Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Host a Thermomix Dinner Party for Camp Quality
Want to go behind the scenes of our very own Thermomix dinner party? We are excited to announce that The 4 Blades is supporting Camp Quality’s ‘Dine at Mine’ campaign. This special charity has directly affected some pretty important people in our lives and their current campaign combines some of our favourite things – food, fun, family and friends.
To listen in to the podcast, simply tap on the play button at the top of this page or download this episode in iTunes or on Stitcher Radio (and don’t forget to leave a review – it really makes our day!)
Camp Quality’s purpose is to create the best quality of life for every child in Australia who is living with cancer. They believe, as we do, that laughter is the best medicine so they run programs focussed on the power of positive psychology to build optimism and resilience. By hosting your own dinner party you can support Camp Quality, and we will show you how.
In this week’s podcast we talk through our process of planning and hosting a dinner party.
Things to consider…
1. Who will you invite?
How many people would you like at your dinner party and who are they? Think about dietary requirements (vegetarian, gluten free etc.), your budget and the quantity of food you will need.
We had to consider that our guests included those that needed grain free, sugar free and vegetarian options.
2. Where are you going to have your Thermomix dinner party?
At your place? Inside? Outside? Do you need to factor in the weather? Once we were lucky enough to go to a friend’s dinner party in a park… they hooked up a string of oversized light bulbs between the trees. As the sun began to set it was absolutely glorious. You can get creative if you like! We’re not really fancy at our place… it’s mainly folding tables and whatever mixed and matched chairs we can find!
3. What style of meal are you going to go for?
There’s obviously no hard and fast rules here – the sky is the limit when it comes to options! However, it’s nice for the meal to have some kind of structure / flow. Perhaps your meal may have a Mediterranean feel. Maybe a BBQ with salads. Maybe lots of curries, rice and naan breads. We host a ‘pot luck’ dinner once a month where everyone who comes brings a dish to share. It’s a great way to catch up with our family without all the catering.
Now onto our dinner party! This is how it ran…
We decided to have a three course meal.
1. We like to have food ready for when people arrive so to START we made…
- Grain free pizza bread. You can make the base ahead of time and have it ready in the fridge. We top these with dried Italian herbs and garlic granules on one, and a dairy free basil pesto for another.
- Low Carb Chicken Wings. These tasty, tasty wings are our go-to for entertaining. They can be found in The Picnic Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine (or in the 2015 Sampler, for free!)
2. For the main meal…
- Sweet Potato and Feta Cannelloni from The Freezer Issue of The 4 Blades Magazine. So incredibly delicious, and you can make this way ahead of time and store in the freezer (like a lot of the
- Gnocchi with a dairy free Basil Pesto sauce (which we made for the pizza bread too! A two for one deal!) To save time we bought some gluten free gnocchi from the supermarket and stirred through the basil pesto sauce once cooked.
- Crunchy Carrot Beetroot Salad with Orange, Feta and Mint
- Mixed Leaf Salad, we just threw this together with mixed leaves from the markets, fresh lemon juice, chopped capsicum and some sunflower seeds.
Finally, Dessert
- Orange Almond Cakes from Super Kitchen Machine. We made the batter ahead of time and had it in a silicon muffin tray in the freezer, ready to pop straight into the oven when the cannelloni came out.
Listen in to the podcast for the full preparation timeline, including preparation tips that you can use time and time again.
Why not Dine at Mine with The 4 Blades?
Now for your invitation. We’d LOVE for you to host your own Dine at Mine Dinner. It’s like joining us in a big virtual dinner party!
While you can host anytime in August or September, we will be holding The 4 Blades virtual dinner party over the weekend of Thursday September 8 – Monday September 11 (for Bec’s birthday!)
Simply host any kind of food party!
It could be a work lunch in the office instead of going out. You and your significant other could have a romantic dinner at home rather than in a restaurant or you could simply cook dinner instead of buying take away. Then donate whatever you would have spent to Camp Quality.
Simply donate here (and ask your guests to do the same!):
http://www.the4blades.com/dine
This link will allow us to see how much we can raise as a community! Last year Camp Quality raised $750,000 and this year they’re hoping for $1,000,000. We know you guys are awesome so let’s see what we can do to help.
Once you’ve got your party planned make sure you take lots of pictures and post them to Facebook and Instagram (don’t forget to tag us!) Use the hashtag #dineatmine to help raise awareness.
When will you host your party? Let us know in the comments 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!