Since LSA is a part of my daily ritual now, I’m afraid that this will be inordinately healthy porridge. If your diet is total junk, you may be surprised — nay, alarmed — at how effectively one dose of this tasty stuff speeds things along.
Take one ThermoMix.
Tip in one tablespoon full of almonds, two of sunflower seeds and three of linseed. This is probably an overdose and could readily be halved, but I like the taste.
Tip in “some” of your usual dose of porridge, maybe a few tablespoons full, to provide enough bulk for the blades to engage the other ingredients solidly.
Crank the “whizzer” around to full for about 30 seconds or however long it takes to reduce the almonds to powder. These gadgets are great, and will effortlessly smash up ice or brazil nuts just as readily.
Optionally whack a small handful of chinese dates to add texture and a fruity taste.
Tip in the rest of the porridge and your usual amount of water in.
Whizz all for literally a few seconds to mix thoroughly.
Set the timer for 7 minutes (slight overkill, but I prefer the toasty taste) the temperature to 100, and the whizzer to the “spoon” symbol.
Your ThermoMix will summon you when it’s all yum, er, done.
Comments
The blades are incredibly tough, nuts are no problem -- you can just about grind up gravel with it -- and if you're short of castor suger, just feed some ordinary sugar to this for a few seconds.
You can actually bake bread with the thing, but it really shines for soups, fillings and stuff (make and cook in one implement). Der kinder are particularly fond of sherbet made by feeding the beast chunks of ice, some sweetener and flavour. There's add-ons for steaming and all manner of other things.
I very rarely wax lyrical about kitchen appliances, but this is one that I'd not long do without.
Email grace at the thermomix.com.au domain or call her on 1800 004 838 and she'll give you a price. Better yet, sit through a demo, it's free and the food's very tasty.
What you basically get is a very rugged and well-controlled blender with a built-in scale and a cooking element. This saves an enormous amount of mucking around with bowls and stuff (including — and this is important in our family — washing them afterwards).
You can prepare a pretty stunning array of food in it, too much to list here, even bake bread (although a dedicated bread-maker will do a better job).
When I say "rugged", I mean that you can feed it solid ice and brazil nuts without fear, and it will turn them to fine (or coarse) powder on command.
TANSTAAFL, of course, the devices aren't cheap. If up-front cost is an issue for you, ThermoMix (in Australia, anyway) will do a deal for you, or you could try eBay since the devices last fairly well. They last quite well, which implies that they're a relatively good investment but that second-hand prices are unlikely to be rock bottom. They wouldn't come up often at your local (Perth for me) auctions, but if you have plenty of time, keeping an eye on those and carefully refraining form bidding when there is serious competition would probably be your best bet for a bargain.