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June 8, 2015 Plant-Based Meal Plan

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Since I’m posting this weeks meal plan a little later than normal I can already tell you what I ate today. Wanna hear it?

Breakfast Rice with diced apples for breakfast, sliced carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers wit hummus for snack, leftover Veggie Pad Thai for lunch, a nectarine for snack, apple slices for my drive home snack and so far chips and guacamole for dinner. Don’t worry, that’s not my real dinner but I had a large portion. Other than the guacamole this is fairly typical. I usually have a large salad in there some where but we were out of greens until Jim when to the store today.

I’ve been really focusing on my food lately. It’s easy to let unhealthy habits find their way into your day. For me, this happens when I’m really busy (who isn’t) or stressed. I’ll use food to meet some need but it doesn’t really do the trick. More often than not we end up making bad choices. Personally I strive to eat healthy most of the time but I allow some room for treats. I made my gluten-free Brownies this weekend!

Let’s talk meals.

A summer meal plan for plant-based vegan diet

Plant-Based Meal Plan

 

Breakfast

We’ve take a little bit of a break from oatmeal and eaten more Breakfast Rice. Instead of cooking it as instructed we will cook a large batch of plain brown rice and add stuff like cinnamon and apples or strawberries and bananas to it later.

I’m ready to bring back Breakfast Quinoa or the Summer Berry Quinoa to help my strawberry cravings.

Lunch

Lunches are usually leftovers or big salads for me. The boys get lots of salads too. Jim makes their lunches. He provides them greens, carrots an assortment of fruit then asks them to pick two of the following: beans, rice or potatoes.

Any leftovers are fair game.

Dinner

White Bean Enchiladas

Enchilada Soup on a rainy day

Black Bean Mango Salad

Light and Lemony Quinoa Wraps

Rice and Bean Bowl

What are you having this week? Any My Plant-Based Family Recipes? If you are addicted to taking photos of your food be sure to tag me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Black Bean Mango Salad

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As the weather warms up and cravings turn to lighter, more refreshing fare, there’s nothing quite like a vibrant salad to satisfy your appetite. Bursting with the tropical sweetness of ripe mangoes, the earthy richness of black beans, and the zesty freshness of lime, this Black Bean Mango Salad is a celebration of summer in every bite.

Black Bean Mango Salad is incredibly versatile. It can be served as a side dish, piled high on top of tacos or nachos, or enjoyed on its own as a light and refreshing meal. Whether you’re a devoted salad eater or someone looking for a new way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your routine, give this recipe a whirl.

Black Bean Mango Salad Vegan Gluten-Free Plant-Based

Easy Black Bean Mango Salad

Unlike most of the recipes you’ll find here on My Plant Based Family, this recipe is for a single serving. My kids would love most of the things in this salad, but if your kids are like mine, they don’t want it all mixed together. So this salad is just for me.

Even though this is for a single serving, I prefer to build two (or three or four) at a time to eat later in the week. The only real difference is you’ll want to store the diced mango separately because it can get a little slimy.

The measurements below can be adapted to your taste. I actually added a little more of everything for the salad I ate at home. This size was perfect for work. I don’t know about you but it takes me a long time to eat BIG salads. My lunch salads need to be a little average size.

Black Bean Mango Salad Vegan Gluten-Free

Costumization Ideas

Feel free to customize this Black Bean Mango Salad to suit your taste preferences too.

  • You can add diced jalapeño for a spicy kick or diced cucumber for added crunch.
  • If you prefer a sweeter salad, you can drizzle a bit of honey or maple syrup to enhance the natural sweetness of the mangoes.
  • For a heartier meal, serve this salad on a bed of quinoa.
  • Experiment with different herbs and spices to create your own unique flavor profile. Fresh mint, basil, or parsley can add a refreshing twist, while smoked paprika or chili powder can add depth and complexity.

Black Bean Mango Salad Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2-3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup organic corn
  • 1/4 cup diced tomato (remove seeds)
  • 1/4 cup diced onion (I prefer sweet onion or red onions)
  • 1/4 of a large mango (or half a small mango) diced.
  • diced jalapenos to taste
  • juice from half a lime
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
  • 1/2 avocado (optional)

Instructions

Step 1 – Layer Ingredients

Place lettuce in a large bowl then top with beans, corn, tomatoes, onion and mango*.

Step 2 – Customize and Stir

If using jalapenos and cilantro add now. Give the salad a good stir.

Step 3 – Give it a Squeeze

Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad and stir one more time.

*Notes: If you are packing an extra salad for another day, leave the mango, lime juice and avocado separate.

More Fresh Salad Recipes

If you like this salad, you’ll love these plant based recipes too:

Yield: 1 Serving

Black Bean Mango Salad

Black Bean Mango Salad Vegan Gluten-Free
5.0 Stars (1 Review)

Gluten-free, oil-free fresh flavors of summer. Treat yourself to this fresh Black Bean Mango Salad for one.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2-3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup organic corn
  • 1/4 cup diced tomato (remove seeds)
  • 1/4 cup diced onion (I prefer sweet onion or red onions)
  • 1/4 of a large mango (or half a small mango) diced
  • diced jalapenos to taste
  • juice from half a lime
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
  • 1/2 avocado (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place lettuce in a large bowl then top with beans, corn, tomatoes, onion and mango.
  2. If using jalapenos and cilantro add now. Give the salad a good stir.
  3. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad and stir one more time.

Notes

If you are packing an extra salad for another day leave the mango, lime juice and avocado separate.

Did you make this recipe?

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

© Holly Yzquierdo

Meal Plan Monday Soups and Salads

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Plant-Based meal Plan

I don’t know about you but we have been eating very well. Not that it is summer we are eating salads and fresh veggies daily. My husband has been making these incredible veggie filled meals for our boys everyday and texting me photos so I signed him into my Instagram so he will be sharing them with you all now.

You may have noticed that we’ve done a redesign. I’m still tweaking things a bit. Kathryn at Food Allergy Jams is great to work with. Check out her Instagram, it’s on of my favorite accounts to follow. Follow her graphic design work on Facebook.

Meal Plan

We spent a little time prepping for the week over the weekend. Jim is getting the hang of the Instant Pot. He has already made Breakfast Rice, regular brown rice and beans. I prepped two different salad dressings for the week, Blueberry Vinaigrette and Sweet and Tangy Salad Dressing. This weeks meal plan centers around soups and salads.

Breakfast

We have lots of fresh blueberries to put in oatmeal and breakfast rice. We also go through 15-20 pounds of apples per week.  Lately I can’t get enough cantaloupe and nectarines. This week we are going to get peaches too. Check out the Peachy Keen Oatmeal recipe or the Blueberry Oatmeal recipe for inspiration.

Lunches

Our lunches (even our boys) are usually giant salads with a side of beans, grains and potatoes. This week I’ll be having Black Bean Mango Salad (shown above) and I’ll share the recipe later this week and Chipotle style salads. We also have leftover Enchilada Soup. We always have sandwiches as a back up plan.

Dinner

As previously mentioned, we have Enchilada Soup. I like to pair it with Baked Potatoes.

Later this week I’ll make Minestrone Soup. This is one of my favorites! We use gluten-free pasta or quinoa to keep it gluten-free.

We’ll also have BBQ Cauliflower Bites with potato wedges and veggies.

I’m a big fan of breakfast for dinner and I’ve been craving Breakfast Tacos.

We will also work in the Beans, Grains and salads this week with the meals mentioned above and on their own.

What are you eating this week? 

Substituting Applesauce

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Since adopting a plant-based diet, I’ve chosen to remove oil from my diet. I don’t cook or bake with oil. I still enjoy baking and have found that applesauce is a great oil substitute. Occasionally I run out of applesauce when I’m baking, thankfully substituting applesauce is no problem!

Applesauce Substitute

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Question: What can I use as a substitute for applesauce?

First a little background. I don’t normally like to buy a lot of processed products but I like to use applesauce instead of oil and sometimes in place of eggs in baking. A reader recently wanted to make The World’s Best Banana Bread but she was out of applesauce and needed a substitute.

The quickest and easiest substitute is an apple. I know, simple huh?

applesauce substitute

Just put a cored apple in a food processor or high-powered blender like a Blendtec and process it. You don’t even have to peel it. The result is 100% apple, no fillers, no additives. This pureed apple will work just like applesauce in recipes. Your kids will probably like it too! You can even add cinnamon if you are feeling crazy.

If you don’t have apples or have an allergy there are a few other options.

What can be used instead of applesauce?

If you are out of applesauce and apples, there are plenty of other foods you can use as a substitute. Pureed pears, peaches and other fruit will work but may leave a slightly stronger taste.

Mashed bananas can be used as a substitute for oil or applesauce. Mashed sweet potatoes can also work when substituting applesauce in baking. You may want to add slightly less banana or sweet potato and add a little more water so the consistency will be similar to applesauce.

This easy and delicious banana bread is an old family recipe that has been updated with healthier ingredients. The best part is, no one knows its healthy!

My World’s Best Vegan Banana Bread recipe uses applesauce! It’s so easy to put together! In fact most of my baked goods use applesauce or an applesauce substitute.

For more recipes that use applesauce (instead of oil) check out my Bread and Muffin Recipe Page! If you are still using oil in your baking try applesauce in its place.

Have you tried pureeing apples to use in place of applesauce?

This page contains affiliate links.

1st Meal Plan of Summer

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A gluten-free Plant-Based (vegan) Meal Plan

Last week I mentioned that school was almost out. It’s officially summer vacation in our house. One of the best parts of summer is the incredible produce. We’ve been eating cantaloupe, nectarines and lots of salads. Check out my Instagram for photos.

My husband has been taking over more of the cooking duties. I LOVE IT! The last meal I made ended up being big fail. I’ll try it again another day. We ate it but it wasn’t good. His meals on the other hand have been wonderful.

He’s been using my Instant Pot a lot for beans and grains. I’m going to show him how to make oatmeal in it next. Did any of you use Jill Nussinow 3 minute pressure cooker steel cut oats method? I pretty much live on it for breakfasts now.

https://instagram.com/p/0lxLb7oIU8/?taken-by=myplantbasedfamily

My backup breakfast has been cereal for the kids and is still toast with fruit for me.

We’ve been eating more salads for lunch lately. I prefer them with beans and grains because I feel more satisfied.

Dinner Meal Plan

We did a good job prepping this week so we have quite a bit of cooked black beans, brown rice, cilantro-lime brown rice, and lots of fruit and veggies.

I’ve got meetings a couple of nights this week (after work). One is to help a family transition to a plant-based diet and the other is to help someone launch a blog. That means I won’t be home to cook. We will rely on our leftovers those nights.

Jim will be cooking the Crock Pot Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole this week. Here is the Instant Pot version of that recipe.

We will use some of the cooked black beans to make these Quesadillas. The will go great with the cilantro lime rice (see the quinoa version here).

Pizza Pasta or Fiesta Pasta are both quick and easy meals if we need another meal this week.

I don’t think we will need any more food than that. If so we will add a few baked potatoes or an easy soup like Potato Kale Soup. I really want to make these cookies from one of my blogging pals.

What are you eating this week? Do you have anything prepped yet?

BBQ Cauliflower Bites

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For a girl that doesn’t eat meat, I really love barbecue sauce. Vegan barbecue is something I fully support. These BBQ Cauliflower Bites hit the spot. If you are looking for a plant-based version of BBQ Wings, give these a try.

Homemade vegan BBQ Cauliflower Bites. Similar to vegan wings.

Years ago, friends and I would share boneless BBQ wings in our late night chats. We’d order a bunch of appetizers and catch up.

Just because I avoid chicken doesn’t mean I have to avoid barbecue sauce. Especially this Homemade BBQ Sauce.

Vegan Barbecue Wings

You can make these with or without the breading. I’m sharing a gluten-free breading for the cauliflower but you can make it with wheat flour or skip the breading all together.

Homemade vegan BBQ cauliflower bites. Similar to vegan wings.

BBQ Cauliflower Bites

Ingredients

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 cup Gluten-Free flour blend
  • 1 cup unsweetened and unflavored plant milk (I use rice milk)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 recipe Homemade BBQ Sauce

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Rinse cauliflower and cut into two-bite-sized pieces (about 2 inches or so).
  3. In a medium bowl mix the rest of the ingredients (except BBQ Sauce) together. I recommend adding the milk a little at a time because you may not need the whole cup. Stir with a whisk until the batter is the consistency of pancake batter.
  4. Put a handful of the cauliflower pieces into the batter then remove with a fork and place it on the cookie sheet.
  5. Once all of the cauliflower pieces have been dipped in batter and arranged on the cookie sheet bake for 15 minutes.
  6. After 15 minutes carefully remove the hot cauliflower and dip them into the BBQ Sauce. Put them back on the cookie sheet and bake for 5 more minutes.

Serve

These BBQ Cauliflower Bites are best served right out of the oven.

Vegan BBQ Cauliflower Bites

Vegan BBQ Cauliflower Bites
5.0 Stars (1 Review)

Sweet and tangy vegan BBQ Cauliflower Bites are the wing substitute you need.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 cup Gluten-Free flour blend
  • 1 cup unsweetened and unflavored plant milk (I use rice milk)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 recipe Homemade BBQ Sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Rinse cauliflower and cut into two-bite-sized pieces (about 2 inches or so).
  3. In a medium bowl mix the rest of the ingredients (except BBQ Sauce) together. I recommend adding the milk a little at a time because you may not need the whole cup. Stir with a whisk until the batter is the consistency of pancake batter.
  4. Put a handful of the cauliflower pieces into the batter then remove with a fork and place it on the cookie sheet.
  5. Once all of the cauliflower pieces have been dipped in batter and arranged on the cookie sheet bake for 15 minutes.
  6. After 15 minutes carefully remove the hot cauliflower and dip them into the BBQ Sauce. Put them back on the cookie sheet and bake for 5 more minutes.

Notes

These are best fresh from the oven and do not reheat well.

Did you make this recipe?

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

© Holly Yzquierdo
Category: Main Dish Recipes

Need more barbecue ideas? Try these delicious recipes!

Vegan BBQ Sandwich...You'll never guess the secret ingredient!

Vegan BBQ Sandwich

Grilled Portobello Burgers and Vegan Potato Salad

Grilled Portobello Burger

Incredible vegan and gluten-free avocado grillers

Avocado Grillers

What are your favorite things to barbecue? Don’t forget the sides like grilled corn, veggie kabob’s, potato salad and pasta salad!