My Plant-Based Family

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

How to

Snacking While Traveling

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We have not taken a family trip since before we went to a Plant-Based Diet. A lot of the fun of our trips was related to food. We would pack a ton of snacks and stop at gas stations and buy tons more. Once we little one’s came along we had to be intentional about buy them healthy and kid friendly snacks because there was no way I would feed my precious babies the garbage we were eating. 😉

Another tradition that will continue is making a freezing PB&J’s or AB&J’s. They slowly defrost throughout the day for a quick and timely lunch. We pack easy to eat fruit and crackers, dried fruit and trail mix has always been a big hit with us. 

This year we will take Go Go squeeZ. GoGo squeeZ is applesauce in little handy pouches, I know you’ve seen them. They are easy to use because they require no dishes, perfect for my 3 year old. (They are a much better deal at Costco so if you have a membership buy them there instead of a regular store.) Additionally they are all natural and gluten, nut, and dairy free.

I’ll share my experience of traveling with kids and eating a Plant-Based diet in a few weeks, but for now I seek your advice. What would you take on a trip?

If you follow My Plant-Based Family on Facebook you will get to see how it is going in real time because somethings are just to funny to wait. 

Meal Plan Monday: How I Plan

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I sit here a fully admit I don’t know what we are eating this week. At the end of the week half of our household will be going on a trip to see family. I did not buy much at the grocery store because I did not want to leave a bunch of food that would go bad.

I thought that this would be a good opportunity to walk you through how I Meal Plan. First I take all of the food we have into consideration:

  • Carrots*
  • Potatoes*
  • A little Spinach
  • Sprouted grain bread
  • Oatmeal*
  • Cooked quinoa**
  • Cooked pinto beans**
  • Several vats of hummus
  • 7 cups of cooked chickpeas**
  • Fresh (but going downhill) Strawberries**
  • Several Gluten Free Cereals*

At the store I picked up:

  • Almond Milk
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Broccoli**
  • Freeze-dried Veggies I wanted to try (Bleck…not a fan!)*

Item with * will be fine when I return from traveling and do not need to be used immediately. Items with ** can be frozen and used another time. I have a well stocked pantry and freezer so I have other options available. When my fridge is empty I plan meals based on what produce is the best value while also balancing nutrition and taste.

The Meal Plan

Breakfast will be oatmeal, Breakfast Quinoa, cereal and smoothies.

Lunches will be leftovers, Nachos made with Pinto Beans, PB&J or AB&J, Not So Tuna Salad sandwiches or wraps, and my favorite Spinach, carrot and hummus Wrap.

Snacks will be hummus with fresh veggies, smoothies, chickpeas, and fruit with nut butter.  

Dinner will not be completely planned because I want to focus on using up everything the will not last while I travel. A few of the things that we may eat are:

  • Bean Burrtios
  • Quinoa Tacos
  • Veggie Soup with Chickpeas
  • Steamed Spinach with Chickpeas (I had this yesterday and it was tasty)
  • Nachos
  • Baked Potatoes
  • Potato and Broccoli Soup
Each evening I’ll decide what needs to be eaten and focus on that food type. Some things can be combined like the beans and quinoa to make nachos, or everything thrown together for soup. Most of these things are already cooked so I’ll just have to throw it together and warm it up, or throw it in a pot to simmer. 
 
I also try to eat several different colors of food throughout the day. If I feel like we are missing out on something I’ll make a smoothie because I can throw in spinach, blueberries, pineapple, mango, cherries, or strawberries and feel like we are covering all of or bases. We typically eat a lot of whole grains and carrots so we are rarely missing out on those. 
Do you Meal Plan? It saves me money and frustration each week, give it a try.

Breakfast Quinoa: Whole Grain Fruity Goodness

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If you believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day then you should give this dish a try. 

This crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.

It is also easy to make and very versatile. I use quinoa to make burgers, Nachos, Tacos, faux sausage, etc. My husband likes to take it to the office for breakfast. 

Breakfast Quinoa

Ingredients (all except quinoa are optional)

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • diced fresh or dried fruit
  • nuts/seeds
  • agave or other sweetener
  • almond or other plant milk
  • cinnamon
Do
  1. Heat cooked quinoa in a small pan with a little plant milk or heat in microwave.
  2. Add fresh or dried fruit and any other toppings you like.
Serve
This is a really easy breakfast or snack. If you’re on the go it can be kept warm in a thermos or eaten cold (we like it warm). My husband likes his with raisins, cinnamon and a touch of agave. I like mine with fresh bananas, dried cranberries and raw pumpkin seeds. Today I used fresh strawberries because they were available. This can be made in advance and enjoyed all week.
My 1 year old devours this. The only problem is he is not very hand with a spoon yet so I have to assist him.  
Do you eat quinoa for breakfast? If so, how do you eat it?

 

Making Salsa

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Yesterday I spent a rather large chunk of time making homemade salsa. Salsa doesn’t really take long to make unless you have two cute little tarzan’s vying for your attention (read driving you insane).

We love salsa in our house and could eat it everyday. My husband can not eat seeds and store bought salsa’s always contain seeds. The only way we have found to get around the seed problem is to make it ourselves. Salsa can be made so many different ways. I’m just providing a template based on general ingredients but you can change it up to suit your taste buds. Additionally, I made a lot of salsa, about 50 ozs (two pasta sauce jars) so my measurements may not work for you but this salsa does freeze well.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients

  • tomatoes (I used about a dozen roma)
  • onions (I used 1 /2 white onions)
  • peppers (I used 5 jalapeno’s and 3 serrano’s with seeds removed)
  • garlic (I used 5 cloves)
  • lime (I used juice and pulp from 1 lime)
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • cilantro (optional, I love cilantro but was out)

Do

Since I made a big batch I processed each ingredient by it’s self. If you are making a small batch you can just throw it all in your food processor or blender and blend one time. 

  1. Wash veggies well.
  2. Cut tops off of tomatoes and remove seeds if desired. Process until tomatoes reach desired consistency.
  3. Cut and peel onions and put in food processor until desired consistency is met.
  4. Cut stems off of peppers. Remove seeds if applicable be careful because hot pepper can burn your skin. (I recommend wearing latex or rubber gloves for this step. I sometimes even us a plastic sandwich bag on one hand. I know I’m awesome!) Process peppers until very small. Removing the seed will make your salsa very mild.
  5. Peel garlic, add cilantro and lime juice then process.
  6. Combine all ingredients together and add salt. 
  7. Time for a taste test, add any other ingredients or spices. I added 1 tbsp of chili powder for a little extra kick.

Serve

For me, salsa opens up so many meal possibilities. We ate this salsa on pinto and barley tacos. I really wanted to make a rice and black bean bowl too, maybe later. This will be really good on top of leftover baked potatoes for a quick lunch. 

What is your favorite way to make salsa? What is your must have ingredient?

Dirty Mashed Potatoes

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Nothing says comfort food quite like Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.

 

There was  only a tiny bit of mashed potatoes left after the four of us ate. I wanted to stuff my face with the rest of them but I resisted.

These Mashed Potatoes are really easy to make. I’ll give estimates on amounts but it will really depend on your preference and the size of your family.

dirty mashed potatoes

Dirty Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

  • potatoes (I used four small-medium sized, see the ambiguity here)
  • cauliflower (1/4 of a head, or 1 1/2 cups of florets)
  • water
  • salt
  • garlic powder or fresh garlic
  • onion powder
  • black pepper
  • unsweetened plant milk (I used Almond milk)

Do

  1.  Bring water to boil.
  2. Wash and cut potatoes in to smaller pieces. I left the skin on but you do not have to. Add them to the boiling water.
  3. Wash and cut cauliflower into florets. Add them to the boiling water.
  4.  Once the potatoes and cauliflower are both soft, carefully drain the water. Return the potatoes and cauliflower to the pan or place in a large bowl.
  5. Mash the potatoes and cauliflower with a potato masher. Add milk to get the a creamer consistency. Try 1/4 cup at a time.
  6. Add salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders and mix well.

Serve

I served this with brown gravy, a Lentil Loaf and steamed spinach. The mashed potatoes were perfect, savory and delicious. I think I could have eaten the whole pot by myself. I didn’t taste the cauliflower at all but my husband mentioned that they smelled like cauliflower. These would also be good with broccoli, although that would be noticeable. 

I just mentioned that I served brown gravy. You can find that recipe here at the Happy Herbivore. I love Lindsey’s blog, and her cookbooks. I use them all the time. I halved this recipe for us and we had plenty leftover. The gravy was delicious! My husband topped his Lentil Loaf with it and he isn’t a big fan of nutritional yeast.

I hope to try this Lentil Loaf again soon. I couldn’t find a recipe that used the ingredients I wanted to cook with so I made up my own. It needs some tweaking still but I think if will be a winner. 

These are also great with Portobello Steaks! Be sure to use my Mushroom Marinade!

Progress Report: Unprocessed Challenge

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This week I’ve been only eating unprocessed food. I’ve enjoyed some really good food but I’ve also let a bad attitude get in the way a few times.

I miss my toast. I decided not to eat bread at all, even my sprouted grain bread, because I was eating it way too often. It would find its way into breakfast, lunch, snack and dessert some days.

Eating processed food was really more of a habit than hunger. When I’d give my son a handful of animal crackers I’d normally eat a few too but not this week.

A few things that helped…

  • Having food already cooked and ready to eat.
  • Cutting fresh fruit and veggies for easy snacking.
  • Hummus!
  • Supportive husband and friends, and public accountability.
  • Cooking delicious food so you don’t feel deprived.

So what have I been eating this week…

If you remember on the weekend I cooked black beans and quinoa. I heated them up together in a bowl and added chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, and onion powder. I laid them on a bed of greens, added salsa and mashed up half and avocado. A few squirts of lime juice and it was delicious! It reminded me of a salad from Chipotle. When I mention eating a bean and grain bowl this is what it is like sans greens. I love it with tortilla chips but not this week, roasted corn would be amazing in this.

Yesterday I cooked Minestrone Soup, one of my husbands favorites. I changed teh recipe a bit but we didn’t miss any thing I left out. I competely forgot about the green beans, too bad a have some in the freezer ready to go. I left out the noodles and veggie broth since they are both processed. The soup simmered for hours and tasted great. There was hardly enough left for my husband to take to work. Maybe if I wouldn’t “quality” check so often there would have been more. 😉

Fresh veggies and Jalapeno Hummus! Easy, delicious, unprocessed!

Smoothies! Who doesn’t love smoothies? We have been eating these for our after dinner snack/dessert. My husbands favorite this week was made with frozen bananas, frozen cherries, and a little almond milk. I like frozen banana, a few frozen cherries, a little peanut butter, a little cocoa powder and almond milk. You can make them with whatever you have, for a tropical flavor add frozen mango and/or pineapple.

Earlier this week I ate leftover Enchilada Soup. This time I made it with millet instead of rice. It was tasty.

There are really a lot of options when it comes to eating unprocessed. Some recipes can be slightly adjusted to become unprocessed. A few other things to consider are…

The Best Chili Ever
The Happy Potato
Avocado Chocolate Mousse, if made with date paste it becomes unprocessed
Stir Fry

How have you been doing? Is it difficult for you to stick with it? Do you have any tips or recipes for the rest of us? Leave a comment below and encourage someone else with your journey.

Did you know that My Plant Based Family is on Facebook? To hear more about what’s going on in my kitchen check it out.