Thermione is making time in the kitchen fun all over again

I've made so much with this great appliance, she hasn't had a day off since landing at our place.  Fun and simple cooking from the most basic ingredients, so good.  If anyone asked me if Thermomix are worth the money I would say YES!  If you love cooking good wholesome food simply then this is the gadget for you.  

Dear Husband and I attended a Thermomix Festive Flavour class hosted locally by some great demonstrators and reps.  We both learned an awful lot more about our Thermione and how to get the very best out of her.  We were very lucky on the day too, winning  a copy of the Festive Flavour cookbook and a gorgeous gingerbread house made by Leah. Picked up another great book by Jo Whitton of the great Australian Quirky Cooking blog. Pretty sure the class was a great success because Dear Husband came home and cooked for the first time with Thermione and made really good Mongolian Lamb for dinner all by himself.

At the moment I'm waiting for the almond biscotti to cook, great recipe from the Festive Flavours book which we sampled at the class.

Chicken and cashew nut risotto was my first effort with our new kitchen machine.

Homemade basil pesto great spread over a chicken breast, topped with tomato or avocado and mozarella, baked in the oven.

A jug full of fresh veges and herbs  and it made three jars of vegetable stock paste.  Great item to have in the fridge.  Down to my last jar now.

My sweet mango chutney is a winner, I'll be making that one again and again.

 ANZAC biscuits are so quick and easy to make up in the jug that weighs, heats, melts, cooks and mixes the raw ingredients.

Strawberry and apple jam is yummy, and perfect for making jam drops.

Hot chocolate, full cream milk and real dark chocolate melted and heated together.  Mmmmm!

Coriander and cashew nut pesto, wonderful flavours.

Rhubarb muffins with real egg custard was good on a cold night.

Chicken and asparagus risotto, a great success.

Lots of sourdough bread making going on too.

Todays' pair of loaves, one to keep and one to give away.

Time for afternoon tea! xo

Bread baking and sourdough making

I made my first loaf of basic white bread with the help of my Thermomix 4 weeks ago, it was good.

The second with some bread improver added exploded out of the tin.

This sunflower and pepita loaf could have done with a some bread improver.

I discovered Alexandra Alice's cheats sourdough youtube video , it's a great recipe to follow.

It turns out consistent good sourdoughish loaves.

 A dear friend sent me some of her Philomena sourdough in flake format, now the fun really begins.

Philomena is frothing and ready to go after a few days of fermenting.

It was cold last night so she had to sit beside the wifi modem overnight.

Two loaves, the cheats sourdough on the left and my first Philomena on the right.

Philomena is a little flat but with a little tweaking I'm going to get this sourdough making sorted.

It's been great fun, it's pretty easy to achieve, it tastes so good, has a nice chewy crust and full of holey bacterial goodness.

Here is is a very interesting article about the benefits of eating sourdough by Daniel Reid's website that my sourdough baking friend shared with me.  You might want to give it a go.

A big catchup

More than a month has gone by with no blogging.  I haven't even turned on my laptop since early September.  There were hundreds of emails to download, my antiviral needed to update and I transferred 215 photos from my phone so now it's time for a well overdue blog update. Maybe several blog posts will be needed!

My Dixie Charm shawl made from gorgeous sock yarn I bought on my VIC travels in August.  So soft and drapey.  Loved working with this rainbow of colours, especially love the crab stitch border. 

Cloudy is my stitching assistant most days, she loves getting involved in everything.  Not very helpful most of the time.  She's just turned one and is a real chatterbox.

Felted woollen jumpers made into brooches, fun to make and lovely to wear.

Drying off after a swim in her big bath.

 I taught a lovely group of rural women how to make these brooches, success, they all managed to complete one to take home.

Last fire for the winter, these two will miss their evenings indoors.

Made this cowl of chains from a skein of handspun wool I picked up at the Finders Keeper market in Melbourne.  

My favourite Dr Marten shoes, my winter uniform.

Miss Ruby is a constant companion.

I bought one ball of Noro Silk Garden at Steph's in Moruya and made a spring cowl, perfect between season.  

I've made two batches of lemon butter recently, great staple to have in the fridge.  Beautiful on  plain cheesecake or icecream.

Time to get the vege garden started for spring and summer produce.  The first spears of asparagus have sprouted.

A gorgeous sketch of Miss Ruby by a very talented Twitter friend.  Will have to frame it to go with the two others she has done from photos I've posted of my dog on Twitter.  So lifelike!

My last winter Jellywares yarn club, Noro Taiyo was made up into a Queen Anne Lace scarf.  I made some modifications to have more loops and a bit fuller and firmer design.  Love how this has turned out.  Now to work out what to make from my first spring yarn club parcel which has two lovely cottons to work with.  

I completed this set of eight cotton coasters yesterday and I hope they are the right green. 

Also visited this fabulous brand new shop in our town, Fleur and Christine have excelled themselves.  Visit them in Ford Street, Moruya, you won't be disappointed.  I started my Christmas shopping!

"Don't shake!"

At last summer is here and Miss Ruby is so happy to have caught her first wave of the season.