My Plant-Based Family

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

Life with Kids

Taking a Break

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We are still having a great visit with our older kids who are visiting this week. Sickness has now touched everyone in our house with our daughter being up last night with a fever. We had hoped to go to the zoo today and we still may attempt it with part of our crew. 

For that reason I’ll be taking a bit of a blogging break today. I will be back tomorrow with Food Waste Friday hosted by The Frugal Girl.

If you are wondering what we may be eating just know I have a ton of Mexican food leftovers in my fridge so you can read my post about Rocking Leftover Mexican Food if your curious. Also, I’m kinda craving a Baked Potato topped with some of those leftovers so just use your imagination.  

Have a great day!

Gratituesday: Big Kid Time

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Our big kids are visiting this week! They are all teenagers and live with their mom in a different part of the country. This is their Spring Break so we are excited to get to spend some time with them. They are also planning to spend time with a few of their friends. Our three year old is especially grateful to have this time with his big brother’s and sister. They are really good kids and we miss them. 

What are you grateful for today? Check out Heavenly Homemakers to see how Laura and her guests are spending Gratituesday!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Gratituesday: Simple Things

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Simple things make my heart happy.

A cup of coffee

Staying in bed a few more minutes

Stinky baby toes

Time with my husband

A verse of scripture that speaks to the heart

A quiet house (but only for a little while)

Chocolate

The way our babysitter LOVES our boys

A new recipe that works

Trying new things 

Warm, homemade soup

Sun light streaming through the windows

Visits from family and friends

Our church family

Seeing my boys grow 

Time in prayer

New friends

Anticipation

Long hugs

Faithful friends

Just Simple Things

Every week Laura at Heavenly Homemakers hosts a Gratituesday link up. If you are in need of encouragement head over to see what other bloggers are thankful for.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Meal Plan Monday: Spring Break

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This week is Spring Break in Arizona. While our schedule will not be impacted much some of my friends will have their kids home a little more than usual during the day. A few of you may have a house full of extra kids too. If you have school aged kids (who are in school all day, as opposed to home schooled) you may not realize all of the eating they will be doing this week. 

I’d like to encourage you and maybe even challenge you to have healthier options available for them. We have teenagers who live in another state and I can guarantee given the choices of a bag of chips, ice cream, and cookies they wouldn’t consider a “healthy” snack. However they do love healthy food. They get excited about a big bowl of fruit, smoothies, homemade baked goods which are almost always healthier than their store bought counterparts. I don’t think you need to deprive your kids of all the junky, unhealthy snack food they will beg you for, there is a time and a place for those but they shouldn’t be the only stuff they eat. 

If you work and have to leave your older kids home alone I know your options are limited. I will never try to make you feel bad for doing the best you can! Someday’s the best I can do it getting my 3 year old to eat a banana before bed because he doesn’t want dinner. Last night he ate half and pb&j and half a banana. No 4 course meal here. 

Meal Suggestions for Kids

  • Nachos
  • Hummus and Veggies/tortilla chips
  • Bagels with nut butter and fruit
  • Bean Burritos
  • Bean Dip and tortilla chips
  • Roasted or Baked Potatoes
  • Pancakes
  • Bagel or Pita Pizza’s
  • Anything in a tortilla
  • PB&J (there is nothing wrong with PB&J)

These are just easy and yummy foods that your kids may like. All kids are different and some go through a really pick phase. Most of these meal ideas are easy to throw together and older kids could even do the cooking. If your kids are on Spring Break hopefully they will not have homework. This could be a great opportunity to do some cooking with your kids. Or if the weather is nice pack up an easy meal for a picnic.

Meal Plan

Breakfast this week will be oatmeal, pancakes, smoothies, toast and cereal.

Lunches will be leftover split pea soup, dinner leftovers, and some of the meal suggestions from above. 

Snacks are usually fruit, smoothies, hummus, toast, or muffins.

Dinner 

Monday: Another attempt at a Lentil Loaf, this time with quinoa, Dirty Mashed Potatoes, and steamed asparagus

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner! Pancakes, Breakfast Stir Fry, and Smoothies

Wednesday: Spicy Chopped Salad

Thursday: We may be having company over so this day hasn’t been decided 

Friday: Lettuce Wraps and leftovers

What are some of your favorite Plant-Based Meals for your kids? 

Meal Plan Monday

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Today I am posting much later than normal. We had a family “situation” to deal with this morning. Additionally I usually have the meal plan worked out on the weekend and even as I type I’m not sure what we are having when.

First some reflection (I’m stalling while I think up a Meal Plan), boy am I glad my Unprocessed Challenge is over. Today is a day for some processed food. Did you survive the Unprocessed Challenge? I did not finish strong.

On Saturday we celebrated my 3 year old’s birthday by hosting a brunch and having a few families over to celebrate with. I will not mention all of the animal products that were cooked in my kitchen. I was blown away by how much I spent for one meal (there were a ton of leftovers too), almost $90. That is a week of groceries with some eating out.  I’m so glad I don’t normally buy animal products! I am also thankful that we were able to send our friends home with leftovers so I didn’t have to waste it. 😉

Also, I finally took my new food processor out of the box. Can you guess what I made? Oh yes, Chocolate Mousse and Guacamole! Then I made Jalapeno Hummus! What is your favorite thing to use your food processor for? I need some ideas. I hope to use it more this week.

On to the Meal Plan.

For breakfast we will be eating toast with nut butter and fruit (my favorite), oatmeal, cereal, and pancakes.

Lunches will be leftovers, baked potatoes, grain and bean bowls, and sandwiches.

Snacks are sometimes just like lunch. Yes, I eat all the time! I’m sure I will have some of the hummus I made last night with fresh cut veggies. I’m gonna try my hand at granola bar making. I haven’t made them since we when to a Plant-based diet. If they turn out I’ll brag about it soon.

Dinner

Monday: Stir Fried veggies with noodles and (hopefully) an awesome sauce. If this doesn’t turn out well we will have nachos.

Tuesday: Lentil loaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli or salad

Wednesday: Bean Burritos 

Thursday: Couscous and Veggies

Friday: Baked sweet potatoes for the kids and take out for the parents, woo hoo!

I also plan to do some baking this week. If you follow me on Facebook you’ll sneak peak pictures.

Gratituesday: Sleep

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My one year old son does not sleep through the night. I know you kid slept through the night at 6 weeks, but mine doesn’t. His older brother didn’t sleep through the night until I stopped nursing around 18 months.

I’m still nursing the one year old and at night when everyone else is asleep is usually the only alone time I have with him. I love nursing him! I love our alone time together! I love all of the cute things he does when he is sleepy.

Last night he had a very large dinner. He ate a banana, an avocado, a cup of quinoa, beans, and corn. He went to sleep at 7:30 pm then woke up at 11:00 pm. I nursed him, we had our special quite time together and then he slept the rest of the night. Now this is unusual because he will normally sleeps from 4 to 6 hours.

Yes this is my life, I am almost always operating on just a little less sleep than optimal but I know if a few months when my son is no longer nursing I’ll miss that time together. In fact, I already miss it.

What are you thankful for today? Share your story in the comments, or just brag about when your babies started sleeping through the night!

Gratituesday is hosted at Heavenly Homemakers every Tuesday!