My Plant-Based Family

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

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Meal Plan Monday: Less Packaged Food

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Do you ever fall in the packaged food rut? We are there.

Ever since we discovered my son’s allergies I’ve been relying on packed food for often. BA (before allergies) we ate a lot of beans, grains, fruit, and veggies with a constant supply of nuts and nut butters. We cut out all beans since he showed some intolerance to those tested but are hoping to reintroduce soon. We also had to remove several grains, some veggies and fruit and all nuts. That leaves me a bit perplexed but my son is feeling so much better and his skin is looking and feeling great. He has had a few cross-contamination episodes that have caused flare ups but I really want to establish and healthy baseline so I can accurately gauge the effect of foods we reintroduce.

I’ve been attempting sun butter sandwiches with gluten-free bread but he will only take a few bites. Sometimes he will tolerate the bread but never the sun butter. I’ve tried a few different brands to no avail. He will occasionally eat sun flower seed kernels.

He loves GF noodles and will happily eat them anytime they are served. I’ve never liked serving my family a lot of pasta but it is an easy food for a 2 year old.

I’ve also been giving my kids unsweetened applesauce, mostly to get them to take their probiotic (it’s a powder that needs to be mixed in something). I also load it with chia seeds and hemp seeds.

I don’t consider any of those too bad, my only concern is they take up a large portion of their calories instead of whole food. My biggest concern is the large number of products like fruit strips, GF cereal and cereal bars I’m now buying.

I’m hoping to move away from those easy convenience foods and back to whole foods, while also avoiding those foods my son has an intolerance too. If you have tips or suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments. You can see the full list of the foods my son is avoiding here.

Salad and GF Pasta

Meal Plan

Breakfast

  • Overnight Oats (for me)
  • Baked Sweet Potatoes
  • GF Muffins
  • Toast with fruit and sun butter
  • GF Cereal

Lunch

  • Veggie Stuffed Pita
  • Veggie and Hummus Sandwich or Wraps
  • Garden Salad
  • Baked Potatoes with Steamed Greens
  • Leftovers

Snack

  • Veggies and hummus
  • fruit
  • smoothies
  • Chips and avocado
  • applesauce with seeds

Dinner

I’m trying to add more greens to my meals. We have 3-4 meetings this week in the evening so I may not be cooking much but I’ll have a plan on the days I can.

Have you taken a Meal Planning break this summer? I’m always tempted too and I may from time to time but I always do better with a plan.

 

 

Meal Plan Monday: Avoiding Allergens

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What do you cook when you can’t use your favorite foods? That is what we have been wrestling with since we found out about my son’s allergies/sensitivities, you can read more about them here.

We have drastically changed our diet before; it has been over a year and a half since we switched from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a whole food, plant-based diet. About a year ago I realized my youngest son had a problem with gluten and wheat and removed it from his diet and decreased its use overall in our household. Now we find ourselves trying to remove almost 30 different allergens, many of them are staples in our home.

Dealing With It

I was texting with a friend about all of these changes recently and I told her, “it’s much easier shelling out advice than dealing with it every meal.” I’ve “coped” by relying on more processed food. I don’t like feeding my family a lot of processed food but it has made it a little easier; especially since our babysitter will be out of town for the summer and I’m trying two new sitters to take her place. His normal snacks of bananas with almond butter, homemade granola bars and a handful of walnuts are no longer an option. The giant bag of Veggie Straws have become a welcome “junk food” while we figure this out. I’ve also been cooking pasta often, not one of my favorites but my son LOVES it. (A note: we are still a whole food family. We are eating lots of grains, potatoes, fruits and veggies.)

Meal Plan

Breakfast

Lunch

Snack

  • Chips and Salsa
  • Smoothies
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Raw Veggies
  • Muffins

Dinner

  • Taco Potatoes (recipe coming later this week)
  • Enchiladas with Mexican Rice
  • Cauliflower Steaks, Sautéed Mushrooms, and steamed veggies
  • Mushroom, Basil, and Marinara Pasta with a garden salad
  • Potato and Broccoli Casserole or a giant Broccoli topped Baked Potato with Faux Cheese Sauce

You may have noticed a severe lack of BEANS! I love beans, we love beans! My son’s IgG came back with a sensitivity to Lima Beans and Pinto Beans (also Green Peas) but not Green Beans. Since the test didn’t include other types of beans we are avoiding those for now as well. I’ve read that many people with nut allergies also have bean allergies. Since it is very hard to keep my kids from “sharing” my food I’m focusing on meals that do not include beans. I am adding beans to my dish though. I have a bean addiction!

What would you add to the Meal Plan?

Adventures in Allergies

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Last week we got the results back from my 2 year old’s IgG. An IgG tests for food sensitivities, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Here is our story.

black and white 2

Even as a newborn, our son had bad skin. We were extremely careful with any products that he might come into contact with like laundry detergent, baby creams, etc. but still his poor little skin was covered in eczema from head to toe. Once he was old enough to scratch himself his skin would bleed from the constant scratching. People were always commenting on his skin and I tried to keep him covered to avoid more self-inflicted damage.

Our pediatrician told me to eliminate dairy to see if it helped but we didn’t notice any big changes. Her solution was to cover him in hydrocortisone twice a day. Once he got a little older (I think around 3 months) he was old enough for this whole body oil that is only to be used in the more severe cases of eczema and only for a short amount of time. That had me a little worried but it helped, some. Our doctor told me he would have to use the hydrocortisone forever.

We changed to a plant-based diet when he was 10 months old. He was mostly breastfed but ate fruit, veggies, and some grains. Some times his skin got better, other times it was a lot worse. Additionally, he would get horrible diaper rashes that took a long time to heal.

Go Nuts

We don’t know of any family history of food allergies so the pediatrician gave the go ahead for nuts around 12 months. He loved peanut butter and ate it regularly for a while then I noticed he would begin to cry and his mouth and hands would turn red and he would also scratch at his neck when he ate peanut butter. I mentioned this to the pediatrician. She said I could try almonds and almond milk. He didn’t appear to have a reaction.

She never recommended allergy testing. She encouraged me to give him eggs and “soft meat like hotdogs.” I kid you not! Our pediatrician recommended hotdogs, she knew we were eating plant-based. That is when I fired our pediatrician, there were other issues too, but the hotdog recommendation was just too much.

Removing Wheat

When he was 17 months old I got the idea to remove gluten/wheat from his diet. His skin began clearing up, not completely but the difference was undeniable. After a few weeks of this we went on a road trip. We didn’t have a lot of healthy food options and let him eat some bread or tortillas. Boom! His skin was inflamed from head to toe and wait for it… here comes that nasty diaper rash.

Wheat/gluten were definitely (at least part) of the problem. Once we removed gluten from his diet his skin was mostly clear with a few problem areas like behind the knees and the inside creases of the elbow.

We had no idea what was causing the other skin problems. We also noticed that his tummy was almost always sticking out and very hard. He was a pooping machine, 4-5 times just in the morning was normal. I knew there was a problem but I didn’t know what. It seemed like something was affecting his gut.

The Wakeup Call

In February I ran across this blog post by Jennifer at It’s an Itchy Little World. She recounts her son’s anaphylaxis experience. If you don’t do anything else today read this story. I knew I needed to get him tested. I researched different tests, different doctors and finally settled on a Naturopathic doctor that was close by. My husband took our son in to get the blood draw, I’m not good with anything involving blood and pass out from it regularly. I know, I’m cool like that.

This was the first time I realized my sons reaction to peanuts could get worse. I also considered all of the other symptoms and what they could be doing to his body.

The Results

I’m not sure if all test results are broken down like this; ours are classified into 0, 1,2 and 3s. The zeros mean he has no allergy/intolerance, the 1s are a slight allergy/intolerance, 2s are a moderate allergy/intolerance, and 3s are severe. Please note that this is not an “official” interpretation of the test just the best way I can relate. Our doctor told us to focus on removing the 2s and the 3s. She was concerned that he showed so many intolerances.

Ones

  • Asparagus
  • Banana
  • Barley
  • Lima Beans
  • Pinto Beans
  • Bran
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carrots
  • Cheddar Cheese
  • Grapefruit
  • Mustard
  • Green Peas
  • Rye
  • Watermelon

Twos

  • Cottage Cheese
  • Egg Whites
  • Gluten
  • Malt
  • Wheat
  • Yogurt

Threes

  • Almonds
  • Cashews
  • Egg Yolk
  • Oats
  • Peanuts
  • Pineapple
  • Sesame
  • Walnuts

Our Reactions

We sat in the office looking over the results. My husband would say the foods our son is allergic to, then shake his head. I think he wanted to cry. I was ok, confident even. After all, I’m the one my friends call when they have food or allergy questions. I cook for people with allergies ALL THE TIME. It hadn’t really sunk in yet.

I asked the doctor if there was anything we needed to consider since we eat plant-based and he would no longer be eating nuts. She wasn’t concerned, knowing we feed him well, but recommended EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) and to continue the probiotic we had already started. I asked her about cow’s milk, it came back as a 0 but cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt all showed a sensitivity. She thought it probably had something to do with the fact that he hasn’t really been exposed to cows milk. It as .001 from being in allergy range and I will continue to avoid it. She was shocked that wheat and gluten still registered as 2s since he hasn’t had it in a very long time. We talked about his reaction to peanuts and she prescribed an Epi Pen.

My husband got up early the next morning and read all the labels in the pantry. Later that morning I walked in the pantry and instead of being a happy place I felt like it was a potential minefield. It is full of wheat, peanut butter, lots of nuts, lots of grains, lots of beans, etc.

Later in the day we were all running errands. My husband stayed in our car with the boys while I ran in to get a few things, including some quick snacks our son could eat. It wasn’t our normal Sprout’s, it was packed and I suddenly felt the entire weight of all of these restrictions. Every box I picked up, every package contained an offending ingredient. Now I wanted to cry, if there had been a comfy place I would have curled up and had a good sob. Thankfully I found a few things that would work for a while and made my way over to the EFAs. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I got help from a super-duper employee that pointed me in the right direction and helped me find plant-based (vegan) EFAs.

Eating

I’m still wrapping my head around all of this. When it’s time to eat I can’t grab walnuts, a banana or a granola bar, even hummus (sesame) and carrots could be a problem. His typical and favorite breakfast was oatmeal with walnuts and almond milk; lunch was almond butter on gluten-free (but contained egg) bread, with banana, and dinner usually contains beans.

One Week

It’s been a week since we received this news. Since removing all of the 2 and 3 and mostly removing the 1s my sons tummy is noticeably smaller and softer. I never knew he had creases, it was always to bloated. Unfortunately he has been crankier. I attribute it to a little detox and to him being hungry. Most of his favorites are on the list above. He isn’t enjoying his new options. He is also scratching more. I’m hoping this resolves soon.

Thankful

As I reflect on all of this I’m incredibly thankful that he as been as healthy as he has been. I’m thankful that he hasn’t had a severe anaphylactic reaction. I thank God for protecting him and leading us to get the testing done. I’m also thankful that I am, at least somewhat, equipped to handle this.

If you have read all of this thank you for sharing in our journey. This will still be a plant-based adventure for us, now just a little more allergy friendly.

If you have blogs, recipes or other resources that would be helpful please share them. I love the community I’ve found online and the way we journey together. Also, I’m new at this, if I say something ignorant or offensive please forgive me. Send me an email to let me know and I’ll try to correct myself. We also have a lot of other exciting things going on that I’ll share some other time. We appreciate your prayers!

“My Beef With Meat” an Interview with Rip Esselstyn & Engine 2 Recipes

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My Beef with Meat comes out today! I haven’t read it yet but I can hardly wait to. Engine 2 is a trusted brand for whole, plant-based nutrition and education.

I discovered Engine 2 at the beginning of my plant-based journey. After seeing Rip on Forks Over Knives I went into a Barnes & Noble and parked myself in a comfy seat and started reading The Engine 2 Diet. It was such an easy and informative read. My Beef with Meat is said to be a definitive guide to convincing everyone that plant-based eating is the way to go. I will be buying it!

August 2011
August 2011

When we first transitioned to a plant-based diet we had no idea what we were doing. I’m sure you can relate too. We wanted to eat food that would nourish and fuel our bodies. We didn’t know how to shop or cook for health. As we searched we were bombarded with vegan foods that were far from healthy. Engine 2 was an easy to understand, reliable source of information. Rip’s Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue was eye opening; goodbye Earth Balance, you’ll be missed.

Our Journey

Me and my sweetheart Feb 2012
After February 2012

Since changing our diet I found relief from chronic bladder problems including a possible interstitial cystitis diagnosis and lost weight, you can read more about my story here. My husband’s story is truly inspirational. He has lost over 50 pounds and no longer needs medication for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, asthma, acid reflux, and seasonal allergies.

– – –

Let’s chat with Rip

Why did you write this book?

I’ve discovered that there is a HUGE disconnect between what people think is healthy and what
medical science knows to be healthy; for example, people have been bamboozled into believing
that olive oil, Greek yogurt, chicken, and fish are healthy. Many people think the diet of the day
is salmon, low fat dairy, and olive oil, washed down with a glass of red wine and a Lipitor pill for
good measure. This is how confused, distracted, and off-course we have gotten–because this is
NOT a good diet!

This book explains to plant eaters and meat eaters alike why a whole food, plant-strong diet
rocks on a jillion different levels, hence the subtitle: The Healthiest Argument for Eating a
Plant-Strong Diet. The primary driving force behind the book was to delve deeper into the major
myths that keep surfacing about eating plants, such as: “You won’t get enough protein”, “You
won’t get enough calcium”, “Eating plants is too expensive”, “Real men (and women) eat
meat”, “Olive oil is heart-healthy”, and “Moderation in everything.”
The book shows how wrong each of these myths is. It gives the reader real science, not fad-diet
talk. One of the titles we thought about was “How to Win an Argument with a Meat-eater” and
believe me, after reading this book, you will never lose another argument with a carnivore
again.

By the way, once you’ve won the argument, you can start cooking up any one of the 140 lipsmacking,
rib-sticking outrageously good recipes to prove your point with food as well as with
words.

There are some controversial things you tackle in this book, like The Paleo Diet. Why did you decide to address that specific diet?

The two big dueling diets right now are paleo and planteo. I believe that the paleo diet is just a
good gimmick. The paleo people have taken the South Beach/Atkins diets and put a little spin
on it. There are some positives with paleo, such as no refined or processed foods, and no dairy
products. But any diet that promotes animal products with saturated fats, and animal protein
isn’t promoting health. The consensus among the researchers who have studied the diets of
humans in paleo times have said that at least 80 percent of their food was plant-based. Yes,
they ate some animals, but we’ve evolved since then, we’re smarter; we do not need, want, or
get healthy from animal products. Back in the day, you would do anything you could to get
calories into your body–it was a matter of survival. But in this day and age, you can go down
the street to any grocery store and get all that you need without resorting to animal flesh.
An interesting article in US News & World Report in 2011 reviewed many different popular diets
and decided that the one people should avoid is the paleo diet.
What about the people who say that they get results from a paleo diet? That’s because the
Standard American Diet (SAD) is such an abomination you will get good results when switching to
any diet that is even remotely healthier. If you want to get to the next step, cut out the meat!

Do your kids like eating this way?

My kids, Kole and Sophie, do not like eating this way–they LOVE eating this way! They have no interest in eating anything from animals. If they find out that cake and ice-cream offered to them has things like eggs, butter or milk they politely decline. Kole and Sophie love mangoes, grapefruit, brown rice, baked tofu, peanut butter on whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, cheese-less whole grain pizza and banana ice-cream. Kole was hungry, and I told him I’d give him anything he wanted. Guess what he asked for…. he asked for broccoli!

What else do you have a beef with?

The huge disconnect with what people think is healthy and what we actually know to be healthy. This creates confusion and distraction. The answer is so incredibly simple. Eat more whole plant-based foods!

I have a beef with dairy.

I have a beef with processed/refined foods.

I have a beef with the Mediterranean diet.

I have a beef with drinking your calories.

I have a beef with olive oil and ALL other extracted oils.

I have a beef with supplements.

I have a beef with the belief that carbs are the devil.

I have a beef with the myth that soy is evil.

I have a beef with “everything in moderation.”

But — I have no beef with plants!

– – –

Engine 2 was kind enough to include a couple of recipes!

photo courtesy of Engine 2 Diet

Banana Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tablespoon vanilla

¾ cup natural chunky peanut butter

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 cups old fashioned oats

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt (optional)

½ cup non-dairy chocolate chips or raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper

3. Mix bananas, vanilla, peanut butter and maple syrup into a creamy consistency in a large bowl

4. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they are well combined -the batter should be slightly sticky. 

6. Fold in the chocolate chips or raisins

7. Place rounded, heaping tablespoon-sized balls of the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet

8. Bake for 15-18 minutes

9. Gobble these up while they are still warm

©Engine2Diet

– – –

Photo courtesy of Engine 2 Diet

Polenta Pizza

Prep time: 15 minutes, Cook time: 20 minutes, Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3-4 cups water (depending on your brand of polenta)

1 cup polenta

16 oz. E2 approved tomato sauce

2 cups fresh spinach

3 large tomatoes, sliced

1 cup pineapple, cubed

½ cup roasted red peppers

2 cloves garlic, crushed

(Other favorite pizza toppings: mushrooms, arugala, asparagus, or olives)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Prepare pizza stone by sprinkling with corn meal or lining a pan with parchment paper

3. To boiling water, add polenta and whisk until mixture thickens and there are no clumps

(instructions for preparing polenta vary from brand to brand -check the specific preparation

instructions for your type of polenta)

4. Pour polenta mixture onto pizza stone or pan and flatten into desired crust shapes: round pizza,

square pizza, mini-pizzas, elephant pizza, fire-hydrant pizza

5. Precook the polenta crusts for 10 minutes

6. Remove crusts from oven, add sauce, toppings and sprinkle with nutritional yeast

7. Return to oven and cook in oven for 10 minutes

8. Slice into generous portions and serve warm.

©Engine2Diet

Meal Plan Monday: Back to Mexican Food (What we thought of the purchased meal plan)

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brownies, garden HC grilled avocado 160 (45)

My adoration of Mexican food has been greatly documented here! We enjoy it a few times a week, except last week. I had purchased a meal plan from Happy Herbivore as an experiment. I love her recipes and her cooking style is very similar to mine so I thought I’d give it a try.

Happy Herbivore Meal Plan Review

I knew going in that there was no Mexican food, she actually lists many of the recipes so you know what you are getting before you purchase it. The Happy Herbivore Meal Plans include a calendar with each meal planned out, a complete shopping list, and instructions for every recipe. It is very easy to follow. There are individual and family meal plans available for a low price.

What I liked

I thought the $5 price was reasonable, especially for busy people who don’t have time to sit and plan. The shopping was easy because everything was on the list. We were able to try new things we wouldn’t have picked on our own. The meal plan is mostly gluten and soy free but can easily be adapted and gives instructions for those substitutions. As already mentioned these plans are very easy to follow and takes most of the work out of preparing for dinner, of course you still have to shop and cook.

What I didn’t like

We had a few problems with the meal plan. First, it was too much food for us. I don’t cook a new dish for every meal. Second, I also spent about twice as much as I typically would. That really surprised me, I think it is because I bought wraps/crackers that I wouldn’t normally buy often. Also, the list included produce that was more expensive than I would typically choose, like frozen mango. Third, some of the recipes just weren’t our thing. If you follow me on Facebook, you heard that we had a bad experience with the Red Lentil Dal, BLECK! My kids weren’t very receptive to most of the dinner recipes, we gave them small amounts to try then ended up making them something else.

The Verdict

To be fair, we still have a lot of those groceries left because I didn’t follow the meal plan exactly. You could pick and choose which recipes work for your family. This weeks meal plan has plenty of Mexican food. I think the Happy Herbivore Meal Plans are a good idea for a lot of people, especially if you are open to trying a lot of different types of recipes and wanting to maintain a low calorie diet. If you are new to plant-based eating and want a no fuss plan for eating healthy then give these a try.

– – –

Our Meal Plan

This week I’ll be getting back to normal, sort of. This is Healthy Cravings week so my cooking schedule will be a little different. On the plus side, it is a potluck so I don’t have to do all of the cooking. I’ve had smaller than normal RSVPs so I think the potluck part is a little intimidating for some.

You’ll notice that I don’t plan all of our meals. I try to cook large enough amounts that we have leftovers and my kids will often eat sandwiches for lunch. Sometimes I pull out a variety of raw veggies and salad dressing and we call that a meal. This work for our family better than a highly structured plan.

Breakfast Quinoa

Breakfast

I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen in the mornings so we will likely eat:

 

Lunch

We often eat leftovers for lunch, most of these dishes are easily built with leftover ingredients.

  • Veggie Wraps with greens, bell peppers, sliced carrots, and cucumbers
  • Black Bean and Quinoa Bowl with avocado
  • Baked Sweet Potatoes
  • Taco Salad

Snacks

We regularly have morning and afternoon snacks depending on our schedule. I try to focus on fruit and veggies most of the time. The kids love anything they can dip.

grilled avocado 160 (47)

Dinner

Is there one type of food you eat over all the others? Have you purchased a Meal Plan? Tell us about your experience!

Meal Plan Monday: Did You Plan?

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Confession time, I didn’t Meal Plan. This week I wanted to try something different so I bought a Meal Plan. We just started it so I’m not going to share all the details until I can objectively report back.

This is the first time I’ve bought a Meal Plan online. So far I’ve spent way more time on it than I would my own Meal Plan. I have a friend who buys meal plans online regularly and likes it.

Do you create your own meal plan each week/month or do you buy one? I regularly get referrals from Meal Planning and Recipe sites but I’ve never tried one until now. I hope to report back next week and let you know what we thought about this particular Meal Plan.

In the mean time I’d love to hear about your Meal Planning experience. If you really need some ideas check out the Meal Planning tab or the Recipe tab at the top of the page.

Until then I’ll share a few pictures of things we’ve been eating. Most of these photos are pretty rough but the food sure tasted delicious.

 

Shepherds Pie for the Virtual Vegan Potluck
Shepherds Pie for the Virtual Vegan Potluck

 

Mexican Casserole with homemade Pico
Mexican Casserole with Homemade Pico

 

Holly's House Italian
Holly’s House Italian

 

My 2 year olds fingers steal my Taco Salad
My 2 year olds fingers steal my Taco Salad

 

Grilled Portobello Steaks, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, green beans, and mushroom gravy.
Grilled Portobello Steaks, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, green beans, and mushroom gravy.