X is for Xmas Eve

Only one day until Christmas :). We are having Mum and Dad over for dinner tonight and I am trying Honeycomb Cannelloni recipe for the very first time. I am excited and apprehensive. I hope it works out. I don't think I would have been game enough to try it without the Thermomix here to help me cut up all the vegies though. It would need a lot of prep work otherwise. Best thing is, in order to make it I had to buy a lovely new cast iron pot to fit it all in. I have been wanting one for years and now I have a lovely blue one.

Doesn't the dinner just look delicious! Hopefully mine will look just as nice.

Honeycomb Cannelloni

F is for Finger Painting

I made finger paint for the first time yesterday. I used this original fingerprint recipe, but instead of making it on the stove, I made it in the Thermomix. I was impressed by how smooth it turned out, something I don't think I could have achieved without the Thermomix's help.

Nicholas was a little apprehensive about touching the finger paint. He seems to not like getting his hands dirty. When he does he complains about it and either brings his hands to you to be wiped or wipes them on his clothes (bad habitats start early). So I wasn't surprised when he asked me to wipe it off almost right away. Lucky I had some random paint brushes in the cupboard. He found it much more enjoyable once he had the paint brushes to use instead.

Here are a few photos of Nicholas painting.

And this is his masterpiece. I stuck it on the wall near the front door for all the see :).

No blackberries today!

Sadly, this Autumn we did not had the chance to pick any blackberries. Dad chopped down all the easily accessible bushes (which always bore a lot of fruit), Daniel works all week, and then I work and play soccer on weekends. Mum went away and I didn't want to leave Nicholas asleep and alone in the house while I wandered around the property picking blackberries, plus the nice Autumn days have been few and far between. I also couldn't imagine carrying Nicholas on my back and walking around my parents very uneven property in the wet and cold, so it just didn't really happen.

I was afraid having kids would somehow impede on the things I enjoy doing, such as preserving fruit. In some ways it has and it hasn't. If I didn't have Nicholas I would have happily walked around picking blackberries alone and in the cold. It's been done before. But because I don't want to risk tripping, for instance, and hurting Nicholas, I just didn't bother. I've also found that before Nicholas it didn't matter if I stayed up late preserving. Now for obvious reasons I want to be in bed before 10pm, which means I have to be a lot more organised, something I am not particularly great at.

Thankfully, the Thermomix makes preserving super easy. I just put the fruit and sugar in, set the timer, turn it to the correct speed and off it goes. All I have to do at end is just pour the jam into the sterilised jars...so easy. So even though I am disappointed that I didn't get my hands on nay blackberries this year, when I saw a bunch of jamming figs going cheaply at the markets I couldn't pass up the offer.

So I got all the ingredients prepared:
Figs, sugar and lemon juice,
Put them into the Thermomix, set the timer and let it go.
When I returned, it was finished :).

I definitely I want to plant a fig tree this winter, but like the mulberry tree it can get huge, so I'm not quite sure if we have the room in our backyard for it. I guess we'll just have to find some!

Thermomix adventure no. 1

So I did something recently that I never thought I would do. I spent an obscene amount of money on a kitchen appliance. But not just any kitchen appliance I might add... a Thermomix. And I must say, this is one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. I think it is fantastic. It saves time when cooking and motivates me try new food, and since it arrived on Tuesday I have been using it two to three times daily.

On Tuesday, after it was dropped off, at 3pm in the afternoon I used it 3 times. I made a carrot salad, cauliflower soup and quince paste, and the quince paste turned out amazingly.

I used some quinces I picked up from the side of the road, and I followed this quince paste recipe I found on the Thermomix community site. Unlike my attempts at making quince paste last year this was surprisingly easy because it avoided all the time wasted in straining the paste to make it fine and smooth. 

Here I am cutting everything up.

This is the core and peel after it had been blitzed, and before the water had been added.

Here it is after being cooked for 25mins, but before being strained to get the liquid out.

After cooking for a massive 50mins it is ready to be placed in the tray to cool and set.

Such a vibrant red colour.

The end product: so smooth and tasty :).

 I am looking forward to all the Thermomix adventures that are ahead of us.