Our Thermomix Hummus

We enjoy with veggies and  gluten-free buckwheat crackers ordered from Vitacost

Even better topped with Thermomix carmelized onions

A favorite summer-time, salad-like preparation: a heaping amount of hummus topped with farmer market cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs. We then drizzle olive oil on top and sprinkle with more paprika. 

Thermomix makes hummus in seconds.  You can make it with canned chickpeas.  In this case, I recommend Eden brand because the cans are BPA free, the beans are organic, and the beans are cooked with kombu.  Thermomix also will cook your garbanzo beans first and then you can proceed with making the hummus.  Either way, the guided digital cooking will walk you through how to make it step-by-step.  

Would you like to make more of your own food with pure ease? Would you like to save time and money?  Would you like to be more creative in the kitchen?  Would you like to involve your family and children in the art of cooking?  Would you like to stop having to run to the store to pick up things you can do yourself? Would you like to have more fun cooking?  Would you like to have more variety on your table?  Thermomix gives you the choice to make your food according to your preferences.  For me, Thermomix feels like freedom.

Our hummus is made without tahini because of a sesame allergy.  My boys like their hummus with cumin, Spanish paprika and lots of lemon juice.  With Thermomix, I can easily incorporate our favorite flavors and the best quality ingredients.  I can also take the extra step of sprouting my chickpeas for better digestion. 

Both Boys are presently doing Oral Immunotherapy.  Little Brother has moved from daily doses of milk baked in muffins to actual milk.  Big Brother is daily dosing tahini.  I am making hummus every few days right now because he likes to take his daily dose of tahini with our tahini-less hummus. 

A Favorite Thermomix Chocolate Cake

raspberries are the perfect flavor compliment

I love my cake transporter

Thermomix weighs and mills the chocolate and almonds

Thermomix mixes the batter perfectly

tea time couldn't get better

Birthday set up

next to our favorite top-allergen free classic cookie pie

ready for the simplest 2-ingredient ganache

ingredient list: gluten free and refined sugar-free

Zucchini Slice

I picked up some beautiful zucchini at the farmer's market last week.  I sliced and steamed one for Baby Brother and then had 3 left. I wanted to make zucchini fritters for dinner, but really preferred a more simple preparation, like a one dish meal. Then I remembered the zucchini slice recipes I had Pinned.  Grate veggies, saute and mix everything up in the Thermomix and then bake, so easy! I thought that in order to get Big Brother to try this new dish, I'd call it a "dinner cake".  He jumped up at the idea and was interested in coming up with the cake's ingredients.  He decided that the veggies should be carrots and cucumbers.  We then agreed to include eggs, olive oil, onion, garlic, bacon, eggs and rice in the form of flour.  We reworked a few recipes I had Pinned into this one: both gluten and dairy free and approved by Big Brother. He doesn't need to know that the cucumber is really zucchini!  Zucchini is not normally one of his approved veggies.   

What you need:
2 large zucchini
1 carrot
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
4 rashers of bacon
6 medium pasture-raised eggs
100 grams brown rice flour
50 grams of olive oil, I will try coconut oil to see how it turns out
handful of fresh herbs, like dill and parsley

What to do:
Set oven to 350 degrees
Make Rice flour, speed 9 for one minute and set aside
Place carrot in TM bowl and grate, speed 6 for 10 seconds and set aside
Grate zucchini, speed 6 for 5 seconds and set aside
Chop onion and bacon, speed 6 for 5 seconds
Scrape down sides and add 50 grams of olive oil
Sautee, speed 1, 100 degrees, 2 minutes
Add back carrot, zucchini and rice flour along with eggs and fresh chopped herbs
Blend ingredients together, speed 3 for 10 seconds
Pour into oiled small square pyrex and bake for 45-60 minutes.  Perhaps even a brownie pan since similar in dimensions to the lamington pan I keep reading about in Australian Thermomix recipes.  
Slice and serve with salad.  I have begun to include fermented foods with dinner, and saurekraut works well here. 
We enjoyed with some leftover oven roasted mustard potatoes for a delicious weekend breakfast before setting out for the morning. 

A Big Bowl Of Goodness

it's just so good!

This is such a simple and delicious way to eat lunch: fill a big bowl with something like rice or quinoa and then top with a variety of vegetables, both cooked and raw, combining contrasting flavors and colors. The real highlight is the heaping amount of tasty, zesty dressing.  How about toppings?  Roasted chickpeas, my "nuts", are a good addition.  This week, my bowl includes all the goodness from my Saturday farmer's market basket: roasted butternut squash, massaged kale, steamed broccoli, thinly sliced carrots and radish and a hardboiled egg. I am presently avoiding wheat, dairy and soy because of Baby Brother's allergies, and this is an easy gluten-free and dairy-free meal; it feels a little wild to include a hardboiled egg after building meals around egg avoidance! I have been getting my eggs from Tejas Heritage Farm. When I run out, because we actually eat eggs despite disbelief, I pick up these eggs. Will Baby Brother actually be able to eat eggs? This week is egg yolk introduction.  So far, he did not react in the allegist's office to the skin prick test and has cleared the egg yolk on cheek and inside lip test.  Interestingly, Baby Brother is allergic to avocado, but the rest of us are all still eating it.  I like a little in this lunch for its added creaminess. Extra hand washing needed after handling before touching!

This lunch is inspired and copied from My New Roots.  I saw the post, took note of it and then found that I kept going back to it to peak at it.  I felt that the recipe was written for me.  It reminded me of a forgotten frequent meal I made when I first moved to Toronto, before eggless and sesame-less cooking.  It was shared at a favorite health food store in Kensington Market: quinoa swirled with a dressing of pureed dandelion greens, garlic, shallot, ginger, lemon juice, sesame and pumpkin seeds and topped with egg and walnuts. I of course left the walnuts out.  So, this big bowl lunch recipe brought back memories of that favorite from the past.  It was so good!

I find that it is difficult to tire of this lunch and have been eating regularly since I started making it.  And it makes so much sense too, since it uses all the awesome produce I get twice a week from the farmer's market and CSA basket.  It streamlines meals by using leftover roasted and steamed veggies to go along with the shredded or thinly slice crunchy ones stored in the fridge and ready to assemble daily.  It is great because easily adapts to dietary needs and to what you have in the fridge and is easy to pack the night before and have ready for the next day.

I encourage you to make a double batch of the dressing so that it lasts a few days.  For similar inspiration, see this, this and this . How about this giant lunch bowl with chopsticks and a magazine?  Perfect, right?  Just make sure to keep pouring the yummy dressing for some extra yummy coating as you make your way to the bottom of the bowl.

Do you have a sesame allergy in your family/  How about other seeds?  We recently did a skin test for chia and pumpkin seeds and he did not react.  

What you need for my version of ginger-garlic pumpkin seed dressing:
1 cup of sprouted pumpkin seeds (I get mine from Whole Foods before reaching bulk bin, but in top dispenser so less scary than if down below.  what would you do, avoid bulk?  do you know of any free of cross-contamination with sesame or tree nuts?)
2-3 cloves of garlic
knob of fresh ginger
1 Tbs. maple syrup
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
3 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. olive oil
3/4-1 cup water
3/4 tsp good quality salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
a pinch of cayenne

What to do:
Drop garlic and ginger into TM bowl while running at speed 5.  It chops up nicely this way.  Add in pumpkin seeds and turn up dial until the mixture is sand-texture.  Add 3/4 cup of water and blend.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix at speed 5-6 for 30 seconds.  Scrape down side of bowl with your silicone spatula.  Add 1/4 cup of water if you want to thin out the dressing. Store in glass container for up to 5 days.  

ready to be assembled

packing lunch for Papi and Big Brother

mixing in dressing and enjoying with mug of bone broth

Arroz Con Pollo A La Española

The Thermomix simplifies this classic and always perfect meal: a big pot of Spanish chicken and rice. This, to me, is the perfect weeknight dinner for the whole family. No cheese, gluten, eggs, nuts, seeds....so perfect for all of us.  I usually have a pasture raised chicken cut up in pieces in the freezer along with the bones to make a batch of TM stock prior to using it in rice dishes such as this one; make two things, clean one bowl!  I will post the recipe in English at some point if asked.  Click, here, for the original recipe in Spanish.  I add in some onion and celery for flavor.  Oh, and some chorizo too :)

Ingredientes: 
100gr de aceite de oliva virgen extra
2 dientes de ajo
500gr de pechuga o contramuslos con piel cortados en dados
150gr de pimiento verde cortado
150gr de pimiento rojo cortado
1 zanahoria cortada en daditos o láminas
850gr de caldo de ave o agua
1 pellizco de pimentón dulce
Azafrán al gusto 
Sal/pimienta
350gr de arroz bomba
120gr de guisantes

Preparación:
Pon en el vaso el aceite y los ajos y trocea 5 segundos en velocidad 6. Calienta 3 minutos, Varoma, Velocidad 1.


Añade el pollo en taquitos y rehoga 5 minutos, Varoma, giro a la izquierda y velocidad cuchara.


Agrega los pimientos y si quieres 1 zanahoria picada y cebolla y apio en trocitos pequeños y sigue sofriendo 6 minutos, Varoma, giro a la izquierda y velocidad cuchara.


Vierte dentro del vaso el caldo de ave, el pimentón dulce, el azafrán o curry y la sal y cocina 9 minutos, Varoma, giro a la izquierda en velocidad cuchara.


Echa el arroz y chorizo precocido por último programa 13 minutos, 100º, giro a la izquierda y velocidad 1. Cuando falten 3 minutos para acabar el tiempo,incorpora los guisantes por el bocal. Deja reposar unos minutos y sirve calentito.