so I hear people say all of the time..

aww, eating healthy isn't cheap 

well that's just a load of rot from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about, and to be quite frank, most likely someone who doesn't do the cooking or is too lazy to make a healthy meal for their family...

today I spent $70 and made two soups, and, two stews...

here's what I purchased.. you'll see apples and yakult in there as well as part of the $70... mind you I already had carrots in the fridge so didn't need to buy them...



so i'll start with the soups..

I have a Tefel soup maker as some of you may have seen already... it's not one of those inferior products that you see with a plastic bowl.. the Tefel is stainless steel and as tough as nails...

this is mine while cooking today...



so... i'll teach you on how to make two soups and how damn easy it is... a veg soup and a pumpkin soup... you wont believe how tasty they are once you try them... so sweet and yummy using all natural ingredients..

first... with the vegetable soup... you'll need this..

one vegetable pack from woollies.. some chopped garlic and half a cube of vegetable stock...

this is it



no seriously.. that's it... you'll also need 800 ml of water...

I don't peal any of it accept taking the outer layer off the onion.. cut off the ends if need be and dice it up.. it should look like this..



once you chop it up just chuck it in the Tefal.. add your 800 ml of water, half a cube of vegetable stock and two teaspoons of garlic



turn it on to P2 and 35 mins later its done





it took me 7 minutes to dice and put the ingredients into the bowl..

so while that ones cooking for 35 minutes with a blend at the end which is all automatic... you start preparing the next soup... the pumpkin soup...

tbc

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Jul 9^th, 2014 at 5:13pm:


hang on, wait, there's more...

people talk about spending HUNDREDS of dollars every week on groceries.. 4 . 5 hundred etc.... im giving you the option to halve it..

this will feed two adults for smoko, lunch/dinner meals for 7 days

PS don't taste test it as soon as its finished.. it'll burn your mouth out...

if you take the lid off two quickly it can bubble and spit out hot soup...

so leave it for a bit... 

Aussie wrote on Jul 9^th, 2014 at 5:54pm:


Harvey Norman have them... Tefel try and maintain their price and price them at $299

but I beat them down on price... I got that one for around $270

I know that dear... but you are getting a stainless steel bowl that's bullet proof..

I hear from a lot of people that have the plastic bowl that they burn the bottom turning it black...

that's just not on... no way.. to me its a fire hazard..

get one of these and you'll have no trouble, NO burning and easy to clean...

after two soups all I had to clean was

one bowl,

one knife,

one tea spoon...

wow... 

Unless you are going to fry off the veggies and meat and getting some maillard caramelisation I don't like the sound of those soups.

Datalife wrote on Jul 9^th, 2014 at 6:13pm:


suck it and see... you'll be surprised...

I can't believe how sweet these recipes are... if you cooked them on the stove they'd be bland by themselves...

but the recipes above are my likes and the mrs... there's plenty of other recipes you can try to your taste in the books that you get...

President Elect, The Mechanic wrote on Jul 9^th, 2014 at 5:26pm:

Now ya tell me: laughing dood- sweet!

so...

I also have a Tefal pressure cooker.. I think its called "Cook for me" or something like that..

I cooked two stews today as well...

this one is a chicken stew...



about 500grams of chicken... I use stir fry strips as they are easy to cut up...

five "mash" type potatoes.. so the white ones

five sticks of celery, or 3 of the full sized ones

five carrots

two onions

a couple of cups of frozen vegies...

umm.. about 2 table spoons of garlic...

one cup of red wine.. (some people use white)

2 tbl spoon olive oil and a slice of butter

2 cups of Vegetable or Beef stock... depend on what you like.. either one..

2 cans of diced tomatoes..

brown the chicken in the oil and butter... add in a tble spoon of oregano, 2 of Garlic, then add a cup of red wine.. and then if you like add in the onion and marinade for a few minutes..



all this is done in the one pot...

then add in the rest of the ingredients and set for 25 minutes...

that's it.. you are done..

don't eat until around at least 6 hours later to let the flavours set in...
we usually wait till the day after... the longer it sits the more flavours blend in and are stronger.. its amazing.. so tasty 

Nice cooking thread, I haven't got a soup maker, but I do have the Tefal Cook4me, looks like a black orb, sitting on the island bench in my kitchen, everyone comes in and asks "what's that!"  and I say it's a black orb.....then I do explain.
I got mine for $289 on special.
The good thing about this pressure cooker is that it is computerized and tells you what to do, and sets the time etc and releases the pressure valve....takes the guess work out of what the old fashioned pressure cookers used to be like.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Jul 10^th, 2014 at 2:13am:


you can also use the same with beef...

add in some chick peas...

with the chicken add in some honey to the browning... and/or a hand full of chopped apricots....

you can't go wrong...

You could reduce your bill by at least another 10% & create more meals by buying unprocessed Vegies

Buy a bunch of celery not pre packaged sticks

Buy a small whole pumpkin not a wedge

Bag your own beans

Quick look at the forum section and I thought this thread was "cooking with meth" ...

Now reading it, try chick peas in your pumpkin soup before pureeing to make it go even further.

Dsmithy70 wrote on Aug 4^th, 2014 at 3:40pm:


I can't see any processed vegies there?

some prepacked maybe...

good ideas on the celery but how does a whole pumpkin save you money? i'll have to look into that.. 

____ wrote on Aug 4^th, 2014 at 6:50pm:


not surprising coming from a greenie... 

I didn't know but apparently chick peas are high in protein... they can't get enough of them in india, they use them in a lot of their cooking... india is the biggest producer, Australia the second biggest in the world...

a lot of chick peas are being introduced into poor countries to grow because they are so healthy etc

True Blue... wrote on Aug 4^th, 2014 at 8:12pm:


absolutely love chick peas, actually I love all the beans and peas


my favourite way to have them, boil them until cooked, strain, then add extra virgin olive oil and salt

wife usually complains a lot later that night though ... not sure why 

ok,

I was doing something different tonight...

I've been looking at how people do their puddings in the oven with water etc and it all seem a bit over complicated to me..

so... being a genius,  ,

I thought I'd try cooking some of my puddings in our vegetable steamer.. 

here's how it turned out.. its a jam pudding.. I went without tea to eat this tonight..

the steamer..



the cakes once finished... at 20 minutes they were still a bit soft.. so they got 30 minutes in the steamer



run the knife around the edge and tip them out..



all finished with custard applied... 



oh boy.. im full now.. they didn't look that big.. 

all in all a great result on a simple recipe and in 30 minutes.. beats hanging around for 2 hours.. 

King FriYAY II wrote on Aug 7^th, 2014 at 11:58am:


now come on.. you could have cooked this yourself.. you should be ashamed.!! 

I also don't mind a whiskey in Pepsimax now and again.. 

I take out one large mouthful and then top it up with the whiskey.. 

oh, I was looking at spinach yesterday to see the nutritional value in the leaves..

incredible.. its packed full of goodness so im going to add them into my diet... if I can get it into a recipe that tastes good

im making bangers and mash tonight for my guests.. i'll show you guys later on if I remember to take pics..

the best ever tasting bangers and mash you'll ever taste in your life.. I've only made it once on a trial run.. so tonight is the big night to unleash it on unsuspecting guineapigs family 

Well Mechanic,the Tefal finally arrived and has been tested. I did your first recipe first and then a Mushroom and Bacon soup. Actually used those chopped up bacon bits from the dairy section of WW

Its a great machine and soups turned out great.

As I like soups with meat in them (Chicken, Beef etc) I am still thinking of how best to do them. 

Should I brown the meat first in a fry pan or just chuck it in? I have even wondered about using chicken mince?

Thoughts? 

Can a mod move this into Food, took me a flamin hour to find it!

I liked this thread but couldn't find it either so thank you for moving it.

Redmond Neck wrote on Aug 17^th, 2014 at 5:59pm:


Browning meat isn't necessary before putting it into stews/soups etc but if you caramelise it in a hot pan first it does enhance the flavour of the meat quite a lot.  It also looks a lot better in the end product.

Always brown any type of mince before tossing it in so that it doesn't end up in huge clumps whilst cooking.

well if the Mechanic wasn't banned for the last 4 months he might put up some more recipes...

although, you couldn't blame him if he didn't,,, probably headed into the sunset by now..

How about a nice chicken and corn soup?   

Black Orchid wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2015 at 9:42am:


you wouldn't want to use the auto settings then... they blend at the end of the cooking automatically..

I love both chickpeas and spinach 

Good topic this!

Mechanic posting something quite interesting which is unusual in itself!

Much more useful item than that silly NutriBullet