My Plant-Based Family

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

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Gratituesday: Easter

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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]

Meal Plan Monday: Unscheduled

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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.

Meal Plan

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.  

Gratituesday: Abundance

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We have been eating leftovers since Friday, and we love it. I made a huge feast for us and some friends and I even sent home some of the leftovers with them. Truth be told, if there leftovers weren’t as tasty we may not be as grateful, but we should be. 

If we go hungry it is because of choice, not because of means. We have been blessed. We can’t afford everything we want but we can usually buy everything we need. 

We have made the choice to invest in good, healthy, whole food. This doesn’t have to be as expensive as some say it is but it isn’t super cheap either. We don’t always buy organic but sometimes do. The food we buy rarely comes in boxes, it is often not on sale, and there are no coupons.

My family eats healthy food everyday. There are some days where we eat too many animal crackers or make poor choices based on poor planning or junk food cravings but on the whole what we eat nourishes our bodies.

I’m so thankful that we have the means to feed our family well. We don’t have the latest gadgets, we don’t have cable, and if we are up on the latest trends it is by accident BUT we have our health! Our health is fueled by our food!

To read about how I overcame multiple health problems including reoccurring UTIs, bladder spasms, and a possible interstitial cystitis diagnosis read my story here.

I’m happy to say I’m still symptom free which is another thing to be thankful for!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Split Pea Soup

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Before last week I had never eaten Split Pea Soup. The only pea’s I had prepared had come from a can. I’m sure I ate some pea’s from my great-grand mother’s garden but I can’t really remember. My awesome friend Amanda make’s Split Pea Soup regularly so I thought I’d give it a try.

I actually followed someone else’s recipe, which is rare for me. Check out Susan’s recipe from  FatFreeVegan  here. I am a big fan of her site and blog. I’ve made a lot of recipes and they turn our great. 

I do not have a pressure cooker so I used the regular cooking method. I also did not have basil or thyme so I omitted those. There was definitely something missing so it may have been one of those. This isn’t my favorite soup by I did inhale it very fast. Susan was right about it being better the next day. I made it on a Friday and tried it again on Monday and it was really good. I ended up finishing it for breakfast on Tuesday. Since I had never had Split Pea Soup I have nothing to compare it to. Next time I make it I’ll use veggie broth instead of water but that is probably the only change I’ll make.

Do you have a favorite Split Pea Soup recipe? Share it in the comments and maybe I’ll make your recipe next time. Happy Eating!

Gratituesday: Our Church Family

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Today I want to express my gratitude for my church family. If you don’t have a church family or don’t know what that means I’ll explain just a bit. We attend a fantastic church. When we moved to Arizona from Oklahoma we left all of our family and a great church. It took several months to find a new church that would be appropriate for us. By approprate I mean:

  • Taught what we believed (the Bible)
  • Friendly
  • Had kid programs that met our families needs
  • Had to “feel” right

There were other things too but these were very important to us. It is almost exactly 5 years that we walked onto the property of our church and had a deep sense of peace, we knew this is where we belonged. It was a Wednesday night and there was a guest speaker, in other words we didn’t even know how this church operated yet but it didn’t matter we were home.

Over the next few months we attended regularly, our kids became involved in the kids programs and I met the best group of women I’ll ever know (they are the friends I talked about last Tuesday).

The people at this church have become our church family, and some of them feel like real family. I’ve spent holidays and birthdays with them, I’ve shared some of my deepest needs and hopes, spent lazy afternoons visiting and we’ve rushed to each others aid when needed. Isn’t that what a family does?

Do you have this? Do you have a church family that loves you, encourages you, and supports you? Or maybe you are a member of a church, do you love, encourage, support other church goers? Do you volunteer your time or give regularly in tithes and offerings?

The first step is to find a church and go, then go regularly. If the first church you go to isn’t right for you pray that God would direct you to the right one. Keep in mind churches are not perfect because they are full of imperfect people, just like families.

Once you are in a church “that you feel is right for you” get involved. If you’re not sure how ask a pastor or a volunteer. Chances are they have been praying for you, yes you! You don’t want to be like a parasite. A parasite lives off of others without giving anything in return. Maybe it’s time to step up and be a part of a church family.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Meal Plan Monday: Be Cheerful

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Happy Monday! Did you hear that cheerfulness? I’m choosing to be cheerful. You should decide now if you will be cheerful today too. Soon the days distractions will take all of your attention, perhaps even a few annoyances will pop up, or maybe even something awful. Let’s do our best and choose to be happy and count our blessings. I know it is not always easy, trust me, but I’ll try.

This weekend I cooked a pot of black eyed peas and a pot of chickpea’s. I have a pot of pinto beans that have soaked all night and I’ll start cooking soon. You may be thinking, whoa, that is a lot of beans. You are right! We ate all the leftovers over the weekend and hand almost nothing that could be thrown together without a lot of prep.

My husband LOVES black eyed peas, I have no idea why. I have memories of eating one spoonful a year on New Year’s Day because it was supposed to bring good luck. Maybe I should give them another chance, but not for luck just to see if I can appreciate them now.

Recently I’ve ran across several recipes that call for chickpea’s and I’m hoping to give them a try this week. In our house pinto beans are like a miracle food that can be turned into any number of delicious meals in a hurry. So now I have black eyed peas, chickpeas and pinto beans cooked, how will that fit into the meal plan? 

Meal Plan

Breakfast is pretty predictable at my house. We usually eat toast, oatmeal, breakfast quinoa, and sometimes cereal. I hope to cook a big batch of whole wheat pancakes sometime this week for quick breakfasts and snacks on the go.

Lunch is usually leftovers or sometimes a PB&J. I made homemade cashew butter last week so I may try to use it, unfortunately no one in my house seems to really like it. This week the chickpea’s will make a few lunch appearances for me and black eyed peas for my husband.

Dinner

Monday: Mock “tuna” salad (made with chickpeas)

Tuesday:a Spicy Pinto Bean dish that is yet to be created, or maybe nachos or burritos

Wednesday:Cajun Chickpea Cakes from Everyday Happy Herbivore. I love this cookbook! I hope these will pair well with black eyed peas and steamed spinach.

Thursday: Mega Garden Salad with avocado dressing

Friday: Split Pea Soup

I don’t usually assign side dishes because most of the meal I cook are full of veggies. I do have a quite a bit of produce this week. We will be eating carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, red bell peppers, kale, spinach, asparagus, onions, apples, bananas, oranges, and pears. 

Remember how earlier I mentioned choosing to be cheerful, I’m glad I did. In the last hour and a half I have had a few inconveniences including being spit up on, bitten, changing two poopy diapers, kissed several boo boos, started cooking the beans because my computer was frozen, and other typical things that happen with two adventurous boys. Somedays I would have let them derail my cheerful attitude, but not today. I don’t know that I’ll get through the whole day unscathed but I’ll do my best.