Thermomix Menu Plan - January 9

It's Monday again?!? This summer just seems to be absolutely flying past. Thankfully we are finally getting some nice weather in Sydney, and it's feeling a lot more like my favourite season now! But who out there just doesn't like to cook (and then eat) a hot meal on a summer's day? I definitely fall into that camp. This doesn't have to be a bad thing - I am taking it as the perfect opportunity to increase the proportion of raw foods that T and I eat. I think this is a great experiment for anyone to tackle any time of the year, but summer is absolutely the best time of year to give it a shot. I don't think I really need to get up on a soapbox and proclaim the benefits of eating raw foods; I have a feeling that the majority of my 'audience' would already know that raw food is great. It's turning that knowledge into a way of life that is the hard part.

There are essentially two ways to increase the amount of raw foods you are consuming. You can either eat more whole raw meals (where everything on your plate is raw), or you can increase the proportion of raw foods served in one meal (in which case you have a certain percentage of cooked food and a certain percentage of raw food on your plate). Not one to do anything the simple way, I'm going to do a mixture of the two. Try and include more wholly raw meals, but also try to up the percentage of raw food at each meal. I would love for any (or all!!!) of you to join in. And please, share with me your favourite raw chefs and raw recipes! We can all use a bit of inspiration. :)

So, you can definitely expect to see more raw foods on my menu plans. It's going to be a slow progression, though, as I haven't really 'cooked' a lot of raw dinners. We have mostly-raw lunches, and semi-raw breakfasts. Plenty of raw snacks (but obviously we sneak in some cakes/crackers/biscuits too!). It's dinners that will be the hardest part for us. But I welcome the challenge and look forward to sharing the raw recipes that I love and reading (and trying!) the raw recipes that you love! Feel free to comment on my blog, or head over to my HHH facebook page and post on the wall - I want to see what raw recipes you like and which ones you want to try!


Now, let's dive into this week's menu plan. Be sure to head over to Quirky Cooking to get inspiration from many more menu plans. We have a super busy week this week, so my I'm just going to list my essentials at the end of the menu plan, because I have no idea how much time I'll have each day and things will just fit in where they can!

Monday

dinner: chachouka

Tuesday

dinner: braised lamb shanks

Wednesday

dinner: raw tacos, from this recipe (I'm so excited about these!)

Thursday

dinner: cutlets and veg for T while I'm at work; salad for me when I get home

Friday

dinner: Dhal and dukkah-crusted fish on spelt tortillas 

Saturday

dinner: broccoli and chickpea curry, with mock rice (this is a very exciting recipe - it's just cauliflower! we'll have this raw, rather than steaming it.)

Sunday

dinner: lemon beans and fennel with pine-infused fish

Essentials throughout the week:



cashew milk
raw crackers
beetroot hommus
cinnamon and pine scrolls (for the freezer)
bread
spinach pasties (for the freezer)



I hope you all have a fantastic week. Get menu-planning, and get raw! :)