My Plant-Based Family

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

Holly Yzquierdo

Instant Pot Giveaway

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There are two kinds of people:

People who love their Instant Pot…

and people who want an Instant Pot.

Today I’m excited to make one of you a little closer to owning your own Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Giveaway

When I went to work full-time a little over a year ago the first thing I did was buy an Instant Pot. I knew that my time would be limited and I wouldn’t be able to watch a soup simmer all day or keep an eye on my Crock Pot.

Instant Pot was a huge help for my family. We most frequently use it to “bake” potatoes, or to cook beans, rice and oatmeal.

I wrote a post called 10 Reasons I Bought an Instant Pot and I’ve come up with more reasons since then.

What You Need to Know

I get a lot of email about Instant Pots. Here is what you need to know:

  • Instant Pots are safe.
  • You can cook things quickly, but it’s not magic, it takes a little time to come to pressure and release pressure.
  • You can use it as a slow cooker, but you’ll want this lid. I just bought it.
  • You don’t have to use all of the buttons, I cook many things on manual.
  • When you first unbox your Instant Pot you will be overwhelmed but it’s a lot easier than it looks.
  • You can find recipes made for the Instant Pot so you don’t have to figure out conversions.
  • When it is done cooking, it will keep the food warm until you are ready.
  • It comes with a trivet that is used inside the Instant Pot, we set potatoes on it to steam

The Instant Pot Club

Ok, there isn’t a real “club” but there are a ton of people who use and love their Instant Pot, it’s kind of like an unofficial sisterhood (society is another alternative) (or brotherhood if you prefer) of people who love to talk about cooking with their Instant Pot. You can connect with them on Facebook or Twitter but this Facebook Group is one of my favorite resources.

There are also several great books like New Fast Food Kitchen and Vegan Pressure Cooking that have a lot of great plant-based recipes that are made in the Instant Pot. Vegan Pressure Cooking for Kindle is only $2.99 right now!

Get Your Instant Pot

Instant Pot is available on Amazon. This is how I buy almost everything except perishable groceries. I love Amazon! The price on the Instant Pot is great right now, barely over $100 but it changes all the time so buy it quickly. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial to get free shipping!

Instant Pot is also available on Walmart.com with an in-store pick-up option.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Instant Pot is making this giveaway exclusively North America, the continental US and Canada (sorry Hawaii and Alaska) due to shipping: We cannot ship to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or Internationally. The UK site is a separate business entity, not sponsoring the Giveaway.

This page contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this giveaway. All opinions are my own.

November 30, 2015 Meal Plan

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It’s almost December, the season synonymous with healthy eating. Wait, that’s not right.

In fact, it’s a lot harder to eat well this time of year. Despite our best intentions junk food calls out to us even more as the holidays approach. We finished our Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday and are back to a mostly empty fridge. As much as I love Thanksgiving leftovers I really wanted to get back to healthy meals.

In an effort to avoid unhealthy foods I’ll call upon soups and casseroles that are warm, comforting and healthy.

Plant-Based Meal Plan [Read more…] about November 30, 2015 Meal Plan

Don’t Miss the Instant Pot

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I’m not a Black Friday shopper. I prefer to avoid chaos in every circumstance.

I’ll make an exception for online shopping because I can to that while I sip coffee in my pajamas.

I’m done with my shopping for today but I wanted to share a few deals I ran across.

Instant Pot

I can’t recommend the Instant Pot enough. We use it multiple times per week. It counters the chaos in our lives by helping us create healthy meals with very little time and effort.

Updated

Right now it’s on Amazon for $78.50! This is the same one I have and I love it! They will probably run out so buy it now! If you aren’t sure check out my post 10 Reasons to Buy an Instant Pot!

I hope you got it because that deal is done! They now have the Smart bluetooth-enabled version is a deal of the day for about 7 more hours. I don’t have this version but it is the newest, fanciest version out and it is a great price.

Blendtec

Go ahead and a Blendtec blender to your Christmas list! They have a wide range of prices, I highly recommend the refurbished. They come with an excellent warranty and are jut over $200. They have a Black Friday Coupon Code listed on their site.

My friends are buying tablets like crazy because they have a lot of Black Friday Deals.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your weekend!

This page contains affiliate links.

5 Tips to Save Thanksgiving and Your Sanity

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Are you stressed out about Thanksgiving? I’m not. Don’t hate me but it’s Monday, there is plenty of time left to prepare and ROCK Thanksgiving!

It’s all about preparation. I’m a planning guru, especially when it comes to events. Thanksgiving is an event.

That means I won’t be cooking a lot of dinners this week so I can reserve plenty of room in the fridge for Thanksgiving food.

5 Tips to Save Thanksgiving and your sanity

I’m skipping the meal plan, instead giving you some Thanksgiving tips so you can stop stressing too. [Read more…] about 5 Tips to Save Thanksgiving and Your Sanity

Chickpea Nuggets

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Did you find me on Pinterest? Don’t miss my other easy and delicious recipes or my weekly email filled with plant-based tips.

I love dipping foods. Whether it’s apples in peanut butter (or allergy-friendly substitute) or carrots in hummus I’m a dipper. One of my tips to get kids to eat healthier is to provide a dip.

These Chickpea Nuggets are so good you won’t even need a dip but I’m partial to my Barbecue Sauce.

Chickpea Nuggets are vegan, gluten-free, and a fun kid food. They are easy to make and delicious.

You may be thinking, Holly, we are plant-based or we have food allergies, we aren’t going near mystery nuggets. Let me stop you right there and share that these nuggets are healthy, allergy-friendly and my family LOVED them. I should probably also mention that they were easy.

This page contains affiliate links.

The crumb coating is what makes these work! You can use bread crumbs or corn flake crumbs. If you have food allergies make sure you find a brand that is safe for you. These gluten-free panko crumbs are a good option.

Chickpea Nuggets are plant-based (vegan) and allergy-friendly. These easy nuggets are delicious my husband and kids loved them.

Chickpea Nuggets

Vegan and allergy-friendly Chickpea Nuggets are perfect for family meals or fun snacks.

Chickpea Nuggets
 
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These allergy-friendly Chickpea Nuggets are perfect for vegans or people with food allergies. Enjoy them with your favorite dipping sauce.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 15.5 oz. can chickpeas, drained
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 Tbsp bread crumbs or panko
  • ⅓ cup bread crumbs or panko for coating
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Pour the drained chickpeas into a food processor and process for a few seconds.
  3. Then add all of the other ingredients except the last ⅓ cup bread crumbs for coating. Process a few more seconds. Everything will be well mixed and chunky texture.
  4. Scoop up tablespoon sized globs and roll them into balls then smash them into nugget shapes.
  5. Pour bread crumbs into a bowl and coat each nugget.
  6. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lay each nugget on the parchment but don't let them touch.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 more.
  8. Allow nuggets to cool before eating.

This recipe makes about 20 nuggets. The four of us ate them in one sitting. Imagine a meal where everyone from the kids to the husband is happy eating the same thing.

UPDATE: I’ve had a few people who made these and they were crumbly. I’m adding the following photos to help you see what I do step by step. Hopefully it will help you come up with perfect nuggets. These photos aren’t the best but I hope they will help.

chickpea nuggets step 1

Drain your chickpeas well then pour them in a food processor.

chickpea nuggets step 2

Process them for a few seconds. They will still be very chunky. Add the spices and 1 Tbsp of corn crumbs. You will reserve the final 1/3 cup of corn crumbs for the coating.

chickpea nuggets step 3

Process the chickpeas a few more seconds. This should eliminate most of the chickpea chunks. The texture will be similar to a baked potato you mash up with your fork.

chickpea nuggets step 4

Scoop out the chickpea mixture with a spoon and roll it into a ball or oval with our hands. These should stick together well. Then you will roll them in the corn crumbs.

chickpea nuggets step 5

Lay them out on a cookie sheet and bake according to the times above.

Enchilada Casserole

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Have you ever had the privilege of eating homemade enchiladas?

My husband taught me how to make them just after we were married. They taste a lot different than what you get in most Mexican restaurants and take a long time to make, especially when you make the enchilada sauce (we just call it chili) from scratch.

This recipe isn’t exactly from scratch. It’s more of a cheater vegan enchilada casserole BUT it is soooo good you won’t even care.

Sometimes a girl just needs some enchiladas! Unfortunately, I don’t have hours to make one meal. Our old family recipe was extremely unhealthy, the healthiest part was the corn tortilla before you dip it in oil. I know I shutter at the thought.

Enchilada Casserole is a fast, easy and healthier version of regular enchiladas. This recipe is vegan (plant-based), gluten-free dairy-free and made from pantry staples for a delicious family friendly meal.

This recipe is easy, pretty fast, healthy and most of all delicious.

I had to come up with a veggie enchilada recipe but I’m old-school Tex-Mex and can’t handle veggies like broccoli and carrots in my enchiladas so don’t even try. I wanted to cut down on the time it takes to make them too so this recipe layers the ingredients instead of rolling individual enchiladas.

This recipe uses pantry items and you can get fancy with the Faux Cheese Sauce if you want to go that route but it is wonderful without it.

Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg soft corn tortillas
  • 2 cans refried beans (or 3 cups of your own, try this recipe)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup thinly diced, fresh onions
  • 1 cup corn (canned or freezer)
  • jarred jalapenos to taste
  • 1 can red enchilada sauce (15 oz can or bigger)
  • 1/4 cup crunched up tortilla chips
  • Double recipe of Faux Cheese Sauce if you want a cheesy top.

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spread about an ounce of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish.
  3. Cover the sauce with soft corn tortillas. Tear tortillas into smaller pieces when necessary.
  4. Gently spread cooked/canned beans over tortillas.
  5. Top with half of the tomatoes, half the corn, half the onions, and jalapenos if desired.
  6. Cover with 6 ounces (about half) the remaining enchilada sauce.
  7. Repeat steps 2 through 6. TIP: Cover the soft corn tortillas in beans before you lay them in the casserole dish.
  8. Add the tortilla chip crumbs if you aren’t making the cheese sauce. If you are waiting until later. Bake the casserole for 20 minutes.
  9. If making the cheese sauce follow the recipe but double it. Once done, pour it over the casserole and sprinkle tortilla chip crumbs on top. Then bake for 10 more minutes.
  10. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

This recipe is perfect for your vegan or gluten-free friends! It is potluck worthy and you can easily adapt it based on your preferences. So if you like broccoli and carrots in your enchiladas go ahead, unless you are bringing me some. You’ll notice on the process photos that you can adapt for preferences. I use corn on half and jalapenos on the other half to keep my family happy.

Enchilada Casserole that is plant-based and gluten-free. Easy to make with mostly pantry staples and completely healthy. No meat, no dairy, no gluten!

The tortilla chip crumbs give it an extra little crunch on top. I didn’t want to try to top it with corn tortillas because they would have become dried out and hard, you know this if you’ve ever skimped on enchilada sauce when making homemade enchiladas.