Wow - I still can't believe we're at the beginning of yet another year! Last year was a bit of a whirlwind with organising the Gluten Free Scallywag Bakery and moving jobs, it all went terribly fast! I always wonder if everyone else's year seemed to go as fast as mine... did yours?
This year has just as much in store as last year, I'm sure. I've had some orders from the bakery and I'm looking forward to learning much more about food photography, doing regular weekly posts and expanding my gluten free baking range...especially after the epic gluten free pastry fail I had yesterday! I even have an intimate wedding to shoot in late January! 2011 is all about expanding my range (and that's not my waistline - that will be slimmed down a little thanks to some swimming and crosstraining!) and I hope that all of you, my lovely readers, who visit this blog regularly and leave lovely comments will do something new this year too! Even if it's just baking your first gluten free chocolate cake from scratch!
This holiday season, we trotted off down to Margaret River in the South West of Western Australia.We spent the week lazing in the sun on the deck. A few trashy magazines piled up on the coffee table or falling asleep on the lounge, only to wake later with Dennis next to me, panting away and wriggling around during his doggie dreams!
There were afternoons spent driving up and down Caves Rd visiting the odd winery and cafe and enjoying the cool waters at Smiths Beach. Trips into town for some gluten free sausages (Coles has a fabulous range of gluten free snags for those who are bbq mad - like me!) were bbq'd then thrown into some gluten free bread and enjoyed with a green salad. It was another lovely summer holiday and I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine!
This dip was made in my friend Dom's new toy; a Thermomix. We had a gluten free (apart from the bread) Thermomix demonstration during our holidays and I must say it certainly seems to be a most handy appliance - grinding nuts into meal, risotto in 17minutes, a cheats lemon & berry sorbet in moments and it grinds raw sugar into castor sugar and then icing sugar! Ahh.... the idea of only having to by raw sugar for the rest of my life ...bliss! Now, this dip was adapted from the recipe book that comes with the Thermomix, but can easily be made in a food processor.
Luscious Green Cream Cheese Dip: Gluten Free Recipe
Make approximately 1cup
250g cream cheese
1/3cup grated parmesan cheese
1small bunch parsley
1small bunch chives
handful of basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pepper, to taste
Wash your parsely, chives and basil and add into the food processor/Thermomix with the garlic. Buzz for a few seconds, till finely chopped. Stop to scrape down the bowl. Add the cream cheese and parmesan, buzz until smooth. Test a little and add pepper to taste.
Serve immediately with some gluten free crackers. Would also store well in an air tight container in the fridge for 2-3days.
I have been considering one of those, but would it be something you would really use all the time? And would it's capacity be big enough? I have ALL the other major appliances,just like the idea of multitasking in only one.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's certainly a worthwhile consideration... I haven't bought one but it certainly showed me that it's pretty damn useful. Let's see - the risotto it made fed 6 of us plus a little more for seconds and I don't think that was at full capacity. The sorbet was probably about 1.5-2Litres worth aswell. I'd certainly never get rid of my kitchenaid as I'd never give up the romance of it, but for me (after attending the demo) it certainly would replace the rice cooker, blender and food processor that I have in my kitchen. It also made delicious bread (so they said anyways - it was glutenous!) so that's another appliance.It certainly looks like something I'd end up using more because it does so many things and rather quickly. If you haven't been to a demo I'd go and then make up your mind....
ReplyDeleteThat dip looks wonderful! And that appliance sounds great - is it just an Aussie thing or avaiable elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteSimply GF (Carol!) - The Thermomix is actually a german design, which I believe is available in the states via these distributors - http://www.vorwerk.com/html/countries,list,47.html
ReplyDelete