Pizza Base

Who doesn't love a good pizza! And with a homemade one you can put all your favourite toppings on it. There are a lot of good pizza base recipes around and also quite a few average pizza base recipes around, but this one has stood the test of time and continues to be a favourite one in our household

300g Bakers Flour

200g Semolina

5g Olive oil

5g sea salt

10g dry yeast

325g lukewarm water

Put all ingredients in TMX bowl and mix for 10 sec/sp6

Knead for 2 mins

Remove from TMX bowl and place in another bowl and cover and leave in a warm spot to rise.

Once doubled in size (usually around 20mins), punch down the dough.

Split dough in half and roll out thinly. (The trick is to get it thin but not too thin that it can't hold the toppings once it is cooked)

Once rolled out you need to add toppings straight away and cook. If you want to cook later, just make dough and leave to rise then wrap in plastic wrap and leave in fridge until you are ready to roll and cook your pizza. Best cooked on a pizza stone if you have one.

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Sundried Tomato Pull a Apart Bread

This is the perfect bread to take on a picnic. There are endless options to change the filling to your tastes.....spinach and feta, olives, roasted capsicums etc or even a sweet version with cinnamon and sultanas. I'm thinking that I will try to make them into smaller pull a parts and add Miss 5's favourite fillings for her school lunchbox.

Dough
300g warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
520g Bakers Flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (increase if making a sweet version - approx 2 Tbsp)
20g Olive Oil


Add warm water and add yeast to TMX Bowl

Add flour then salt, sugar and oil and mix
Sp 4 / 4-5 sec (approx until all combined)
Set dial to Closed position and Knead for 2 mins

Leave the dough to prove in a warm place
Once risen to approximately double its size, roll it out to size of 2x A4 pieces of paper


Filling
100g cheese
1/2 cup Sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 red onion
2 rashers of bacon (leave out or substitute for a vegetarian version)

Grate Cheese
Sp 9 / 4 sec - spread across rolled out dough

Chop Sun-dried tomatoes 
Sp 5 / 3 secs - spread across rolled out dough

Chop onion and bacon
Sp 5 / 3 sec
Add oil and saute
100 degree / 3 mins / Sp 1 - spread across rolled out dough

Once filling ingredients are spread out over dough, cut into long strips. Then take the end of one strip and gather it folding back and forth. Then place in a spring-form round tin. Continue until all strips are folded and in tin. Best to leave a few gaps for the dough to rise.

Turn oven on to 200 degrees and put tin straight in. Whilst oven is warming up the dough will also rise for a second time. Cook for approx 30 mins but keep and eye on it and remove when top is golden brown.

Ratatouille 

Ah, finally, a savoury contribution from me. This is really easy and yummy and delicious served with polenta (http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2011/15193/polenta-fries-thermomix-recipe.html) or rice and a sprinkle of feta on the top. I double the amount here but cook in in two batches as the veggies take up a lot of space.

The recipe comes from Journal of a French Foodie. Mais oui!

120g onion, peeled and quartered

1 shallot, peeled and halved (optional)

1 clove garlic

20g olive oil

200g zucchini, chopped

300g eggplant, chopped

300g ripe tomatoes, chopped

100g red capsicum, chopped

big handful basil leaves, torn

big handful parsley, chopped

2 sprigs thyme

salt and pepper

- Chop onion, shallot, garlic 7sec/speed 5. Scrape down.

- Add oil and cook 5 mins/100deg/speed spoon/reverse. Cut vegetables into large chunks (by hand!) while this is cooking.

- Add vegetables with the thyme sprigs, season and cook 30 mins/100 deg/speed spoon/reverse

- Remove thyme, pour into a serving dish and stir through basil and parsley.

Chocolate and Vanilla Custards

This recipe comes from the Feisty Tapas blog (and it is originally from the UK thermomix book Fast and Easy Cooking). I doubled it to make a decent amount (2 serves just wasn't going to cut it) and had to play around with the cooking time a bit.

1L milk (I used half coconut and half dairy)

3 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs (meant to be a room temp but I couldn't wait)

75g raw sugar 

5 Tbsp cornflour

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

- Put all ingredients EXCEPT cocoa into thermomix and whiz for 5 secs on speed 5.

- Cook 10mins, 90 deg, speed 3 until the mixture thickens. (The first time mine thickened quickly, but the last time I made it I had to give it another 3-5 mins cooking time. Not sure why...)

- Mix 8 secs on speed 6. Pour HALF the mix into ramekins or clear glasses (4-6 depending on the size you use). Cool till just firm.

- Add cocoa to the thermomix and whiz 20 secs on speed 6. Pour over the vanilla custard and cool to room temp. Cover to prevent a skin forming and chill in fridge. Nice served with raspberries/strawberries to offset the sweetness.

-Sticky Pear Ginger Cake

I seem to be making a great deal of sweet things at the moment...This is very good. I have baked it a couple of times now and it seems to be pretty fail-safe. Any cake preceded by the words sticky, pear and ginger would just have to be a winner.
The recipe comes from Nat's Thermomixen in the Kitchen. I reduced the sugar content, added wholemeal flour and a little more pear, used rice and maple syrup instead of golden syrup and replaced some of the butter with coconut oil.
I also put the pears in at the second stage so my non-fruit eating son wouldn't come across anything too chunky and suspiciously fruit-like in his fruit cake...I admit, it would have been nicer just stirred through at the end, but he loved it. Sucker.

140g rice syrup/maple syrup mix
75g dark brown sugar
125g butter/coconut oil
250g self raising flour (I used half white and half wholemeal)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1Tbsp ground ginger
310mL milk
1 egg
3 medium pears, peeled, cored, diced

-Cook syrup, sugar and butter/oil 90 deg, 5 mins, speed 2.
-Add dry ingredients, milk and egg and mix on speed 4 for 4-5 secs - be careful not to over mix.
-Add pear (if you want chunks) and mix reverse speed 2 for 3 secs.
-Grease and line a square cake tin, pour in the mix and bake for 55-60mins at 180 deg. Cool in the tin 10 mins, then on a rack until cold.

Double Layered Raw Chocolate Fudge

If you like coconut oil, you'll love this...
The recipe comes from Hot Pink Chilli (who adapted it from a rather more sugary version in PaleOMG). I only fiddled around with the tahini/nut butter part - the original recipe uses almond butter. I had peanut butter and tahini so I used half of each. Would probably be yummy with cashew butter too. I had a little coconut nectar in the fridge but decided to use maple and rice syrup as they are a little sweeter. I also only made half the quantity, but lived to regret this, as the batch lasted one day....and my kids only saw one piece each.....
One more thing - keep it in the freezer or fridge! It quickly turns to mush if left out, so not really a suitable lunchbox treat, unfortunately.

200g/ 1 cup coconut oil
125g/ 1/2 cup tahini
120g/ 1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
150g/ 1/2 cup coconut nectar/ rice syrup/maple syrup
30g/ 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
15g/ 5tsp raw cacao powder
2 pinches salt

-Throw everything EXCEPT the cacao and one pinch of salt into the thermomix and blitz on speed 7 for 3 secs.
-Pour half the mix into a suitable tupperware container (my half batch fit neatly into a square 1L box) and place in the freezer to set (will be ready by the time you have mixed up the topping).
-Add the second pinch of salt and the cacao to the remaining mix in the thermomix and whiz for 3 secs on speed 7. Scrape down and repeat.
-Pour chocolate fudge mixture into the tupperware and pop it back into the freezer. When it is solid (this does not take long, thankfully) remove from container and use a hot knife to slice up into good sized chunks. Delicious.

Spiced Chicken and Raisin Pilaf

This recipe comes from the foodiemum.com and is now a family favourite. This is a great meal to cook on Sunday afternoon so that dinner is ready to heat & eat when you get home from work on Monday night....always a sanity saver on a "Too Tired to Cook Monday"!

1 Chicken breast fillet
40g olive oil
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
300g Basmati rice (I used Brown rice)
1/2 cup raisins or sultanas
1 Litre water
1 Tbsp Vegetable stock
2 tomatoes
1 capsicum, finely diced
1 bunch of broccoli
1 handful of parsley, finely chopped
Cubed pumpkin

Add onion, garlic and chop
3 sec /Sp 6

Add 20g of oil, half cumin seeds (1 tsp) and cinnamon and saute
2 mins / 100 C / Sp 1 with MC off
SET ASIDE and add raisins

Using a frypan add oil, remaining cumin seeds and Chicken and cook until cooked through

Meanwhile, add rice to TM basket and rinse. Add water and stock to the bowl and place the basket with rice into TM
Add pumpkin, capsicum and broccoli to varoma and continue cooking 

15 mins / Sp3 / Varoma temp
 (Note: If using Brown rice cook for 30 min and add vegetables in varoma in last 15 minutes
Transfer vegetables and rice to a large bowl, mix through onion/raisin mixture and diced tomatoes.

Slice or shred cooked chicken and add to rice. Season with pepper.

"Coconutty" Berry Cake

I love berries in any cake and also love the healthy touch of Chia seeds and Brown Rice in this recipe, which I found on the Recipe Community by the Foodie Mum. I have changed a couple of the ingredients and this recipe has now become a favourite in our house for our regular weekend morning teas.

150g Frozen mixed berries
approx 1/3 cup of Shredded Coconut
170g Brown Rice
100g Raw Almonds
70g Flour
2tsp Baking powder
90g Rapadura Sugar
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
200g Coconut Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Macadamia Oil
2 eggs


Preheat oven 180 degrees Celsius
Grease and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin

Spread berries out in cake tin and sprinkle with coconut

Brown rice into TMX bowl and grind
1 min / Sp 9

Add Almonds
30 sec / Sp 9

Add Flour, Baking Powder Sugar and Chia Seeds and blend
10 sec / Sp 5

Add Coconut Milk, oil and eggs, vanilla
15 sec / Sp 5
Scrape bowl and repeat
15 sec / Sp 5

Pour batter over berries and coconut and bake for approx 40 mins until inserted knife comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 mins before taking out of cake tin and removing baking paper.

Nori Linseed Crackers

I don't wish to set a precedent but this recipe does not need a Thermomix (gasp!).  Karen was kind enough to lend me her dehydrator last week and my lovely friend Jan showed me these crackers that she discovered at a yoga retreat in Bali (phew).  Too simple for words.

Soak some flaxseeds (lots) and pumpkin seeds in water overnight.

The next day spread out sheets of nori onto the dehydrator trays.
Add a couple of splashes of tamari or shoyu into the flaxseed mixture
Thinly spread the flaxseed mixture onto the nori sheets
Dehydrate at low setting (I did 43 degrees) for 5 hours or until crisp
cut into squares with scissors and store in airtight container.

My kids loved them and great for lunchboxes.

Shaggy Dog Pikelets

As a child my Mum often use to makes us Pikelets and I have made them the same way for years, but with all the new ingredients now in my cupboard, I have made this old time favourite a little healthier. This recipe actually doesn't need to be mixed in the Thermomix (shock horror!!) and is better just mixed in a bowl with a spoon.

1 cup Spelt Flour
1/4 cup Rapadura Sugar
2 tbsp Macadamia Nut Oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup of milk of choice 
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Topping
Shredded coconut
Sultanas

Add all ingredients except milk to bowl and mix to combine
Slowly add Milk and mix after each addition until it forms a smooth batter

To Cook
I have found that by cooking on a non-stick sandwich press you can quickly cook these pikelets with little mess and it also requires no butter or oil to cook them. If you don't have one, then of course they can be cooked in a fry pan.

Spoon smallish circles of the batter onto sandwich press/fry pan and then sprinkle with shredded coconut and sultanas.

Turn over when batter is bubbling and then cook for a further minute until cooked through.

Yummy eaten hot or can be eaten cold i.e. in the kids lunch box