Thermomix Menu Plans - 28th November

How can it be Monday again already? I'm sure the days speed up as it gets closer to the end of the year! Although the kids thinks time slows down as it gets closer to Christmas... Miss C has been begging me for weeks to put up some Christmas decorations. I finally gave in and put up a few, and we've done a little bit of Christmas cooking already too. The gingerbread men are all gone (I think we'll go through a few batches of those!), so we're hoping to make some more this week. We have quite a large collection of cookie cutters, because we have a family tradition of making cut-out Christmas cookies with all the kids (cousins, neighbours and friends) every December, which is a lot of fun. And I just won some animal shaped cookie cutters from Edible Issues' Spring Hill Farm gluten free baking kit giveaway, which the kids are excited about! So lots of cookie making is planned. A plate of hand decorated cookies are a great gift for neighbours, school teachers and friends. And it keeps the kids busy on the holidays.

As we get closer to the end of school, I'll be posting some more holiday cooking ideas... still a bit crazy here with running Thermomix Christmas Cooking Classes, finishing up school work, and getting people's Thermomixes ordered and delivered before Christmas. What a great present! If you're wanting a Thermomix for Christmas, make sure you order before the 9th of December to get it in time... And don't forget there's a special deal at the moment where you can pay it off over 12 months, interest free, no deposit. Woo hoo!!!

Mother's Day Mess - a great alternative to the usual Christmas trifle!

So another busy week for me this week, but I'm sure I'll manage to fit in some baking. I don't put my baking on my menu plan, as I just fit it in wherever I can. Here's some of the things I'm hoping to make this week (both baking and pantry staples):
- Gingerbread men
- Mini gluten free, egg free, dairy free gingerbread cakes
- Dark chocolate bark with craisins and roasted almonds and pistachios
- Gluten free Christmas cake (based on the Celebration cake in the EDC, but with my gf flour mix)
- Dairy free German chocolate cake (for my hubby's birthday)
- Gluten free waffle iron brownies with chocolate sauce
- Gluten free bread (Cyndi O'Meara's recipe)
- Spelt artisan bread
- Christmas wreath bread
- Blender batter berry muffins
- Quick quinoa granola
- Mango butter (from Melanie Avery's new cookbook, "Let's Celebrate Christmas - Additive Free")
- Chicken stock paste
- Spelt tortillas
Here's a youtube clip I made recently to show the method of making your own tortillas/wraps. It's very easy, and they taste a lot better than shop bought ones, not to mention being a lot healthier!

Here's my menu plan for this week - I hope you'll share yours too, and link to it below so we can all get some inspiration from each other. For link up instructions, check out Thermomix Menu Plans; or if you're new to menu planning and need a little help, read How to Menu Plan. If you'd like a menu plan template that you can print out and write your weekly plan onto, there's one here at My Little Thermomix. Have a great week!

Monday:

(lunch) Chicken & cashews with coconut rice and coconut-cashew satay sauce (tmx - to show a new Thermomix owner how to use her Varoma)

(dinner) Boiled egg version of Curry in a Hurry (tmx)

Tuesday:

(lunch) Baked potatoes & salad (sandwiches for kids - school day)

(dinner) Grain free pasta made with vege pasta sauce (tmx) & zucchini 'noodles' made with vege spiralizer & steamed in Thermomix

Wednesday:

(lunch) Thermomix demo here

(dinner) Salmon salad pizza (dairy free, using spelt artisan dough - tmx) and birthday cake for hubby!

Thursday:

(lunch) Pasta e Fagioli (tmx - using gf noodles)

(dinner) Roast chicken & veges (for family, while I'm cooking at our Thermomix Christmas Class!)

Friday:

(lunch) Chicken & brown rice soup (tmx - using leftover chicken)

(dinner) Zucchini & smoked salmon fritters (tmx - from Melanie Avery's new cookbook "Let's Celebrate Christmas - Additive Free") & salad

Saturday:

(lunch) Thermomix Christmas Party!! I'm taking a Christmas potato salad (tmx), a Mother's Day Mess (obviously it doesn't have to be Mother's Day to make this!), chocolate almond pistachio cranberry bark, and Christmas wreath bread (tmx).

(dinner) Fish sandwiches (bread made in tmx)

Sunday:

(lunch) Roast lamb & veges, gravy made in tmx

(dinner) leftovers

Phew! I've got lots of cooking to do... better go get started!