Waste not.... Want not

I shared this picture on Facebook the other day and it’s  got me thinking. 

A few days earlier I had been telling the grandkids about milk bottle recycling and how 50 years ago (sad eh) we used to collect up soft drink bottles and return them to the milkbar to exchange for lollies or drinks. I added that when my brother was in the scouts we used to collect beer bottles etc to raise money.

Then I explained that sadly they did away with that and replaced them with non recyclable plastic bottles and steel cans.

Cringe – we dumped all that packaging for how many years?

I mentioned how 25 years later their mother and her sisters used to crush aluminium cans and get pocket money from the recyclers. 

Their first question was why not recycle when it seems so logical and appealing to cash strapped kids today. I could never understand that decision as an 8 year old myself.

I’m sorry kids but it was people of my parent’s generation who made this ghastly decision and created all this waste and land fill. Here you are when the world has changed so much three generations later asking “WHY???” And here I am 50 years on thinking ...”I told you so.”

I hope we can get the politicians to see sense and bring in a deposit system and that they don’t bow to manufacturers whims or pressure. 

Cringe – we dumped all that packaging for how many years? 

These days we bottle water, drink copious amounts of sugary drinks and handy packaged products. I cringe at amongst other things- the waste in the packaging.

Finally supermarkets have seen some sense in supermarket management and are working towards zero waste policies and therefore lower landfill. Left over food and waste are being responsibly distributed and reduced.

Thermomixers...think of all the butter and buttermilk that’s being made with reduced for quick sale cream and all the tomato paste being whipped up and wizzed in Thermomixes all over the world.

It’s not all about bottles but packaging and excess waste amongst less than perfect vegetables etc is also a big factor.

Messages go around Facebook promoting waste wise strategies- make butter and buttermilk from reduced cream.

Groups like Food Fairness Illawarra are promoting lower waste policies and feeding those with low food security. I love my Thermomix and all my Thermomix Facebook friends on sites such as THERMOMIX TM5  Hints tips and recipes,Skinnymixers, Cooking with Tenina, Thermomumma-Lailah Rose. We are a powerful force of thinking men and women and children. 

Let’s hope our “ littlest” Thermomixers who are learning so much more about healthy habits, reducing waste and sustainability will be our future leaders in sustainable and responsible resource use. I think there is hope for the future.

5 ways Thermomixers can save waste or recycle:

1. Make chutneys, stocks and sauces from less than perfect and aging vegetables. Reuse your glass jars and bottles.
2. Make your own smoothies and coffee- refill your own container.
3. Buy in bulk and reduce packaging.
4. Make your own lunchbox treats to reduce snack pack purchases and waste.
5. Refill bottles with water rather than purchase. Make your own juices and cordials from local or homegrown produce.

 
 
 

Welcome Little Oliver

Well it has happened again - another baby born while we are holidaying overseas. This makes 4 out of the 5 grandchildren we have-all born while we were away.
Daughter Tracey had promised to stay put until we were home but little Oliver had other ideas.
After a 20 hour flight from Canada and USA we opted to drive home and sleep before meeting the little lad the next day.

The severely jet lagged Thermo Nanny had planned to do some cooking for the new Mum and family but hubby (also jet lagged) had other ideas. He wanted to drive the 1 1/2 hours to Sydney and get home before he fell asleep again!

Thank goodness for my Thermomix I didn't arrive empty handed. With not enough time for cooking even a 30 second coconut cake I had to think quickly.

Ah yes - I found a frozen meal of Skinnymixers Butter Chicken and  a tupperware container of Energy Bliss Balls from the fridge. A Chocolate Caramel Slice whipped up and cooked in under 1/2 hour meant I didn't have to arrive empty handed.

Chocolate Caramel Weetbix Slice

Chocolate Caramel Weetbix Slice

10 minutes prep time and twenty minutes to cook

125g  butter

3 weetbix 

150 g  plain flour

1 TB baking powder

120g sugar

1/2 tin sweetened condensed milk 

20g butter extra

40g Golden syrup

185 g melting chocolate

Base
Melt chunks of butter 2 mins 50 degrees speed 4
Add weetbix in last 5 seconds of melting to crush
Add flour and baking powder. Blitz for 10 seconds until combined
Press into Rectangular Slice Tin and bake for 15 mins 180 degrees
Caramel topping
Grate chocolate 10 seconds speed 9
Melt Butter , condensed milk, grated chocolate and golden syrup in bowl for 2 minutes 90 degrees 
Pour over cooked slice base and cook for a further 5 minutes at 180 degrees.     

Little Oliver with big brother Orson and mum Tracey

   

Thanks for the Tip

What's the difference between an Australian and a canoe?

A canoe tips!!

That was the entertainer's joke at Juneau's Red Dog Saloon in Alaska which at the time was full of cruise ship tourists some of whom were Australians holidaying on  a  Scenic Tour.

After spending  a month touring in Canada, Alaska and Washington State "we Aussies" just don't get tipping.

On the one hand we get that when you receive good service, nothing speaks louder than money. The Canadian system expects tipping 10% is compulsory and is automatically taxed  and 15-20% indicates good service and makes up for the poor hourly rate ($9) received by service staff. They come after you if you don't tip enough as one of our tour group members experienced. The EFT machines in the restaurants give you a hand tip option when you pay by card.

So you are expected to pay restaurant servers - who are taxed on the expected compulsory tip and who are required to share with the kitchen and ancillary staff. You should also tip your bar tender, hairdresser, limo/taxi driver, tour guide, concierge, porter, housekeeping attendant and doorman.

Thus a round of drinks costing $25 should get a tip of between $3.75 and $5.00.  Thus if a server sells only three trays of drinks in an hour their hourly rate starts to get very respectable and one would think they serve many more than that.

 Despite a full restaurant the server had only been allocated us as customers - "she needed the tips"

Trip Advisor explains the complexity of the system:

“It is also important to remember that in many restaurants, the server is required to "tip out" -- that is, to give a percentage of his/her total sales to cover tips for hostesses, bussers, and similar service staff.  This happens regardless of what level of tip he/she received from you, because it's based on sales, not on tips.  If you choose not to tip, the server still has to tip those other support workers.”  So by choosing not to tip you cause other problems. Canada:Tipping and Etiquette

Our tour and cruise included all gratuities and tips but there was still an expectation to tip for good service by the bus driver, Tour Director and selected daily guides.  The expectation is 10-15% of the total So for an example on a $50 tour we did should the 25 people give $7.50 each for a two hour walk around?  That’s about $185 not a bad hourly rate on top of the tour charge. 

I still don’t get it.

"Tip jars" are found where counter service is proveded eg coffee shops, ice creameries, self service sandwich bars and even retail stores. Where does it stop?

Don’t get me wrong- service was pretty good in Canada.  On the whole servers were pleasant and attentive – sometimes overly so. Was the service better than I would expect in Australia?? Not necessarily. Does forgetting to give you cutlery, getting the order wrong or forgetting to bring water turn into good service if it is smiled away with an apology and a correction so they still get their tip? 

Beautifully presented food and great service

Certainly the management teacher in me sees the concept of Total Quality Service  screaming out. If food is bad, the server is punished by a lower tip. That would soon be sorted. If the service is slow because the kitchen is slow it should also be sorted by the server who is expected to “tip out” to them. The other part of this complex system. Servers and managers want to know about problems so they have an opportunity to make things better for their customers and still get the tip. Don't get me started on the inefficiency of the "wait to be allocated a server system" prevalent in restaurants. 

Note also  that taxes are added to everything when you receive the bill.  How convenient that the 5% GST is listed separately - you only have to multiply by 3 to work out the tip! If you think a hamburger is cheap in Canada and USA  don't forget the taxes (up to 10% depending on the County) and the tip charge.  Heaven help us if they bring in a system like this in Australia where the wages are fairer and the taxes are included in the price shown.

Just excuse me whle I take up a collection for the pilot!

Rant over ... what do you think?

 

Muffin Magic

I'm a tight wad.. My last lot of muffin patty cases - nothing fancy mind you- cost $3.26 for 100. They are just giant patty cases and they cost 3 and a bit cents each!

Inspired by some every good buys at the reduced for quick sale at Woolies I was having a competition with myself to make the cheapest muffins I could find with my 25c tub of coffee yoghurt.

Having hit upon the 20 Second Coffee Yoghurt Cake recipe which is so cheap to make I was determined to cut the 39c cost of the patty papers for 1 dozen coffee muffins. Lots of my facebook friends didn't get it . "You can get them at Coles Robyn" they said.


So I researched making muffin cases like the ones you see in the fancy coffee shops. However a Youtube or two and a search of Mr Google solved the problem - and no petrol needed.


Here's how to do it....
Find a glass or tin that fits snuggly into your muffin tin
Cut 12.5cm  (or 5 inches) squares of baking paper.
Centre the square over the tin or glass 

Use a Glass or Tin

Press firmly with both hands and crease the paper into a mould-your paper cup is formed
Scoop or pipe (could you be bothered?) your mixture  into the cup and cook as per instructions

Paper muffin cup ready for filling

(Here's the great bit)
Any little spills easily crack off the baking paper to help with presentation. For Mini muffins use a shot glass and a slightly smaller square.

If you use the Coffee Yoghurt Cake recipe from my  blog -you actually get 15 substantial looking muffins for $2.01= 13c each.  All for less than a muffin at a Cafe.

I'm so impressed with myself I'm going to take my savings and add a large handful of choc chips next time.

Keep cooking...

Professional looking Coffee Yoghurt Muffins

The Butter vs Margarine debate.... now that's a can of worms

Since entering the cooking frenzy that owning a Thermomix creates, I’ve joined plenty of cooking sites. Not previously big on cake making I’ve been experimenting with the particularly quick cakes – see my previous blog- Cakes whipped up in 10 seconds

However I was concerned at the amount of butter we seemed to be consuming. Being in the mature age category one comes up against the cholesterol numbers from time to time and I’d hate a big heart clogging consequence of my new found cooking frenzy. I expressed my concern on the cooking site and received the wrath of the margarine haters including Superkylz, my daughter. I investigated further.

Housewives of the 70s were no different to modern housewives- the debate was always the benefits of cooking results with butter vs margarine

Also being of the at certain mature age I remember the “you ought to be congratulated “campaign of the 70s and 80s when margarine swept across the nation and became the healthier substitute for butter because it was made out of vegetable oils.  1984-You-Ought-To-Be-Congratulated ad

Anyhow I did a bit of research and shock horror some margarines are not all that much better than butter- especially when they are made from animal fats. I’ve always used Fairy Margarine for cooking  (I think my Dad or one of his friends had shares in it) In hind sight I remember the rumour as a young one that it was really a lower cost butter substitute.  

Housewives of the 70s were no different to modern housewives- the debate was always the benefits of cooking results with butter vs margarine and the Meadow Lea campaign supported the mother who used it for cooking. I’m a bit of a cost based cooker. I preferred margarine for cost and KJ and rarely read the labels. 

I’ve always found butter user unfriendly for spreadability. (I’m not fussed about leaving it out of the fridge and truly I’m not that organised to take it out in advance of cooking.) A nice soft spreadable margarine is easier for spreading on bread and quickly frying an egg, onion etc. 

Shock horror- Fairy has similar Kilojoules as butter

A Google search on butter vs margarine will send you everywhere and while I don’t believe I’m eating petrol or plastic as some claim I had been enlightened and I began to read the labels. Any way it turns out Fairy and Woollies cooking margarine is shock horror made of animal fats. The kilojoule count for the cooking margarine and butter is 3040-80kj per hundred grams.

A light Olive oil spread option  got the Heart Foundation tick but it wasn’t recommended for baking. 

Meanwhile I had a few disappointments on the Thermo cakes e and decided to try a softer option to use for creaming butter and sugar.

The St Vincent de Paul Welfare Centre I volunteer at  gives out an Aldi Pure Vita Canola Spread which is Heart Foundation approved and only 99c for 500g. I read the label and while it contains Canola and vegetable oil it does also list some of the nasties such as colour and flavours. On the positive side it’s 2410kg per 100g which is 21% less Kj.  It is also derived from non GM Canola seeds.

You can see how light these mini muffins are

I tried it in my 30 Second Orange Cake and was very pleased with the lightness and it maintained its freshness for longer. It worked OK in my Yoghurt Cake and Yoghurt Cake Muffins too. 

To take the experiment a little further I used a Woolworths Homebrand Canola Spread.  At a bargain $1.60 for 1Kg it has less Canola and more Palm Oil (not so good for the environment). It has a much softer consistency than the Aldi brand and didn’t mix as well in the Thermo blades. I tried it with a short pastry mix too- not entirely satisfied. Based on advice from the Thermo community on Facebook I added a second orange and the cake and muffins were the best yet. The extra orange made the cake even moister and extended the mixture enough to make 12 mini muffins – perfect for the grandkids' afternoon tea!!

Some of the butter, margarines and spreads compared

The  30 Second Whole Orange Cakewas originally found on the recipe community. I’ve modified it with the second orange as follows an it is optional to reduce the amount of sugar.

30 Second Orange Cake  Serves 12-15

2 whole Oranges cut into quarters

225g butter or Canola spread

3eggs

200g or less of raw sugar

300g SR Flour

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a ring tin or a round cake tin.

Place butter or Canola spread into Thermomix bowl and mix for 7 seconds at Speed 8

Add Sugar, eggs and SR flour and combine 20 seconds Reverse speed 4

Pour into cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean- see variation below.

Hint:

Mixture was enough for cake and 12 mini muffins (adjust cooking time accordingly).

You could add poppy seeds to make Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins/ Cake

Ice if necessary

 butter or margarine?

To each their own- make your own decision about butter or margarine but if cost, heart smart and KJ are important then the Aldi’s Canola Spread is a viable option.

I’ve costed the Orange cake as follows- but at this time of year you could reduce the cost of oranges by 50c if you score a few fresh oranges from a friend’s tree like I did. Stick a few quartered ones in the freezer too.

• Made with butter $4.12
• Made with  Aldi Pura Vita Canola Spread $2.37
• Made with Woolworths Homebrand Canola Spread  $2.27

Happy cooking

Robyn

Cakes whipped up in 10 seconds.. now that's fast food

I love a tasty cake and icing sugar, jam and cream shouldn't really make up the taste.While a working mother the "like mother used to make " cakes that involved creaming butter and sugar, delicate addition of eggs were replaced by packet mixes and/or reduced for quick sale bought cakes.
While packet cakes have come a long way  I object to paying over three dollars for a box of what basically amounted to flour and some artificial flavouring especially when you were then asked to then add oil, milk and several eggs.
Since buying my Thermomix I'm in cake heaven. I'm loving the 10 second, 20 second  and thirty second all in cakes such as the Coconut bread, Golden syrup cake and the 30 Second Orange cake.

Since buying my Thermomix I'm in cake heaven.

As a regular volunteer at several places now it nice to take a little morning tea treat to fellow volunteers or an afternoon snack or freshly baked  little lunch to the grandkids' house.

Here's my favourites

(10 second) Coconut bread- cost  $1.75 approx
If this cake lasts long enough it toasts up quite well like banana bread. The toasted coconut smell is amazing. This  10 Second Coconut Bread recipe was originally found here but here's my Nanny version.. I reckon you could easily add chocolate chips or raspberries for a nice alternative. I'm waiting for some nice frozen Aussie ones to come on the market.
Prep: line a loaf tin with baking paper and preheat over to 180 degrees C

80g desiccated coconut
90g sugar
150g self raising flour
35g oil
250g milk

Method:

Measure ingredients into Thermomix bowl

(This is why it is called The 10 Second Cake) Mix for 10 seconds on speed 5

Pour your batter into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees. You can test the cake with a skewer to see if it is cooked through

Ice if desired when cool - some tropical flavour such as lemon or lime or orange would be nice

Coconut Bread

(10 second) Marmalade cake: cost $2.04 approx
Having a surplus of homemade marmalade and no time to ice cakes saw this little invention. Yum

Prep:Line a large loaf tin with foil. Spray or grease the foil. Spread a layer of marmalade over the bottom of the tin. sprinkle a handful of coconut over the marmalade. Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Ingredients:

400g SR flour
500g milk 

90g oil
80g golden syrup
50g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

(How easy is this?)
Measure all the ingredients into your Thermomix bowl .
Mix on speed 6 until combined.
Pour onto your marmalade and coconut mix.
Bake for 40-60 minutes .
Carefully peel off the foil, cool and enjoy.

The volunteers looooved this one....

20 Second Yoghurt Coffee Cake: cost $2.01  approx
This cake was a modification of another yoghurt cake after an impulse purchase of reduced for quick sale coffee flavoured yoghurt 4 tubs for a $1. You could add chocolate chips for a mocha twist.
Prep: grease a large ring tin and preheat oven to 170 degrees C

Ingredients:
165 g raw sugar
2Tb instant coffee mixed in a little water
2 eggs
180 g yoghurt, Natural or coffee flavoured
130 g vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
275 g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda

Method:

Place all the batter ingredients into the Thermomix bowl and blend for 20 seconds on Speed 5.
Check  the mix, scrape the bowl and mix a few extra seconds if necessary
Pour into the prepared tin.
Bake at 170C for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out dry.
Ice with coffee or chocolate icing if desired.

Save a little from the tin for a Yoghurt Coffee Muffin

The volunteers also loved the 30 second Orange Cake found on theThermomix Recipe Community  It's a great use of all those spare citrus at this time of year and yes... you do throw in the whole (quartered ) orange skin and all. One word sums up this cake. Delicious.

Happy cooking...See my next story on the Muffins.

A friend in need and a friend with speed......

Recently a call went out for food for a family with three generations to cater for. I was happy to help on so many levels as these were near and dear friends.

My Thermo did the job and left the kitchen remarkably tidy in the process with little washing up. Previously "emergency" food meant a casserole delivered to the door of  a sick friend to heat and eat that night or the next. This request was more like a Masterchef Challenge:

• cover  the needs of three  generations
• transport to a freezer 100 km away
• be able to be transported from a flat to the hospital- hot and on foot.
• something to be heated up when necessary at Ronald McDonald House

Basically a family, dead on their feet, needed flexible options while they were caring for their hospitalised child at the worst of times.

Savoury Impossible Pie

So Thermo produced a Savoury Impossible Pie which can be cut and reheated on demand. Next it turned out  a monster load of Spaghetti Bolognaise  and a big bowl of Tuna Mornay. All in under 2 hours. I did think at the time I could have had all three cooking at once with two thermos but just having the second bowl helped to speed up production. I did cheat and cook the rice and pasta the old fashioned way so I could go to the Gym.

Pre- Thermo I wouldn't have been so confident or organised.

Tuna Mornay

Next day, I made a double batch of shortbread biscuits, a 10 second coconut cake and two tubs of brightly coloured playdough in under an hour before the call came from Superkylz to please bring my Thermo with me when I drop off Miss Ariah. (Sorry Yvonne -we ate the cake before it got there.)

Superkylz arrived home from work with her big box of food and  proceeded to turn out more meals at fast speed ready to travel to Sydney the next morning. Armed with the extra bowl and Varoma capacity of two Thermos she churned out Curried sausages, mashed potato, Potato and Leek Soup, a quiche and Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni.

Pre- Thermo she wouldn't have been so confident or organised.

Organisation is the key so here are my tips for cooking for a crisis:

• make up quantities of chopped onion and grated cheese first and put aside.
• have a supply of stackable foil containers with lids.  They are available at supermarkets and discount shops in multiple sizes in packs of 4 with covers.  Alternatively takeaway containers are available and useful to serve up single serves of  dinner and rice etc. Disposable and less washing up is a key here.
• try and include vegetables for a well rounded meal  eg corn, peas, carrots etc
• label the food with ingredients, cooking instructions etc
• beg borrow or buy a second Thermo if necessary.Superkylz will sell you one!
• make sure your own freezer and fridge has enough space to freeze/store the meals once cooked.

A final tip - don't send biscuits or cakes with nuts to the Childrens' Hospital. I guess that includes food that might need heating up in communal kitchens.
Take a little extra cake and biscuits for others and always leave some for the nurses!! I've heard they like a treat or two.



Give Generously. The Gold Telethon  is on this Monday- support a good cause - the Sydney Childrens' Hospital is doing good things for patients and family alike.    Keep up your brave fight little Jack.xxxxx