My Plant-Based Family

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

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Plant-Based Basics: Beans

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Today I’m starting a new series called Plant-Based Basics! This series is one you won’t want to miss if you are new to a plant-based diet or if you feel like you’ve been struggling to eat well. This series will also be the perfect thing to send to you friends or family who are curious about what you eat.

Plant-Based Basics: Beans What you need to know to get started eating healthy

Today’s focus will be on Beans. For many plant-based eaters, myself included, beans make up a large portion of our diet.

Why Eat Beans

Let’s look at a few reasons that Beans are so good for you.

  • High in Soluble and Insoluble FiberWhy eat beans?
  • High in Protein
  • High in Carbohydrates
  • High in Minerals
  • High in Vitamins
  • Low in Fat
  • No Cholesterol

Eating beans reduces the risk of “chronic disease such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease” according to the USDA.

Beans are easy to include into your menu whether you eat vegan, vegetarian, or just trying to cut your grocery bill.

There are a lot of different types of beans too. I typically use pinto beans, black beans, white beans, and chickpeas most often. My favorite bean to use when I’m in a hurry is the lentil. Lentils are smaller and cook quickly.

Canned vs. Dry Beans

Canned beans are delicious and healthy. Although canned beans often contain large amounts of salt. Reduce the sodium levels by rinsing canned beans before using. Canned beans are fully cooked and can be eaten without any further preparation.

Dry Beans need to be cooked before eating. Follow the steps below for Soaking and Cooking Dry Beans or use this Printer-Friendly Guide: How to Soak and Cook Dry Beans.

You can expect to spend a lot more money on canned beans compared to dry beans. While dry beans are less expensive they take more time to prepare. Most people still consider canned beans to be inexpensive compared to animal products.

How to Soak and Cook Dry Beans

  1. Sort dry beans making sure there are no rocks, sticks or other debris.
  2. Rinse your beans with clean water.
  3. Put rinsed beans in a pot and cover them with water. I generally use a 1 part bean, 2 parts water ratio but you can use more water.
  4. Soak beans overnight.
  5. The next day, rinse the beans again and refill water. The water should cover the beans.
  6. Bring the beans to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer. Cook the beans from 1-3 hours. Some beans take longer to cook than others. (You can add onions, garlic, a bay leaf, etc. if desired.)
  7. Beans become soft when done. You can scoop up a few beans in a spoon and lightly blow on them, if the bean skin peels away they are done.

A one pound bag of dry beans is about 2 1/2 cups. Once cooked they will make about 5 cups of beans.

One can of beans is about 1 1/2 cups. Most of the time you will want to drain and rinse the beans if using canned.

Lentils do not need to be soaked prior to cooking. They cook quickly in about 20 minutes.

Some people swear by products like the Instant Pot Programmable Pressure Cooker, Stove Top Pressure Cooker’s, or Crock-Pot Slow Cookers for cooking beans.

Plant-Based Beans

How to Eat Beans

Beans are incredibly versatile! They can be eaten whole, puréed, ground into flour, partially mashed or even baked into treats.

We eat whole beans often. I like them in burritos, wraps, casseroles, mixed into soup or chili or just by themselves.

We also eat puréed beans a lot. Hummus is a popular bean recipe that can be made in a ton of different flavors.

Plant-Based Beans

Favorite Recipes that use Beans

Most of our favorite recipes are Mexican food but beans are used throughout the world.  These recipes are our favorites. Feel free to add links to your favorite recipes in the comments.

Even when a recipe specifies a particular kind of bean, often other beans can be substituted.

I use pinto beans and black beans interchangeably in many recipes including Taco Soup, Enchilada Soup, Unfried Beans (although I alter the spices slightly when making Unfried Black Beans), Taco Salad, Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole, or Bean and Grain Bowls.

I use white beans (Great Northern Beans) and garbanzo beans interchangeable too.  A few of our favorite recipes are Green Chili White Bean Dip, Lasagna, Creamy Italian Salad Dressing, Chickpea Noodle Soup, Lemony Quinoa Salad and many more.

I use lentils in Lentil Tacos, Quinoa-Lentil Tacos, Lentil & Barley Stew, Quinoa-Lentil Salad and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie. I also randomly include them in almost anything. I feel like Lentils are the ultimate super food.

Are you a Bean Eater? What is your favorite way to prepare and enjoy beans?

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Quinoa-Lentil Salad…A Salad that Fills You Up

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Are you looking to add more salads to your menu? I can help you with that! This Quinoa-Lentil Salad will fill you up AND taste great! If you don’t have quinoa you can substitute cooked brown rice. 

Quinoa Lentil Salad also contains lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.

Have you noticed how some salads leaving you feeling hungry an hour after you finish eating? That won’t happen with this salad. The quinoa and lentils will fill you up! 

I prefer to cook the quinoa and lentils ahead of time and toss this together in a few minutes. If you still need to cook your quinoa and lentils don’t worry, it only takes about 20 minutes. You can chop veggies while you wait. I add various veggies depending on what I have on hand but this is my basic recipe.

Quinoa and lentils on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers.

Quinoa-Lentil Salad

This recipe is designed for one but you can easily make as many bowls as you like. It’s a great meal prep salad but I recommend using grape tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes for the make ahead version.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cooked lentils (seasoned with a little garlic and onion powder)
  • 1/2 cup cook quinoa (or substitute cooked brown rice)
  • 2-3 cups mixed greens or your favorite lettuce
  • 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup diced cucumbers
  • 1/8 cup diced red onions

Do

  1. If desired, heat (seasoned) lentils and quinoa.
  2. Fill a large bowl or plate with greens/lettuce/
  3. Dump lentils and quinoa over greens, then top with diced veggies.

Serve

I love this salad with equal parts lemon juice and red wine vinegar (1 Tbsp each) but it is also delicious with my other oil-free dressings. Try the popular Sweet & Tangy Salad Dressing or the new Creamy Italian Salad Dressing that my pickiest kid eats with a spoon!

For more salad inspiration check out my Salad Board on Pinterest! I’ll be adding lots of new salads and oil-free salad dressings this summer. You don’t want to miss them!

Yield: 1

Quinoa-Lentil Salad

Quinoa Lentil Salad also contains lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.

This Quinoa Lentil Salad is very filling and great any time of year. In the winter serve it with warm quinoa and lentils and in the summer you can keep them cold.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 5 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cooked lentils (seasoned with a little garlic and onion powder)
  • 1/2 cup cook quinoa (or substitute cooked brown rice)
  • 2-3 cups mixed greens or your favorite lettuce
  • 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup diced cucumbers
  • 1/8 cup diced red onions

Instructions

  1. If desired, heat (seasoned) lentils and quinoa.
  2. Fill a large bowl or plate with lettuce.
  3. Dump lentils and quinoa over greens, then top with diced veggies.

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© Holly Yzquierdo
Category: Salads & Wraps

Meal Plan Monday: Full of Berries and Tomatoes

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I took a little break from the computer last week because we traveled to Michigan for our daughter’s graduation. We aren’t quite unpacked yet but we are slowly getting back to normal. I made Veggie Pad Thai last night and I’m soaking beans now. In a little while I’ll cook a batch of rice to use in various recipes.

Even though I didn’t take my computer I used my time off to plan and brainstorm. I have a couple dozen recipes I hope to show you over the next few months.

During the month of June I want to work on getting some extra ingredients and maybe a few meals prepped and in my freezer. We’ve been having too much food waste lately. My plan is to put serving sizes of cooked rice, beans, sauces, etc. into the freezer for an easy to grab dinner. I’ll come up with a better plan for this later, hopefully. 🙂

For now I’m focusing on berries and tomatoes!

Meal Plan

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Breakfast

Fresh berries are showing up in the stores. They are my breakfast inspiration.

Lunch

I’ll be focusing on simple, mostly unprocessed foods for lunch.

  • Baked Potatoes with steamed broccoli
  • Veggie Wraps with cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, red onions and greens
  • Tomato Soup with a salad or baked potato
  • Leftover Lentil & Quinoa Salad
  • Sandwiches with SunButter and fruit for the kids

Dinner

Most of our meals with be oven-less for the next few months. That leaves the stove, Crock-Pot, and grill as viable options.

If you need an idea for working more berries into your meals try my Blueberry Salad Dressing! It’s oil-free and very kid-friendly!

I’m using lots of tomatoes lately. My garden is in production mode! I gave a friend all of my ripe tomatoes before our trip and came home to find about a dozen more ready to go. I even left 4 or 5 for the bugs and birds.

Is your garden coming together? I’d love to hear what you are growing and how you work it into your Meal Plan!

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Fire Up the Grill

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I’ve already been proclaiming that Summer is here. It may be Spring for you but it is Summer in Arizona. Since Memorial Day is only days away I wanted to leave you will some grilling ideas.

Vegan grilling ideas

If you get invited to a barbecue you will be prepared. Just don’t go empty-handed!

portobello's on the grill

Portobello Mushrooms

You can’t go wrong with grilling Portobello Mushrooms. Consider grilling Portobello Steaks, Portobello Fajita’s, or Portobello Burgers. Mushrooms are incredibly versatile and work great on the grill. Since they are large they “fit” better and don’t fall in the fire.

Veggies

Many veggies can be grilled as well. Summer Squash, Onions, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, and Asparagus. I even grill Avocados, yes you read that right.

You can arrange veggies on skewers or just toss them on the grill. There are also really neat products available like this Emeril Grilling Veggie Basket that you can flip over to allow both sides to cook. Or, this Weber Style Professional-Grade Vegetable Basket that is open on top for easy stirring. I always loved eating kabobs but when grilling for company (and kids) these grill baskets make much easier options in my opinion. They are even Father’s Day gift worthy!

dips for a cookout

Side Dishes

Baked Potato Wedges, Potato Salad, Dirty Mashed Potatoes, Baked Beans, Chip & Salsa or Pico De Gallo are great side dishes if you are planning to grill.

If you are getting together with friends or family I always enjoy bringing stuff like chips and salsa, guacamole, Pico de Gallo, Green Chili White Bean Dip, Unfried Pinto Beans, Faux Cheese Dip for dipping. I’ll often bring a quinoa-black bean salad too. I like to bring chips and dips because these look “normal” to everyone else. I feel like dips are always safe to bring to a party. I sometimes feel weird bringing a whole separate entrée (unless I was asked ) to someone else’s party.

Drinks

Don’t forget to BYOB! I don’t drink alcohol and I’m rarely invited anywhere with it as an option (actually I’m rarely invited anywhere at all, I think everyone is too intimidated by my son’s allergies. That is the reason I’m going with. I’m fabulous, who wouldn’t want to hang out with me? I digress.) I prefer to bring my own drinks. Usually it is just water. I’m a water snob. We have a filter so I have a hard time drinking tap water.

Basically, don’t assume there will be something you can drink. I regularly attend events where lemon water is the only option. I prefer my water straight up. If you love lemon you must check out Sarah’s Stevia Lemonade at Gazing In!

gluten free vegan brownies

Dessert

Probably the most important part of any cookout. I don’t typically grill dessert but we occasionally grill peaches. Just cut them in half, remove the pit and put them on the grill. Serve them with vegan ice cream! It will taste kind of like peach cobbler without all the work.

If I’m taking dessert somewhere it is almost always my Gluten-Free Vegan Brownies. They travel well, don’t need to be refrigerated and everyone loves them.

4 Tips to Stay Safe in the Sun

If you plan to spend some time outside make sure to check out my recent post with 4 Tips to Keep You Safe in the Sun! I also share about learning a had a pre-cancerous mole years ago. If you don’t know what sunscreen to buy read the post!

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My Skin Cancer Scare plus 4 Easy Tips to Keep you Safe in the Sun

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This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market Paradise Valley. I was compensated for this post and attended an information event where I was given sun care products to use. All opinions are my own.

Fun In the Sun

I grew up in the sun. As a kid we played outside constantly. We rode bikes, drank from the hose and rarely wore shoes; basically it was a big, fun adventure. My grandparents had a house on the lake that we would visit on weekends in the summer. I don’t know how many times we swam across the lake to the beach. Even now I dream of living on the water one day.

I always had the best sun tan, until I was 16 and got a job. After that my tan was limited to a couple of painful burns each year. I rarely wore sunscreen.

 The C Word

In my 20’s I learned that my grandmother had several cancerous moles removed. I’ve always had a lot of moles and knew I needed to get them checked, but I waited. At my yearly check up my doctor mentioned that I should have my moles checked, this time I didn’t wait.

I found a dermatologist who came highly recommended. He conducted an inspection and found a lot of suspicious moles. He removed them and sent them to the lab. About a week later I heard back. They were all fine, except one.

I returned to the dermatologist for an outpatient procedure to remove the underlying tissue where the mole once was. I may have mentioned how squeamish I am. Before anything was done, anything, I threw up…then I passed out. They wanted to reschedule but I didn’t want to start all over so I begged them to proceed.

He removed the tissue, I got 8 stitches, and we waited for what seemed like forever for the results. A week or two later we learned that the underlying tissue was healthy. For 5 years I returned every 6 months to have my moles checked again. I’ve had a few more removed through the years but they have all been normal. Now I only get them checked once a year.

scar

I have scars. Though they have faded through the years these scars remind me that I am vulnerable. They remind me that I must take care of my skin and protect it.

I want to share some very important tips to keep you and your family safe in the sun. I was so thankful to learn about these recently at Whole Foods Market Paradise Valley. I am very serious about keeping my kids safe, including their skin.

suncare 4 tips

 4 Easy Tips to Keep You Safe in the Sun

1. Cover Up!

I know you want to look cute and tan, me too but it is not worth getting a burn (in the short-term) or cancer (in the long run). We regularly dress our boys in long sleeves and hats in the summer.

2. Wear a Mineral Sunscreen

Mineral sunscreens use zinc oxide and sometimes titanium dioxide that stay on top of your skin to block the sun’s rays. They work immediately. Alternatively, chemical sunscreens are absorbed into your skin and must be applied before you go outside because it takes time to become effective. Avoid that by only wearing mineral sunscreen.

3. Use Broad Spectrum Sunscreen

Broad Spectrum means it protects you from UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays cause sun damage including cancer while UVB rays cause sunburns.

4. Reapply!

Sunscreens need to be reapplied at least every 2 hours but more often if you are sweating or swimming. Don’t forget to apply sunscreen to your ears, the tops of your feet and the back of your legs. Often we only remember to apply to our face and shoulders.

suncare boys

Sensitive Skin

I’m always very careful about what we put on our skin, especially my son’s. He has a lot of allergies and very sensitive skin. He often gets hives from exposure so I read and reread labels. I’m happy to have found a couple of options that I feel are safe for his skin. With any product you NEED to read the label to make sure it is safe for you if you have allergies or sensitivities.

Goddess Garden Organics are vegan and allergy-friendly. I use their continuous spray natural sunscreen. It sprays on in a nice even mist. I give it a quick rub to catch any areas I missed.

Badger Balm is another allergy-friendly company. Many of their products contain beeswax so they are not vegan but their new sunscreen lotions will be.

I use DeVita’s Protective Moisturizer daily.  It’s SPF 30+ and goes on smooth and sheer. I often wear makeup over and it is never oily. They have a tinted version I plan to try next. DeVita Skin Care products are all vegan.

All three of these products can be found at your local Whole Foods Market. The staff in the Whole Body department is very knowledgeable and helpful.

suncare sale

The Whole Foods Market Paradise Valley is having a 4 Day Sun Care Promotion, May 23rd to May 26th. Suncare products will be 30% off. I recommend you buy some for the diaper bag, the pool bag, the car and the house.

Connect with the Paradise Valley Whole Foods Market on Facebook and Twitter!

 

Last Week of School Meal Plan

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This is the last week of school in our area. Next week kids in our area will  be running wild. It will be short-lived because it is too hot so most kids stay inside playing video games all summer. We gear up for swimming lessons at the beginning of June. My kids sleep really well while they are taking swimming lessons.

As summer begins (temps are already over 100 degrees) it becomes really important to keep the kitchen cool. I try to avoid the oven unless it is something I can cook early in the day. Most of our meals are either made on the stove, in the crock pot or served cold. Don’t forget about the grill though. You don’t have to be a meat eater to enjoy your grill this summer.

Meal plan

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Breakfast

Even though it is easier to serve cereal spending a little more time on breakfast is well worth it.

Lunch

We love leftovers for lunch, especially when we can make something “different” from the previous dinner. Switching veggies can transform a meal or adapt a salad to a wrap.

Dinner

The Taco Muffins are the most difficult meal planned for dinner and I made it yesterday (in a loaf pan). I like to have an easy meal planned for Monday’s. This week I may even dig into my stash of canned beans to save a little time. I’m neck-deep in work but we still have to eat.

 

Over the weekend I was featured in a guest post about my ebook, The Plant-Based Diet Starter Guide. Read the guest post HERE! There is also a discount code for 25% off the PDF version. If you’ve been waiting to purchase my book, now is the perfect time.