Menu Plan Monday - 31st May

What a beautiful day - the kids are running around outside embracing the cool, clear weather and the return of the brolgas!  What beautiful birds.  With the cooler weather, my favourite lunch of soup and bread will be seen more often... yay!  Today I made the Chickpea and Spinach soup from the 'Full Steam Ahead' cookbook (Thermomix Varoma recipes), using some of my homemade chicken stock paste instead of salt - it was delicious!!  The kids loved it too.  Also made a Warm Chicken, Pumpkin and Couscous Salad using the Varoma, but I'm not too keen on couscous (partly because it's wheat, partly because it got too mushy) so next time I'll try quinoa instead of couscous.  We love quinoa, and it's high in protein, so it's great for lunches - gives you lots of energy.  One of our favourite lunches is quinoa used instead of rice in Mexican Quinoa.  Yum!

I'm very tempted to make a Chocolate Souffle this week, posted by farfallina on the Thermomix forum (see her blog here)... I just need to think up a good excuse ;)  (I'm sure I'll think of one!)  Even though I post lots of recipes for sweets (especially chocolate ones), I don't actually make them every day - we try to eat simple, healthy snacks usually, like fruit, nuts, wholemeal spelt bread, smoothies and maybe some rice-almond milk custard for supper.  Okay, and ice cream made from frozen bananas :)  There's just so many yummy recipes to try out there, I need some more excuses to try them!!  I'm also hoping to make Tebasile's Raw Carrot Cake - at least that one's really healthy - practically like eating a salad! - so no excuse needed. 

Anyway, I'm off to have some vegetable risotto cooked in my Thermomix - 18 minutes from go to whoa, and it stirred itself while I sat here blogging!  What a great machine :D

Have a look at Menu Plan Monday at 'I'm an Organizing Junkie' for lots more menu planning ideas.  Have a great week! :)

[TMX = prepared and/or cooked in the Thermomix]

Monday:

(lunch) Spinach & Chickpea Soup and Warm Chicken, Pumpkin & Couscous Salad (soup cooked in TMX bowl while steaming chicken, pumpkin & couscous on top in Varoma)

(dinner) Leftover soup and Vege Risotto (TMX)

Tuesday:

(lunch) Potato, Chorizo & Sweet Onion Tortilla (TMX - converted from a taste.com recipe)  with homemade mayonnaise 

(dinner) Tomato Vege Pasta gf (TMX)

Wednesday:

(lunch) Leftover tortilla (above) and Crunchy Carrot Salad (TMX)

(dinner) Mediterranean Chicken Bake and leftover salad

Thursday:

(lunch) Baked potatoes with df 'sour cream' (TMX) and Greek salad

(dinner) Lamb Tikka Curry (with homemade tikka paste - TMX) and steamed veges & rice (TMX)

Friday:

(lunch) Sausages, mashed potatoes & steamed veges (TMX)

(dinner) Pizza (spelt base - TMX) topped with leftover sausage slices & bbq sauce (TMX) and salad

Saturday:

(lunch) Demo lunch (all TMX, of course!)

(dinner) Tacos

Sunday:

(lunch) Crockpot Pot Roast & veges (gravy in TMX)

(dinner) Roast & gravy on spelt bread rolls (TMX)