I know some of you have been waiting a while for this – but I kind of like that I’ve had my thermomix for 3 months now as I’ve now used it a billion times and can tell you so more about how it truly fits into our everyday.

I was first introduced to a thermomix by a friend who swore by hers as her daughter has quite a few allergies and pretty much everything needs to be made from scratch at their house. I loved the idea of a thermomix but wasn’t 100% sold and so when I was invited to a demo another girlfriend was holding early this year, I jumped at the chance to see it in action. After that, I came home and told my hubby that I was going to start saving for one because I was pretty sold, and while I was saving, I was going to research and look at recipes etc so that I could be sure I would really use it. 

My darling hubby surprised me a few months later with a thermomix for mother’s day. Yes I know, very very spoilt. We really don’t do big mother’s day / father’s day gifts, so this was out of the blue. I happily contributed the half I had saved up :o}

My lovely consultant, Nikki, delivered it on a Friday night. Which was PERFECT as it meant I had the whole weekend to play with it :o}

We used it 16 times in our first weekend.

We made stock and custard on the friday night. On the Saturday we made porridge, marinade for chicken, pasta, chopped veg and then pureed it, made icing sugar, made vanilla ice cream. On the Sunday we made home made milo, bread dough, béchamel to freeze for lasagne, smoothies, blended the frozen ice cream mix from the previous day and made mashed potato. 

Now I don’t use it 16 times in a weekend very often, it was new and I was so excited and wanted to try everything. But it does get used at least twice a day, and it is rare that we don’t use it more than that. I don’t know how to use the Varoma bit yet (the steamer that goes on top) – and haven’t touched it to be honest. Soon!

So many of you have asked me about how it fits into our life on a daily basis – the easiest way for me to show this is I guess a kind of usage diary? 

So here is a typical week of Thermomix usage in our home, some weeks we may use it for dinner more (if we have been busy, have had lots of appointments, or I’ve had a lot of study on) and some weeks we use it less (because we have more time to cook a meal on the stove etc)


Monday:
porridge
smoothie
apple pikelet batter
cook and then puree onion, carrot, celery, zuchinni, tomato and spinach for tacos
grate cheese for tacos

Tuesday:
porridge 
bread dough for pizza scrolls
grate cheese for pizza scrolls 
coleslaw 
cooked pasta dish for dinner (pasta fagioli in the EDC) 

Wednesday:
smoothie
coconut and choc chip muffins
vanilla milkshakes – after school treat
made crumb for kids chicken nuggets {bread + LSA mix}
mashed potato side dish for dinner

Thursday:
porridge
smoothie
hummus dip
made cauliflower béchamel for pasta side dish. froze the rest for using in lasagne 

Friday:
porridge
chopped nuts for home made muesli
cooked beef stroganoff for dinner {with chopped and then pureed veg done before following the EDC recipe}
cinnamon roll dough, filling and frosting

Saturday:
smoothie
pizza dough for home made pizza night
grate cheese for pizzas

Sunday:
brown rice waffle batter (from quirky cooking)
marinade for chicken

I add pureed veg to anything and everything I can because Noah is fussy and doesn’t eat any vegetables other than raw carrot and cucumber and occasionally some raw celery. It is something I’ve always done, but used to have to chop the veg, steam it in the microwave steamer, pull out the stick blender and puree it all before being able to add it to our meal. Now I still chop the veggies (but can leave them much chunkier) and then use the thermomix to chop them up quite small, then cook them in there until soft, then puree them and add to our meal. It’s done in less time, and with much less fuss and much less washing up. Love that having a thermomix has made this easier for me and also means that more of our meals are getting this veggie boost because it’s just so easy.

I have found it so easy to adapt the recipes in the book to suit us better (for example I never use as much oil as they say to, so far no problems) and I always add more vegetables. 
I have also found it so easy to adapt some of our family favourites to suit the thermomix just by following the general guide on speeds and times, cooking temperature etc. 

As well as fitting in with everyday and just working so well with how I cooked already, I can now make even more from scratch which is a huge plus for me, it makes it easier for me to control the sugar / salt content of a lot of foods as well as easier to avoid additives and preservatives. I have been making my own butter + buttermilk, stock, jam, milo, almond meal, caster + icing sugar, ice cream, rice flour, custards, nutella, the list goes on and on. Granted some of that I used to make without a thermomix and most if not all is doable without one, but it is all just so amazingly easy with one. 

The one thing I didn’t think I’d do very much with my thermomix is baking. Now obviously it doesn’t bake – but it does make your batter or dough. And I have to admit, I have been working on converting a lot of my baking recipes for the thermomix, because it’s amazing how simple it makes some of those recipes! It weighs and mixes and kneads all in the one thing, so often cuts out a lot of steps, and a lot of bowls and washing too. 

I absolutely love cooking. I am happiest when in the kitchen cooking or baking something beautiful for my family to enjoy. But the reality is that we are all busy. On days when I’m not feeling well, or I’ve been swamped with study, or we’re running late, or the kids are sick or all the other million things that can make our afternoons hard, I can usually whip something up much faster now that I have a thermomix in my kitchen. Whether it just chops up the veggies for me very very teeny for my fussy boy, or makes a side dish while I cook the main on the stove, or cooks the whole dinner for me, it is a huge help!
Below is a snippet of the stroganoff recipe – 3 steps, less than 25 minutes. We came home shattered one saturday after a full day of being out, from 8am until 5:30pm and instead of grabbing take out on the way home, we walked in the door and spent 5 minutes getting dinner on {I did this, hubby got the fast slow cooker making rice} then we popped the kids in a bath and folded and put away some laundry while it cooked for us. What’s not to love? 
My kids still cook with me. My hubby and I still cook together {something we enjoy doing}. I still have pots of delicious food bubbling away on my stove. But for those days and for just generally helping make my life easier and for making it possible to make so much more from scratch in record time, I am loving my thermomix.
Looking forward to sharing a lot more thermomix goodness with you!

Tell me, do you have one? What do you love? Anything you don’t love?

xx
ps. if you’re a Perthie and you’re after a fantastic consultant, shoot me an email and I will send you Nikki’s details. She is really lovely, and absolutely loves what she does. 
x
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