My Plant-Based Family

Eating Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet recipes, On a Budget.

Holly Yzquierdo

June 20, 2016 Plant-Based Meal Plan

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Did you have a chance to create a plant-based meal plan on Father’s Day weekend?

Speaking of Father’s Day, we had a great day. It got up to 119 degrees so we mostly stayed inside. After church and lunch we spent some time in the pool. Swimming is always good to wear kids out (and adults too). I also got to talk on the phone to my dad and step-dad.

Last week I had meetings most evenings after work so I did very little cooking. This week I prepared by doing some batch cooking. So far I’ve cooked brown rice in my Instant Pot that will be used in multiple meals. I’ll rely on canned beans for almost instant meals.

Plant-Based Meal Plan [Read more…] about June 20, 2016 Plant-Based Meal Plan

Mango Lime Ice Pops

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I’m going to fess up, I have a slight addiction to frozen treats. Yes, that Banana Pudding Ice Cream was just the start! Now my kids have caught it too! I’ve been making loads of vegan ice pops that are out of this world. These Mango Lime Ice Pops are a delicious frozen treat!

Mango Lime Ice Pops are a great frozen treat that is healthy and tasty. These vegan treats are still creamy even without the dairy.

As soon as the temperatures rose above 100 degrees here in Arizona I started making a bunch of different ice pop recipes. We’ve had two strong favorites and I’m sharing one of them today.

This Mango Lime Ice Pop may be one of the most refreshing frozen treats I’ve ever had. It’s made with 4 simple ingredients, mango, lime, coconut water and stevia. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

I love mango but I prefer it with other flavors like my Black Bean Mango Salad. My husband and youngest son will eat mango by itself. I think lime is the perfect addition to mango and once you try this frozen treat you will too.

I used the yellow mangos but you could use the pretty green/red/yellow ones. You could even use frozen mango but I’d let it thaw a little. After cutting up my mango I had about 1 1/2 cups. If you have a little more or a little less it will still work.

Mango Lime Ice Pops are a great frozen treat that is healthy and tasty. These vegan treats are still creamy even without the dairy.

Other than the simple ingredients you’ll also need a mold for making frozen treats, unless you are doing the small cups or ice cube method. I have two different molds for making delicious frozen treats but I used this one from Amazon. Don’t forget to buy the sticks unless you are using molds that come with sticks.

This recipe makes four frozen treats with a little left over that we ate right then without freezing it! I will definitely make these again!

Mango Lime Ice Pops are a great frozen treat that is healthy and tasty. These vegan treats are still creamy even without the dairy.

I was a little concerned that my kids would think they tasted too “grown up” but they loved them too.

Mango Lime Ice Pops

Ingredients

  • 2 yellow mangos
  • 1 lime (juice and zest)
  • ½ cup coconut water
  • 2 Stevia packets

Instructions

  1. Peel mangos and remove the flesh.
  2. Wash the lime then use a microplane to peel the lime zest.
  3. Squeeze all the juice out of the lime into a measuring cup.
  4. Pour coconut water in the measuring cup (with the lime juice) until it reaches the ½ cup mark. You will use more or less coconut water depending on how much lime juice you have. Pour in Stevia.
  5. Blend in a high powered blender then carefully pour into your treat molds and freeze over night.
  6. To remove the ice pops from the mold, submerge the bottom of the molds in warm water being careful not to get the treats wet.
Yield: 4 Servings

Mango Lime Ice Pops

Mango Lime Ice Pops are a great frozen treat that is healthy and tasty. These vegan treats are still creamy even without the dairy.

Mango Lime Ice Pops are a great frozen treat that is healthy and tasty. These vegan treats are still creamy even without the dairy.

Ingredients

  • 2 yellow mangos
  • 1 lime (juice and zest)
  • ½ cup coconut water
  • 2 Stevia packets

Instructions

  1. Peel mangos and remove the flesh.
  2. Wash the lime then use a microplane to peel the lime zest.
  3. Squeeze all the juice out of the lime into a measuring cup.
  4. Pour coconut water in the measuring cup (with the lime juice) until it reaches the ½ cup mark. You will use more or less coconut water depending on how much lime juice you have. Pour in Stevia.
  5. Blend in a high powered blender then carefully pour into your treat molds and freeze over night.
  6. To remove the ice pops from the mold, submerge the bottom of the molds in warm water being careful not to get the treats wet.

Did you make this recipe?

We'd love to see it! Tag us and use #MyPlantBasedFamily!

© Heather Mayes

Summer Meal Plan with Shopping List

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Summer…I love summer but it does not put me in a cooking mood. When it’s hot I look for easy, no cook meals whenever possible. I’ve created a summer meal plan with hearty salads, easy pasta and a delicious stir fry.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll cook occasionally but typically it’s in my Instant Pot, Crock Pot or something really quick on the stove.

When possible I’ll do a little batch cooking. If you aren’t familiar with batch cooking it is when you cook a large amount of something and use it multiple times. For example, I could cook a big batch of chickpeas and use them all week long in tacos, stir frys, hummus, etc.

Summer meal plan that is plant-based with gluten-free options. Includes shopping list and recipes in a download.

This week I’m going to share a meal plan that uses simple recipes so you won’t have to cook every day. [Read more…] about Summer Meal Plan with Shopping List

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

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I grew up in the south and certain flavors remind me of my childhood. Banana pudding is one of those flavors. I wanted to recreate that flavor in a frozen treat, Banana Pudding Ice Cream was born.

There are a lot of vegan ice cream recipes out there. They aren’t very hard to make and many of them use frozen bananas. You may have heard them called “nice cream.” If you haven’t tried it you are missing out!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream has all of the flavor of traditional banana pudding but it's dairy-free!

For my recipe I wanted to keep it simple but add something to give it that banana pudding flavor. I accomplished that by using Enjoy Life Vanilla Cookies.

Disclaimer: These cookies are not vegan, they contain honey. I didn’t even realize that until I went to write this recipe out. I should have known because it’s right there on the box. We’ve used these cookies for a long time because they are one of the few delicious cookies that are free of the top 8 allergens and safe for people with food allergies. You can use a different cookie like these Snackimals that aren’t safe for food allergies or Enjoy Life Sugar Crisps that are top 8 free.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream has all of the flavor of traditional banana pudding but it's dairy-free!

I’m not one to eat many frozen treats. I’m just not an ice cream type of person but it’s been so hot here in Arizona that I really wanted to start making more ice creams and popsicles for my family. I love that I can control the ingredients and avoid artificial sweeteners and food dyes by spending just a few minutes creating them.

The sweetness from the bananas and the cookies were more than enough for this treat. I didn’t add any other sweetener, just a little vanilla and plant-based milk.

I always have frozen bananas in my freezer because I like putting them in smoothies. If you plan to make this ice cream you can peel the bananas, cut them into pieces then freeze. I usually freeze bananas whole but then I have to peel them and they are much harder to work with that way.

While you don’t need any “special tools” you will need either a food process or a blender. I use this food processor that I bought years ago. You could even use a blender but you might have to use more liquid and stop more often to push the ice cream off the sides. I’m going to try using my Blendtec Twister Jar next!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream has all of the flavor of traditional banana pudding but it's dairy-free!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

If you love banana pudding you absolutely must give this Banana Pudding Ice Cream a try.

Ingredients

  • 4 Bananas, Frozen and cut into chunks
  • ¼ cup plant milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 6 vanilla cookies

Instructions

  1. Put frozen banana chunks into a food processor and pulse for 2 minutes.
  2. Pour in half the plant milk and the vanilla and pulse again.
  3. Use a silicon spatula to push the frozen banana ice cream around and separate it from the sides.
  4. Add more milk and pulse until smooth, using the spatula when needed.
  5. Break cookies into big chunks and put half in the food processor and pulse into the ice cream.
  6. Stir the half of cookies into the ice cream.
  7. Serve or pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until ready to serve.

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream has all of the flavor of traditional banana pudding but it's dairy-free!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream has all of the flavor of traditional banana pudding but it's dairy-free!

Ingredients

  • 4 Bananas, Frozen and cut into chunks
  • ¼ cup plant milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 6 vanilla cookies

Instructions

  1. Put frozen banana chunks into a food processor and pulse for 2 minutes.
  2. Pour in half the plant milk and the vanilla and pulse again.
  3. Use a silicon spatula to push the frozen banana ice cream around and separate it from the sides.
  4. Add more milk and pulse until smooth, using the spatula when needed.
  5. Break cookies into big chunks and put half in the food processor and pulse into the ice cream.
  6. Stir the half of cookies into the ice cream.
  7. Serve or pour into a freezer safe container and freeze until ready to serve.

Did you make this recipe?

We'd love to see it! Tag us and use #MyPlantBasedFamily!

© Heather Mayes

June 6, 2016 Plant-Based Meal Plan

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After weeks of conferences and a little vacation time I’m back with a brand new plant-based meal plan this week. I’m including a few of my newest recipes for Breakfast Cookies and Overnight Oats in this meal plan!

I’ve been trying a lot of new recipes lately. I like to post them on Instagram so make sure you are following me. I’ve got a new one in mind for this week and it’s going to be amazing.

Plant-Based Meal Plan

The weather in Arizona is so hot! I don’t know how much cooking I’ll be able to do without heating up the house. I’ll use my Instant Pot and Crock Pot for a lot of the cooking and include lots of salads and veggies.

[Read more…] about June 6, 2016 Plant-Based Meal Plan

Vegetables That Are High In Protein

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I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately. Everywhere I’ve gone people have taken notice of my plant-based diet. Their first thought is always about protein.

“Where do you get your protein?”

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that question over the last two weeks I could buy a week’s worth of groceries.

I don’t mind the question. It gives me a chance to share about plant-based eating. Sometimes I forget that the plant-based diet is really a foreign concept to people.

I’ve already answered the question, “Can I get enough protein on a plant-based diet?” Today I want to talk about vegetables that are high in protein.

Do you worry about protein on a plant-based/vegan diet? Don't! There are a ton of vegetables that are high in protein. [Read more…] about Vegetables That Are High In Protein