My Plant-Based Family

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

Next Step Challenge

21 Day Plant-Based Healthy Eating Challenge

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Do you struggle with your Plant-Based Diet? You are not alone. I hear from people all of the time who are having a hard time sticking to (or starting) a plant-based diet.

21 Day Plant-Based Healthy Eating Challenge

Starting November 1st I’ll begin a 21 Day Plant-Based Healthy Eating Challenge and I’d love for you to join me.

21 Day Plant-Based Healthy Eating Challenge begins November 1st

The Guidelines

There aren’t a lot of rules but there are guidelines. They can be adapted to meet your particular needs. For example if you can’t tolerate grains then adapt this to your needs. If you are like me and thrive with grains eat more. If you need more calories eat nuts, seeds, avocado, etc. If you need to lose weight omit those high calorie plant-foods.

“Headquarters” for the Challenge will be at The My Plant-Based Family Group (not the page).

 

21 Day plant based Healthy Eating Challenge

Each day I’ll create a thread and you’ll report in and tell me how many points you earned for the day. I’ll keep a tally and each week  I’ll (discretely) post the rankings for example John S., Suzy Q., Jane D. I’m working on arranging giveaways from sponsors for participants.

If there is an interest we will have weekly Video Chat using Google Hangouts where you can ask questions and get support.

About the Food

How can I eat that much food? For the purposes of this Challenge consider 1/2 cup to be a serving size, except for raw greens (those are 1 cup serving size). Let’s look at one possibility of a typical day.

Breakfast

1 cup of Oatmeal, with 1/2 cup of blueberries

[2 servings grains, 1 serving fruit]

Mid-Morning Snack

A Banana

[1 serving fruit]

Lunch

Burrito Bowl with 1/2 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup black beans, 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup diced tomatoes/onion/peppers (salsa) and one apple

[1 serving grains, 1 serving beans, 2 servings veggies, 1 serving fruit]

Mid-Afternoon Snack

1 cup raw veggies like carrots, peppers, cucumbers etc. with 1/2 cup (oil-free) hummus and 1/2 cup of grapes

[1 serving veggies, 1 serving beans, 1 serving fruit]

Dinner

Chickpea Noodle Soup, side salad and a baked Cinnamon Apple

[1 serving beans, 2 serving veggies, 1 serving fruit]

This menu is roughly 5 servings of fruit, 6 servings of veggies, 3 servings of grains and 3 servings of beans. Our goal will be to eat 90% unprocessed plant-based foods.

To “sign-up” simply Join the My Plant-Based Family Facebook Group. There will be a post “pinned” to the top, read it and comment appropriately. Each day you’ll report in and I’ll dispense information via the group. If there is an overwhelming amount of people not on facebook that want to participate I’ll consider a Google+ group for the Challenge.

Please note that I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. You should consult your doctor or registered dietitian for nutritional advice. 

Fiesta Pasta

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I’ve been sitting on this recipe for a long time, like over a year. My apologies. I think you will agree that it is worth the wait. I’m the kind of girl who loves a vegan, gluten-free, nut-free pasta that tastes like it belongs in a restaurant. It’s also soy-free if that is important to you.

Fiesta Pasta is Vegan, Gluten-free, Dairy-Free and Nut-Free

What’s better than pasta? Pasta with Mexican flare. I often use macaroni noodles and call this Fiesta Mac but you use whichever noodles you like but if you are feeding toddlers small noodles are usually best.

Fiesta Pasta

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • 2 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour*
  • 1 tsp salt (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened plant-milk

Ingredients for the pasta

  • 1 package (16 oz) Gluten-Free Pasta (any shape)
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup organic corn (I use frozen)
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes

*cornstarch can be used instead

Do

  1. Dump all of the dry ingredients for the sauce into a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Pour in 1/2 cup plant-milk and stir with a whisk.
  2. In a separate pot bring water to boil to cook pasta. Follow the package directions.
  3. Alternate between whisking the sauce and scraping the bottom with a silicone spatula. As the sauce thickens add another 1/2 cup of plant milk until the full 1 1/2 cups is used.
  4. Pour beans and corn into the pasta in its last few minutes of cooking time.
  5. Drain pasta (and corn and beans), pour Fiesta Sauce on top of pasta and mix well.
  6. Dump tomatoes on top and mix one more time.

Serve

Fiesta Pasta is perfect for a potluck and can be used as the Main Dish or a Side Dish! The Fiesta Sauce gives it just the right amount of cheezy flavor without the dairy. You can also add an 8 oz can of tomato sauce (no need to change other measurements, just cook it a bit longer) for a slightly more savory flavor.

This recipe made me fall in love with nutritional yeast all over again. You can easily alter it to suit your preferences.

The page contains affiliate links.

Meal Plan Monday: Halloween Week

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Don’t let the title fool you. I don’t really get into Halloween. I won’t be dressing up or decorating my yard. I will spend a few hours passing out candy and visiting with our neighbors. You see, in our neighborhood Halloween is the one night a year all of our neighbors get together and catch up. We all sit outside in our driveways and pass out candy. It’s a lot of fun.

Since it’s Halloween week I may bake a few treats but I have even more treats in store for my readers including a giveaway and a surprise new program. I’m extremely excited about both.

Plant-Based Meal Plan Hallloween

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Breakfast

I just can’t get enough apples. We eat them all year but they taste best in the fall.

Lunch

My youngest son and I usually eat leftovers or something quick. I pack a lunch for my 5 year old to eat at school.

  • Baked Potatoes
  • Pasta and a simple sauce
  • Chickpea Salad and raw veggies
  • Veggie Soup and salad
  • Leftover Chili

Dinner

My husband has requested 3 things this week (the first 3 on the dinner menu). He doesn’t ask for much so I usually try to accommodate his request.

If you have food allergies you may have heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project. It was started by the Food Allergy Community of East Tennessee (FACET) a few years ago. Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) spread the word this year. Read more about it here.

What are you plans for Halloween? Do you throw a party, hand out candy or turn off your lights and hide inside your house?

If I lived somewhere colder I’m sure we’d have a different tradition. I’d love to hear about yours.

This page contains affiliate links.

No Biggie Bunch Book Giveaway

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If you have a kid with food allergies you’ve probably already heard of The No Biggie Bunch. If you haven’t you are in for a treat!

Last month I went to the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference and bought the whole No Biggie Bunch Collection. They were sold out of a couple of the books so they had to be shipped to me. There was an error and I got sent an extra copy of Trade-or-Treat Halloween. I emailed the No Biggie Bunch headquarters and asked if they would like me to mail it back or if I could give it to a reader. Guess what, I’m doing a giveaway and one of you is going to win this book! You will love it!

trade or treat halloween

I’ve been wanting these books since I learned about them last summer. This one, Trade-or-Treat Halloween follows the No Biggie Bunch as they go trick or treating. The kids talk about their food allergies and what they need to do with their candy. I’m not going to give all of the details away.

Since Halloween is almost here this is going to be a quick giveaway and will end Friday at midnight (AZ time). I’ll email the winner Saturday, they will have 24 hours to respond or I’ll pick a new winner. I want to mail this book out on Monday morning!

Since I’m paying for shipping this giveaway is for US only. I’m sorry to all of my Canadian readers. I got some shipping quotes and it is VERY expensive. I’ll try to make it up to you one day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also buy the books from the No Biggie Bunch website or from Amazon! In addition to The No Biggie Bunch Trade-or-Treat Halloween you should also check out The No Biggie Bunch Peanut-Free Tea for Three, The No Biggie Bunch Sports-Tastic Birthday Party
and The No Biggie Bunch Dairy-Free Dino-Licious Dig. If you have Amazon Prime shipping is free.

This page contains affiliate links.

Meal Plan Monday: Family Favorites and Leftovers

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Are you struggling to consistently eat a healthy, plant-based diet? If so a meal plan is exactly what you need. Even if you aren’t struggling a meal plan can help save you time and money.

I share a Meal Plan almost every week. Hopefully it will provide you with a little inspiration. Once you find a few family favorites it becomes much easier.

This week in the My Plant-Based Family Facebook Group several of us were discussing this White Bean Green Chili Dip. I’ve decided I must make it (and you probably should too). Here is a tip, you can make this dip instead of the sauce for the White Enchiladas. So Good!

We also have a lot of soup leftover. I hosted Healthy Cravings last week and several people were sick and had to cancel at the last-minute so I bought and cooked way too much food. We have leftover Taco Soup and Broccoli Potato Soup so this week I won’t have to cook too many meals.

Plant-Based Allergy-Friendly Meal Plan

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Breakfast

I’m planning to use my Crock Pot for a few breakfast meals this week.

  • Crock Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes
  • Crock Pot Breakfast Hash
  • Crock Pot Multi-Grain Breakfast with diced apples
  • Cereal

Lunch

I will rely heavily on leftovers for lunch while my kids and husband primarily pack their lunches.

Dinner

This plan may change as our week goes on but each of these recipes are favorites so I don’t think I’ll have too much push back.

Are you ready for the week? If not grab another cup of coffee and do your best!

Fall-Stoneware-Giveaway

Don’t forget to enter the Le Creuset Giveaway! We’ve had a lot of entries but you could be the winner!

Le Creuset Giveaway

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It’s Fall and that means casseroles, well at least in my house. I love casseroles, they are at the top of my comfort food list. As the temperatures lower I love standing in my kitchen near a hot oven and coming up with new recipes.

I can’t (and won’t) tell you how many times I’ve finished off the casserole instead of putting the leftovers away. Yes, right out of the casserole dish. It just taste better that way.

That’s why I’m so excited about this Le Creuset Giveaway.
Fall Stoneware Giveaway Vegetarianmamma.com

Soon the holidays will be upon us and we will be serving our families deliciously cooked meals. As a thank you for being faithful readers several of our blogging buddies have come together to host a fantastic giveaway that will help make your holiday dinners even more stunning!

Wouldn’t that look beautiful on your table this year? I think so too!

Epi-Family and Vegetarian Mamma, along with My Plant Based Family, Table for Seven, What the Fork Food Blog, My Gluten Free Kitchen, Flippin Delicious, I’m a Celiac and Life Made Sweeter have come together to offer this special giveaway.

One lucky US Winner (lower 48) will get a

Le Creuset Heritage Stoneware, 12-by-9-Inch Covered Rectangular Dish in Cherry Color

Entering is easy….
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Important things to know…This prize will be shipped to you directly from amazon. This giveaway is a thank you to our readers and is not affiliated with facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, rafflecopter or directly to any of the bloggers listed. The winner will be chosen at random by the widget. The winner will be contacted and given 48 hours to respond with their shipping information. If winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be randomly picked.