Turkey & Chorizo Bolognaise

Last week I was looking in my freezer and saw the turkey mince sitting there, gathering icicles. I had to stop avoiding it and figure out how to use it. I decided the easiest way to use it was to just add it into a bolognaise sauce along with my beef mince - which of course would be a very big meaty bolognaise. But I'm ok with that. Meaty is GOOD. Then I discovered the chorizo in the fridge, and I was on my way to the most amazing bolognaise I've ever tasted in my life. Here's how I made it so you can try it yourself. It's super easy, and remember super meaty.

Ingredients:

2 onions

2 cloves garlic

2 jalapeños (optional)

Olive oil

6 tomatoes

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

500g beef mince

500g turkey mince

2 chorizo sausages

Water

Generous handful fresh basil

8 sprigs fresh thyme 

1 tbsp oregano 

Handful baby spinach

Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Chop up your onions, garlic and jalapeños and fry up in a big saucepan on med-high heat, with some olive oil until softened. 

2. Add your tomatoes which you have conveniently chopped into small chunks in with your canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Let it simmer away until your fresh tomatoes start to break down. I kind of squished them with my spatula to "help" the process along. 

3. Add both minces and your chopped chorizo with a bit of water - enough so that it can continue to simmer away. I let mine simmer for a good 15-20 mins and added water when necessary so my sauce didn't get too thick.

4. Once it was cooked through and I was happy with the consistency of the bolognaise I added all my herbs, baby spinach and s&p to taste. 

I served ours with delicious spinach and ricotta tortellini as a treat, cause lets be honest, tortellini is way too fancy for every day life. Good old $1 spaghetti from Aldi will do the job just nicely. Oh, and chuck some fresh parmesan on top! Can't do bolognaise without parmie! 

Enjoy! I know I'll be making it again soon! 

Tropical Sunshine Sorbet in the Thermomix

As a lot of you would know if you are following along with me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, I got my Thermomix just over a week ago. I have done more cooking, baking & making in my kitchen in the past week than I have almost all year long haha!!! Slight exaggeration, but it's embarrassing how much I hate being in the kitchen!  Well, let me rephrase that... how much I hated being in the kitchen. Notice the past tense? That's because I've done a complete 360! I have been enjoying making food again thanks to how easy Thermomix cooking is. Hopefully I will keep this up, because I am enjoying all the deliciously healthy (and a couple not so healthy haha) meals! After lunch today I was feeling really hot and I thought I'd whip up a sorbet to cool me down.

So here it is, my very first Thermomix recipe! Made by little old me. 

Tropical Sunshine Sorbet

80g* raw sugar

200g fresh mango (or thereabouts)

100g fresh pineapple

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 egg white

700g ice cubes

Put sugar into bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 9.

Add in fresh fruit, coconut oil, egg white & 350g ice cubes and blend 20 sec/speed 10, gradually increasing your speed from 1 through to speed 10 throughout that 20 seconds.  

Add the rest of the ice and blend for 1 min/speed 10. You will need to use your spatula to move the ice about so it all gets blended up! 

This recipe serves 4.

*You can adjust the sugar amount to taste. The amount is often determined by how sweet your fruit is, and how sweet you like your sorbet.

Caramelised Onion Rissoles

If I haven't made it clear in the past, let me make it clear now.  I.  Hate.  Cooking.  I wish I was wealthy and could hire someone to tend to my every eating and meal desire.  But reality is, I have to cook every so often to keep husby happy.  We often eat eggs on toast for dinner.  Frozen dinners.  Oh so healthy I hear you saying!!  But I do cook on occasion, and sometimes my knowledge of flavour combinations surprises me. 

Now I bought some lovely fresh bread rolls at the shops this week so decided homemade burgers was a good idea.  So I defrosted my beef mince and somehow managed to come up with this SUPER tasty awesome excellent delicious makes you want to eat ten of them rissole recipe.  :)  Enjoy!

Caramelised Onion Rissoles  

500g beef mince

1 large onion, diced small

1 tbspn minced garlic

1 tbspn raw sugar

1 tspn vegetable stock powder

4 tbspn fried shallots (found in Asian section)

2 eggs

Polenta

Plain flour

Cook your onion, garlic and raw sugar over a low heat, stirring regularly until the onion is soft and caramelised.  Then in a large bowl combine the onion, mince, vegetable stock, dried shallots, and 2 eggs.  Mix well, and add Polenta until consistency is right.  Then roll into balls and cover in flour.  Cook over a medium heat with a little bit of olive oil in the pan. 

Add it to a fresh bread roll and some salad and get some of that into ya!! Mmmm!

#20 - Smoooooothie

I am going camping next week, so am in the process of emptying my fridge.  I needed to use up some fruit, so decided to make a smoothie.  IT.  WAS.  DELICIOUS.  I have never tasted a better smoothie in all my life.  Best part is, I winged it!!!  Here's how to make it.

Juice:

- 2 pears

-1/2 pineapple

- 1 punnet of blueberries

Then put in the blender:

- Above juiced fruits

- 2 bananas

- 1 cup milk

- handful of ice

And wizz till the ice is in little chunks.

I loved it SO much that I couldn't even wait to take a picture.  So this is what you get...