Take a pate with you, oh I love showing off! My DD said to me today...Mum, why don't you just open a restaurant? Always soooo much food in my house! We are 5, but all their friends end up here too! ;D ;D ;D
Dips are one of those things that really are quick and impressive - especially if you have all the ingreds ready for 2 or 3 like hoummus and a cashew/rocket/parmesan type dip.
The idea of a soup while the dips are being consumed, then risotto is easy and most people have visions of standing adding little bits of stock and stirring for a long time.
Hard cooking for 8 adults in one TMX, but risotto or similar is easy.
Sorbets really are dead easy and impressive - bit of fruit and ice cubes. Two minutes later - voila!
Good luck. ;)
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Have you seen the Instant banana and strawberry ice cream posted HERE (http://www.forumthermomix.com/index.php?topic=852.0) - sure it would be a winner and simple !!!!!
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Still had some of that cheese sauce leftover from last week so decided to do the above dish again with a slight variation with the chicken. Used the same chicken cuts (4 thin pieces) salted, topped them with some leftover capsicum & sundried tomato dip (pge 54 everyday cookbook), covered them with some thinly sliced pieces of a tasty, low-fat cheese and added them 12 minutes before the end of the cooking time of the vegies. Yummo. Which then made me think of being able to do a low fat version of chicken parmigana this way too in future.
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If you're into seafood and would like to do a risotto I recall JB talking about doing the risotto bit on the top while you steam the seafood bit in the varoma. Maybe do the risotto but cook it for 15 minutes and pop it into your Thermoserver (if you go one as a host gift with your TMX purchase??) Then you can steam the seafood component while the Risotto continues to 'cook' in the Thermoserver. When everything is ready then you could combine in a large serving dish.
Hope that makes sense. I don't eat seafood so can't give you much more advice than that - but it would help the risotto go a lot further.
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I just got back from family visit (stayed a few days) and the thermomix certainly got a workout.
the dinner was a great success thanks for all the advise. I ended up doing a couple of dips - garlic and herb, sundried tomato one(all from the everyday cookbook) to start with. I prepared a lasange earlier in the day to pop in the oven. I also did steamed meatballs with a tomato sauce (will post recipe later), and the garlic rice from here. I also did a loaf of bread and for desert the sticky date pudding with sauce fromthe everyday cookbook too. everything turned out beautifully and everyone loved it.
thanks again for all your help.
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Well done trudy o, so glad everything turned out successfully for you. How many of your rellies are now going to buy their own TMX ;D ;D ;D
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they all want one lol
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well done!
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they all want one lol
You should ask for commission. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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sign up as a demonstrator!
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Well done. It sounds lovely. Congratulations on carrying out such a big task.
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have actually thought about signing up as a demonstrator but with two young children it's hard to get time to do any demonstrations but even if I got around that, I 've heard that demonstrators have to make sales targets - not sure if thats right but i'd be nervous that i couldn't sell enough lol.
everfyone i speak to about it wants one though
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from what i've seen the targets must be fairly flexible though.
kids are no excuse, i used to do several tupperware demos a week with 3 ;) lol just have to have a willing dh lol
what puts me off being a tmx demonstrator is having to pay to sign up (with tw you pay it off in your first few parties) and worse, having to go to sydney 2 or 3 times for their training. that's a huge expense and imposition! IMO if they are serious about having demonstrators in canberra they would offer it here >:( ;D
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i didn't know you have to pay to sign up either
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most party plans do ask you to, to cover the cost of the kit. TW is the only one i've found who don't.
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There is a business kit fee and a program to earn your TMX for free - based on your sales in the first 60 days. Then on going to remain an active consultant you need to have sold one in a 2 month period on going.
Certainly demonstrators in city areas are better supported. Being in a regional area you need to be fairly motivated.
Guess it all depends on your circumstance and what suits you. Plenty of consultants make a good living off it.
For me as a single Mum who also works a 'normal job' ;) time is an issue. However I consider it more of a hobby. No one here has seen it and I sincerely believe it's too important not know about.
If you are keen on learning more about the commission structure, training etc. Contact your consultant who will fill out a "prospective consultant questionaire" on your behalf. This would then be passed onto the Group Leader of the area and they will contact you and discuss in more detail. It's pretty open and of course obligation free. :)
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I am quite shocked reading your posts, seems quite a different story here in Spain. You can earn your THX by selling 6 (over a period of 4 months) and it doesn't cost a thing to become a Bimbette! :o :o :o
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Baf65 gave me some information on becoming a consultant. She may be helpful to you. I would love to be a consultant and share my love of the machine with others, but it was having to sell one every 2 months that put me off as I would rather show people and then leave it to them to think about, especially as I travel a lot and hate being pushy. Now I'm retired my days of being a pushy teacher are over. :P
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You dont need to be pushy. If being a consultant was about being a Sales person I wouldn't be doing this. That isn't for me. The Thermomix sells itself (most people here would have purchased theirs because they loved the machine - not because of a sales person convincing them). As a consultant, my view is that I'm just here to show people what it can do. They can choose if it's for them or not. :)
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i think it would sell itself too - the price would be the only real barrier
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Yep, that's the stumbling block. But they have some great options available to make the purchase affordable. I'm even considering the finance option for TMX #2.
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LOL!
i can only dream...
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Yep, that's the stumbling block. But they have some great options available to make the purchase affordable. I'm even considering the finance option for TMX #2.
It is appealing to have that option - certainly sounds better to have months of little mild pains, than one huge OUCH on the hip pocket nerve.
It should almost come with a money-back guarantee !
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luckily we had some money stashed away at the time as dh was :o at the end cost of the payment plans (ie: a LOT more than the upfront payment cost)
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LOL!
i can only dream...
The beauty of being single - don't have anyone to answer to ;) ;D ;D ;D It has it's upsides!! he he he
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LOL !!! I could have a bevy of Bimbys !!
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LOL !!! I could have a bevy of Bimbys !!
??? What's a "bevy"? Apart from beverge?
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??? What's a "bevy"?
My collective noun for my team of little Bimbys. Sad - but true. :o :o :o :o :o Dreaming of the day !!! :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
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Ohhh I see.... ;)
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sounds similar to a harem to me!
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No I think that's a bordello of Bimbos ;)