Menu Plan Monday - June 14

I know, I know - it's not Monday!  But I'm running a bit late with the menu planning... I thought I should post something since I haven't gotten around to it for nearly two weeks.  (Although I did play around with the look of my blog the other day - what do you think of it?)

We're busy packing up to move - again!  It's only been about eight months since our last move, so at least this time it won't be such an upheaval (maybe).  It was all a bit unexpected, and we've only had a week and a half to pack, so meals are pretty basic around here at the moment.  I'm trying to use up what I've got in the fridge and freezer, frozen chicken stock and things like that, and mostly making do with what we've got.  The Thermomix really comes into it's own when you need quick meals - my dd (12) made some buckwheat pancakes for us for breaky, and now she is making some tuna pasta for lunch, and later I'll get the kids to put on a vegetable & barley soup with meatballs steaming on top.  (We're fighting colds here, so having lots of soups!)  I love that I can keep packing while the kids make dinner - the Thermomix is so easy to use, and I don't have to worry about them chopping their fingers!

On another note - I got to help out at a cooking class with Chef Laurent Vancam last week, and got lots of great ideas for cooking with the Thermomix for large groups of people.  Chef Laurent is trying to get the word out to tuckshops and canteens about how to get rid of the pre-processed junk 'foods' that are often served to kids, replacing them with healthy, homemade alternatives... at the same time saving time and money.  He uses the Thermomix for quick, healthy food preparation, and his recipes are really yummy - I wish he ran my school tuckshop when I was a kid!!  If you get the opportunity to go to one of his cooking classes, you'll really enjoy it - and his cookbooks are great too - I bought them both.  There's one for families, and one for larger groups, which will be very helpful when we're cooking for youth camp - can't wait to try it out :)  I made his 'Snails' recipe for a bunch of people the other day, and they were a great hit.  The kids were a bit worried when I told them the French chef had taught me to cook snails, and I was going to make some for them... hee hee.  (They are actually made with brioche dough, rolled out and filled with a thick custard, chopped apple, and sultanas, cut into scrolls and baked - YUM!!  I used Rapadura and rice-almond milk for the custard, and it was delicious and caramelly, plus apples, berries and almonds, and spelt brioche dough.)  Here's a video of Chef Laurent making mini Lemon Tarts... enjoy!  (P.S. I would use ground up Rapadura instead of castor sugar.)

Anyway, I'd better hurry up here and get back to my packing.  So here's my belated and very basic menu this week...  If you need some menu planning ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at "I'm an Organising Junkie"; and you may like to read my post on how I plan my menu, and why.  Leave a comment and let me know what you're enjoying cooking in your Thermomix - I'd love to hear from you!  Have a great week :)

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

Monday:
(lunch) Chicken & vegetable soup (TMX) with spelt bread rolls (TMX)
(dinner) Chicken & vegetable soup with a big blob of mashed potato (TMX) in the middle!

Tuesday:
(lunch) Tuna gf pasta (TMX)
(dinner) Barley, vegetable & meatball soup (TMX)

Wednesday:
(lunch) Homemade hamburgers on spelt rolls (TMX)
(dinner) Lamb chops & rice salad (TMX)

Thursday:
(lunch) out for lunch
(dinner) Tacos & Spelt Tortillas (TMX) & Mexican Quinoa (TMX)

Friday - Moving Day!:
(lunch) Spelt tortillas (TMX) with leftovers
(dinner) hmmm.... maybe dinner at G'mas! :D

Saturday - more moving...
(lunch) Sausages in bread
(dinner) Crockpot spaghetti sauce (with lots of veges - TMX) on spelt pasta