My Plant-Based Family

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

Next Step Challenge

Oil-Free Blueberry Muffins

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I admit it, I like to eat pastries for breakfast; but it’s gonna take more than a donut to fuel this chic. Try these oil-free Blueberry Muffins to fuel your day.

The Plant-Based Blueberry Muffins are oil-free and super easy to make. No one will believe these delicious muffins are vegan!

This recipe is similar to The World’s Best Banana Bread. It travels well, isn’t too sweet, and is oil free.

 

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 cup turbinado sugar or raw sugar (I’ve used agave with a good result also)
  • 2 extra ripe bananas, mashed (if your bananas are not very ripe, you may need more sugar and liquid)
  • 1 Tbsp plant milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (regular flour or whole wheat flour with a little more liquid can be used also)
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds or other nuts (optional)

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. In a large mixing bowl add 1 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup turbinado sugar. Mix with a wooden spoon.
  3. Add the bananas, plant milk and vanilla then mix well.
  4. Add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix again.
  5. Add optional nuts and gently fold in the blueberries.
  6. Pour into a sprayed pan muffin pan.
  7. Cook for 25 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.
  8. Remove from pan once cool.

The Plant-Based Blueberry Muffins are oil-free and super easy to make. No one will believe these delicious muffins are vegan!

These are great with a cup of coffee or even smoothie. I like to make them for brunch or potlucks. The hold up well in a lunch box and don’t need to be refrigerated.

This recipe can also be made in a loaf pan and baked for 40 minutes or in a jumbo muffin pan and baked for 35 minutes.

The Plant-Based Blueberry Muffins are oil-free and super easy to make. No one will believe these delicious muffins are vegan!

What are your favorite kind of muffins? Blueberry will always be my favorite but I love almost every kind of muffins! Have you tried my Strawberry Banana Muffin recipe yet? It’s just as good!

1 Year of Blogging…A Year in Review

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Tomorrow marks my 1 year blogiversary. It’s also my husbands birthday. My birthday was New Year’s Eve so we have all kinds of celebrating going on here.

I thought the best way to celebrate 1 year of blogging was to list some of the highs and lows from the last year.

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Food Related

  • I’ve made a lot of great friends in the blogosphere and some new friends in the real world.
  • Healthy Cravings got off to a great start.
  • We’ve had a lot of friends make the change to a plant-based diet.
  • I realized my youngest son has a gluten intolerance and had to reevaluate they way we ate…again.
  • I created a bunch of original recipes and had a blast in the process.
  • I hosted or co-hosted a lot of parties and meetings.

Apple Cinnamon Muffin

Blog Related

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Personally

  • Our daughter moved in with us this summer but moved back to her mom’s right before Christmas.
  • I went on my first women’s retreat and loved it.
  • One of my dearest friends had a stroke and continues to recover. This event shaped everything else and I’ll always remember it as being the “biggest” thing in 2012.
  • We took our annual trip back to Oklahoma and Texas to visit family. I got to travel solo to Texas to visit my dad in the fall.
  • I started helping out in the children’s ministries at our church and have loved every minute of it.
  • I stopped nursing! This marks the first time since 2008 that I haven’t been pregnant or nursing or both. I admit I sometimes miss it but I love the freedom.
  • My husband and I celebrated 7 years of marriage, 6 years in Arizona and 5 years (almost 6) at our church. Our boys will be turning 2 and 4 in the next few month.

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Looking Ahead

  • I have a number of recipes I need to post including blueberry muffins, gluten-free chocolate cake, and chocolate frosting.
  • More stories from other plant-based families.
  • I hope to host more parties.
  • Our oldest will be graduating high school in Michigan.
  • I’ll strive to be a better wife, patient mom, consistent housekeeper, healthier cook, persistent in prayer, faithful in bible reading, a more contentious friend and more helpful blogger.

Thank you all for hanging out with me this year! It has been a pleasure spending time with you!

Holly

I’m Looking for YOU!

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Like most of you I’m also looking ahead to 2013. I’m hoping to get healthier, be a better wife and mom, and make a difference in the world around me.

Do you want to help?

I’m looking for a few people who want to come along side me.

Who Am I Looking For?

Individuals or families who are either currently eating a Plant-Based Diet or will be transitioning to one in January 2013.

What Do You Have to Do?

Be interviewed once a month and allow me to post your response and pictures.

What Do You Get Out of It?

The chance to encourage others, individual coaching, and accountability.

If you are interested send me an email at myplantbasedfamily@gmail.com. I’m happy to answer any questions.

I think 2013 is going to be a great year!

UPDATE: I’m overwhelmed with responses! Thank you! I can’t accept any more at this time. If you have emailed me and I haven’t contacted you please let me know.

FAQ’s: Giving Toddlers Milk

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I get a lot of questions through email but one of the most common is about milk. I think most of us have been misled to believe cow’s milk is a nutritionally superior food and we must give it to our kids for them to be healthy. There are many respected doctor’s out there who can properly dispel that lie. Additionally the PCRM (Physicans Committee for Responsible Medicine) has some great literature that can answer a lot of your questions, there is even a section on Nutrition for Kids. Check out Parents’ Guide for Building Better Bones or Health Concerns About Dairy Products. I’ll focus on what works for us. And if it’s ok with you I’ll be completely real.

In Our Cups

We don’t drink dairy. I buy almond milk, rice milk, and occasionally coconut milk. We prefer almond milk to the others. When we first switched to eating plant-based I gave my son (who was 2 years old) a variety of the three. I was afraid of him becoming dependant on one type (or worse one brand) and not being able to find it. In the beginning he drank a lot of plant milk and it was getting expensive. Then our youngest got a little older and we started giving him plant milk too, it became even more expensive.

My boys got to the point that they always wanted milk. I didn’t like that. I decided to start cutting back on the plant milk and offering it less. I didn’t rush this. They always have water available now and love it. Anytime we leave the house we all have our water bottles. I don’t want them to feel like they need a “special” drink, most people drink way too many calories anyway. Now we are down to offering them milk a few time as week. I think this is a success, we were going through 1/2 a gallon a day in the beginning.

In Our Bowls

We eat cereal. I know it’s mostly processed junk but I like to have quick, gluten-free options available. I buy cereal that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have seen in my pantry but will admit I let my kids eat it too often. We prefer almond milk in our cereal and buy both sweetened and unsweetened. Rice milk is too thin for our liking, although our 16 year old daughter prefers it.

In Our Mixing Bowls

When I bake it is usually for an event so I usually use rice milk. So many people have nut allergies so I try to limit the top allergens if I have other options available. Rice milk has a very neutral flavor and seems to work well for baking.

In the Real World

This has been a journey for us. We started eating Plant-based over a year ago. We don’t do it perfectly. Dairy is one of the areas that I am more strict. Last January I was still allowing my son (who was about to turn 3 year old) to have occasional cow’s milk or cheese. I even wrote a post about it called Evil Chocolate Milk Vomit that you may or may not want to read. If we go to a party and my 3 year old wants a piece of cheese I may let him have one but we will talk about how it will make his tummy hurt and he might decide against it. If there is birthday cake I’ll let him have some and not obsess about what is in it. Last week he ate pizza that had cheese on it. Now my youngest son who has a wheat, peanut, and likely dairy allergy is NOT allowed to have any of that. And don’t you even try to sneak him ice cream because I will hurt you!

A little tummy ache is one thing, a full on allergic reaction or flare up that will last days is another. Exposing him to something that will really hurt him is like letting him play with a knife and I won’t knowingly let that happen.

I’ve done my best to keep this mostly focused on giving toddlers milk but focus isn’t really my strong suit. Do you give your kids cow’s milk or plant milk?

New Babies

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We do not have a new baby and we are not expecting! I do have a lot of friends with new babies though. I can easily be transplanted back to those days.

Exhausted, helpless, hungry, cranky, and that was just me. 🙂

I still remember the first time my son really spit up. I thought something was wrong and we needed to take him to the Emergency Room. It was all over me,the baby, the couch, and the floor. My husband, who already had 3 kids, assured me our son was fine and that much spit up/vomit was normal. Poor little guy also had horrible gas pains, the word colic was thrown around a bit too. He also had very sensitive skin and the worse cradle cap I’ve ever seen. Our pediatrician advised me to eliminate dairy from my diet to help with the gas and the skin issues. I hate to say it but I didn’t completely eliminate dairy although I did cut back.

I had several friends who took their newborn’s to a chiropractor. I thought it sounded ridiculous but when my son was about 1 month old I decided to try it. We went to Hill Chiropractic and immediately felt like we made the right decision. Dr. Hill explained to me how traumatic birth is for some babies, for many it’s their first neck injury. If you are in a car accident and injure your neck you may experience pain in more places than one. That could be similar to what a baby experiences. My son received an exam and an adjustment. I was taught a few massage techniques I could do on my son’s tummy to help with his gassiness. If I remember right we went back 1 week later. Our son’s tummy troubles and sleeping dramatically improved.

We had learned our lesson. When our next son was born I called to set up an appointment from the hospital. He was adjusted a few days after he was born and we never had the same digestive issues. My friend Heather at Cultivated Lives recently shared about her daughter’s experience with allergies and colic. Part of her story mentions chiropractic care.

I’ve also taken my son’s to the chiropractor when they had colds or diarrhea that wouldn’t clear up. Many times we choose chiropractic treatments instead of antibiotics for ear infections. All of this took place before we switched to a plant-based diet. I can only imagine how much healthier my kids would have been if they had been eating healthy instead of the Standard American Diet.

I’m thankful that our chiropractor now has a free kid’s day once a month. My boys love going. They went last week and have been asking to go back everyday.

Do you or your kids visit the chiropractor? We have had good and not so good experiences with them but love the office we use now.

Meal Plan Monday: It’s Almost Christmas

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Salad and GF Pasta

Right now I’m sitting on my couch eating chocolate chip cookies. Shh! Don’t tell anyone.

We’ve had more than our fair share of Christmas parties over the last few weeks. Our overly busy schedule has resulted in quite a bit of takeout too. Last week I failed to make a Meal Plan and we definitely paid for it.

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Meal Plan

Breakfast is usually oatmeal with ground flax, chia seeds, walnuts, and maple syrup. I love it! It’s my favorite breakfast right now and my boys love it too. Some mornings we have a quick bowl of cereal or toast with almond butter instead.

Lunch is usually leftovers. I typically have beans and grains already cooked and waiting in the fridge. I pair them with some veggies for an easy lunch. My husband usually has a huge salad for lunch or leftovers with a generous helping of steamed broccoli.

Snacks are usually fruit, green smoothies, and lately chips and salsa. Some friends made us a big batch of delicious homemade salsa. 🙂

Dinner will be eaten out a couple of times this week. I also plan to make Nachos one night, put that salsa to good use! I still have some leftover Chili and baked potatoes from the weekend. I’ve been craving marinara sauce so we may have gluten-free pasta, we don’t eat pasta very often so it will be a treat for the kids. I usually serve it with a giant salad. I’m considering making Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole if we start to run low on leftovers; I doubt that will happen because it’s pretty full of Mexican food leftovers from a party I co-hosted on Sunday evening. 🙂

I also hope to do a little baking this week. I bought some fresh cranberries for a loaf of cranberry bread. I may even attempt a gluten-free version. I’ve also been playing around with a new chocolate mousse recipe that I’m very excited about.

What are you eating this week? Do you find it’s more difficult to stay on track during the holidays and how so you combat the craziness?