Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
In Episode 31, we wish you all a Happy New Year 2014 and tell you what we have been up to over our break.
Click on the play button at the top or download this in iTunes or on Stitcher Radio (and do not forget to leave a review – it really makes our day!)
Welcome to 2014! Apologies for our absence over the last couple of weeks. Aside from a little technology incident (water and laptops don’t mix), we have been busy cooking with and for friends – what a great way to spend a holiday!
In mid-December our family of 35 went away to Lennox Head and Bec organised the catering for the first 4 nights (night 5 was fish & chips with any leftovers!). We had four Thermomixes away with us! The interesting thing was, we could have done with less… it’s amazing how much you can do in just one!
Here is what was organised:
Night 1 – BYO meat for the BBQ + 3 salads.
1. Curry Coleslaw with Cheat’s Mayonnaise (mentioned in Episode 27). Note: we made a double batch of the Mayo and it still worked perfectly!
2. ‘I Love Your Potato Salad’ Potato Salad (from the Recipe Community)
3. Broccoli Salad (also mention in Episode 27, but from the Recipe Community)
Night 2 – Pizza Night!
- We made a double batch of the pizza dough from the EDC and a double batch of Gluten Free Pizza Base.
- The pizzas were then cooked on a pizza stone in a hot oven (see tip below).
- We made pizzas with a variety of toppings. It is so handy that the Thermomix can grate a block of cheese in no time, flat. Cut into small blocks (1kg block into 8) and grate on Speed 7 for about 7 seconds, or until the sound changes and you have the consistency that you want. If you go to far you will create a cheese ball – so watch out for that!
Night 3 – Mexican Night!
- We followed the tips and recipes in Episode 7. We did two lots of mince – a mild one for the kids (one batch of taco seasoning to 1kg of mince) and a spicier one (two batches of taco seasoning to 1kg of mince with the addition of a chilli).
- We bought the wheat tortillas as it was much easier with that many people. We definitely made the GF tortillas though. If you haven’t done them – give them a go.
- Joe also did his special pulled pork by cooking a pork shoulder in the slow cooker with his special blend of spices, then ‘pulling’ it in the Thermomix. Delicious. Look out for this recipe in 2014! It’s a winner!
- We also put out two trays of nachos – one standard taco sauce and cheese, and one that was more ‘supreme’.
Night 4 – Indian Night!
We made 3 curries:
1. Lamb Saag (mentioned in Episode 2)
2. Beef Rendang (from old EDC) with the addition of 500g pumpkin
3. Butter Chicken (from Forum Thermomix) – made from Tikka Paste. Everyone thought this was DELICIOUS, but we still haven’t quite captured that ‘takeaway butter chicken’ taste / texture. We also made naan – both Tenina’s (with gluten) and a GF version. Here’s a pic (recipe to come!):
We also steamed rice in the Thermomix, and there was a bolognese on offer for the kids.
So, can you believe that with all this food, the cost per head was $4.57 per adult per dinner and $2.29 per child (3yoa to primary school)?
Now, onto Christmas…
For Christmas Day, we brought Curry Coleslaw and Quirky Jo’s Raw Macademia & Lime Cheesecake. By the way, Cafe Disarray has made a version of the Curry Coleslaw that you may like to try. Check it out here.
And now for NYE…
We know that it is not uncommon for 10:30pm to come around on NYE and people start looking at their clocks, ready for midnight to roll around. Well, we thought that we would plan for a night to keep us going! We had a food course and game planned for each hour from 6pm. Here’s what we did:
6pm – Sushi Cubes (steamed rice and tuna salad done in the TM, Beetroot Risotto from Quick Fix: Every Occasion also turned into cubes)… with Jenga
7pm – Patatas Bravas (you are going to love this recipe when we share it with you this year!); Manchego cheese with honey, ground coffee and thyme; Chorizo cooked in a balsamic honey glaze… with Billionaire
(The leftover Patatas Bravas was repurposed in the oven the next morning… delicious!)
8pm – Pork Ribs with a GF Thyme Focaccia (keep an eye out for this one!)… with Balderdash
9pm – Tangy Seafood Salad (with chilli citrus dressing)… with Trivial Pursuit
10pm – Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chocolate Hazelnut Berry Layered Torte (with some alterations… stay tuned! This is Bec’s new favourite recipe!!!)… with The Logo Game
11pm – Dark Chocolate Orange Button Cookies (TM adaptation to follow)… with Apples to Apples.
Note: These are GF / DF and actually grain-free!
So that brings us to 2014! We have lots planned to share with you all.
A couple of questions…
1. We usually release the podcast on a Monday, but were wondering if you thought a Thursday / Friday would be better for you, so that you can listen and then try out recipe over the weekends?
2. Would you like to help us test recipes? We want to make sure the recipes that we write are fool-proof and will work every time (to get more of these great comments!) If you would like to help us improve our recipes, shoot us an email, we’d love to hear from you.
Here is a cool tip from this podcast…
- To make the most authentic pizza you can, get a pizza stone and heat it up in a hot hot oven (as hot as it will go). You can then roll your pizza dough out on a piece of baking paper and transfer it to the stone, or you can put a piece of baking paper on the pizza stone and pour the GF Pizza Batter onto it and spread it out with a Super Spatula.
Feedback on the Podcast
If you have any suggestions for upcoming shows or a question for an upcoming episode, we’d love you to leave a Comment below.
If you enjoyed this podcast, we’d be extremely grateful if you would take a second and leave us a review and rating over on iTunes. Once on that page, simply click on the “View in iTunes” button to leave your review — thanks very much!