On the day of the Solstice (and a full moon! and a lunar eclipse!)

I made gingerbread trees for our table. I love making  gingerbread and trees are fabulous for an edible centrepiece. I make mine with spelt for an extra special nutty texture and flavour.

Spelt gingerbread
185g butter at room temperature
1 egg

450g plain spelt flour
170g brown sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground nutmeg
1tsp garam masala
190g golden syrup

Place all of the ingredients in the bowl and mix together for 15 seconds on speed 4. Close the lid locked and knead for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and knead for another 30 seconds. Tip the dough out onto a silicone mat and knead together into a ball. Wrap in the mat and rest for half an hour. Roll out (I use a wooden rolling pin but you can use two pieces of baking paper if you like. I go for about half a cm (5mm) in thickness. Cut out 3 stars in 5 different sizes, place on the baking mat and bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes. Place on the cooling rack to cool.

To assemble a tree - melt 100g of chocolate (I use white but you can use milk or dark). Put the three largest stars together on the bottom, askew from each other, using the chocolate to cement them. Let it dry for a few minutes, then do the same thing with the next 3 sized stars and onwards upwards. Decorate with drizzled chocolate leftovers, or cashous, or icing sugar.

On the day before Solstice my Thelma gave to me (eleventh)...

So it's day 11 today and Solstice is tomorrow. I've been asked a lot recently about my plans for Christmas which is funny because it is a day of rest in the Thermocauldron household! We volunteer in the morning and then have an open house in the afternoon for waifs and orphans who would like to be somewhere other than alone, at home, or with relatives. We watch Colin Firth - it's the highlight of my year.

I say that our celebration happens a little earlier than Saturday, and that we have a big dinner with lots of seasonal stuff, and presents, and so forth. Amid cries of "You'll deprive Thermochild of Things! And Stuff!!" I explain that no, she's little and won't get it, and no she's not deprived either - her present pile this year is the biggest. Plus seriously - people enjoy our before-Christmas Solstice event because it's before Christmas.

What I do love about Solstice this year is that I get to do my cooking in 2 days, rather than 2 weeks. This is the menu and how Thelma is going to be working hard:

• peach/champagne cocktails
• fruit punch
• tuna dip
• hommus
• avocado dip
• dukka
• crackers
• raw veges for dipping (ok that's not Thelma-assisted)
• baked veges (the seasoning is Thelma-made)
• rum balls
• chocolate cake piled with whipped cream, cherries, flaked chocolate and strawberry sauce
• fruit sorbet (pina colada aka pineapple/coconut with rum to make it not set as hard)
• chai
• trifle (cake, custard, jelly)
• shortbread tree

Mains are on the bbq as brought by guests, as are salads - but of cours a beetroot one will be in there ;). I don't have any allergies in the guests coming so it means I can make things in rapid succession too with minimal cleaning. 

So today I'll:

• make the trifle cake and put it out to dry a little before soaking it tonight
• make the dips
• make the rumballs
• and the chocolate cake
• and the strawberry sauce
• and the flaked chocolate
• make the spices mix for the veges (as it's also a present)

which won't take me long at all! I think shopping for ingredients, picking the best strawberries and cherries and avocadoes, will take longer.

On the ninth day of Solstice, my Thelma gave to me

10 great gift ideas! This was inspired by a post I saw on a blog where the suggestions seemed a little bit off my radar - truffle oil? Why would I want that? I use it to drizzle on eggs or add it as an extra to a dressing or dipping oil, rather than an ingredient in things. Maybe I'm using it wrong?

This was actually inspired by a post over at My Kitchen Robot, not the one that I originally linked to but as Helene has commented about this post not the other one, I've just crossed out of what I wrote. Capiche? I'm confused, I don't know about you.

I've made a few of these as well ;). Here are 10 things that you could make with a Thermomix:

1. Raw truffles, truffles, rumballs, apricot balls, etc etc. So many options so you can find something that suits people who are gluten intolerant, nut allergic, dairy reluctant, low fat, high chocolate.
2. Vanilla sugar. There is a recipe in the EDC but mine was to use 3 vanilla beans and 600g of raw sugar, processed at speed 8 until it resembled sand. Bottle, label, share, use.
3. Lemon butter. Again, there is a recipe in the EDC and I did post about it when I made a lot of it.
4. Spice mixes - so many options to try! Sweet (cinnamon and cloves and sugar), spicy (chilli and pepper and cardamom), warm (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger), lemon salt rub, garam masala style, Moroccan.
5. Spicy tea mix - chai perhaps?
6. Anything that would freeze well, and fill someone's freezer with goodness. It could be sorbet, or some stroganoff, or something else yummy and your signature dish!
7. Vegetable stock concentrate is often requested and I can usually trade a jar for a dozen eggs, or a small favour.
8. Dukkah! I love it and the EDC recipe makes a lot but I use it as a rub for vegetables and meat as well.
9. Spinach pesto - use the last of the spinach in the garden to make, instead of basil, to bottle some
10. Jam or sauce with whatever fruit is around. Citrus, berries, stonefruit are all in season and so suited for bottling! You can also preserve it under a sugar syrup, if you want to use the Thermomix but want to use the lovely fruit whole.

On the sixth day of Solstice my Thelma gave to me...

A recipe for a great summer salad! MKR over at My Kitchen Robot requested salads to trial and adapt to Thelma and here is my recipe. Pop over to her blog to see photos, the changes she made (including adapting it to quinoa so it was gluten-free!) and some great ideas for subbing mango for what's on hand and local! I've copied her adaptation method here though to show how you can take a recipe and Thelma-ise it.

My tastes like summer salad recipe would be great!

1 cup Israeli cous cous (or other small pasta)

1 cup good vegetable stock

1/2 cup water

300g-500g green salad leaves

100g goats cheese or feta

1 mango

1 small chicken breast

1 tablespoon spices such as chilli, cinnamon, coriander seed, cumin, salt and pepper

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix spices together and rub on chicken. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Place stock in a saucepan and bring to simmer. Add cous cous and then the water - it should just cover the cous cous. Simmer covered for 10 minutes or until the cous cous is soft. Drain, reserving the stock. Toss the oil and lemon juice through the warm cous cous. Pan fry the chicken with a splash of oil and 1/2 cup of reserved stock, covered with a lid so it almost poaches. Remove from pan and leave to cool a little before shredding.

To assemble salad, cut up the mango and cheese then put the greens in a bowl, add the chicken and mango and tomatoes and cheese, then the cous cous. Toss gently to combine. A sprinkle of chilli is perfect on top if you want extra kick. 

To adapt to gluten free, sub cous cous for quinoa. Vegetarian - swap tofu for chicken. Dairy free - swap the cheese for avocado and/or toasted nuts (pine nuts, sliced almonds, cashews). Add fresh herbs to compliment. 

Serves 6 as a salad or 3-4 as a main.

Thelma adaptation from My Kitchen Robot

1. Add spices to TM bowl, toast on Varoma temperature at speed 1 for 5 minutes. Grind on speed 9 for 1 minute to turn the spices into powder. Coat the chicken breast in with the spice mix and a little olive oil and the. Put aside for 10 minutes.
2. Fill the bowl with water up to the 1 litre mark and add the stock concentrate. Add the chicken to to lower level of the Varoma steamer and spread the quinoa on the upper tray. Steam for 20-25 minutes, until both the chicken and quinoa are cooked.
3. While the chicken and quinoa are cooking, wash the salad leaves and tomatoes and slice the peaches.
4. Once cooked remove the chicken and allow to cool before slicing. Dress the quinoa with the lemon juice and olive oil while still warm. To assemble the salad, put the greens into a bowl, add the sliced peaches, tomatoes, chicken, quinoa then crumble the feta over the top. Toss gently to combine.
Serves 6 as a side salad or 3-4 as a main.

Ask me how to pronounce quinoa

It's pronounced keen wa. It is not a widely known product but it should be. From the wiki on this:

...a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source among plant foods.[9] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. 

It is a brilliant product. It looks fabulous and unfurls its little tale when it's cooked. It is so lovely to make a salad from and here's a recipe that is fabulous for Christmas or entertaining.

Festive salad
1/2C quinoa
900g water
1 cucumber, cut into pieces 2" long
1 tomato, halved
1 bunch of herbs (mixed is good but parsley, dill, oregano, mint or other fine-leaved herbs are lovely)
Zest of one lemon
Juice of lemon
20g olive oil
Pinch of salt

Put the water into the Tmx bowl. Add the basket and the quinoa into the basket. Cook for 12 minutes on Varoma temperature at speed 3. Remove and set aside in a large bowl to cool. Dry the bowl well! Add the zest and process for 5 seconds at speed 8. Add the herbs, tomato and cucumber, lemon juice and olive oil. Process for 2 seconds at speed 5. Yes that short - you don't want a cucumber/tomato dip! Add to the quinoa, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve - I like eating quinoa salad warm.

Salad days

While I mean it in the literal sense of the word, salad days means something completely different:

"Salad days" is an idiomatic  expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. More modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a person's heyday when somebody was at the peak of his/her abilities—not necessarily in that person's youth.

I mean it literally - it's been hot and strangely muggy here in Adelaide this week, and now it's damp, a little rainy and cool again. I did take the opportunity this morning to make guacemole from the EDC and then the beetroot salad which is (a) a mainstay of an demo and (b) absofreakingdelicious and (c) perfect for using some of my FoodConnect box which was positively flush with beetroot this week!

Beetroot is so amazing and fabulous to eat raw but there are so few easy ways to do so. Beetroot is a pain to work with but the Thermomix makes short work of it. Perhaps that's the best thing about the Thermomix - it makes food that is otherwise inaccessible much more accessible!