Weekly Menu - Week 2

Here is next week's menu. I have tried to leave you some openings for wheat pasta, other processed food or take-out, in case you needed to be able to cook an emergency dinner. Like when you come home from a nice well-deserved two-hour workout looking forward to a dinner en tête-à-tête with your spouse (who would have bathed the kids, cooked dinner for them, fed them, and put them to bed)... only to open the door to witness.... your lovely family chaos!! Just because the pizza dough was too sticky and your spouse could not remember that flour is what is generally used to roll out dough (any dough!)... and worse, your spouse did not think about opening the fridge to make an emergency dinner. Yes, I know, Tout peut arriver!
Like last week, I have laid out the game plan to make this happen as smoothly as possible. Bonne chance!

Weekly Menu - Week 2

	Day	Suggested Menu
	Monday	Salmon with Buckwheat Pasta, Edamame, Carrots and Sesame Seeds Plain Yogurt with Chestnut Spread Fresh Fruits
	Tuesday	Brown Rice and Beans with Green Salad Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
	Wednesday	Watercress Soup with Gougères Plain Yogurt with honey Fresh Fruits
	Thursday	Chicken Stir Fry and Green Salad Nutella Cupcakes
	Friday	Ratatouille with Quinoa Plain Yogurt with dark brown sugar Fresh Fruits

Game Plan:

Sunday Evening:

• You want to make the Panna Cotta for Tuesday evening. It does not take long to make them but since they have to be resting in the fridge for at least 4 hours, it would be best to make them in advance. Don't worry about using too many frozen raspberries. You can always use the extra coulis to flavor plain yogurt. Alternatively, you could use strawberries or blackberries instead for the Panna Cotta if you did eat raspberry coulis last week and don't want to serve it again!

Monday Evening:

• Easy less-than-30mn dinner. The only real work is pealing the carrots!
• Remember that the Buckwheat pasta cook really fast!

Tuesday Evening:

• Make the brown rice and beans. The brown rice takes a while to cook. It gives you time to prep the veggies.
• If you are feeling zealous, while the brown rice is cooking you can make the watercress soup for Wednesday. That way, you only have to make the gougères on Wednesday evening.
• If your children don't eat salad yet, you can just cut a few pieces of cucumber, a few slices of tomatoes so that they get raw veggies.
• The brown rice and beans would do a great lunch for Wednesday. So don't hesitate to make more.

Wednesday Evening:

• If you have to make both the watercress soup and the gougères, make the gougères first and make the soup while the gougères are in the oven.
• If you have to only make the gougères, well, while the gougères are in the oven, you could start making the Nutella cupcakes for Thursday. That way, you won't have to re-heat your oven on Thursday. Just make sure you keep your children AWAY from the kitchen as you make the cupcakes... because they might end up eating more Nutella than watercress soup!
• Even though the gougères are best eaten out of the oven, I pack 3 in my child's lunch box together with veggies for her next day lunch.

Thursday Evening:

• If you have not made the Nutella cupcakes on Wednesday evening, you have to make both the cupcakes and the chicken stir fry this evening.
• Start with the cupcakes so that they are cooking in the oven while you prepare the chicken stir fry. Don't hesitate to make more because it's a great leftover for Friday lunch.
• If you have already made the cupcakes and you only have to make the stirf-fry, you could make the Ratatouille that night. It would cook on your stove as you have dinner.

Friday Evening:

• If you have not made the ratatouille on Thursday, pour yourself a drink before making the ratatouille. It does not take long but you do have to prep all the veggies. It's totally OK to pour your children a child's drink and have them cut the zucchinis, mushrooms with you. Nice to catch up about the week... and make them participate in preparing the meal.
• As the ratatouille is cooking, prep the Quinoa. It takes about 15 minutes to cook in boiling water. 
• The ratatouille would make a great side-dish with fish over the week-end.