After many months of debating whether or not to bring a Thermomix into my home, I finally decided it was time to give a chance. Once it arrives, a consultant contacted me to come to my house and give me a presentation. At first I thought it would be a bit superfluous, but in the end, it was great to have her share her own tips and explain the advantages of the Cookidoo website and app. Initially the Cookidoo is free for a few months and then you have to start paying a fee. When my free trial was over I was a bit bummed, but in reality it’s totally worth it. You don’t have to buy any other recipe books because you have access to them all through the app and website.
When I’m bored I scroll through the different recipe books on the app, saving the ones that stand out the most. You can filter out recipes by prep time, total time, portions, ingredients, etc. It’s thought out magnificently. So is it actually worth it at such a high price point? At first I wasn’t convinced, but now my answer is YES, YES, YES! It’s so versatile and the fact that you can just leave it cooking while you do something else is amazing.
If you’re into making your own preserves, stocks, bread, etc this machine is great for you. I have to admit I still haven’t made any, but I can’t imagine the amount of money I would save by making them myself. Perhaps I should get on that!
I also love that it makes certain recipes a lot less daunting. For example, I’ve made Hollandaise sauce before without a Thermomix, but it would take a lot of courage and I would get frustrated if it didn’t come out perfectly. Now, I can easily make Hollandaise with the Thermomix and it’s guaranteed to come out great. There’s also many things that I wouldn’t make if I didn’t have a Thermomix. For example, fresh pasta, pizza dough, piñas coladas (soooo creamy!), chocolate chip cookies on a whim. It’s versatility is also great as it combines a food processor, blender, electric mixer, etc. Not to mention that it actually cooks food through. When I wanted to make a cake, I had to hand whip everything. Now I can whip some egg whites and make a curry all with the same machine!
I also highly recommend checking out international recipes. Even if you don’t understand them, you can easily translate them and broaden your horizons! It’s interesting to see the focus of different countries. For instance, Italy has endless sweets, breads, and pastas. You can find endless soups in the Chinese section. Spain has plenty of stews and could soups. And interestingly, I found a whole selection of dietary recipes in the Mexico books. Of course some recipes overlap, but it’s curious to see the different recipes as well as the interpretations of typical dishes that another country makes (probably based on the accessibility of certain ingredients).
This all sounds amazing in theory, but you might ask yourself how the Thermomix fits in with your daily cooking. So let me tell you how I use it! I mostly use my Thermomix for meal planning. I make soft boiled eggs, rice, or smoothies at the beginning of the week and store them in the fridge. I’ll sometimes make a large batch of soup and either freeze it in cubes or use it throughout the week. As I’m writing this I’m realizing that I can just as easily make stock! Haha. I also use it for things that might be a bit more time consuming. And when I’m super organized, I’ll make a soup in the bowl and steam some vegetable and fish in the varoma… all at the same time! I also recently discovered how to poach eggs with my Thermomix and I can’t get enough!
Here are my favorite recipes:
pisto
poached eggs
tinga
masshed potatoes
garlic soup
crepes
shrimp saganaki
conchas
I’ll keep you posted as I explore more recipes on the Thermomix!
