Thermomix Menu Plans - 5th December

Oh, my! It's December already! Christmas is around the corner. How is everyone going with Christmas preparations? I would love to hear from some people who are planning on giving homemade edible gifts to their loved ones. What yummy creations will you be gifting? We have some jars of dill pickles, some jams, a couple of jars of preserved lemons... I might play with some fudge recipes, and I'm thinking about doing some chocolate bark with coconut, chopped nuts and dried fruits using the almost raw chocolate recipe over at Quirky Cooking.

Anyway, today was Sunday (market day, hooray!) and tomorrow is Monday which means... menu planning!

But first, a little meaty discussion. You will notice that meat does not appear very often on my menus. Red meat and chicken will hopefully only appear one time each on each weekly menu. After a lot of reading, thinking, and informing myself, I have come to the conclusion that we just don't need to eat as much red meat (and poultry) as we currently do. And not just "we" meaning Mr T and myself, but "we" meaning the collective "we"... humans as a group. Especially in the developed world. We're also consuming far more meat than is good for the planet. And surely far more than is good for our souls. And we certainly have a funny way of going about it - not only are we sacrificing animals for our own 'needs', but we readily waste parts of the animal that are not as desirable as the 'good cuts'. As such, once I can clear my freezer out a little a lot, I will do my very best to track down a butcher who will sell me half an organic animal, pre-butchered. I will store each cut of meat and each organ in my freezer, and use every bit of said animal. If we all did this instead of buying leg after leg of lamb, we would be responsible for far less animal death over our lifetime. If you are going to eat meat, this is the way to do it. And a bonus, it will save you money.

Anyway, back to the menu! I will likely cook up some more delicious, festive Eggnog in the evenings... It is Christmas, after all!

Monday

lunch: Creamed Spinach, with diced apple cucumber and tomato salad

essentials: bread (hopefully something crusty, perhaps the baguettes from My Way of Cooking)

dinner: Fish en Papillote with marinated zucchini

Tuesday

brekky: broad beans on toast

lunch: Dhal with stir fried veg

dinner: Eggplant Parmigiana

Wednesday

off to my Nanna's to make the chutney, as I was a bit sick last week

dinner: leftovers from freezer (chicken lasagne)

Thursday

essentials: fresh pasta (dried to store)

dinner: fennel and goat's cheese to start, followed by tuna bake

Friday

lunch: beetroot pizza with cheddar (if we haven't juiced all the beetroot by then!)

dinner: Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin

Saturday:

dinner: Chachouka

Sunday:

dinner: spaghetti and steamed meatballs

We may be going away on the weekend, so from Friday onwards the menu plan may end up completely changing, but part of the point of menu planning is to have a plan but be flexible if you need to. Hardly a week goes by that I stick to my menu plan rigidly, but it's still absolutely worth planning in the first place. Even if things come up, and certain dinners get shunted out the metaphorical window for quicker meals, you will still end up saving time and money in the long run. And reducing your stress, which is what we all really need to do!

Don't forget to head over to Quirky Cooking for more inspiration for your own menu plans. And have a fantastic week! :)