Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget
I will not be posting a Meal Plan this week but you can visit the Meal Plan Section to see all of the previous Meal Plans.
Instead I’d like to invite you to join Ann from An Unrefined Vegan (she is one of my favorite vegan bloggers) and many other bloggers from around the world for the Virtual Vegan Potluck. Next Monday is the the deadline to sign up, the potluck is on May 12th.
I hope you’ll join us!
One of the stores I shop at most often is called Fresh & Easy and it is indeed fresh and easy. It is the closes store to my house. I could walk there if I had to but I usually just stop in on my way home. I can get in and out in 15 minutes and that is if I go down every isle. They are usually well stocked with almond and coconut milk (although they have stopped carrying soy creamer-BOO!) They have fresh produce and an amazing clearance section. They also have a lot of ready made foods that are pretty darn good, including their spicy hummus, yum!
Recently they started carrying some vegan muffins made with super food. I’ve wanted to try them but I did want to spend the money if I didn’t like them. A good friend of mine bought some yesterday and brought them to our Bible study. I was excited to get a taste but I acted cool and didn’t pounce on them immediately. After a few more minutes had passed I put one on my plate, peeled back the paper and took a small bite. I can not tell you how glad I was that it was only a small bite because they tasted awful. There was no hiding the look on my face although I did refrain from spiting it out. Maybe they were not so bad, I was just expecting something sweet and I vaguely remember the package they came in saying something about fruit, I could see raisins or something, but alas no sweetness.
When my friend inquired as to how they tasted I just said, “these do not taste like MY MUFFINS.” The other muffins sat neatly on the table the whole time. If the weird one of the group (ME) wouldn’t eat them was their really a chance for anyone else.
Have you had an experience like that? Excitement to try a new product or dish only to be very disappointed. It also happened to me Sunday night when I tried freeze dried veggies-Bleck!
For the past five years Tuesday mornings have been a day I would spend time with girlfriends at our weekly Bible study/group therapy sessions/brunch. Childcare is provided so we can just sit together and have a great time with out changing diapers, cleaning up messes, or any of the other things we normally do during that time period. This year I have only been able to attend a few times and I sure have missed it.
I’m so grateful for the women I get to spend time with, the ladies who volunteer their time to love on our babies, and our church who provides a place for us to get together.
What do you do to keep your sanity during the hustle and bustle of a busy week?
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!
A very big and appreciative Thank You goes goes out to Fine Frugality for nominating me for The Versatile Blogger Award. Check out Fine Frugality for more information on all things frugal.
The Versatile Blogger Award is a great way to introduce different bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that awardees and their readers may not have discovered on their own. It’s a great way to reach out and of course, it’s an honor in itself to be recognized!
Once you have been awarded the Versatile Blogger Award, here’s what you do next:
Here are my 15 nominations. These are blogs that I find useful, brilliant, or just plain inspirational.
Now for the random information. Some of these are even unknown by my closest buds.
There you have it, take a minute to check out some of my favorite blogs.
This last weekend we celebrated Easter. As a kid I looked forward to an Easter basket filled with candy and small toys, a big meal and spending the day with family.
How time has changed; this year there were no baskets, no toys, and no big family meal. I do not think those things are bad we just chose not to focus on them. Instead I want to focus on my Savior, Jesus.
I believe that Jesus is the son of God, that He died and rose from the grave and ascended to heaven as the scriptures foretold.
I believe that his life and death paid the penalty for my sin, something I could never deserve or pay on my own.
I believe He did this because of His great love for us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
I am not offended if you choose a different path. I won’t debate my beliefs, but I will not waiver. I don’t live out my faith perfectly. I fail miserably sometimes all the time, but I am grateful that Jesus will not fail me.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onxhvivQYfI]
This will be a different kind of week for us. Our big kids are visiting this week, at least three of us have a stomach bug that is going around, and we plan to eat out a few times. With all of that in mind the Meal Plan will be a little less planned out this week.
Breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal, and toast with fruit. It kind of a free for all at breakfast time. We also have leftover pancakes and breakfast stir fry from yesterday’s brunch.
Lunch will be leftovers, PB&J, easy pasta with marinara, wraps or bean burritos.
Snacks will be hummus and veggies, crackers, apples and banana’s with peanut butter, chips and salsa, and smoothies.
Dinner is a bit up in the air. Since a few of us are a little sick it is hard to plan out our week. We are hoping to go to the zoo one day, my husband and the big kids are planning a trip to the driving range and the big kids will be spending time with friends as well. With that in mind we plan to eat:
Nachos made with quinoa/lentil “meat”, Unfried Beans, guacamole, Homemade Salsa, and faux cheese sauce.
Burritos made with beans, Mexican Rice, and other fixings.
Fajita’s using my Portobello Fajita recipe along with all of the things I mentioned above.
I also plan to make some carrot cake cupcakes this week.
Do you notice a trend, yes we love Mexican food. Our big kids who are not plant-based eaters will be very receptive to this menu. We want our new lifestyle to be inviting to them. Hopefully they don’t get sick or else we may all be living on a steady diet of crackers this week.