Playdough fun

I've been making play dough for 35 years- since the days of playgroups in halls and not coffee shops.  The old method of cook and stir in the pot saw a few browned or crunchy balls of dough when despite the best intentions I got distracted.

Imagine my delight when I discovered it was possible to make play dough in next to no time in the Thermomix.

Since getting the Thermo I've tried a couple of different recipes and heeded the advice of some to add a little extra flour as recipes developed in WA are a little wetter in the Eastern states due to humidity.

Despite the ease of the Thermomix most variations in the final product have been from me getting carried away multi tasking. It's a pretty forgiving output. A little bit of extra kneading seems to overcome most issues or more flour if too sticky.  It keeps well in a plastic slider bag in the fridge and even a couple of hours left out on the play table isn't a problem as the oil rehydrates the dough for use another day. It's ready for use week after week.

This is a cheap and easy standby for any grandparent, aunt, uncle, parent. Just add cookie cutters, plastic cutlery, kitchen utensils, cars, blocks, lids or what ever makes a dint, shape etc. You are limited only by your imagination and the  "kiddies "of all ages may come up with zillions of  different variations of plasticine shapes and models.

The Thermomix Playdough from the EDC is not included in the TM5 BCB so here it is my version:

250g water
100 g of cooking salt (milled slightly)
1 Tb Cream of Tartar
250 g Plain Flour
20g cooking oil eg canola or vegetable
food colouring

Place water, salt, cream of tartar and a strong amount of colouring into mixing bowl. Heat for 5 minutes at 60degrees on Speed 3 - check that salt is dissolved.
Add flour and oil to bowl and mix on speed 4 for 40- 60 seconds until well combined and coloured. Knead in extra flour if too sticky.
Store in a zip lock bag.  

78 cents a batch - WHAT A BARGAIN

 COST: One batch of Playdough will cost approx 78c, provides hours of fun and lasts for weeks.

This playdough could have been more vibrant. Add heaps of colouring.

A few tips and tricks for playdough:

• To avoid having coloured hands- mix the colour in with the water in the beginning step.  Add lots of colour drops to make a strong colour.
• Make a second batch if you want a second colour. ( Be warned it is not easy to keep different colours from mixing together )
• For one child use half a ball of dough at a time unless you are "playing" too. Send the other half home with mum!!!
• Add glitter  or sand for a fun effect.
• Mix it up -sausage people one time, cookie cutters another, cooking games like making pizzas the next time.
• Have a range of  shapes, cutters, rollers, scissors etc. Bottle tops, pasta, patty papers and any other craft materials will extend the fun and stimulate the child's development, speech, creativity and motor skills

Ariah makes animals, food and biscuits when she gets the playdough out each week.

A few years ago I once used Rock salt instead of cooking salt and didn't dissolve it enough  It looked like I was hiding some drugs in the playdough. That was an interesting batch!

What's your favourite playdough activity?

Open wide come inside it's.....

Little Ariah comes to ours  once a week. She's getting used to the routine. Nanny's chocolate milkshakes, Nanny's ipad for ABC for kids and a spot of cooking. Funny, she reacts to the sound of the Thermo and comes running for a "milkshake Nanny". She's her mother's daughter- Superkylz used to always come running at the sound of mixer beaters.

Superkylz used to always come running at the sound of mixer beaters

 

This week The Thermo Nanny created the ultimate Play School experience- cooking, painting,counting,craft and singing.

A great standby for snack making is a $10 electric donut maker which really makes little bite sized cakes. It's a sandwich maker style cake/donut maker. Just blitz up the cake ingredients in the Thermo for 10 seconds, cook and ice. Sometimes they are eaten so quickly off the production line they only get a dunking in sugar and cinnamon.

Mini Donut Maker Recipe

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2  cup caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
125 g butter softened
1 egg
3/4 cup milk 

Method

Mix together speed 5 until smooth (about 10 seconds)

After making the donut cake mix we used my second bowl to make the icing (milled sugar, chocolate powder and water heated for one minute). We mixed and cooked and painted the icing on.

Small quantities of the chocolate icing were poured into a small cup and Little Ariah "painted" the cakes with a silicon pastry brush. A small plastic lid was used to measure out the coconut and sprinkles. Great fun.

The cakes were decorated (sometimes over and over) with coconut and sprinkles.

It  keeps up the little one's interest because 6 cakes come off the machine in 3 minutes, another 6 are loaded and by then the first 6 are cool enough to paint on the icing.  Repeat the process. It only makes 24 so all up it is pretty quick.

Then it developed into a real playschool experience.

This activity ticks a lot of boxes

A quick wash of  hands and face led to water play and bubbles. Miss Two had a great time and she's worked out how to put the tap on and off, squeeze out the cloth and wash up!

While plating up we practised the Happy Birthday song for Big Sister India. Little Ariah was delighted to present her sisters India and Keyala with afternoon tea at the school pickup.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIA

Thermo Jams and Pickles Blitz the Fete

The taste of gourmet homemade jam or chutney is incomparable to any commercially produced product. Since getting the Thermomix I've dabbled with jams and savoury sauces. Previously, my sole speciality was  Homemade BBQ sauce.  I dabbled a bit with a few other onion sauces for a previous school fete. Such was the buzz of the 2013 jam stall at St Joseph's Bulli Easter Fair many were keen to help at this years stall. Plus there were a few people keen to see what the Thermo could do.


Superkylz and I have been trying new jam and relish recipes since getting our Thermomixes last year. Truly you can google any combination of jam or pickle and up comes a recipe eg Chilli Pumpkin Chutney. If you are really lucky add  "Thermomix recipe" to the search and someone will have converted a traditional recipe or added a modern version of an old one eg Beetroot and Orange Relish.

With the fete in mind I did up several bottles of summer BBQ condiments over Christmas - some for me and some for the fete- by the time of the Fete I had quite an assortment.

Some of the assortment of pickles, relishes and jams- I've impressed myself

Superkylz and her friends on the jam stall committee who also liked to cook took it a step further. They planned a Thermomix jam making night but who can resist blitzing up a few cocktails first.
So after a thirsty night making cocktails and jam they had some to take home and plenty to sell. This fuelled the fire of enthusiasm as the stall had around 400 jars of everything from dukkah to passata to sell on the day.

I think it was the "favourite" stall  at the fete with tasting samples adding to the interest and excitement.  The girls had bonded during their (Ahem) cooking nights  and word had got around that they had had a pretty good time preparing their wares for sale. No trouble getting volunteers for this stall.

Some of the the Jam Ladies having fun at the St Joseph's Bulli Fete

Lessons learnt when running the  homemade jams and preserves stall

• Save left over jam batches in small jars for tasters and samples. Come armed with bread, biscuits, spoons and little sticks for sampling. Watch the jars fly off the stall.
• Source some in-season produce eg passionfruit for Passionfruit Butter. 
• Watch your costs. Basil Pesto may seem like a good idea when Basil is in abundance but the cost of pine nuts and Parmesan will not provide a good return. Pear jam should be made when pears are cheap or in fruit.
• Savoury flavours are still popular and in demand. Zucchini Pickles, Red Onion relishes, chili sauces are popular as are home made passatas and pasta sauces. Cheese platter jams and jellies are popular.
• Print professional looking  labels with descriptions and ingredient lists. This can be done by a central coordinator. Don't forget one of the ingredients is "love" or "passion"
• Source medium sized jars and interesting looking jars (gift packs from Christmas) Soak off the labels as early as possible. 
• Cover the jams with fabric or fancy paper held on by elastic bands or curling ribbon. Brown paper and string gives a country look.
• Sugar free jam is not as popular as you would think but Watermelon Jam is a hit.
• Try a bit of "cross promotion" with the Morning Tea Stall.

The jam stall girls got away with charging $6 a jar or 4 for $20. Later as the smaller jars remained they still got a reasonable return when they reduced the prices.  Everything was sold.

Converting old recipes...I find I have more control using a cup to measure as I'm short. 
Here's my Homemade (Gourmet) BBQ Sauce converted for cooking in the Thermomix. 
1 cup of finely chopped onion (hand cut if you want it chunkier)
4Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 pinches Cayenne pepper
2 tsp Mustard
2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Vinegar
1 cup Tomato Sauce
1 cup water
1/2 cup pickles
Chop the onion, combine all ingredients. Cook for 40 minutes on Varoma Speed 1

Suggestion: If making the chunky version put it in jars for spooning on to steak and sausages - This chunky and  tasty sauce but can clog up in the bottle neck. If you blitz the onion it flows better from the bottle. If you like the thicker sauce use the basket on top of the Thermo to prevent spills and release some liquid. If you use the Measuring cup on the lid the sauce will be wetter but flows better from the bottle.
Makes: approx 3-4 small bottles or jars. Keep in fridge or pantry for 6 months (if it lasts that long).

Home Made BBQ Sauce

...and before you can take a picture it is devoured.

This week I've helped out Superkylz. A fulltime residential course plays havoc with the childcare arrangements. So up we stepped for mid-week sleepovers, school pick up and drop off (1 hour return each time.) Dad Dale had already set the bench mark with Thermomix Butter Chicken on Sunday night and Butter Chicken with Not Dogs the previous night.

Night one: Spaghetti Bolognaise - Easy peasy made during the day from  Everyday Cookbook recipe.  Miss India thought we'd be able to whip up the pasta from scratch  too but afterschool tap dance lessons and a visit to the local library coupled with the travel put paid to that. The good thing is that 1kg of mince makes plenty  of  leftovers for a savoury pie which will dazzle the man of the house at some later stage. I will of course whip up the pastry in the Thermo.

Thermo got a good workout that day with 40 second (choc chip) bikkies made for school lunches and a batch of Homemade Gourmet BBQ sauce made for the School Fete in two weeks. Cheese Scroll buns also supplemented the school lunches and after school snacks. (a variation on the Shrek bread recipe from the earlier blog)

Night Two: The kids made pizza. What's unhealthy about this? This fresh pizza dough whips up in seconds- the addition of a bit of garlic and rosemary make the base delicious. We chose to make two biscuit tray size pizzas. Miss India weighed and measured the dough ingredients.  Little Ariah rolled out the dough and spread the tomato and the two older children decorated the top. Their favourite things are sundried tomatoes, feta, ham and pineapple. A little pepperoni and hungarian salami complete the pizza. If we'd have had some left over capsicum, mushroom or chicken it would have been there too.

pat-a-cake pat-a-cake

adding the tomato paste

I'm a convert to "grating" my own cheese in the Thermo (5 seconds speed 5 ) Oh and it's so much tastier than the extruded grated stuff.  I buy  500g or 1kg size  Bega or Coon cheese on special and a 4-5cm piece easily does 3x round pizzas.   

Since buying my Thermo I've not eaten a single bought pizza.  Previously it was a fortnightly occurrence. I'd say this Thermo is paying for itself in savings - with ingredients costing no more than $10 I think I've saved at least $185 on pizza alone. #Thermomix pays for itself in no time

One thing I've noticed is that the children are more food aware now they are involved with Thermo cooking things from scratch. Superkylz is vegetarian so they enjoyed  a few things she doesn't usually cook for them.

Thanks to Thermo I survived the sleepovers and packing school lunches although don't start me on the "you can't have oranges for Munch and Crunch Nan " and the benefits? of "No Waste Wednesday".

 

With 1 lonely piece left I eyed it off for lunch, took the picture and Little Ariah snaffled it and ate it cold!!

Name the bread competition-Yamba Sunset Scrolls

 Yes I've had a few disasters (more because I dont follow the recipe). But here is one I've perfected and varied.
I struggle at times with trying something new or modifying my old favourites (more because I dont follow the recipe). This recipe worked perfectly first time. It's based on the Three Cheese Bread or Shrek bread which is made with Spinach and Rosemary and three cheeses. It is "Shrek" coloured and had been a hit at dinner parties. I adapted the Shrek bread into Scrolls and they went over a treat during the Yamba holiday. Shrek Bread recipe was originally found here.

I told you we have trouble keeping up with the bread during holidays. 11 mouths to feed- so next day the rest of the spinach was used for another batch which were again devoured.  Luckily the basics: the 5kg bag of Bakers flour, olive oil, yeast and salt were in abundance. Superkylz searched the fridge and found cheese, semi sun dried tomatoes and a delicious version was discovered.

A holiday wouldn't be a holiday without games so the there was a bread naming competition. First there were the suggestions and then the "Everyone gets three votes" voting.

Here's how it panned out :

Herbie cheesy tommie scrolls 2

Tuscan Sun Scrolls 3

The Kylie bread 4

Aussie Red Bread 5

Red Sun Bread 5

Red Bread Scroll thingy with tomato and goats cheese 5 

AND THE WINNER IS...Yamba Sunset Scrolls 10

The cheese oozes out of these yummy scrolls- it's the quick and the dead. This is all that is left.

Yamba Sunset Scrolls

Dough 

120g  Semi sundried tomatoes

1tsp Oregano

200g water

1 sachet dried yeast (2tsp)

500g bakers flower

1tsp salt 60g olive oil.

Filling

120 g cheddar grated

100g parmesan cheese grated

80 g goats cheese -small squares or crumbled

Method

Preheat oven to 200deg. Grate Parmesan and cheddar 8 seconds speed 8

Remove from bowl and set aside.

Add remaining ingredients and mix 5 seconds speed 7.

Then with the dial in closed position begin kneading for 1.5 minutes on Interval speed. 

Using your Thermomat wrap dough and leave in a warm position to prove for about 20-30 minutes until mixture just about doubles in size.

Push out dough onto Thermomat into a large rectangle. 

Cover with cheese mix and goats cheese. Roll into a log from the long side and "cut" using scraper into 1.5-2cm  slices. 

Place on paperlined baking tray and bake for about 15- 20 mins.  Makes approx 24.

You can make as two loaves instead and bake for 25 mins or until hollow sounding when tapped.