My Plant-Based Family

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

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Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

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Are you making a special plant-based Valentine’s Day meal?

I got an email from a reader who wanted to know what I suggested for a special Valentine’s Day meal. Her husband asked if she could make a plant-based meal, even though he isn’t plant-based. Sounds like a sweetheart!

Veggie Pad Thai

I used to suggest big fancy meals but these days I’m all about keeping it simple. My recommendation was Veggie Pad Thai! I know, it’s not a traditional choice but it’s easy to make, cooks quickly, and is easy to adapt based on what you like.

My husband loves the Veggie Pad Thai. I do a mix of both of our favorite veggies and give him more of the mushrooms while I take more of the peppers. He likes to drizzle Sriracha on top.

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean you need to put yourself out to make a meal. Spending less time in the kitchen so you can spend more time with your family seems like a win to me.

I know that some of you are over the top kind of people. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean that you love creating big elaborate meals for your family. That is awesome! Go for it!

If Pad Thai isn’t your thing, I’ve got a few other recipes for you. You can check out my post from 5 years ago (yes, I’ve been blogging that long) when my kids were little!

Chickpea Nuggets are vegan, gluten-free, and a fun kid food. They are easy to make and delicious.

More Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Ideas

If I had plenty of time and energy, I’d plan a kid friendly meal of Chickpea Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy and veggies. I’d probably have a veggie tray or big salad too.

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Something you may not have heard yet, my Chickpea Nugget recipe is included in Ocean Robbins new book, The 31 Day Food Revolution! I’m so excited to read this book. You should check it out if you are looking for new reading material.

Plant-Based Dessert

Of course, we can’t forget about dessert. If there was any time to have desserts it’s random mid-week holidays, err, I mean Valentine’s Day. HA HA, just kidding. You don’t have to convince me to have dessert.

Banana Muffins with Chocolate Plant-Based Valentine's day

You can tell from my dessert page that I love chocolate. My husband never really liked chocolate but he has come around a bit. He still won’t eat a lot but he enjoys it in small amounts. With that in mind, big desserts are out, but smaller desserts like chocolate covered strawberries made with Enjoy Life Foods chocolate are totally in.

Another option we love is making my Banana Bread into muffins and putting chocolate chips (or chunks) in half of them.

What is your idea of a perfect plant-based Valentine’s Day meal? Do you like simple, elaborate, family friendly or romantic?

Family Update

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It’s been over a year since I’ve been actively blogging or creating recipes. As you may know, my son was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2018 after months of unexplained medical issues that no one could diagnose.

Steven the Brave
Steven the Brave Dec 2018 after getting home from 11 day hospital stay.

Leukemia is not caused by lifestyle choices. It was not caused by anything we did and nothing could have been done to prevent it. There are different types of leukemia and the type our son has, has a 90% survival rate with traditional treatment.

Steven the Brave
Steven back in the hospital. This was after a week in the ICU. He spent another two weeks in the hospital on this visit.
Steven the Brave with Nurse Kate
Steven would help his nurses draw labs.

Cancer Treatment

Over the last year, he has handled his treatment really well. There have been ups and downs, with many complications. We’ve lost track of how many hospital stays he has had, almost always for over a week, sometimes almost a month.

He is in remission but has 3 years of chemo to go. Since leukemia is a blood cancer, treatment lasts for years. He takes daily oral chemo and monthly IV chemo.

Chemo is brutal. He still deals with nausea, fatigue, neuropathy, dizziness and pain. More than that, it takes a toll on the whole family. It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever faced and it’s not over.

We tried to keep everyone up to date at Steven the Brave’s Facebook page.

Steven the Brave with pup
Steven loved visiting with Therapy Dogs at the hospital. It was always a highlight.

New Normal

We are slowly trying to find a semblance of “normal” life. It’s a new normal, nothing like the life we lived before but we choose to move forward.

Our son is allowed to go back to school and is no longer confined to our home, doctors offices and the hospital. He can walk again! No need for a wheelchair or a walker. Our work schedules have mostly gone back to normal.

My hope is that I can pick up where I left off blogging; creating new recipes and helpful tips that new and established plant-based eaters will love. I had also been working on several projects that I hope to finish up soon.

Steven the Brave

What are your Plant-Based Needs

As I get started again, I really want to hear from you! What can I do to help you be more successful with plant-based eating? Do you need quick recipes, family-friendly recipes, meal plans, snacks, or something else entirely? 

 

My Son Has Cancer

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I was hoping to write this post after getting a good report next week but I feel like I can’t wait.

If you’ve been here for a while you may know that last summer my son started having pain in his feet. During fall, the pain got worse until he couldn’t stand or walk. Even after a hospital stay we didn’t know what caused it.

Last month we learned that he has leukemia. He was handling treatment well until this weekend. We had to rush him to the ER and he is still in ICU.

As you can imagine this is really hard. We are exhausted and spend every moment trying to take care of our son. We’ve had a lot of people reach out and help and we are forever grateful.

I don’t know when I’ll return to creating recipes. My weekly newsletter is on a bit of a break too. You are welcome to follow along on our journey on my sons Facebook page. I’ll get a website up soon so I can update there.

If you want to help you can pray! We need it! A friend set up a fundraising page too if you’d like to help with the finances. We’ve missed weeks of work and will appreciate anything you feel led to do.

One Day Only!

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I’m so excited about this deal I’m sending you a bonus email! Whether you are new to plant-based eating or not, the biggest obstacles are planning and actually preparing healthy food. That is why I have to share this deal!

Meal Mentor One Day Sale

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Today only, you can get the New Year’s Day Detox Bundle from Meal Mentor!

Meal Mentor is the meal planning membership by Happy Herbivore founder Lindsay S. Nixon. She helps you by planning all your vegan meals for the week. Each week, we give you 16 recipes and a shopping list. Most recipes each week can be made in 15 minutes or less. They always use simple and affordable ingredients.

You choose which recipes you want to eat. The shopping list makes getting groceries easy. That way you can skip a recipe if it you aren’t a fan. I know! I really need to learn to like kale.

You don’t have to spend your nights and weekends figuring out what’s for dinner. Take advantage of the Meal Mentor’s bundle and make 2018 the healthiest year yet!

Meal Mentor one day sale

What’s in Meal Mentor’s bundle?
  • 2018 Detox Plan
  • 1-year Annual Membership to Meal Mentor
  • Best of 2017 cookbook
  • Weight-loss Booklet
When you take advantage of the Meal Mentor’s Annual Meal Plan Membership Sale you get a year’s worth of meal plans 75% off! That’s 52 weeks, 52 meal plans, new recipes each week for only $179! (retail $728!)

Got Questions?

Every recipe is vegan (no eggs, no dairy)!

Every recipe is oil-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free! (And no hard-to-find ingredients. Ultra easy and fuss-free!)

Worried you won’t enjoy it? Get a 30 day money back guarantee if you are disappointed!

My son is in a wheelchair

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Life has been crazy! You may have noticed that I haven’t been updating this website much over the last few months. I’ve been diligent to keep the weekly newsletter and Facebook going but it’s been pretty quiet here.

Photo from this summer.

I’ve written about my youngest son before. He is the one who had a bunch of food intolerances and a peanut allergy. Thankfully, a few years ago when we went for his annual allergy visit we were amazed to discover he was no long allergic to peanuts. His food intolerances were better too.

Now that same cute kid is in a wheelchair.

We still don’t know what exactly is wrong. He started having foot and ankle pain this summer. Sometimes he would limp and other times he was fine. We figured it was growing pains.

After school started this fall it got worse. He got to where he hobbled around. I got calls from the school nurse almost every day.

We saw specialists and got a lot of testing, no one could figure it out. Of course, all of that took weeks. Wait a couple of weeks for an appointment, then a week for the test, then a week for the reslults. Then one week he couldn’t put weight on one of his feet. Then next week, the other foot followed.

He is a seemingly healthy 6 year old who can’t stand. After hearing our referral to a neurologist would take months we went to the ER. They were wonderful and ran every test they could imagine. After 3 days they sent us home because they couldn’t figure it out.

That was a month and a half ago.

Before we got foot rests for the wheelchair.

We are thankful to have a great family friend and chiropractor who is helping us work with our family doctor to get answers. They are kind and patient and want to help our son and us deal with this crazy situation.

We are hopeful that the next few weeks will reveal some answers. I won’t share indepth medical information about my son online because he isn’t old enough to consent to that but I wanted you all to know why I’ve been absent.

My son has missed a lot of school, and continues to do so because of multiple appointments for physical therapy, doctor visits and tests. My husband and I have missed a lot of work too.

We are so thankful for all of you who come to this blog looking for recipes and meal plans. Every time you visit it helps my family because of the ads on this site that generate revenue. Even though you didn’t know it, your visit helped meet a need. Thank you!

Some of you saw my posts on Instagram and offered to pray. We thank you! We know that are thousands of people praying for him, many are people we’ve never met.

Friends and family have asked how our son is doing. Most of the time he is doing really well. He instinctively took to his wheelchair immediately and that made things easier. Other times he struggles, as we do, to deal with this. Just imagine how you would feel if you couldn’t stand or walk and didn’t know why or how to fix it. It’s a lot to deal with.

It may be a while before I’m back consistently. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and I’ll continue to share recipes, tips and updates. You can get plant-based tips every Saturday morning by signing up for my weekly email.

Cyber Monday Deals

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I’m not much of a shopper if it means going to busy stores. You can count me in when it comes to online shopping! I found a bunch of great Cyber Monday deals on Amazon! This post will contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something after clicking on a link I share, I’ll make a small commission on it. Thank you!

All of these deals were available at the time I wrote this post. Some may have expired later in the day so hurry if you see something you love! I missed out on a few deals that were already 100% filled.

Instant Pot!

The Instant Pot 6-quart DUO Plus is a 9 in 1 electric pressure cooker! I don’t have this exact model (this one is fancier than mine) but if you’ve been wanting an Instant Pot you need to grab this one today! Save money and grab this one as a Christmas gift for $74.95!

Instant Pot Accessories

I also grabbed this Silicone Lid to use on with my Instant Pot! I’ve been thinking about getting another inner pot so that when one of full of soup in the fridge, I could have another pot to use. Check out other accessories that are on sale today!

High Speed Blender

I love my Blendtec blender! It’s never let me down! Today it’s $189.95.

If you’ve been holding out for a Vitamix today you can get one for only $298.95! 

Silicone Baking Mats

Silicone Baking Mats are a must for oil-free cooking! This is a great deal!

There are also great deals on pots, pans, knives, juicers and so much more!