Thermomix - Day 1

Ta-da! I have a Thermomix!

Last week I finally ordered a Thermomix and last night my lovely TM consultant delivered it. It is freakin awesome!

So I've been cooking. All in the TM of course.

There is Vegetable Stock.

We made this last night as part of the run down on how to use the machine.

Then this morning I started with shortcrust pastry.

And some Strawberry Sorbet

Then bread rolls

I did slightly burn the rolls but only because I went one step too far with the multitasking and fed Baby Berry whilst they were in the oven.

 

Chicken soup

 

Lemon Meringue Pie

This is what the pastry was for.

 

 And finally Chicken and Cashews with Coconut Satay Sauce and Coconut Rice

 

Recipe from Quirky Cooking here

I could not be happier. The TM really has done everything it says it can and there is absolutely no way I could have achieved all that in a day without using the TM. The other thing we noticed was that the kitchen stayed reasonably clean. I am what you could only describe as a messy cook (unfortunately the TM could not help there. It did have a few drips and spills on it) and usually I seem to explode in the kitchen. Our kitchen is quite small and gets messy quickly but not today!

 

I can't wait to start again tomorrow!

 

And here it is resting ahead of another day tomorrow.

My First Visit to Costco

I've been meaning to check out Costco for a while now and have a few friends who absolutely love it.
So today I took myself and the kids off for a morning adventure to see what all the fuss is about.

Firstly, there's a $60 annual membership and you can't even walk in the door without one. Crazy no? My initial thought it a shop that makes you pay to shop there is basically ripping you off. But they offer a money back guarantee so I figured I could always get my money back if I wasn't impressed.

Secondly, it took me about 30 minutes to get there and I was there for about 1.5 hours even though I only did a very quick trip around the edges of the warehouse. It is massive to say the least and a lot of  my time there was spent manoeuvring around all the other people with my MASSIVE trolley that had fixed back wheels. And it is Monday today - supposedly one of the less busy days there. I can only imagine what a weekend would be like. I'm going to have to make some pretty big savings to make the effort worthwhile.

Thirdly, I have complete baby brain and forgot to take my price book with me so I couldn't compare prices before I bought. I did remember my list. I also have a weekly grocery budget of $150.00. I needed to get anything from Costco plus everything else on my list for the week and not go over budget.

So here is what I bought:

 

Item	Price at Costco	Current Price at Coles	My Savings
Tomatos - 12 x 400g cans	$7.29 (60c ea)	$1.58	$0.98/can - $11.76 total
Lemons - 1.36kg about 10 in the packet	$3.99 (40c ea)	$2.98/pkt6 (49c ea)	9c ea - $0.90 total
Greek Yoghurt - 2kg	$5.49 ($1.37/500g)	$5.87/kg ($2.93/500g)	$1.56/500g - $6.24 total
Lamb Rack - 0.668kg	$19.16 ($28.69/kg)	$37.99/kg)	$9.30/kg - $6.21 total
Deli Ham - 500g	$5.99 ($11.98/kg)	$16.50/kg	$4.52/kg - $2.26 total
Proscuitto - 150g	$5.39 ($35.93/kg)	$6.50/100g ($65.00/kg)	$29.07/kg - $4.36 total
Ricotta Cheese - 1kg	$5.69 ($1.42/kg)	$5.74/500g ($11.48/kg)	$10.06/kg - $10.06 total
Lebanese Pita Breads - 2 packets of 7 pieces	$1.89 (13.5c ea piece)	$3.90/pkt6 (65c ea piece)	51.5c/ea - $7.21 total
Whole Almonds - 1.36kg	$13.79 ($10.14/kg)	$10.84/500g ($21.68/kg)	$11.54/kg - $15.70 total
Rice Vermicelli - 4 x 375g packs	$4.79 ($3.19/kg)	$2.12/125g ($16.96/kg)	$13.77/kg - $20.65 total
Fresh Strawberries - 1.4kg	$9.49 ($1.69/250g)	$2.00/250g punnet	31c/250g - $1.73 total
Tuna in Springwater - 12 x 95g cans	$12.49 ($1.04/can)	90c/can	14c/can - $1.68 total

My Total Savings $88.76

Ok, so I am a bit shocked by the amount I've saved. I really didn't think it would be that much. So I have already made my annual fee back.

A couple of points though

• Some of these quantities are huge and I think we may have to work at eating it all. For example the yoghurt may go off before we finish it. Same goes for the ricotta.
• We don't eat that much tuna and I probably shouldn't have bought it there. Considering I haven't saved that much I would have been better buying it at Coles and not having to store the extra cans.
• The fresh food is in such large packs that most would end up going to the chooks. We might finish off a pack of apples but not 2kg of tomatos.
• I need to find out more about the meat. It didn't have free range or grass fed all over it. I did notice they had Lilydale whole chooks.

With a bit of planning and restraint I think going to Costco a couple of times a year could be worthwhile.

BTW - of I have made a gross error in my calculations please tell me. My brain hurts after all that.

We're Quitting Sugar.

Talk about new things.

After a long discussion with my husband the other night we came to the conclusion that the health of our family is a top priority. And the best thing we could do for our children is to quit sugar.

For well over a year I have been reading and re-reading David Gillespies books Sweet Poison, The Sweet Poison Quit Plan and Big Fat Lies. I have also done my own research and I am convinced that sugar is giving us all kinds of grief and that there can be no such thing as moderation. (At least for us. We always seem to go nuts with sugary foods.)

So on the weekend we began the process of removing sugar from our lives. To help keep me motivated and to remind me of why I am doing this I've started a new blog How I Quit Sugar.

So why such an extreme move? I've known about the effects of sugar for a while now and I've must admit I hadn't really tried too hard to eliminate it. Lately I've realised how much sugar my kids eat. It's steadily growing. I've always battled with my weight and I've always said that I don't want my children to go through what I went through (and still go through). But the other day that really hit home.

We were at Miss Berry's kindergarten orientation and there was a performance from some of the older students. Four pairs were doing ballroom dancing and three of the girls were slim and one was on the chubby side. Actually a bit more then just on the chubby side. The poor girl stood out like a sore thumb on stage, especially in comparison to the other three who really did look like you would expect dancers to.

My heart went out to this girl and it brought back all the memories of myself at that age. I was the fat one at school and back then I was pretty much the only fat one in my class. I was always the last in the sport races, the last to be picked on the sporting teams and the first to get puffed when doing sport or running around in the playground. Growing up is hard enough, let alone when you are different and seeing this girl made me determined to do everything I can to make sure Miss and Mr Berry do not become that child.

And guess what? Sugar makes you fat. As well as leading to all sorts of illnesses including Type 2 Diabetes which is becoming more prevalent at even younger ages.

Interested in my journey or to know more? Please come over to How I Quit Sugar and join me as I break our addiction.

Lemon Iced Tea

I have been experimenting with iced tea lately. I love the Lipton Lemon Iced Tea but I don't want to be drinking so many unnecessary ingredients. (Mainly too much sugar!)

Here is the recipe I am using at the moment:

4 tea bags
1 cup of boiling water
3 and a bit cups of room temperature water
1/2 tbsp honey
3 or 4 tsp lemon juice

1. Steep the teabags in the boiling water for about 4 mins.
2. Remove tea bags and stir in honey til dissolved.
3. Add tea mixture to a 1L jug and add remaining water and lemon juice
4. Chill tea and serve with lots of ice, a slice of lemon and some mint.

Easy! And a lot cheaper than the bottles I have been buying.

Simple Scones

I wrote about making scones the other day and here is the recipe I use.


Makes approx 12 scones.

2 cups self raising flour

pinch salt (for a flavour enhancer, not for taste)

30g cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup cold milk

1/3 cup water

extra milk for glazing

Preheat oven to 210 oC. Prepare your baking tray (I use baking paper but you could grease if you want to).

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Scones need lots of air so this step is important. Add the chopped butter and rub in lightly using your fingertips -it will end up looking like fine breadcrumbs. Only use the tips of your fingers. You shouldn't have any flour on the palms of your hands and you should be using a light touch.

Make a well in the centre and add most of the combined milk and water. Mix with a flat bladed knife to a soft dough, add more of the milk/water if you need to.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough very briefly and lightly. Your aim is to just make the dough smooth and not sticky. It shouldn't take any longer than about 30 seconds.

Roll out dough to 2cm thick (or so). Cut the dough into rounds about 5cm in diameter. You can buy scone cutters but I just use a small drinking glass. Flour the edge of the cutter first. Don't re-knead the left over dough but press it together and lightly re-roll to cut more rounds. You don't want to over work the dough or you'll end up with tough scones. Place the cut rounds onto the baking tray so that they just touch and glaze them with the extra milk.

Bake for about 10 mins or until they are golden. To check they are cooked, break one open - it shouldn't be doughy in the middle. If you want soft scones wrap them in a clean tea towel (my preference) otherwise, put them on a wire rack to cool slightly.

Serve warm with jam and whipped or dollop cream.

Last Minute Morning Tea

Today I was on morning tea duty at Playgroup and as always I was my usual organised self and did not get around to baking a cake yesterday. I really didn't want to buy a cake, not only are they really expensive but they also aren't very nice.

So, this morning I cooked 2 batches of scones and served them still warm with strawberry jam and cream for morning tea.

I was amazed (and a little shocked) at the response from the other Mums. Everyone seemed really impressed that I had scones for morning tea. In particular, they were surprised that I actually made the scones instead of buying them at Baker's Delight. (at $4ish each?) They were surprised in a good way - I received a lot of thank yous.

The thing is, I see scones as a last minute thing - the sort of things you cook when unexpected guests drop in or when you don't have time to bake a cake. I also think they are super yummy - as did the other Mums.

I guess it just goes to show that most people are not living simply. People do not take the time to bake, even though scones take about 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook. For less than the cost of 2 packets of biscuits, we had a lovely homemade morning tea that was super yummy and not full of sugar and preservatives. And even though it was a morning tea that is one of the quickest, cheapest things you can make, it was a special treat at Playgroup.

I think that is a little sad.

Why is She Always on About Food

Here's the thing - I always seem to be talking about food and cooking.

Reading back through my posts, I often seem to bring most topics back to the kitchen. Why? Probably because it is one area in our life that we have a lot of really bad habits but also because it has such a big potential to make a difference to the environment and also to simple living. And, we spend a lot time eating. Most people eat at least three times a day - more if they are snacking between meals. That can take up a fair amount of time, especially if you are preparing all the meals for a family.

I am also on a quest at the moment to making sure we are as healthy as possible. I am currently reading Nourishing Traditions and am keeping an eye out for other books about the food we now eat. I am yet to come to a conclusion about Nourishing Traditions - it is so different from what we are told to eat - but what I have read so far does make some sense.

Our diet is full of refined products (especially sugar) and I think you have to wonder about the affect this is having on our bodies. (other than making us fat right?) Some people say the reason we (as a western population) have such high incidents of heart disease, obesity and cancer is because we are eating foods that we aren't genetically designed to, and that 100 years ago (or even 1000 years) people were not suffering from these illnesses.

Really? The skeptic in me has to ask this. Were people from long ago not suffering from heart disease or did they just not know about it and therefore could not diagnose it. I mean come on, they once thought the black death was caused by miasma from 'bad air'. If they thought that, how could they possible identify cancer or heart disease for what it was.

But I digress.

Although I haven't made up my mind on some things, I do know that we are what we eat and that eating foods that are unrefined and are free of additives must be better for you. The more I read and learn about what is in our supermarket foods, they more passionate I become about removing all additive and refined foods and junk food from our diet.

Which is what we are trying to do. As I said before, we have so many bad habits (and I mean 'we' as in the Berry Family) and we really want to break them. Not just for Mr Berry's and my own health but also because we want Miss Berry to learn healthy eating habits. Breaking these bad habits and adjusting our food is a really big job, which is why I seem to always write about it.

So, sorry if I seem to drone on and I can pretty much guarantee I am going to keep droning on about the kitchen. I love receiving comments about all my posts and a lot of the tips and ideas you have are very helpful so please keep them up and I will keep you informed of our progress to change our eating habits.