My Plant-Based Family

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

Uncategorized

Meal Plan Monday: Eating Well When Short on Time

by Leave a Comment

Yesterday was such a busy day I didn’t get to post my meal plan. I attended a Christmas Party with my husband at a nice Italian restaurant. They brought special food for my husband and I so we were able to enjoy salad, dinner and dessert without animal products. 🙂

We have been so busy lately that I don’t have a lot of time to cook. Honestly, I do have time (usually). I just prioritize poorly. I know you know what I’m talking about because YOU do the same thing. Go ahead and admit it.

This week I’m going to (attempt) to pay closer attention to how long it actually takes to prepare meals. I’ll report back on My Plant-Based Family’s Facebook page. A little note, if you already like my page but don’t see regular posts you may need to add it to your interest list. 🙂

Meal Plan

Breakfast is always easy; oatmeal, granola, cereal, toast with nut butter (or seed butter), and fruit. My husband usually eats fruit but he eat several pieces, he loves smoothies too. Oatmeal is my favorite right now, packed with flax and chia seeds, dried fruit and cinnamon.

Lunch is often leftovers that can be quickly assembled. This Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole is great reheated. Veggie Stuffed Pita with hummus is my favorite lunch. Sometimes my boys get a parfait for lunch. I start with 3/4 cup of non-dairy yogurt, about 1 Tbsp of chia seeds, 2ish Tbsp ground flax seeds, 1/4 cup walnuts, some granola if we have it and dried or diced fruit. Almond butter sandwiches on gluten-free bread make a regular appearance too.

Snacks are often fruit sometimes with almond butter, smoothies, or veggies with hummus. Sometimes something like chips and salsa (and guacamole) are just what I need.

Dinner Time! We eat dinner together as a family, have I mentioned that before? It’s important to us to have that time together. It doesn’t always work but it is the norm. Last night we had salad and pasta at a Christmas party. Later in the week I’ll be making dinner for another family so I plan to make the Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole and take some tortillas and guacamole. Today or tomorrow I plan to make BBQ Chickpea Salad and Three Bean Chili. We still have some cooked black-eyed peas and quinoa that are ready to eat.

To save time I plan to use my slow cooker some this week and eat more big salads; also cooking double batches of things like rice and beans to save time on other days. I’ll also use my microwave to quickly steam veggies and “bake” potatoes. I try to keep cooked beans frozen in 2 cup portions for easy meals.

What are your tips to save time in the kitchen?

Meal Plan Monday: Eat to Live

by Leave a Comment

I had a nice week off to spend with my family and friends and I hope you did too. During Thanksgiving weekend I read Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman. My husband had read/listened to it multiple times and had been trying to incorporate Dr. Fuhrman’s plan for a while. I’m sure it was difficult for him since I had not yet read the book.

Now that I have read the book I’ll be trying to incorporate it into our diet. I’m sure I wont do it perfectly, especially since we have little kids who need to eat a little differently but I can strive toward it. 🙂

If you haven’t read Eat to Live I will say that it is a must read, but you may want to spread it out and not read it all in one weekend because it is a lot to take in. I’ll share more about what I learned another day.

Meal Plan

Breakfast will be a combination of oatmeal, Breakfast Quinoa, fruit, and smoothies. Today’s oatmeal contained oats, chia seeds, ground flax, and cranberries.

Lunches should be a big salad but I usually prefer them stuffed in a pita or leftover soup. My soups and salads will be made up of a variety of beans, celery, carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. My kids will eat plenty of PB and almond butter sandwiches.

Snacks will be veggies and hummus, muffins and yogurt parfaits for the boys, smoothies, and fruit with almond butter.

Dinner will be big salads and hearty soups. I also hope to remake and post the recipe for an incredible Mexican Casserole I made a few weeks ago. It was easy and delicious. I’m not a big cauliflower fan but I’m thinking of trying cauliflower rice I’ve seen on numerous blogs. I’m also craving the flavors in my Enchilada and Taco Soups and I have a big fat avocado that is slowly ripening. I may pair it with Spicy Black Bean Soup.

Most of the meals this week will be quick since they use fresh veggies but I need to make another batch of my Veggie Broth Mix. I got dried mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes to add to the mix like Somer at Vedged Out recommended in the comments. She had made a version and added them with great results. Then Sarah at Gazing In made her version and I just had to expand my base mix and add the mushrooms and tomatoes.

I also plan to make some quinoa this week for a little whole grain variety.

Have you read Eat to Live? If so, do you follow it?

October Healthy Cravings Recap

by Leave a Comment

Last week I had a great time at my Healthy Cravings group. I kept it much simpler than in September but it worked out well.

I made Chili and Taco Soup. My friend Cara brought over her Vitamix demonstrated making a soup for everyone.

is always a crowd pleaser so I made a batch with chocolate chips and a loaf without. I also made the Pumpkin Cupcakes I shared yesterday. I frosted some with Chocolate Mousse and they disappeared! I always send leftovers home with the ladies who attend. One of the ladies told me when she woke up the next morning all of the banana bread and pumpkin cupcakes she took home were gone and no one would admit to eating them! She also mentioned that her husband really like the Taco Soup.

November’s Healthy Cravings is on the 8th!

 

Almond Dream Dessert Bites Review

by Leave a Comment

For the record no one asked me to do this review. Recently I was checking out the freezer section at my local Sprout’s when I saw these little yummy looking bites. I picked them up, looked over them, then put them back. The lady next to me said, “those are really good.” She told me how she will often have three pieces (serving size is 15) after dinner for a nice little treat.

I decided to try them. When I got home and got the groceries put away you better believe I tore into that little container. I ate one and it was heaven. Yes, I’m sure I could have eaten the whole container but I did not. After all these are not a health food, but sometimes you need something a little on the junk food side.

Since these are made with almond milk they are non-dairy but they don’t taste different from the normal treats I grew up eating. It kind of reminded me of Snickers ice cream bars.

All in all I loved it. These probably wont make it into my shopping cart every week because I try not to eat this type of dessert often. These are perfect for an occasional treat and very tasty. I think they will make the perfect after dinner taste of chocolate that often crave.

Have you tried these Almond Dream Dessert Bites? What did you think about them?

Date Night Food

by Leave a Comment

My husband and I are pretty passionate about keeping a regular date night. When we first got together he had three kids already so we didn’t really go on dates. It was too expensive to get a baby sitter and go out.

Now we make dates a priority. When we changed our diet a year ago we were a little nervous about what we would be able to eat. We aren’t really into expensive fancy places, but we have a few favorites where we can order healthy meat-free and dairy-free food.

Pita Jungle

By far our favorite place to go is Pita Jungle. We are kind of regulars now. We have our favorite server, Benjamin and we try to always sit in his section. When we walk in we can tell that they are really happy to see us. 🙂 We like that. They have delicious food; although meat and dairy are served at Pita Jungle they have plenty of vegan options too, you can check out this chart.

We usually order the large Jalapeno Hummus. It is AMAZING! The hummus is served with pita’s that come out soft and warm. If you are gluten-free you can order cucumber slices. I’m in love with their Lentil Fetoosh Salad. I wish I knew what spices are on it because I’d recreate it often. My husband orders a Lavosh Pizza without cheese and adds hummus. They have a few new seasonal specials that we tried recently; the coconut curry soup and curry pita pizza. They were delicious and my first time trying curry. The soup comes in a huge bowl and is very inexpensive, I think I’ll make it my regular order this winter.

We have also ordered food for carry out and it was excellent as well.

Chipotle

Occasionally we decide we are in the mood for something else and decide to go to Chipotle. I always order a veggie bowl with black beans, brown rice, corn salsa, mild salsa, spicy salsa, and guacamole. I love it! My husband prefers the pinto beans and white rice. I love that I can share this with my son who is gluten-free too.

Vito’s

Vito’s is a local Italian restaurant that is incredibly good and has been around since the 80s. I always order a Vegetarian Pizza without cheese. You can order it on a gluten-free crust for a small up charge. It is a little pricier so we don’t go there often but I’ve never been disappointed. We like to pick Vito’s when we are going out with other couples because it has something for everyone. If you sign up to receive emails from them you’ll regularly get coupons for buy one pizza get one free.

Sorry for the poor pictures, they were all taken with my phone on actual dates. I hope you enjoyed a peek at our date night cuisine.

Are you keeping up with the Vegan Month of Food? Check it out!

 

 

Veggie Kids

by Leave a Comment

Meet my Veggie Kids! They are 3 1/2 and 20 months. The are also both pretty stinkin awesome!

Sharing an apple

Their whole world revolves around food. They are “good eaters” and normally eat a lot, although they prefer to graze. I hear requests all day long for apples and banana’s. The 20 month little guys says “amanas” instead of bananas.

Sometimes one apple just isn’t enough.

The 3 1/2 year old loves eating leaves; he eats spinach mostly but will eat raw kale too. We give him a tiny bit of salad dressing to dip the leaves in.

Eating his leaves.

We made the move to plant-based 1 year ago and I’m so happy with their progress. Before we made the switch the big guy was a drive-thru, fast food junkie! He has come a long way.

He doesn’t really prepare his own meals. 🙂

The little guy hasn’t really been exposed to much unhealthy food. He can’t handle gluten so fast food isn’t really an option.

Soaking wet, checking out this tree.
Becoming quite the “tree hugger”

A few of their favorite recipes are: GF Apple Muffins, GF Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, Baked Potatoes, Parfaits, Smoothies, Unfried Beans and Mexican Rice, Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole among other recipes you can check out on my Recipe Page.