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A little bit of Winter and Spring Meal Plan

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You may be living in a cold place but this week will be in the 90s so this meal plan will straddle the seasons and have a variety  foods for warm and cold weather, hence the little bit of Winter and Spring Meal Plan. Our week seems fairly uneventful too, which is always good for cooking. I’m sure that will change but I can embrace it for now.

Winter Spring meal Plan

 

 

Winter and Spring Meal Plan

Breakfast and Lunch

I will definitely make my latest recipe, Triple Berry Porridge this week. Don’t get hung up on the name, it’s basically oatmeal, I just added a few more grains and called it porridge. It is fantastic!

Lunches will be sandwiches, baked potatoes, maybe a veggie soup and any other leftovers we end up with.

I may also make some dip to go with my veggies, I’m thinking Roasted Red Pepper Dip but I may try something else.

Dinner

Lentil Tacos (here is the Instant Pot version) with Mexican Rice

Potato Kale Soup

Veggie Fried Rice but I’ll add a lot more veggie like mushrooms, more carrots, more onions, greens, peppers, etc.

Green Chili, Cilantro and Lime Soup

If I need something else it will be a Soup or a casserole.

So let’s here it! Are you still in winter or leaning into spring?

Triple Berry Porridge

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I use my Instant Pot all of the time for dinner but I wanted to use it for breakfast too. I’ve been trying to work a little more variety into our diets because for the last few months we’ve been eating the same things over and over. It’s all things we like but I know eventually we will get tired of it. The last time I was a Costco I found an organic quinoa, amaranth, millet blend and I really wanted to incorporate it into our meal plan.

Triple Berry Porridge

Breakfast was the perfect option! If you don’t have the quinoa, amaranth, millet blend you could use equal amounts of any grain with a similar outcome although cooking times may be affected. All of the grains I used were gluten-free.

Triple Berry Porridge gluten-free and vegan

Triple Berry Porridge

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Steel Cut Oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free)
  • 1/2 cup Quinoa Amaranth Millet Blend (I used Organic Quinoa Ancient Blend)
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 cups frozen organic berries (we buy a three berry blend at Costco)
  • Plant-milk as desired
  • Maple syrup, optional
  • Chia or hemp seeds, optional

Do

  1. Dump the oats, quinoa blend, water and berries into the Instant Pot.
  2. Close the lid and press Manual then use the arrows to select 10 minutes.
  3. Once cooked (and it beeps) press cancel or unplug and allow the pressure to release naturally.
  4. After the natural release, carefully open the lid and give it a good stir.
  5. Add plant-milk until you porridge reaches your preferred consistency. I like it thick but my sons like it thinned.
  6. Spoon the porridge into bowls and add optional ingredients like maple syrup, seeds and more berries.

You don’t have to have an Instant Pot to make this. You can cook it in a Crock Pot in about 7-8 hours or on the stove 20 to 30 minutes. Both will require more liquid.

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Meal Plan Monday: A Little Late

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I’m a little late with this week’s meal plan. I hope you don’t mind.

I had such a busy and great weekend that I was half way through my work day today when I realized I didn’t write or schedule the meal plan.

On Saturday I drove an hour to visit the lovely Mandi from Nosh and Nurture and a few of her friends. We baked a lot of gluten-free cookies!

We also had some house guests this weekend so it was louder than normal but really fun. We even managed to get our grocery shopping done this weekend!

produce

This is just part of our haul. We’ve got celery, peppers, limes, lemons, onions, mushrooms, honey dew melons, strawberries, black berries, kale, broccoli, black beans, lettuce and more!

Our week will just as busy as the weekend so we will be keeping meals simple. I’m only planning to cook 2-3 times and eat leftovers the rest of the time. I’ve been eating a lot of WOW Butter and Jelly Sandwiches lately.  This weekend our house guests really thought they were eating peanut butter, and didn’t believe it was peanut free.

A Plant-Based Vegan Meal Plan

Breakfast

Cereal, baked sweet potatoes, toasts and other leftovers.

Lunch

Mostly leftovers with the previously mentioned WOW Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Most of the time I just do WOW Butter and apple slices in my sandwich and skip the jelly.

Dinner

Pasta with the Stuffed Mushroom filling. I’ll save time and just mix it all together instead of filling the mushrooms. It’s perfectly delicious and just a bit easier that way. We’ll have some raw veggies on the side.

Mexican Casserole was requested by my husband. Have you made this yet? It’s truly his favorite and makes great leftovers.

Veggie Pad Thai because it is my favorite thing right now! I can’t get enough and I eat more than I should. Double of the recipes and it will go farther.

If those meals don’t get me through the week I’ll supplement with Bean Burritos using Unfried Black Beans (from the freezer), Cilantro Lime Quinoa or Rice, and Pico de Gallo or maybe Roasted Salsa.

I’ll probably make a few baked potatoes to have on hand as well. I like to have the ready. I’ll slice them into wedges for my boys lunches or pour beans over it for a quick lunch.

What are you eating this week?

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Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

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I’ve got the answer to your pizza craving right here! You’ve heard of stuffed mushrooms but Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms are a whole new level of awesomeness!

If you like mushrooms you will love these. I recently posted a video on Instagram of my 4 year old enjoying these. If you don’t like mushrooms stay tuned and I’ll share my pizza hack with you!

Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms are vegan and gluten-free!

Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 2 8 oz packages of whole mushrooms (button or cremini)
  • 1/2 cup diced bell pepper, I used half red and half green
  • 1/2 cup diced tomato
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup marinara

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Wash mushrooms gently and remove stems. Dice the stems and set aside a 1/2 cup for the mix.
  3. Remove the gills. This step is optional but it will allow more “stuffing” in the mushrooms.
  4. Place the mushrooms in a muffin pan, I used a mini muffin pan. If you don’t have a muffin pan use a pan with sides.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix together a 1/2 cup of the diced mushroom stems, bell peppers, tomato and onion. Next pour in the marinara sauce and mix it all together.
  6. Fill the mushroom caps with the veggie marinara filling.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes.
  8. Carefully remove from oven, there will be liquid in the pan. Allow to cool slightly before eating.

You can add other ingredients like artichoke hearts, olives, faux sausage/pepperoni or cheese if you are in to that sort of thing. I wanted a basic veggie pizza flavor. This is completely guilt free as written so go for it!

This recipe made about 20 stuffed Mushrooms. You can also make it with portobellos but expect to cook it a little longer. The portobellos at our store looked pretty beat up so I skipped them this time.

You will probably have extra filling that is great on pasta, potatoes or my Pizza Hack!

Pizza Hack

I’ve been trying out some new gluten-free, vegan, Sprouted for Life bread. Like many healthier breads, it is pretty sturdy. I used it for my pizza crust and OH MY GOODNESS it was so good! I’m still trying the bread out and haven’t used it with a sandwich yet but it tastes amazing with this! Just spoon some of the veggie marinara filling over the toast and bake for 10 minutes.

For more great recipes visit my Recipe Page!

Meal Plan Monday: Spring Break part 1

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A new week calls for a new meal plan and I’ve been trying out some new recipes. I plan to keep some of my favorites in the rotation though. It also happens to be the first week of Spring Break, I say first week because my kids go to different schools and have two different Spring Breaks.

A gluten-free, vegan (plant-based) meal plan the whole family will love.

Meal Plan Monday

Last month I bought a new product to try at Costco. It’s a quinoa, amaranth and millet blend. I’ve been using it for breakfast and plan to make it for some Spring Break lunch concoctions too. I’ll share the recipe this week!

Breakfast and Lunch

Triple Berry Porridge, Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats in the Instant Pot and Toast with Fruit will make up our breakfasts this week. Lunches will be leftovers, sandwiches and baked potatoes. I’m planning to make this Banana Bread too!

Dinner

Veggie Pad Thai, I can’t remember the last time I actually make this. Even when it’s been on our Meal Plan I’ve skipped it.

Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms with raw veggies or salad (recipe coming soon!)

Lentil Shepherd’s Pie, if you haven’t made this yet you are missing out.

Gluten-Free Pasta with Veggies and Marinara

Potato Kale Soup, it’s my favorite way to eat kale! I’ll probably cook this in my Crock Pot this time.

I don’t know about you but this sounds like a wonderful week of meals. Hopefully I actually make it all. You see, I plan my meals but I leave room for change. Sometimes we have less time for prep, or we neglect to buy a much needed ingredient. The Lentil Shepherd’s Pie takes the most time so it is most likely to get cut. I’ve still got some leftovers though.

Do you make a meal plan each week? How often do you stick to it?

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Healthy Dips

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I’ve really been craving dips lately. I’m snacking on hummus right now! I thought it would be helpful to have links to all of my dip recipes in one place. A few of these aren’t exactly dips but I use them as dips so I’m including them here.

Some people might argue that dips are not healthy, I beg to differ. These are healthy dips.

In case you are wondering all of these are gluten-free and oil-free in addition to being vegan.

Healthy Dip Round Up

Get out your veggies, crackers and chips and get ready for this collection of healthy dips!

GF Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

GF Vegan red pepper dip

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

GF Vegan Green Chili White Bean Dip

Green Chili White Bean Dip

Dairy-free Faux Cheese sauce

Faux Cheese Sauce

Oil-free black beans

Unfried Beans and Unfried Black Beans

pico de gallo

Oven Roasted Salsa, regular Salsa, Pico de Gallo and Jalapeno Hummus

You have likely noticed that I use the same bowls in all of these pictures! Some of the additional recipes link to photos with other bowls. Have you tried any of these dips? I’d love to know which dips are your favorite!

If you are a blogger leave a link to your favorite dip creations in the comments.