Lazy Caramel Slice

I'm usually not much of a slice maker. My husband loves a good caramel slice and I have made it in the past, but I feel like it's too much effort making the 3 different components - base, caramel, and chocolate top - yeh I know, I put 'effort' into a lot of other things, but to make things preeettyy, but slices just aren't that pretty!

 

This recipe has changed me, it is pretty much all the 3 caramel slice layers in 1 lot, tastes exactly the same but is actually more delicate and 'melt in your mouth', and I actually really love the rustic look about it!

 

 

Lazy Caramel Slice

 

I actually made this for my husband to take to work, but decided to keep it at home ;)

 

TRTLMT Lazy Caramel Slice Recipe:

 

http://www.trtlmt.com.au/lazy-caramel-slice/

 

This recipe is literally:

 

 

Make the slice base (you could just do this in a food processor if you don't have a Thermomix)

 

 

Press into square baking pan

 

 

Sprinkle chocolate chips 

 

 

Roughly pour sweetened condensed milk

 

 

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes

 

 

and the result is DELICIOUS!! 

 

Choc Mint Mousse

After a successful milo mousse recipe which we have eaten sooo much of (http://thermotwinning.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/milo-mousse.html), I wanted to attempt another favourite flavour in my household, choc mint!

 

 

Choc Mint Mousse

 

This has a mild mint flavour, as I wanted to have some restraint with the peppermint so it didn't end up tasting like toothpaste! But you could double the amount of peppermint essence without it being too overpowering (just have a taste of the mixture after Step 2 and add after that if desired), or add a bar of peppermint crisp with the blitzed dark chocolate chips.

 

CHOC MINT MOUSSE

 

Ingredients:

 

100 grams dark chocolate chips

1 x bottle 600ml thickened cream

1/2 - 1 teaspoon peppermint essence

1/4 teaspoon green food colouring

6 tablespoons sugar

 

Method:

 

1. Add chocolate chips to bowl and blitz - 5 seconds/Speed 7. Set aside.

 

 

Blitz the chocolate chips and set aside

 

2. Place butterfly into bowl. Add thickened cream, peppermint essence, food colouring and sugar. Beat - 20 seconds/Speed 4.

 

 

Add thickened cream, peppermint essence, food colouring and sugar.

 

3. Add the blitzed chocolate chips and beat - 10 seconds/Speed 4. It is has not thickened, keep beating 5 seconds at a time, until the cream has thickened, and has the 'frangipani' look at the top. Be careful not to overbeat or you'll get Choc Mint flavoured butter!

 

 

Add reserved blitzed chocolate chips

 

Serve in 6 small glasses. You can either spoon the mousse in, or pipe it in with a piping bag and large piping nozzle. I used a large star shaped piping nozzle:

 

Fill piping bag with mousse

 

 

Pipe mousse holding the piping bag vertically with slow and constant pressure

 

 

Choc Mint Mousse!

 

 

Strawberry Chips

These were made by accident whilst I was attempting to make strawberry rollups by TRTLMT (http://www.trtlmt.com.au/strawberry-rollups/). I made them a lot thinner, and cooked them a bit longer than needed (got distracted playing with the boys). The recipe used 900 grams strawberries to spread over 2 trays, however I spread 430 grams strawberries on 2 trays. They ended up more like chips than roll ups, plus it ended up easier for the boys to eat as it is so thin, it just melts in your mouth! I will definitely follow the roll up recipe and make them thicker for when the boys are a bit older with more teeth to bite into them!

 

 

Strawberry Chips

 

STRAWBERRY CHIPS

Adapted from http://www.trtlmt.com.au/strawberry-rollups/

 

Ingredients:

 

2 x 250 gram punnets of Strawberries (with green tops cut off)

1/2 tablespoon white sugar

 

Method:

 

1. Preheat oven to 75 degrees.

 

2. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.

 

3. Place strawberries and sugar into bowl and mix 25 seconds/Speed 9.

 

 

Place Strawberries and Sugar in bowl

 

 

Blitzed Strawberries and Sugar Mixture

 

4. Spread a very thin layer of the mixture onto the baking trays, spreading with a cake icing spatula.

 

 

 Spread a very thin layer of mixture

 

 

 Repeat for both trays

 

5. Bake in the oven for about 2 -3 hours or until sides of mixture appear crisp and transparent.

 

 

Bake in oven for 2 - 3 hours

 

 

After 2 - 3 hours

 

 

YUMMY! The boys love it!!

 

 

Whole Orange and Poppyseed Muffins with Almond and Chia Seeds

This is a variation of the 30 second whole orange cupcakes as I wanted to sneak in some extra nutrition with the boys eating it too. The extra stuff in it doesn't make this in '30 seconds' anymore but it's still very quick and easy!! :)

 

 

Whole Orange and Poppyseed Muffins with Almond and Chia seeds

 

WHOLE ORANGE AND POPPYSEED MUFFINS WITH ALMOND AND CHIA SEEDS

Adapted from: http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/baking-sweet-recipes/no-waste-muffins-30-second-whole-orange-cake/124311

 

Makes 6 large muffins and 20 mini muffins

 

Ingredients:

 

40 grams almonds

1 x whole orange (cut into quarters)

250 grams butter

3 eggs

200 grams sugar

330 grams self raising flour

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

 

Method:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

 

2. Add muffin cases to muffin tray (or if using silicon muffin trays, cases are optional - I didn't use cases for the mini muffins as they are for the boys).

 

3. Place almonds in bowl and blitz - 10 seconds/Speed 9. Set aside.

 

 

Blitz Almonds - 10 Seconds/Speed 9. Set aside

 

4. Place orange and butter into bowl and mix - 7 seconds/Speed 8. Scrape down and mix 15 seconds/Speed 8.

 

 

Add orange and butter

 

 

Mixed orange and butter 

 

5. Add all remaining ingredients including set aside blitzed almonds and mix 30 seconds/Speed 8 (using a spatula  to mix through the top and push the mixture down).

 

 

 Add all other ingredients

 

 

Mix for 30 seconds/Speed 8 with spatula stirring through hole

 

 

 Muffin mixture

 

6. Spoon mixture into muffin trays. Bake mini muffins for 10 - 15 minutes and big muffins for 20 - 25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

 

 

Spoon mixture into muffin tins

 

7. Serve with sifted icing sugar on top.

 

 

Serve with sifted icing sugar

 

 

Cleaning your Kettle

Spring cleaning time! It's time to clean your kettle!!!

 

Before and After - Cleaning your kettle

Remove that gunk and limescale from your kettle, with just one simple ingredient - LEMONS!!!! The citric acid in the lemons cleans your kettle without needing any scrubbing!! And cleaning without scrubbing is MYYY type of cleaning!!

Do this the last thing at night before bed!

1. Fill the kettle with 1 or 2 quartered lemons (squeeze a bit of juice out as you put it in).

 

Fill with 1-2 quartered lemons

2. Fill up with water to the maximum.

Add water

 

3. Bring to the boil and leave overnight.

 

Boil

 

Leave overnight

 

4. In the morning, bring to the boil again.

 

The morning after...

 

After being boiled again

5. Rinse kettle thoroughly (unless you want lemon flavoured tea).

 

Rinse thoroughly

6. And BAM! Sparkling clean new kettle!!

 

Sparkling clean new kettle!!

I try to do this every few weeks, or when I see my kettle get gunky at the bottom!!

Corned Beef and Vegetables

I had never eaten this pre-Thermomix days, and I thought it seemed a bit like 'grandma food' so never even popped up on my radar! However, one day I saw it in the shops, bought it and have never looked back! I buy a lot of corned beef every time I go to the shops now, and make this at least every fortnight.

Corned Beef, Vegetables and Parsley Sauce

Thermomumma's Cornmeat, Vege and Parsley Sauce Recipe:

http://thermomumma.com/cornmeat-vege-parsley-sauce/

I make this for special dinners with friends and family and I can stretch it up to 8 people. I also make it for a week night dinner with about 5-6 large servings, serve it straight onto plates and also containers ready to pack for my husband to take to work.

 

For a dinner party, serving up to 8 people

 

Weeknight dinner, plate servings + containers

 

 

Weeknight dinner, plate servings + containers

 

This is also a great dish to 'show off' your Thermomix's capabilities as it uses both the steaming basket and Varoma steaming tray. All the juices from the corned beef and vegetables is then used to make the BEST SAUCE EVER!!!

All up, I start cooking this dish about 2 1/2 hours before serving time. Total cooking time in the Thermomix takes 2 hours, and I leave about 30 minutes to make the sauce and cut the beef.

Steaming the beef for a total 2 hours

(90 mins alone + 30 mins with veg)

 

I  have made this dish A LOT! I haven't bought corned beef from the butcher before, but my biggest tip, is to buy the corned beef from Coles!! (and not the lean one)!! I find the one from Woolworths one has heaps more fat, doesn't come out as soft and moist, and is a lot more saltier than the Coles one (I have tried it a few times if I'm shopping at Woolies and it still doesn't impress me). There is also a 'lean corned beef' that you can buy and I find that too dry (kind of needs a bit of fat to soak itself into ;). Also, use your sharpest knife cut the meat REALLY THIN - somehow it just tastes better!

The sauce is the BEST. It uses the cooking sauce from the beef, but when I'm having another meat dish at home, like steak, I'll use this sauce recipe separately and use 350 grams chicken stock instead of the cooking sauce. I also use save any leftover cooking sauce and add extra chicken stock to make a sauce for a pasta bake for the boys. I usually add a 210 gram tin of red salmon, fresh corn (or any other vegetables I have in the house), mix in the sauce, top with cheddar cheese and the bake for about 15- 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

 

Kids pasta bake = 1 cup of pasta shells + 1 x 210 gram tin red salmon

+ fresh corn +1 x batch of sauce

 

 

Top with grated cheddar cheese

 

 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees

 

Yoghurt Drops

My boys are ever changing between wanting to be spoon fed (apparently boys like everything to be done for them??), and to wanting to eat themselves with their fingers. Lately, they only want to eat finger foods!

 

I'm trying to get things into them that are healthy and that they'll actually eat! I also try to give them different flavours, colours, textures and temperatures with their food so that they won't be too fussy with their foods as they grow up.

 

I saw this on Pinterest so thought I would give it a go with my homemade yoghurt!

 

 

Yoghurt Drops

 

YOGHURT DROPS

 

What you need:

 

1. Yoghurt (Homemade/store-bought, flavoured/plain)

I used my homemade Vanilla Yoghurt using Thermomumma's Easiyo Yoghurt Recipe (http://thermomumma.com/easiyo-homemade-yoghurt/)

 

2. Metal tray lined with baking paper

 

3. Piping bag or ziplock bag (with small hole cut in the corner)

 

 

What you need ^^^

 

Method:

 

1. Place yoghurt in a piping bag (or ziplock bag) and pipe dots onto tray.

 

Fill piping bag with yoghurt

 

 

Pipe drops on tray

 

2. Place in freezer for a few hours until drops have hardened.

 

 

Place in freezer

 

 You can either store in freezer on the tray, or decant it into a smaller container with baking paper in between.

 

It gets a bit melty after a few minutes out of the freezer, so it is best eaten straight out of the freezer for a sweet frozen treat for the little ones or adults!