Earlier this year I bought myself a Thermomix. I went back and forth on the purchase, ummed and ahhed over the crazy price and did a heck-load of research on it. Everyone is raving about them, have you heard? And so I decided that I definitely wanted to make my life easier, especially with a baby on the way… so I took the leap and I bought one.

I’ve been overwhelmed by it. The things I have made with it have been amazing {bolognese from scratch – including mincing the meat, custard in under 10 minutes, risotto, the best mash ever and the fluffiest orange cake I ever did taste}, but I can’t lie, the machine kinda overwhelms me.

One of the teachers at Lacey’s school is a master at the ‘mix. She uses it every single night, and I’ve been in awe at how she operates. She even took it to school the other day to whip up food for the kids in a little cooking lesson. They made cake, ice cream and herby cheese dip.

So I pulled my machine back out {yes, I had it in hiding it overwhelmed me that much} and decided I needed to make something, at least once a week. And this is what I cooked up this week, Sneaky Macaroni Cheese.

I generally don’t hide vegies from Lacey. She’s a pretty good eater, but personally I loved a puree vegetable. I love making mashed potato with whatever I have in the vegetable drawer, and I thought this dish might be nice for everyone to eat. It was. Lacey ate three bowls full for dinner, even though it was meant as just a side. “It’s delicious!” she remarked. She hasn’t taken to zucchini yet, so when she asked if the green stuff was shallots {which she likes} I told a white lie and said yes.

Ingredients

90g cheddar cheese, cut into 1-2cm cubes
50g parmesan cheese, cut into 1-2cm cubes
1.2 litres of water
200g cauliflower, roughly chopped
150g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-2cm cubes
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
300g macaroni
50g plain flour
500g low-fat milk
30g butter, cubed

Method

Using the Thermomix
♥ Place cheese into the mixing bowl and grate 10 sec/Speed 9. Set aside.
♥ Place water into the mixing bowl and boil 10 min/Varoma/Speed 1.
♥ Place cauliflower, pumpkin and zucchini into Varoma. Set aside.
♥ Add macaroni to the water. Place Varoma into position and cook 10 min/Varoma/Reverse/Speed 1.
♥ Place cooked vegetables into mixing bowl and puree 10 sec/speed 8. Stir through pasta.
♥ Place flour, milk and butter into mixing bowl and cook 6 min/90°C/Reverse/Speed 2.
♥ Add cheese and cook 2 min/90°C/Reverse/Speed 2.
♥ Pour over pasta and combine. Serve warm.

Using pots, pans and normal stuff
♥ Grate the cheeses, using a grater.
♥ Cook pasta on the stove, as per packet instructions. While the pasta is cooking steam the vegetables. You can do this in a steamer over the pasta, or in the microwave. Once the vegetables are cooked, puree them with a hand blender, or if you like them chunky do it with a fork.
♥ Drain pasta, and place into a bowl. Stir through the vegetable puree.
♥ In a saucepan over medium heat, make the sauce. First add the butter and melt, add the flour and stir. You want to cook the flour so it doesn’t get any colour but gets rid of the raw flour taste. This should take 1-2 minutes. Don’t let it get brown. Add the milk and stir until all combined. Bring to a gentle boil, until it thickens. Add cheese and turn off the heat. Stir to combine.
♥ Add sauce to the pasta/vegetable mix. Stir to combine and serve.

This recipe is from the new Thermomix book by Louise Fulton Keats {I received it last week, and thought I’d give a recipe a whirl and share}. I’ve adapted it slightly.

Do you have a Thermomix? What’s your favourite thing to make in it? And sneaky vegetables into kids meals: cool or crazy?

I wish I could say I’ve never met a cake I didn’t like, but I have. I don’t like anything too rich {black forest cake, I’m looking at you} or too dry, and sometimes cakes that fall somewhere in between. But this cake, this cake I LOVED. I had a little nibble of the mix before baking and I knew it was a winner.

I love baking. I find it really therapeutic, but it’s the eating that worries me. I’ll indulge in a slice, or maybe two, but that’s my limit. When we were living back in busy Bondi, I wondered what my neighbours would think if I’d dropped off baked goods to their door. I’m sure I would have received weird looks and a polite, “No thanks.” I guess I’ll never know.

Here it’s different though. I love my neighbours. If we’re away for a few days and our bins are out, they’ll magically be put back in. Those things didn’t happen back in Bondi. We did have one sweet neighbour who would remember Lacey’s birthday and leave gifts at the door for her, as well at Easter and Christmas. And if he saw us out the front he’d often throw treats down from his very high balcony.

I cut a generous slice of this cake and delivered it my neighbour, and she was so grateful. And then the kids down the road came up to play, so I gave them a slice too. The plates came back clean. I love living in the country.

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup caster sugar
125g butter, chilled & chopped
1 egg
2/3 cup pure cream
3/4 cup double cream
250g strawberries, halved {with green bits cut off}
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

♥ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line a round tin {with a 20cm base}.
♥ In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. Stir to combine.
♥ Add butter and rub together with fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs.
♥ In a separate bowl combine the egg and pure cream. Add to mix. With a metal spoon, gently combine the mix. Be careful not to over-mix. You want to just combine it all together.
♥ Place into the tin, and use your fingertips to evenly spread it out.
♥ Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool in tin for 10 minutes and then gently place on a wire rack to cool.
♥ Once cool, cut cake in half crossways and fill with double cream and strawberries. Place the other half on top and dust with icing sugar.

Note: This cake is very delicate, so when you’re cutting – do it slowly and gently. And when placing the top on, make sure you support it with an egg flip or big knife. Or just cover up the breakage {like I did!} with a bucketload of icing sugar.

Lacey, who is obsessed with blogging at the moment, wanted you all to see her plate. We HAD to put it in the shot. All princess plate comments and words of appreciation will be passed on to the little wannabe blogger. She was not impressed that I got her arm in the shot though. Fussy pants.

Let’s get back to neighbours. Do you like yours? Would you ever drop baked goods at their door?

Have you noticed that everyone has gone raw lately? It’s all about the raw food revolution and the green smoothie. I haven’t really gone there myself. I’m almost convinced the smoothies probably taste good, but I haven’t been tempted enough to blitz kiwi fruit, spinach and whatever else I can find lingering in my fruit and vegetable drawer. One day.

I have, however, dabbled in a little raw food. I went to a BBQ recently and we were all asked to bring a dish. Of course I brought a calorie-laden potato bake. It’s a crowd-pleaser {but not a waistline-pleaser}. My girlfriend brought a raw quinoa and broccoli salad*. I think she was just trying to show me up, or make me feel bad {kidding Sheree!}. The salad was good. So good that I took home leftovers for dinner and then asked for the recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa {use red or mixed}
1 small bunch coriander, finely chopped
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
½ cup pecan nuts {or almonds}, toasted and roughly chopped
½ broccoli head {florets only}, finely chopped
1 small lemon, juiced
2 tbsp Tamari {use soy sauce if you don’t have Tamari}
Olive oil

Method

♥ Bring 2 cups of water to the boil. Add the quinoa, and then simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Cool and then add in all the other ingredients. I think a bit of fetta would make it a bit magical.

This recipe was adapted from this one here.
*Is it still raw if you’ve toasted the nuts and cooked the quinoa?

Have you dabbled in the raw food revolution? Or perhaps downed a green smoothie? Do tell.

I do love me a slow-cooker meal and a stroganoff. There’s something comforting about the both of them, so I decided to put the two together and see what happened. You know what happened? A delicious meal that everyone loved. That’s my measure of success, if everyone eats it and likes it… I’m a culinary genius. Winning.

I prefer my stroganoff without the meat. Mushrooms are one of my favourite foods, so quite often I’ll happily make it sans meat and add in some vegetables. This one uses meatballs, which make it a super easy meal for everyone. I just rolled those babies onto Hubby’s plate and enjoyed my mushroom overload. You can do as you please. Instead of beef strips I used meatballs, I just picked up a packet of mini organic meatballs from the supermarket, but I know Aldi does some cheap ones. You could even use the frozen ones from Ikea. Or make your own if you like.

Ingredients

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup beef stock {or 3/4 cup water with a beef stock cube}
1 packet of meatballs {around 500g if you’re making your own}
1 onion, sliced
300g mushrooms sliced
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp paprika
1 cup sour cream
1 tbs cornflour
Pasta spirals or rice, for serving

Method

♥ If you’re using fresh meatballs {i.e. not frozen} then you might like to brown off the meatballs quickly in a frying pan with a little oil, so that they don’t fall apart during cooking. I did.
♥ In your slow cooker, empty the can of soup, the stock. Add the meatballs, sliced mushrooms, onion, tomato pasta and paprika. Stir gently to combine, and then cover. Place on low heat and cook for 6-8 hours.
♥ Half an hour before you’re ready to serve, start cooking your rice of pasta.
♥ Mix the cornflour into the sour cream, and mix into the slow cooker mixture. Cook until your pasta or rice is cooked.
♥ Serve with some greens like broccoli, zucchini and beans.

Do you own a slow cooker? What’s your favourite meal to make?

P.S. If you don’t own one, you can win one in my April giveaway here.