My Plant-Based Family

Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget

Holly Yzquierdo

Herb Gardening with Kids

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Herb gardening with kids is a great way to introduce your children to a new hobby. They love playing in the dirt already, why not make it even more fun by letting them grow their own plants? Not only is herb gardening entertaining for kids, but it can be full of educational moments and character building opportunities too!

7 Tips to Herb Gardening with Kids

7 Tips for Herb Gardening with Kids

Start small

You don’t want to overwhelm your child (or yourself) with a large herb garden right off the bat. Stick with 3-5 herbs for this first time gardening. If it’s too time consuming, he may feel like it’s a chore and quickly become disinterested in caring for the plants.

Choose easy to grow herbs

Kids shouldn’t have to work too hard on their herb garden. Remember, this is supposed to be a fun hobby! You can begin with a “pizza garden,” which consists of the herbs that are typically used when making pizza. This includes oregano, basil, and parsley.

What better way to celebrate your child’s gardening success than with a pizza using his own herbs?!

Purchase gardening tools for kids

Don’t just hand over the gardening tools you have used for years. Get the kids excited by giving them their own trowel, watering can, and hand rake. Teach them how to use the tools correctly to take proper care of his herb garden.

Get them to use all five senses

As they tend to the herb garden, let them really explore the plants (and dirt). As they sprout, kids can smell the herb and see if he can tell the difference between each. If you grow spearmint, your child can even chew the leaves for a minty taste!

Let it be fun, while educational

While herb gardening is definitely a learning experience, you want the kids to have fun too. The key is for the garden to be full of teaching moments. Teachable moments when herb gardening include looking up different herbs to learn how to properly care for them and comparing two or more herbs. Don’t forget learning about bugs!

Praise hard work

As your kids continue to grow their own herbs, be sure to show how proud you are of their commitment to the garden. Their self-esteem will be boosted when they realize the plants are actually growing successfully.

Let the child be in charge

It can be easy for parents to take over a project such as herb gardening (as I raise my hand), especially when the child starts to slack on watering and other tasks. However, gardening can teach your children responsibility and the need to nurture and take care of plants. Letting them see the effects of any neglect, including the herbs starting to wilt or die, is a great moment for teaching responsibility.

I hope you are encouraged to try herb gardening with your kids. Besides, it’s easier than getting a pet and a great family project that will test all of your patience.

If it’s not an option you can at least enjoy these fun little Dirt Cups on Instagram!

May 9, 2016 Weekly Meal Plan

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As the weather warms up I move away from comfort foods and include more veggies in my weekly meal plan. Don’t get me wrong, I still love one pot meals and hearty dinners but my veggie intake always increases in the summer.

I add more veggies in two main ways, stir frys and veggies with hummus.

My favorite stir fry right now is this Pineapple Chickpea Quinoa Stir Fry. It hits the spot and tastes even better than I expect every time. After our weekend shopping trip I plan to make Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus soon.

My Plant-Based Family meal plan that is perfect for starting a plant-based diet.

If you remember last week I changed up the format of the meal plans a bit to help make them easier to follow.

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Easy Mother’s Day Brunch Ideas

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Mother’s Day is coming up Sunday. Will you be showering you mom with gifts or really good food?

I never plan a big Mother’s Day celebration because I don’t want to spend the day working to “celebrate” me. Of course, a girl has to eat and restaurants are always busy on Mother’s Day. Might as well enjoy good food (and some gifts).

I’m a big fan of Mother’s Day brunch. I love breakfast foods and I don’t always take the time to make them.

Easy ideas for a plant-based (vegan) Mother's Day Brunch.

Easy Mother’s Day Brunch Menu

Since it is Mother’s Day I’m going to give you ideas for EASY brunch ideas. First, I have a tip for you. Every brunch seems better if you have a big, pretty bowl of fruit. This time of year I love strawberries, cantaloupe, cuties (because they separate so easy), grapes, blueberries and anything else that strikes your fancy.

Muffins and Sweet Breads

Start with some easy muffins or sweet breads. Choose one or two recipes depending on how much you need. These can be made the day before. I prefer:

Oatmeal Bar or Pancakes

Make a big pot of oatmeal and have an assortment of fruit, seeds and nuts to mix in. I love making Steel Cut Oats in my Instant Pot. You can prepare everything the day before and then easily make the oatmeal right before brunch.

If oatmeal is more of an everyday food instead of a “special” food have pancakes instead. You can use many of the same toppings or if you want a decadent option add Enjoy Life chocolate chips. We have a big electric griddle that makes cooking a bunch of pancakes really easy.

Savory

Everything can’t be sweet. I love having Breakfast Tacos or Breakfast Hash. You can make them mild or with a little kick. Sometimes I’ll do a tofu scramble when I’m out of tortillas. Usually the tacos win.

Serve with coffee and you have a Mother’s Day brunch that dreams are made of, especially if I don’t have to do the dishes.

Of course, gifts are always a nice touch!

Instant Pot

Today you can get a great deal on the Instant Pot at Amazon. This is a great starter model and it’s a screaming deal. You should get one for all of the mom’s in your life. But really, my husband loves cooking in our Instant Pot so really anyone who needs a gift would love it.

Vegan Baking

There is only a few days left sign up for the Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse. Lucie did an amazing job creating this course that will tell you everything you need to know about healthy plant-based (and allergy-friendly) baking. After this weekend enrollment closes so sign up! It makes a great Mother’s Day gift.

If you are looking for something more personal you can always write your mom (or wife) a letter or clean the house, acts of service are sweet gifts. Of course, a Fitbit isn’t bad either.

Easy ideas for a plant-based (vegan) Mother's Day Brunch.

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May 2, 2016 Weekly Meal Plan

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People don’t eat healthy by accident. It takes effort. A Weekly Meal Plan is an important first step to healthy eating.

Occasionally I get emails and comments asking if these meal plans are for a day or a week or what. I’ve created meal plans for so long that I sometimes forget to include all the details. Most weeks, I create a weekly meal plan. Since we eat leftovers and don’t mind repeats I only plan 4-5 meals for breakfast, 4-5 for lunch, and 4-5 for dinner.

I don’t normally assign meals by day but for understanding sake, I decided to give it a try. I’m going to change up the format too. Instead of listing separate breakfast, lunch and dinner I’ll post all meals by day. I hope that will clear up any confusion.

Weekly Meal Plan for Plant-Based Diet

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Healthy Vegan Baking

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I’ve shared recently how I gave up on baking for a while. I felt like I would spend hours in the kitchen trying to make something allergy-friendly and healthy only to fail. I’ve finally gotten over my fear of failure and you can too!

Lucie at WIN-WIN Foods has created a Healthy Vegan Baking ecourse that will teach anyone how to create healthy, delicious treats.

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse

Allergy-Friendly

If you are like me and avoid dairy and eggs this ecourse will show you how to bake everything from cake, sweet breads, cookies, cream pies, heck…even tiramisu. Plus all of the lovely fillings and frostings.

The best part, these are all healthy, you don’t have to feel guilty about making them.

The eCourse also covers oil-free, gluten-free and soy-free options.

Healthy Vegan Baking eCouse

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse Content

When you sign up for the 7 week ecourse you’ll get a new module each week. The modules include:

  1. Intro to Healthy Vegan Baking (and how not to get overwhelmed)
  2. Baking with Unrefined Flours (including gluten-free options)
  3. Healthy Fats and Low Fat Baking (including oil-free options)
  4. All about Egg Alternatives and A Little About Non-Dairy Milks
  5. Banishing Sugar and Finding the Best Alternatives (including natural calorie-free options)
  6. Decorating Desserts Naturally (icings, frostings, colorings and other decoration options)
  7. Putting All the Knowledge Together and Troubleshooting

Plus you get AMAZING recipes!!! You will also get live Q&A sessions each week and a private Facebook group. 

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse

Still undecided?

This course is for you if you:

  • Struggle to bake delicious but healthy treats.
  • Have a lot of food allergens to avoid.
  • Used to be a great baker but can’t get the hang of plant-based baking.
  • Can spend 1-2 hours per week learning how to bake.

For me, this ecourse is a gold mine! Every subject is covered. Don’t wait too long, enrollment closes on May 8th. What a great Mother’s Day Gift!

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Strawberry Banana Muffins

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My youngest son has been picky about breakfast lately. He isn’t interested in anything quick or easy, except fruit. Muffins are just about the only thing he will happily eat, especially these Strawberry Banana Muffins.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and plant-based

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A while ago I gave up on gluten-free baking. It was hard and it wouldn’t always turn out the way I wanted. After speaking with some expert bakers at last years Food Allergy Bloggers Conference I worked up the nerve to start again. Except this time I decided to stick to gluten-free all purpose baking mixes. After all, I don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and plant-based

If you struggle with gluten-free baking too I recommend getting an all purpose mix and giving it another try. Update: It’s been a few years since I created this recipe. Now I always use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour.

These muffins are perfect this time of year when strawberries are in season but you can also use frozen strawberries. To use frozen strawberries just run them under cold water to defrost them and let them sit and drain (I used a small strainer) while I mixed up the rest of the ingredients.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Banana Muffins

Strawberry Banana Muffins
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Muffins
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 bananas (plus more listed below)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup plant-based milk
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1¾ cup gluten-free all purpose flour baking mix
  • 2 cups diced strawberries
  • ½ cup diced bananas
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your muffin pan by using a spray oil or parchment liners.
  2. In a large bowl, mash 2 bananas, then add in sugar, vanilla and plant-based milk. Mix well.
  3. Add in baking soda, salt and gluten-free flour blend and stir to combine.
  4. Fold in half a diced banana and the diced strawberries.
  5. Scoop in equal parts into the muffin tin.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes. Check for doneness and bake for 5-10 more minutes if needed.
  7. Allow to cool before serving.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free

Because of the strawberries these muffins will be really soft, and somewhat gooey on the inside. The strawberries “cook down” and leave hollow spots. They taste delicious and get this, they even freeze well.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and gluten-free

They aren’t the cleanest but if you don’t mind licking your fingers you won’t mind. I wouldn’t eat them in the car on the way to work though.

If you missed my Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread I think you should try it! Check out my bread and muffin page for more great recipes.

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