My Plant-Based Family

Eating Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet recipes, On a Budget.

Life with Kids

Gratituesday: A Change of Pace

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We’ve been spending a few days visiting family. Even though traveling brings it’s own work it has been nice to avoid laundry, dishes, and the normal household chores.
I’m grateful for the time we got to share with family. My boys loved spending time outside running around with their grandparents. They also got to see aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, and one of my great friends and her family.

Checking out the tractor

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Climbing fence

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Picking leaves

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Enjoying more wide open space than they have ever seen

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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. 

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?