Today Messy Benches celebrates turning 10! The blog was started as a hobby while I was on maternity leave. My expensive blender (Thermomix) was collecting dust in the kitchen corner and the blog was started as a challenge to make 365 different Thermomix recipes in 365 days. My trusty machine is still going strong and still used multiple times per day. I’ve also held off on upgrading to a newer machine and still happy with my TM31.
The challenge had a name change and website that followed and as I started a gluten free diet, so did the recipes. In 2017 Messy Benches turned into a family adventure with my husband Craig joining in sharing his BBQ recipes. His passion for cooking led him to a career change selling BBQs and catering low and slow events. In 2018 we had an opportunity to become part of the Donnie Taco team and Craig’s days are spent drinking coffee, making tacos and shooting hoops. (Read more about the Messy Benches story here.)
The blog has been a little quiet lately, with Craig running a café, me working full time and completing an MBA as well as two grown boys who both have their own sporting commitments. There really hasn’t been much time for recipe development, meal photography and website management. We must have a few good things on there as we still have 500 people visit the website each week.
In celebration of 10 years I’ve decided to make a comeback! This time round I will be focused on more family friendly recipes, limiting dirty dishes and trying to convert as many dinners to one pot cooking! To help you out I’ll include the time required from start to serve and the amount of washing up needed. My kids tastes have changed over the years and they are much more adventurous with new family favourites on rotation. I still make messy benches but with kids helping in the kitchen they are now extra messy and Craig still complains about the messy benches.
Thank you for your continued support and I hope you find our new recipes just as enjoyable as the past ones.
Looking forward to following the Messy Benches story.