Thermomix Menu Plans - Christmas 2011

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the kitchen

It was hustle and bustle and much Thermomixin'!

...And I still have SO much more Thermomixin' to do yet - help!!

It's going to be a crazy week. But fun!

How's your Christmas cooking and planning going? I hope lots of you will link up this week and share your Christmas menus - I'd love to see what other families are planning for the big day! I'm keeping the meals this week pretty simple, and focusing on the cooking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as baking and making gifts for friends and family. You'll notice a lot of this week's meals are the same as last week's - that's because last week the menu plan pretty much went out the window because I was sick in bed... so it was mostly chicken soup and whatever the family could scrounge. Trying again...

This year I'm aiming to cut out refined, artificial junk at Christmas, so there's going to be more cooking and tweaking than ever! I never let the kids have too much in the way of lollies and candy canes and things like that anyway, just a couple in their stockings, but this year I'm going to cut down on them even further by making my own healthier sweets for the Christmas stockings and to take to parties and give as presents.

I've always loved making my own sweets, ever since I was a little kid. At Christmas time we always used to make candies together - Taffy (so much fun pulling the taffy across the room!), Divinity (which was difficult in Cairns because the humidity was so high it wouldn't always set), Penuche (Mexican brown sugar fudge), Chocolate Fudge and Toffees. I was an expert at these by the time I was ten... I even won second prize at the Cairns show when I was 8 for my chocolate fudge! :D

Obviously, these days I don't make candies very often, and when I do, I use unrefined sweeteners and healthier ingredients, and only natural colours if any. So I'm really looking forward to revisiting and tweaking some old favourites to see what I can come up with. I've posted the recipe for a healthier butter toffee - Rapadura Maple Syrup Toffee - which is terribly addictive, I warn you. Thanks to Deliciously Organic for that recipe - check out her site, she has some great recipes, like this one for Almond Coconut Fudge. And keep an eye out for my post on Stocking Stuffers! Oh, and there's lots of ideas popping up on my facebook page too, so come and add yours there - the more the merrier.

Here's the plan for this week - can't wait to see yours too!

Monday:

Off to the 'big city' for a bit of shopping, then Tuscan Beef Stew with Polenta (yum, looking forward to trying that one from Tenina's Thermomix cookbook, Dinner Spinner!)

Tuesday:

Sarah over at Homemade, Healthy, Happy has been telling me about Spaetzle, and has gotten me curious, so I'm going to try making this tonight - sounds delicious! It's a kind of German egg noodle/dumplings that you serve with goulash or stroganoff. I'm going to make a chicken goulash to go on top of mine, because chicken and dumplings are one of my most favourite meals in the world, and I think it will be similar! Here's Sarah's recipe for the Spaetzle:

Chicken goulash with Spaetzle

Wednesday:

Huevos Rancheros (sauce made in the Thermomix) - another recipe I've been meaning to post!

Thursday:

Fish (pan fried) with mashed potatoes & steamed veges (cooked at same time in Thermomix)

Friday:

Chili Con Carne with green salad & cornbread (all made in the Thermomix, except the salad) Making up a couple of batches of cornbread so I'll have some for tomorrow for the cornbread dressing!

Saturday - Christmas Eve:

We're having our family Christmas dinner tonight with my parents. We traditionally have an American style menu since my family's from Texas. My mum always makes the turkey (yum!), and I haven't bothered posting a recipe for that since there's plenty on the net, but if you need help with yours, here's a great step-by-step recipe, and video of how to carve a turkey.

Roast turkey & roast vegetables

Gravy (tmx)

Baked cornbread stuffing (tmx) - recipe coming!

Cranberry-raspberry jelly (tmx) instead of bought cranberry sauce

Jelly salad (tmx) - mum makes one with green jelly, pecans, cottage cheese & pineapple; I make mine a bit differently with no dairy and jelly made from fruit juice & fresh fruit - no marshmallows in our jelly salads!!

Homemade spelt bread rolls with this recipe (tmx), or maybe sourdough bread rolls if I can get my recipe sorted out by then.

Mini cranberry-raspberry jellies to serve with the turkey

instead of bought cranberry sauce

Dessert will be various pies I think - pumpkin, cherry and pecan usually. That's mum's department, although I am intending to try and come up with a dairy free, egg free, gluten free pumpkin pie recipe - I'll let you know how I go!

I'm also planning to make my gluten free, dairy free, naturally sweetened croquembouche - I'll post some better photos once I do, as the ones on the recipe are awful!

Sunday - Christmas Day:

Today we'll be having a Christmas potluck lunch at church after the service for anyone who needs a family for Christmas or just wants to join in the fun. (All welcome!) Mostly we'll be having cold meat and salads and fresh bread rolls, as well as desserts. We'll be bringing what's left of our turkey, plus jelly salad and a green salad, more bread rolls, and the leftover pies. And I might take a double whammy chocolate cake if I'm not all cooked out... and some of those sweets I've been making.

Plenty of good food planned, and now I'd better get cracking and start preparing! Lots more blogging to be done yet too... Let me know if there's a particular recipe you really want before Christmas.

Here's a photo of my daughter as Mary in the nativity play the kids did last night - I thought it was so cute - a red-hair-and-freckles Mary with a little brown baby. :)

Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a wonderful week.

Add a link to your menu plan below, and please check out the other sites that have linked up!