Belfie - I'm a crap cook too and I'm still getting used to the TMX. I was a bit intimidated at first. I think just practising helps and trying things in small quantities. One thing that irritates me about the EDC recipes is it doesnt tell you how many serves you get so I keep making more than we need (there's only 2 of us). We've had a couple of fails including pureeing mince. I dont know if that's from not following instructions or what. I'm not great at following revipes. I always change something around and that can cause problems. But that's not just using a TMX, that's me in general

Wrt to the stock, there is a standard recipe which I've used but you could make your own. It's just pureed vegies cooked into a concentrate and a whole lot of salt to preserve it. There is onion in the EDC recipe but you can exclude it. I got a good tip off Rouge to keep vegie cuttings like carrot tips in a bag in the freezer and make stock from those when you have enough.

We had a pumpkin risotto made at the demo as DH doesnt like mushroom. I've also made pear & blue cheese risotto. I pull recipes off forumthermomix and from FB pages or blogs. Tonights risotto was a tad undercooked but still yummy.