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Sweet and Salty Popcorn

PopcornWho doesn’t love popcorn!? We love popcorn in our house. It’s one of those healthy snacks that feels like such a treat. Either for a family night in snuggling & watching movies, or for a lunch box or afternoon snack. Popcorn is always a winner. Although I have to admit I was getting bored with the same old salted popcorn, so what did I do? I added sugar of course! This recipe makes such a big batch that the sugar isn’t too ‘naughty’, unless you eat the whole batch.. hehehe.

This recipe would also make a great gift in a hamper for Christmas time. You can swap the salt for a sprinkle of cinnamon for that warm festive touch.

Sweet & Salty Popcorn
Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Charlotte
Serves: 8-10
Who doesn’t love popcorn!? We love popcorn in our house. It’s one of those healthy snacks that feels like such a treat. Either for a family night in snuggling & watching movies, or for a lunch box or afternoon snack. Popcorn is always a winner. Although I have to admit I was getting bored with the same old salted popcorn, so what did I do? I added sugar of course! This recipe makes such a big batch that the sugar isn’t too ‘naughty’, unless you eat the whole batch.. hehehe This recipe would also make a great gift in a hamper for Christmas time. You can swap the salt for a sprinkle of cinnamon for that warm festive touch
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup Vegetable oil, I use refined coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup Sugar, I use Rapadura sugar
  • 1/2 cup Organic popcorn kernels
  • Salt, I use pink Himalayan salt
Instructions
  1. Heat oil with 3 test kernels in large, deep, heavy pot with the lid on.
  2. Once the test kernels pop, your oil is hot enough. Add sugar, popcorn kernels & stir a bit, then cover.
  3. Shake pot every few seconds, it must be done so the sugar & popcorn won’t burn.
  4. Once popping has slowed, remove pot from heat and keep shaking until there’s no more popping.
  5. Tip into a BIG bowl. My biggest bowl isn’t big enough so I use a wok!
  6. Use a big spoon to mix it up and add a couple pinches of fine salt.
  7. Break up any clumps, and let cool just enough to dig in!
  8. TIP: Now Is a good time to put some into snack bags for lunch boxes..so it’s not all eaten at once!

 

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Red Wine Bacon Chunks With Rice And Steamed Vegetables

Red Wine Bacon, Veg & Rice

I’ve always wanted to try an Asian style dish in the Thermomix, because it’s something I really enjoy, but I’ve had a hard time finding recipes that ‘suit’ us. When I opened my meat box to find chunky bacon I decided it’s time to try something different, and here we have it. My husband actually said it’s the nicest chunky bacon meal we’ve ever had, so that’s got to count for something. Even my children enjoyed it. That’s saying something too!

You can adjust the vegetable to what you have, and I’d probably sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on it too, if I had any, but as it was it was delicious. Hope you enjoy it too!

Red Wine Bacon with Rice And Steamed Vegetable
Recipe Type: One Pot Meal, Mains
Cuisine: Asian
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3
Ingredients
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tsp ginger (grated or powder)
  • 3 small or 1 large garlic clove(s)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 500g bacon chunks +- 3cm
  • 3 tbs soy sauce
  • 3 tbs chinese cooking white wine
  • 2 tbs rapadura
  • 2/3 cup (160ml/ 120g) red wine
  • 5g corn flour
  • 250g rice
  • Carrots (optional)
  • Asian greens like boy choy, pak choy, or other winter greens like rhubarb chard or similar.(optional)
Instructions
Traditional cooking
  1. Finely chop onion, ginger and garlic and shallow fry in sesame oil until onion is translucent.
  2. Add the bacon, soy sauce, cooking wine and rapadura (or brown sugar) and simmer for 7 minutes.
  3. Chop vegetables and place in steamer (Or in a colander that fits over the pot with the rice in it)
  4. Add red wine and corn flour and boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping an eye to make sure the wine doesn’t dry up.
  5. At the same time, boil the rice.
  6. Drizzle sesame oil over the steamed vegetables and serve hot.
With Thermomix
  1. Place onion, ginger and garlic in the TM pot. Turbo for two seconds. Add sesame oil and cook for 3 minutes/speed 2/100C.
  2. Add the chunky bacon, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and rapadura (or brown sugar). Cook for 7 mins/spoon setting/100C.
  3. Chop and slice vegetables and place in Veroma.
  4. Add red wine and corn flour and cook for 10 mins/spoon setting/Veroma. Add Veroma and steam vegetables.
  5. Meanwhile, cook rice in your preferred way. Under season your rice as the bacon is quite salty already. (If you’re going to wait and prepare the rice after the meat, keep the meat warm in a separate pot).
  6. Drizzle sesame oil over vegetables.
  7. Serve hot.

 

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Rosetta’s Cute Coconut Ice

Issue 2 of the Disney Cakes and Sweets magazine brought with it some childhood memories for me. I remember making coconut ice as a child. I remember it including boiled sugar, however, which this recipe doesn’t, but maybe I’m confusing it with fudge?

No cook coconut iceIf you take away the serious sugar overdose in this recipe, coconut ice is a brilliant treat to get kids involved in. I haven’t made it in years – not since I joined the Nestle Boycot – but my husband found some Farmlea condensed milk recently and it’s reopened a world of sweet pleasures that were off limits unless I wanted to make my own condensed milk!

Anyway, traditionally coconut ice is pink and white, but I can’t seem to find a reason why. We decided to make ours red (which failed and look more pink than it should) and green to be all Christmassy. In future I’d rather do red and white and green and white. I think it would look better. Anyway, whichever colours you choose, here’s the recipe for you.

No Bake Coconut Ice
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Disney Cakes And Sweets
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 16
The original recipe says to stir all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. If you’re not using a Thermomix, you’re going to have to get in there with both hands. The kids love it. It’s sticky and messy and tasty fun.
Ingredients
  • 397g can [url href=”http://www.amazon.co.uk/Farmlea-Condensed-Milk-397G/dp/B00BHFEF3K/” target=”_blank”]condensed milk[/url]
  • 300g (11oz) icing sugar
  • 300g (11oz) desiccated coconut (we used organic)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • food colouring of choice
Instructions
  1. Line or oil your baking tray. I use [u][url href=”http://amzn.to/1iI0G6l” target=”_blank”]an awesome brownie pan[/url][/u] for most things, and for this too.
  2. Pour condensed milk into a large mixing bowl and sift in the icing sugar.
  3. Add the coconut and vanilla essence or extract and mix together until well combined.
  4. If you’re having a white layer, spoon half the mix into your baking tray and flatten out pressing down tightly. If you’re having two coloured layers, split them into two bowls and add the required colours to each bowl.
  5. Mix well and add to pan, flattening till all the first layer is covered, and it’s all flattened.
  6. Place pan in the fridge for six hours or overnight to set.
  7. Once set, turn out and cut the coconut ice into squares.
  8. If you use the brownie pan, cut it while still in the pan. This will make huge slices though, so use a knife to cut again.
For the Thermomix:
  1. Make your icing sugar first, if you’re making your own.
  2. Add all but the colouring and mix on speed 2 for 30 seconds.
  3. Split the mixture into two, put one layer in the pan, then add the food colouring to one.
  4. Layer the next into the pan and leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
  5. Cut the set coconut ice into squares and enjoy.

Issue 2 also has recipes for a Winnie the Pooh Cake, cream-tea scones, fudge, florentines, 101 Dalmatians cake pops and Winnie the Pooh and friends silicone molds

I’m all about the healthy. We experiment with raw food, drink water kefir, and cook from scratch. I even make my own butter. But to be great 80% of the time, we allow ourselves a break 20% of the time. For the next while, we’ll share recipes from the Disney Cakes and Sweets magazine series. They are not healthy. The name kind of gives it away. But that’s okay. Sometimes we adjust the recipes a little to fit in better with our style, and sometimes I use a Thermomix instead of following the directions. As part of a balanced diet, we hope you ‘ll join us. We’ll have fun! (If you prefer completely raw, healthy, but still delicious snacks, have a look at Bliss Balls For Beginners)

A Very Thermie Christmas This recipe features in A Very Thermie Christmas, where you can find it and 50 other recipes perfect for a Thermomix assisted Christmas. Read more about it here.

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Vegetable Stock Cubes / Bouillon

I want to share a really basic recipe that I use in a lot and should add here to refer to. It was the very first recipe I made by Thermomix: Vegetable Stock Cubes / Bouillon.

Vegetable StockAt first I wasn’t sure if it was worth bothering, to be honest. Vegetable stock cubes are so cheap, and having them in a box is so convenient. But then I had a look at the ingredients and I realised that an attempt at cutting preservatives and additives out of our food falls flat if the very basic underpinning foundation ingredient contains those things.

Here are the ingredients of our usual vegetable stock cubes:

Salt, vegatable oil, potato starch, yeast extract, sugar, carrot (1.5%), tomato (1%), herbs (parsley, tarragon), spices (turmeric, pepper, celery seed), bell pepper (0.2%), garlic, leek (0.1%), flavourings (contains mustard), caramelised sugar, maltodextrin, dextrose

It’s not exactly poison, but compare it to this:

celery, carrots, onion, tomato, courgette, garlic, mushrooms, basil, sage, rosemary, parsley, oil and salt.

If I were to lay those ingredients out on a two plates, I know which one I’d go for.

While this recipe is an adaptation from the Australia Every Day Cookbook and is written for the Thermomix, there’s no reason why you couldn’t mix it in any high powered blender and make it part of your every day seasoning.

You cant freeze this stock, due to the high salt content, but it lasts really well in a jar in the fridge, and can be topped up with whatever you have on hand, really, but here’s a great starter recipe.

Home Made Stock Cubes/Bouillon {{Thermomix Recipe}}

Cuisine: Basic
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 litre
Don’t taste this recipe and fret over the salt. It’s VERY salty, but it’s a concentrate. A tablespoon full goes into a litre of liquid, i.e soup, of which you have a cup at a time. It’s lower in salt per serve than an egg! If you lower the salt amount you will have to freeze the stock, but with the correct salt, it won’t freeze at all but can keep in the fridge. The great thing about this recipe is that it is very flexible. You can use whatever you have in the fridge. I know a few people who pop all their vegetable scraps into the freezer to keep particularly for making this stock concentrate.
Ingredients
  • 2 celery stalks, with leaves
  • 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
  • 1 onion, peeled and quartered
  • 1 tomato, quartered
  • 1 courgette, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • 50g mushroom (optional)
  • a teaspoon each of basil, sage, and rosemary
  • 20g parsley
  • 30g olive oil
  • 200g sea salt or pink salt (don’t use table salt, it’s very high in Sodium, which is what you want to avoid in a healthy diet)
Instructions
  1. Chop all the vegetables and herbs for <b> 10 seconds on Speed 7 </b>
  2. Add the oil and salt, and <b> cook at 90 for 20 minutes on speed 2 </b>
  3. It turns into an unappealing looking green gloop, but adds amazing flavour to all your dishes.
  4. Leave to cool and place in a jar in the fridge for up to six months.
  5. If using less salt, freeze in spoonfulls or ice cube trays and use as needed,
Calories: 2.3 Fat: 0.2 Carbohydrates: 0.2g Sugar: 0.0 Sodium: 3.8g Fiber: 0.1g Protein: 0.0 Cholesterol: 0.0

 

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Squash and Spinach Soup With Goat’s Cheese And Bacon Recipe

Squash & Spinach Soup with goat's cheese and baconConsidering how often I make soup these days, you’d be forgiven for thinking that I actually enjoy it! I’m not really a lover of soup, but with two children, a job and a home to run, it’s certainly an easy to prepare food, and easy to eat.

In the Thermomix soup is a 15-minute (non)effort, but of course you can adapt it to cook on the stove top or however you usually make your soup.

We have a further problem in our home, because I don’t like any kind of chunkiness in my soup, but my hubby prefers a chewable soup. If I’m feeling generous I’ll cook everything, remove his portion and then blits up mine. Otherwise, we have smooth soup. He’s coming round to it!

In this particular soup I used a Turkish Squash, which had a grey-ish colour, which no one was going to eat so I added some spinach to at least give it colour, additional nutrition and great flavour.

I particularly wanted a luxurious soup here, so we added goat’s cheese and bacon. These are optional extras, but totally worth it.

Also, because I was blending it with the Thermomix, I used almost all of the squash, seeds and all. This is best with a young squash so the skin is still soft. You don’t have to do that though!

 

Squash and Spinach Soup With Goat’s Cheese And Bacon Recipe
Recipe Type: Soup
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
You can use any squash for this recipe.
Ingredients
  • 400 – 700 g squash
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 200g bone broth or stock
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 6 rashers bacon
  • 50g spinach
  • 250g goats cheese
  • add cream/stock to preference
  • add salt/pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Cut squash into easy to bake portions – a pumpkin or large squash could go in 8 pieces, for example. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes at 190C
  2. Cut an onion in half, add garlic, then blitz for 3 seconds on speed 5.
  3. Sweat the onions for 3 minutes, speed 1, 90C
  4. Add the squash, skin and seeds too, if you like.
  5. Add the stock or bone broth, rosemary, and salt and pepper.
  6. Cook for 15 mins/speed 2/100C
  7. Meanwhile fry bacon to make it crispy, and set aside.
  8. When the soup is finished, add the spinach and goat’s cheese and blits for 5 seconds on speed 7. (or as bitty or smooth as you like it).
  9. Add cream or extra stock to make the soup as thick or thin as you prefer.
  10. Serve with crusty bread or [url href=”https://www.keeperofthekitchen.com/2013/11/22/thermomix-brioche/” target=”_blank”]brioche [/url](without the chocolate!) and enjoy!

 

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Easy Thermomix Meringues

Silky Thermomix Meringues

I make our mayonnaise, and many other things from scratch, often requiring only the yolk of an egg. I hate seeing things go to waste, so I try to make something with the left over whites. While this isn’t by any means a healthy recipe, it is a lovely one. If you don’t have a Thermomix, here’s my non-Thermomix recipe.

Unless you eat them all in one go, the Thermomix Meringues will last in the cupboard for weeks, if not months!

We put them in the lunch box as snacks sometimes, or have them as desert with cream and fruit – absolutely yum.

To make the colours like in the image above, you need to separate the meringue mix into different bowls and very gently stir through the food colouring. Then use a spoon to move the batter into an icing bag, putting different colours next to each other rather than on top of each other.  As you squeeze it, the colours will mix and make pretty meringues.

If you make meringues with brown sugar they’ll come out in this golden-ish hue rather than white.

Silky Thermomix Meringues

Easy Thermomix Meringues
Author: Keeper of the Kitchen
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
You can adapt this recipe as far as you like, in terms of amounts used, so long as you use 110g sugar to each egg white. In a TM31, I wouldn’t be inclined to go beyond 6 egg whites however. I have successfully made this with just one egg white too.
Ingredients
  • 3 Egg-Whites, room temperature
  • 330g White sugar (brown if you don’t mind them not being white)
  • Pinch of Salt
Instructions
  1. Put the sugar in the mixing bowl and pulse for 10 seconds on Turbo.
  2. Place the butterfly in the bowl and add the egg whites along with a pinch of salt.
  3. ‘Cook’ at 37C for 7 minutes on speed 2, no MC.
  4. Leave the mix to cool for 10 minutes with the lid off.
  5. Mix again for 7 min/speed 2.
  6. Either pipe the mixture with a piping bag into small circles, or a large ‘pie’ for pavlova-style deserts, or dollop the mix onto a baking tray in spoonfuls, leaving space for expansion.
  7. Cook for about 60-90 minutes on 100C° to 120 min at 80C° depending on your oven and meringue sizes – as well as how chewy you want it.
  8. When finished, leave in the oven to dry out while cooling down.

 

*original recipe found on the Thermomix forums

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Damson Jam / Damson Jelly Recipe

Damson Jam Recipe

Autumn bounty includes Damsons in the UK, and the trees are laden with them. People can’t get rid of them fast enough. The problem with damsons is that unlike, say, blackberries, you can’t eat them raw, so they often go unappreciated till they fall to the ground.

My daughter came home from a walk in the forest with her pockets bulging with damsons, so I decided to turn it into jam, something I’ve never done before.

Damson Jam / Damson Jelly Recipe
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 200ml
Use equal parts of fruit to jam sugar, boil and store. Easy peasy Damson Jam. You can of course buy your Damsons, but half the fun is in the foraging!
Ingredients
  • 200g Damsons
  • 250g (9oz) Sugar
  • 1 orange, washed
Instructions
  1. Wash damsons and drop them into your pot.
  2. Squeeze the juice of the orange out over it.
  3. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes till the fruit is soft. (20 mins/100C/speed 2).
  4. After 20 minutes, remove from the heat. It’s useful at this point to remove all the pips. If you keep the orange in at this point, you’ll have a slight marmalade undertone to the damson jam. I’m not a fan of marmalade, so I prefer to remove the orange before adding the jam sugar.
  5. Boil for another 20 minutes at 100C/212F.
  6. Remove from the heat and tip the pot slightly. If the jam looks like it is creating a wrinkle, remove from heat and pour into steriised jars to keep for later, or into a jam jar to start using straight away.
  7. If it doesn’t seem to be wrinkly yet, cook for a further five minutes before dispensing into jars. Remember that damsons have a lot of pectin in them and will set as it cools.

 

 

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Raw Blackberry Crumble Recipe

Raw Blackberry Crumble

It’s easy to reach for comfort foods at this time of year, as the seasons change and we start going a little more insular, but there’s no reason your blackberry crumble has to be unhealthy – if fact, if you have a raw blackberry crumble, it’s fresh, good for you, and what’s more, you can make these ahead and take them out as you fancy.

I found the walnuts I used in this quite bitter, so will try different walnuts next time, or perhaps hazelnuts or something else. It’s a lovely snack to have in the freezer for when you just want something nice. These were especially good, because my daughters and I went foraging, picking the berries ourselves earlier in the day.

Take these from the freezer about half an hour before you eat them, and enjoy!

 

Raw Blackberry Crumble Recipe
Author: Luschka
Ingredients
  • [u]Crumble
  • [/u]
  • 1 cup walnuts/pecan nuts or cashew nuts
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 2 pitted dats
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract or essence
  • Pinch Himalayan or rock salt
  • [u]Filling[/u]
  • 1 cup fresh blackberries
  • 2 dates pitted dates
  • 1 Tbsp honey, local preferable
Instructions
  1. I use my Thermomix, but any food processor that can handle nuts will do.
  2. To make the crumble, add the nuts, coconut, salt, dates and vanilla to the bowl and process – (10 seconds, speed 6). You want it to be a crumble, not a paste.
  3. Take 3/4 of the mix and press into a pan, or silicone cupcake pans. Put the rest of the crumble aside.
  4. To make the filling, add half the blackberries into the food processor, along with dates and honey. Process until well blended. Add the remaining blackberries and mix lightly so there are still whole blackberry chunks.
  5. Pour the blackberry filling over the crust in the cake pan, or scoop into muffin cases and top with the remaining crumble.
  6. Gently press the crumble, and freeze. When it’s a frozen, remove from muffin trays and place in airtight container.
  7. To serve, remove from freezer about half an hour before.

 

 

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Awesome Autumn Apple Chutney Recipe

Around this time of year, the apple trees are laden with juicy, lovely fruit, just waiting to be picked. A few years ago we lived in a house with a huge apple tree in the centre of the yard, and I learned to make apple-everything! I’ve missed this beautiful apple chutney since then, but where we live now the apple trees line a public walk way, free for anyone with a long enough arm to help themselves.
20130926-124232.jpg
I’ve made a few batches of this apple chutney this year – with apples from a friend’s garden, actually – and it gets rave reviews every time. I core the apples too, but don’t peel them. If you do, however, sprinkle the skins with cinnamon and pop them in the dehydrator over night or a low oven for two hours for a lovely apple crispy snack.

Great with cheese and crackers, or mixed in with mince or other cooked meats, this is my favourite home made apple chutney.

Awesome Autumn Apple Chutney
Recipe Type: Chutney, Condiment
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 500ml
Ingredients
  • 5 green apples, cored
  • 3 large tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 large onions
  • 5g fresh ginger
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 80g raisins
  • 30g orange juice
  • 20g lemon juice
  • 225g soft brown sugar
  • 200g apple cider vinegar
Instructions
  1. Chop the ingredients finely. (Chop lightly in a food processor if you can)
  2. Add the liquids and sugar into a pot and stir till the sugar has dissolved.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients.
  4. Simmer on low heat for 2 hours.
  5. Pour into warm sterilised jars and keep for up to a year.
In the thermomix
  1. Add the apples, tomatoes and onions to the Thermomix and chop 10 seconds/speed 4
  2. Remove to a large container.
  3. Add the ginger and garlic to the Thermomix and chop, 5 seconds/speed 8
  4. Add the raisins, orange juice, lemon juice, sugar and cook for 3 minutes/speed 3/ 90C
  5. Add the apple mix back to the Thermomix with the apple cider vinegar
  6. Cook at Varoma temperature for 40 mins/REVERSE speed 2 without MC.
  7. If it’s still too runny, do the same for another 20 minutes. Just keep an eye on it.
  8. When it’s finished and looks like chutney, pour into sterilised jars.

 

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Marrow Or Courgette / Zucchini Soup Recipe

Courgette Soup

I’m quite fond of courgette (zucchini), lightly fried with anchovy and pine nut, or steamed, or frittered, but it took getting a 3.5kg (7lb7oz) courgette from a friend of mine recently to get me to try courgette soup, and it is without doubt my favourite soup ever, hands down.

Courgette Soup

It is so simple to make too, that it can actually be whizzed up in no time. If you need a quick and delicious dinner, and don’t know what to do with that end of season marrow, zucchini or courgette surplus, look no further. If you don’t love it, I’ll … well, I’ll eat it!

Personally, I adore this with some cream, but if you’re trying to keep the calories down, I find it quite fresh and thoroughly enjoyable with some salt and pepper.

This also freezes very well,

Courgette Soup/ Zucchini Soup
Recipe Type: Soup, Main, Side, Starter
Cuisine: Autumn Food
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 5
I can not stop talking about this soup. I’m not a huge soup fan, and eat it largely out of ease or need, but this soup? Well, it can move in, quite frankly! I love it. Serve with fresh home made bread (or not) and top with dehydrated courgette strips, or perhaps crispy bacon.
Ingredients
  • 700g courgette / zucchini /marrow
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tsp stock or a stock cube and 2 cups water (or 2 cups liquid stock, I prefer chicken but veggie works too)
  • 1 cup cream (250ml or a 240ml pot will be fine) = 240g (optional)
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Roughly chop the marrow and onion, and pop in a food processor. If you like chunky chewy soups, lightly blend leaving chunks, if you like a smooth drinkable soup, keep it going for a while.
  2. Add the stock and water, and bring to the boil.
  3. Simmer for 15 minutes
  4. Stir in cream, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and either dehydrated courgette, crispy bacon or croutons, or eat as is, with our without thick chunks of bread and butter.
Thermomix Instructions
  1. Add the onion and garlic and mix speed 10, 10 seconds
  2. Slice the courgette and place in the Thermomix.
  3. Add the stock and water and cook speed 2/Varoma/15 mins
  4. Check the texture. If you like chunky chewy soups, lightly blend leaving chunks, if you like a smooth drinkable soup, keep it going 60 seconds, speed 5.
  5. Stir in cream, if using, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and either dehydrated courgette, crispy bacon or croutons, or eat as is, with or without thick chunks of bread and butter.