My Plant-Based Family

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

Planning

Planning a Party (Really 3)

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I’ve had a lot going on lately and it’s not slowing down any time soon. This week I’m hosting another Healthy Cravings group in my home. Healthy Cravings is simply a gathering of ladies who want to learn more about eating a whole food, plant-based diet. Ok, a lot of them just want to learn how to lose weight, some just want to show up for the food, but others are poised to make one of the biggest changes in their lives and reclaim their health.

This months menu isn’t completely decided but most of it is worked out, at least in my mind. I’ll be making Chili and Taco Soup. I’m also planning to serve pumpkin cupcakes or cakes (haven’t decided on that) and I’ll be sharing that recipe no later than next week. Last time I had twice as many people RSVP than actually showed up and way too much left over food. I plan on playing it way more conservative this time.

November’s Healthy Cravings is on the 8th so I really need to be on the ball with that one. It’s theme will be Thanksgiving foods so send me links to your favorite healthy or healthyish Thanksgiving dishes.

I’m also helping a friend plan a baby shower for one of my besties. The food will all be brunch fare. So far I’m making my Party Worthy Parfait’s, Pumpkin Bread (Muffin Style), and a smokin Fruit Platter, tray, bowl or something schmancy. I’m gonna bring my favorite So Delicious Coffee Creamers and Chai. The other hostess is making all of the food that requires meat, dairy, or eggs. Isn’t she a gem!

These three parties all take place in the next three weeks. Did I mention I’m headed off to a retreat this weekend? No, I don’t think I did. This is the part where I should gloat right, just kidding.

Do you have any suggestions for my party menus? I’m really needing help for my Thanksgiving Healthy Cravings, so many recipes to discover and test before November 8th. YIKES!

A Healthy Cravings Recap

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Yesterday was a super busy day. I woke up at 5:30 am and didn’t stop until 11:00 pm. Last night was my first Healthy Cravings group. I had a little over a dozen people show up. I had more than enough food and will not need to cook all weekend. 🙂 I made several recipes from the Happy Herbivore Cookbooks, the new Forks Over Knives Cookbook, and some of my own. I started the evening my sharing my story of switching to a plant-based diet which you can read here. Then we ate, then watched a clip from Forks Over Knives, followed by a little Q&A.

I’m not sure what everyone thought but I know several ladies are really interested in a plant-based diet. I’m already looking forward to October’s Healthy Cravings group. For yesterday’s group I mostly stuck to my meal plan but I made a few changes. All in all I made:

  • Taco Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing FOK Cookbook pg 74
  • An adaptation of FOK Cookbook Kale Salad with Maple-Mustard Dressing pg 79
  • A typical garden salad
  • Happy Herbivore’s Chocolate Cupcakes HHC pg 215
  • An adaptation of FOK Cookbook Fudgy Chocolate Frosting pg 286
  • Happy Herbivore’s Carrot Cake Cupcakes HHC pg 213 I meant to make the Maple Icing but I never got around to it
  • I had two of the ladies help make a parfait by layering vanilla soy yogurt, diced apples, and homemade granola
  • Almond butter granola bars, some had carob chips
  • Brown Rice and Broccoli Bake
  • “Cheesy” Broccoli Baked Potato Bake
  • Lentil Ragu from the FOK Cookbook pg 158 made by my friend Steffi
  • Creamy Basil Pasta FOK Cookbook pg 141 made by Steffi also

That is all I can remember. It was a whirlwind day. My refrigerator is so full, we will be eating salad and pasta all weekend. I’m really looking forward to not having to cook. I loved hearing people say, “this is so good, what is it” or “what’s in it.” Some of the ladies who came were already eating plant-based, other’s had tried it a bit, and some may have never heard of it.

In other bloggy adventures you may be wondering where my “Food Waste Friday” post is. I’ve been slowly phasing it out. I also haven’t been post every day. I’ve been trying to spend more time with my boys and keep my time better spent on my top priorities. With that being said blogging and helping other’s learn about a plant-based diet is still high on my priority list but it isn’t above time with my family. I still plan to post several times a week but I don’t stress about it. There are so many great blogs out there if I go a few days without a post I don’t think we will miss out too much. But if you do, I post regularly to My Plant-Based Family on Facebook. I also post random pictures of what we are eating, comments my kids make about food, and links to other fabulous blogs or sites.

Thanks to Annie for taking pictures and sending them to me. I was too busy but really wanted some. She just started taking them and I’m so thankful!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

September’s Healthy Cravings Meal Plan

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On Monday’s I typically post my meal plan for the week but I’m not going to do that this week. I have no idea what we are eating this week other that leftovers that are in my fridge. I’m not worried though we wont starve. If you feel lost without my Meal Plan you can read previous meal plans to help you get through the week. 🙂

You may remember this summer I hosted my first Food Demo. It was a success but has now morphed into a new group called Healthy Cravings. Our first meeting is this Thursday so I thought it would be fun to share the menu ahead of time. In these meetings I hope to introduce a plant-based diet and encourage ladies toward healthier living even if they are not yet ready to take the plant-based plunge.

For this first meeting the focus will be to Eat More Veggies! Each month I’ll have a different focus and a seasonally appropriate menu. October will be soups and chili, and November will be Thanksgiving. It is still really hot (I know I mention that every day) so I don’t want to heat the house up before everyone comes over.

Healthy Cravings Menu

Salads

  • Taco Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
  • Kale Salad with Maple-Mustard Dressing
  • Garden Salad with a variety of dressings
  • Creamy Basil Pasta Salad

Comfort Corner

  • Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole
  • “Cheesy” Broccoli Baked Potato Bake
  • Lentil Ragu and Pasta

Desserts

  • Granola Bars
  • Fruit and Granola Parfait
  • I’m still deciding on some other desserts

So what do you think? I’m so excited! I’m also very thankful that my friend Steffi is bringing the Creamy Basil Pasta Salad and the Lentil Ragu. Isn’t that awesome! I have 18 people RSVP’d so far and a grocery list a mile long.

Company is Coming

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We love having friends over for dinner. We used to have company over all the time. Once my little guys were born it got harder but we still enjoyed having company, just not as frequently. Since going plant-based we haven’t had many dinner guests. Most people think we are now super weirdo’s who eat nothing but cardboard and iceberg lettuce.

Before going plant-based my husband was “king of the grill” part of his secret was topping each steak with a tablespoon of butter just before serving. I could make a mean roast, pork roast, or anything else, of course they were usually topped with “cream of” soups. A while ago I made a meal for a friend and cooked a little chicken. I hadn’t cooked meat in months but this time would be the last. I had found the chicken in my freezer and thought it was better to pass it on than throw it away. My meat cooking days are now over. I couldn’t stand seeing and smelling the chicken as it was cooking. I will not elaborate any further.

We have had a few plant-based friends over to share a meal. Each time I’ve made Mexican food, which has always been my specialty whether we were having meat or not. I hoping to broaden my “company’s coming over” menu soon. I’m excited to have a friend coming over this week who is interested in a plant-based diet. I’m just not sure what to make. If you real Meal Plan Monday I had left Thursday blank and asked for suggestions. Now that my friend is coming over I’m hoping to thing of something creative and delicious and I’m still looking for suggestions.

What do you make when company is coming over? Do you have any tried and true recipes that appeal to omnivores? Please share!

Meal Plan Monday: Feeding Teenagers

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Our big kids have been here for almost two weeks and I know my plant-based cooking is taking a toll on them,especially the fiber. When my husband and I went for our weekly grocery shop this weekend our 13 year old asked if we could pick him up some Doritos. We told him the place we shop doesn’t have Doritos, he was taken aback. No we didn’t make another stop.

Our oldest is flying in this evening so there will be one more mouth to feed. I don’t think he will be as hard to please.

I took out my Happy Herbivore cookbooks and asked the big kids to look through them and pick some meals they would like to eat this week. I was hoping to get buy in. They picked a few recipes but I’m not sure how well they will go over. I decided that pasta is usually well received and it’s easy so we will have pasta a few times.

When we go out to eat the teens can order anything they want but I’m only going to cook healthy, plant food. I did buy them some junk food for movie night, that moved earned me a couple of big hugs.

Meal Plan

Breakfast has been oatmeal, cream of wheat, and cereal lately and that seems to be working out easily enough. My husband has also requested Breakfast Quinoa and Breakfast Rice.

Lunches will be leftovers. Our fridge is full of leftovers right now; pizza, Lentil Fetoosh Salad, hummus and pita, and a black bean burger. I’m sure the teenagers will continue to eat PB&Js as well.

Snacks will be fruit, smoothies, crackers, chips and salsa, and other random things

Dinner is a little tougher to plan because I never know exactly what we have going on. Here are a few items I plan on making:

Macaroni and Cheeze*

Happy Herbivore Arroz Amarillo* with Black Bean Soup and soft corn tortillas

Spaghetti with Mushrooms and red sauce

Brown Rice, Steamed Broccoli, with Happy Herbivore Brown Gravy or some other creamy sauce

Nachos*

Baked Potatoes

*item’s the kids picked out

How do you please your omnivore teenagers? Do you have any tips for me?

Where I Shop

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Lately I’ve gotten a lot of questions from new Plant-Based Eaters (and some who are only plant curious) about where I buy food. Since I live in Arizona the resources I have will likely be different from what you have available. Maybe if we all share our wisdom in the comments we can all find new ideas and help a newbie navigate the terrain. The things I share will be what works for my family, based on food budget, dietary needs and restrictions, family size and where I live.

Weekly Shopping

Every weekend we load up as a family and go to Sprouts. I love this store. If I really wanted to be frugal I’d go on Wednesday because that is double ad day but weekend shopping works best for our schedule.

Sprouts Farmers Market is an independent natural foods grocery store chain that focuses on “healthy living for less.” We sell farm-fresh produce and thousands of natural, organic and great-tasting mainstream foods at remarkably low prices, in a non-traditional farmers market-type setting.

Sprouts only has stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas; sorry friends if you don’t live in one of these states.  Sprouts has the best produce, it stays fresh for a reasonable amount of time and is well priced. I would pay much more if I bought the same produce at a regular grocery store. Additionally there are other “farmers markets” that are really more like a produce market (no farmers in sight) that have produce even less expensive but it is only good for a few days. At those places I can get a much better deal but since the produce only last a day or two I’d have to go often and it is not near by. I’ll occasionally shop there if I’m having a big party and need a lot of produce for one day. I prefer to shop at Sprouts. If I buy something that I don’t like I can take it back for a full refund.

What do I buy at Sprout:

  • produce
  • gluten-free items
  • Ezekiel Bread
  • dairy-free coffee creamers
  • bulk grains
  • nuts
  • turbinado sugar
  • nutritional yeast
  • Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Sprout’s also carries conventional and organic meat and dairy, health care items, vitamins, supplements, beauty and toiletries items and even Blue Bell Ice cream. If I could only shop one store it would be Sprout’s!

I am also a fan of Fresh and Easy. Of course this is less than a mile from my house and the first store you come to when leaving my neighbor hood, yes I’m one lucky girl. I was resistant to F&E at first, I had heard that it was expensive and didn’t have a good selection. Once my first son was born I tried it (because I got tired of being stuck in a big store for over an hour and a ton of creepy strangers trying to touch my newborn). I loved it. I could get anything I needed and be in and out quickly. Some things are more expensive but not everything. They have a lot of ready-made food but it almost always has meat, cheese or oil so I don’t buy those. I LOVE their fresh salsa’s, hummus, and they have a great clearance section. Most of all I REALLY LOVE their almond milk. I prefer the F&E brand of almond milk to all others! It is priced great too!

What do I buy at Fresh and Easy:

  • almond milk
  • coconut milk (occasionally)
  • hummus
  • salsa
  • cereal
  • banana’s (they are not cheap but convenient)
  • gluten-free items
  • organic tortilla chips
  • some produce
  • items from the clearance section
  • nutritional yeast

They also have a good selection of grains, pasta, and normal grocery store fare, it is just a little pricier than I get other places. If I need to run to the store for a quick ingredient F&E is my pick.

Every So Often

There are other places I shop occasionally. 

What I buy at Costco (once a month or longer):

  • agave nectar
  • beans
  • Naked Juice
  • quinoa
  • spices
  • hummus (occasionally)
  • organic tortilla chips
  • baby wipes

What I buy at Target:

  • diapers
  • toiletries
  • baby items
  • clothes
  • last-minute food items I forgot to get elsewhere

What I buy at Walmart (I only go a few times a year):

  • beans
  • brown rice
  • canned goods
  • toiletries

As you can see most of my shopping is done at Sprouts and Fresh and Easy. If I lived in rural Oklahoma near my mom I’d have to shop at small local grocery stores, Walmart, and use the internet. I’ve thought about buying more grocery items online but haven’t yet. In fact I may check into getting an Amazon Prime account to see if that would be helpful.

Where do you shop? Is there a store you use that you couldn’t live without? Share with the peanut gallery so we can all benefit!