Thermomix Decals

If you're tired of the way your Thermomix looks on your kitchen bench, why not dress it up? Many people name their Thermomix kitchen machines, mine's simply Thermie. But giving it a new look? How can you do that?

Easy! Go to http://www.thermostyle.com.au/ and check out the gorgeous decals. Aussie made, so your money stays in Australia.

This is my favourite:

Orange and Almond Cakes

These little morsels are so delicious and light. I'm quite surprised as I thought the almond meal would make them heavy.

I have adapted a recipe found on taste.com to such an extent that I'm calling it my own. The cakes are not gluten free, but are wheat free and high fibre, low GI. I used coconut sugar, but rapidura would work just as well.  These were made in the Thermomix, but an ordinary mixer or food processor would work just as well.

200g raw almonds (or 200g almond meal)
150g butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 orange
100g coconut sugar (2/3 cup)
1/2 cup white spelt flour
1/2 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda

Preheat oven to 175 C. Place muffin cases in 2 x 1/2 cup muffin trays to make 12. I use silicone trays.
Grind almonds in Thermomix or processor until fine. Remove from bowl and set aside.
Place melted butter, eggs and finely grated rind and juice of orange into TM bowl. Blend on speed 4 - 5 for 20 seconds.
Add coconut sugar and blend on speed 2 for 1 minute. This helps dissolve the sugar as it has quite large crystals.
Add flours, rising agents and almond meal to mixture and blend on speed 3 for a few seconds. Scrape down and mix again on speed 4 to 5 until combined. Divide among the muffin cases, filling to top of the cases if muffin tray is deep.
Bake for around 25 to 30 minutes or until the top of a muffin bounces back when pressed lightly.

Serve dusted with icing sugar. Delicious when eaten warm (I had to try one!)

Magic Bean Chocolate Cake

This recipe originates from a Thermomix consultant at www.recipecommunity.com.au  and is delicious and moist as well as being gluten free! It can be made dairy free using oil instead of butter, but the texture will be different.
This is a Thermomix recipe but can easily be made in a food processor.
I've made a few changes such as reducing the sugar content. I'd like to try it with maple syrup or agave next time.

Magic Bean Chocolate Cake

Pre heat oven to 180C
Grease a ring tin (I used a silicone one)

420g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp coffee (2 tsp coffee powder in a Tbsp hot water)
2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
125g softened butter
130g raw castor sugar
5 eggs (large)
70g good quality cocoa
1 tsp GF baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
pinch salt

Place kidney beans, coffee, 2 eggs and vanilla into TM or processor and blend until smooth. Remove and set aside. (If you have two TM bowls, it makes it easier!)
Beat butter and sugar on speed 5 for 1 minute or so, scraping down occasionally. Add 2 eggs and beat again for a minute.

Add bean mixture with last egg and remaining ingredients and beat on speed 4 to 5, scraping down until mixture is homogenous.
Pour into tin and bake for around 30 - 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Buttercream Icing
Jude Blereau

125g softened unsalted butter
450g (2 cups) golden icing sugar (made from raw sugar)
60ml milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 - 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
Beat until smooth. Use a knife moistened in warm water to spread.

Healthy Homemade Burgers

Talking to a friend recently about meal planning and thinking of interesting meals to have each night. She commented that Friday night is burger night and Sunday night is fish and chip night.

I thought that was a great idea, so have adapted it to my eating style. 

We have burgers on one day of the weekend and fish with healthy chips another day. Tonight is burger night and I've made delicious flat hamburger rolls from the recipe I've posted previously, but swapped out half the white bread flour for wholemeal spelt. I added some chia seeds and a sprinkling of rolled oats to the mixture.The water content needs to be raised to 380g to 390g.

Chicken Burgers are on the menu, so I've devised a healthy Chicken Schnitzel by borrowing a recipe from my daughter. She was inspired by her nanna, my husband's mum to bake her Chicken Schnitzel as my Mother in Law baked everything, even steak!

First of all, you will need to make a batch of KFC spice mix, another wonderful recipe from forumthermomix.com. 

Add 1 heaped Tbsp of the spice mix to 1/2 cup or so of flour of your choice into a bowl. I use brown rice flour or wholemeal spelt. In another bowl pour in some buttermilk or yoghurt. In the last bowl, pour in some cornflake crumbs or rice crumbs. I just whizz up some cornflakes in the Thermomix to make the crumbs.

For two people, one chicken breast is enough. Heat oven to 220 degrees C and place a lined tray in to heat.

Slice in half horizontally to make two thin pieces. Coat in the seasoned flour, then buttermilk, then cornflake crumbs. Coat thickly with the crumbs. Set aside in the fridge until oven is hot enough.

Spray the tray with cooking spray and place chicken on the tray, spraying again. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on thickness.

Put your burger together with your favourite fillings. I like tomato, onion, avocado and lettuce with low fat dijonnaise. 

No photo because I devoured it!

Megan

Super Sprout, Super Foods

I just have to share these amazing products with you, my readers. I'm always looking for ways to incorporate more fruit and vegetables into our diet. It's not always easy when the local store only had fresh fruit and veg fresh in once a week. I do envy those with access to fresh produce markets.

A bit of googling came up with this wonderful website: www.supersprout.com.au where powdered whole fruits, vegetables and sprouts can be purchase online. I ordered beetroot powder, strawberry powder and wheatgrass powder, thinking I could add some to my shakes. I also ordered the recipe book.

My products arrived today and I'm impressed. The beetroot powder is dark and gorgeous and tastes delicious as does the strawberry powder. I've not tried the wheatgrass yet, but will add it to my shake tomorrow morning. I also received a complimentary sample of ginger powder and broccoli sprout powder with a little pamphlet outlining information about the products.

The recipe book is lovely with some great ideas on using the powders. I look forward to experimenting on the weekend!
(I have not been paid to endorse these products)

Megan

Not a Skinny Dip

Skinny doesn't always mean skinny when it comes to buying pre packaged foods. Browsing the supermarket for a bought dip recently, knowing I may not have time to make one, I was studying the calorie content of two packs of Hommus.
One was Black Swan Skinny Hommus, the other, Willow Farm Hommus. One would think the skinny one would have less calories, but it was not the case!
Here's the evidence:

The Black Swan Skinny Hommus is on the left. It has 826kJ per 100g. The regular Hommus on the right contains only 711kJ Don't pay any attention to the 'per serve' information as the serving size differs with each product. Always look at the per 100g quantity.

The sugar content is lower in the regular Hommus, making it a better choice.
Better still, make your own:

Easy Hommus
1 x 425g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
one clove garlic
2 Tbsp EVOO
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt to taste
black pepper
Extra EVOO and paprika to serve

Blend lemon juice and tahini for about one minute. Scrape down and process for another 30 seconds.
Add garlic, EVOO, cumin and seasonings. Blend for 30 seconds, scrape and blend for a further 30 seconds.
Add half the chickpeas and blend for one minute. Add the remaining chickpeas and blend for one to two minutes until smooth. Test for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Place in a bowl and swirl around. Add a little EVOO in the swirls, then sprinkle with paprika.

Note:
The blending and scraping down creates a creamier texture. You can just through everything in the processor or Thermomix and blitz for three minutes.

Belly Fat

Belly Fat, that annoying spare tyre, muffin top or whatever euphemism one would like to use, it's one of the most frustrating areas to try and fix.

An interesting article in the latest Australian Healthy Food Magazine gives an outline about how dangerous belly fat actually can be to our health. But what are the causes?
According the article, written by Stephanie Osfield, there are a number of reasons why fat can accumulate around the middle.

Hormones, simply overeating, alcohol, menopause, not enough sleep and stress. What's really interesting are the effects that this benign muffin top or beer belly can have on our bodies.

"Belly fat is often a sign of fat hiding in the abdomen," according to Tim Crowe, Associate Professor of Nutrition at Deakin University.
This is known as visceral fat and it can accumulate around organs such as the kidneys and heart. It's actually metabolically active, which means it pumps hormones and inflammatory chemicals  into the body. In women, this can lead to excess oestrogen which can lead to fertility issues, and I'm sure problems with menopause too.
Those chemicals and hormones are linked to conditions such as asthma, diabetes, arthritis and heart disease. How can that happen? It's just a bit of a spare tyre, isn't it?

For example, visceral fat continually releases excess fatty acids directly into the bloodstream. These then are processed by the liver and cause an increase in the production of other fats such as the 'bad' cholesterol, LDL. As if that isn't bad enough, the chemicals released by this visceral fat can prevent glucose from moving around the body and instead keeps it in the bloodstream causing levels to rise. So, the body tried to get rid of it by producing more insulin. This excess insulin in turn causes the insulin receptors to shut down and you get insulin resistance - bango wango - you're looking at Type 2 Diabetes.

Other health risks include dementia, osteoporosis, migraines and breast cancer.

BUT! There is good news! Nutrition and exercise...fancy that! Yes, as soon as you cut back those calories, the visceral fat is the first to go. As far as exercising, you don't need to do crunches, weights or sit ups by the dozen. In fact, a nice little tidbit I read in the magazine stated that:

"The marketers of the heavily advertised Ab Circle Pro exercise machine were fined $25 million in the US for deceptive advertising."

A little simple cardio will help. Anything that makes you breathless - climbing stairs, power walking, swimming, dancing and aerobics.

By following the the 80/20 idea (80% nutrition/20% exercise), visceral fat will reduce substantially along with that annoying spare tyre!
I know I've gone down a few notches in my belt.