My Plant-Based Family

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

Next Step Challenge

Gluten-Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan Banana Bread

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GF V banana bread 3Yes you read that right. This banana bread is gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and vegan. It was moist and delicious. There is only a tiny sliver left and I made it this morning. I did send a good portion of it home with a gluten-free sugar-free pal. I will be making this again.

Gluten-Free Banana Bread (Refined Sugar Free and Vegan)

Ingredients

  • 1 c sorghum flour
  • 1/2 c brown rice flour
  • 1/4 c potato starch
  • 1/4 c tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp xanthum gum
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 c date paste
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2-3 really ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/2 c rice milk
  • 1/2 cup optional nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray pan lightly.
  2. Add all of the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add all of the wet ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.
  4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. (You could stir in the optional nuts or chocolate chips here)
  5. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes.
  6. Insert toothpick to test for doneness.

Serve

This is best eaten same day although it can be frozen for another time. I served this with coffee. It isn’t “dessert” sweet although the chocolate chips may take it up a notch.

GF V Banana Bread 1

Meal Plan Monday

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Garden Salad

Believe it or not I haven’t been doing near enough cooking. To remedy that I plan to do more cooking this week. I’ve already made a BIG pot of beans today. There are so versatile when I need a quick meal. I know they will keep us from hitting the drive-thru.

Meal Plan

Breakfast will be oatmeal most days. I’m really trying to avoid the expense (and nutritional void) of store-bought cereal but I want to mix up a big batch of granola and maybe even some granola bars for those on-the-go mornings. I have busy mornings planned for almost everyday this week so having something I can grab as we run out the door will be a big help.

Lunch will probably be sandwiches as we rush in from those busy mornings. I can get creative with those but my boys don’t really require much creativity. I use gluten-free bread for my youngest and whole grain wheat for me and my almost 4 year old. Peanut butter, almond butter are regulars but I like to use different kind of fruit instead of jelly. We also use apple butter. When I’m in the mood for something different I’ll have a veggie sandwich with hummus. My husband takes leftovers to work most days.

Snack will probably be fruit. I bought blueberries, strawberries, oranges, apples, and bananas for a good price. I may make smoothies with spinach and some combination of fruit.

Dinner will be a little more labor intensive but my evenings are mostly free this week. Potato Soup will be my soup of choice after I go to the dentist. We plan to make a bunch of bean burritos one evening. Most of the burritos will be frozen for future meals. I have some tomatoes waiting to be made into pico de gallo and avocados waiting to accompany the burritos. Speaking of burritos, this Breakfast Stir Fry makes a filling meal, especially when served in a tortilla. I may also make some Mexican Rice to go along with any leftover beans. Lasagna (GF and vegan) will make an appearance late in the week along with a really colorful salad. If I need any other dinners I’ll make soup, possibly Enchilada Soup.

I’m meeting with a few people this week to help them with their meal plans. I prefer an unstructured meal plan that I can change based on the days events or groceries on hand. I know many people like a more structured meal plan with each meal scheduled. Which style do you prefer and why? 

Need Some Help?

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Some days I want to throw in the towel and just give up; it may be due to exhaustion, sickness, frustration, a feeling that I am not enough for the task before me or ________ (fill in the blank). Honestly it could be a combination of all of those.

When I feel overwhelmed with life or just certain tasks I have a few places I look for help. One is my husband; he is incredibly supportive and encouraging. I know that many people don’t have someone like that in their life and I’m very thankful for him. Second, I have friends and a babysitter who can take up some of the slack so I can take a break. Third, I look to blogs and websites for inspiration and help figuring out tasks. Most importantly I pray. Some of those prayers are long and excruciating while others are a quick “Lord help me” as I dive back into the fray.

Did you know that we pray for you too?

 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Every day we lift up prayers of encouragement, blessing, creativity, conviction, etc. for my readers.

I get emails from some of you that are full of hope for healing but also frustrated because you don’t know how or where to start. We pray for you.

Some emails are full of questions and struggles you face while try to transition your childrens diet. We pray for you.

Other emails detail extremely difficult personal situations. We pray for you.

Most of you never write in (and that is ok) but we still pray for you.

I hope this is encouraging to hear. I know I feel better when people are praying for me.

– – –

This is your invitation! Do you need prayer? Send an email to myplantbasedfamily@gmail.com with your name, state, and need and we will pray for you. You don’t have to give me all the details and I wont share your information with outside sources. Whether you are wanting prayer to help transition to a plant-based diet, have a health issue, or just an unrelated need. We would be honored to pray for you.

Most of you are spread out so far away that we will never meet. I can’t come into your kitchen and teach you how to water sauté or go to your grocery store and teach you to read labels but I can pray for you and your family.

I also want to thank those of you who have prayed for us, our children, and our friends. Thank you for praying and thank you for the words of encouragement. It means a lot to us.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

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Chickpea Noodle Soup brings back memories from my childhood of my grandma making me chicken noodle soup from a can. I loved it.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Now that I’m grown up I want to create the same memories with my kids. Except, now we avoid chicken. What’s a mom to do?

Well replace the chicken with chickpeas of course. Not only are chickpeas a perfect stand in I think you’ll agree that this soup is better than it’s inspiration.

I used gluten-free noodle but you could use any kind of noodle you want. I’ve remade this using a variety of pasta shapes and sizes.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Macaroni is perfect for little 2 year old fingers, while long noodles work for adults.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

5.0 from 1 reviews
Chickpea Noodle Soup
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Serves: 2-3 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ diced onion
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 celery, chopped
  • 4 cups water OR veggie Broth
  • 2-3 Tbsp Veggie Broth Mix OR you can use bullion
  • 1½ cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
  • 1 c gluten-free noodles
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized pot add chopped veggies and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. I like to let them soften a bit before adding water.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and dry broth mix or veggie broth along with the chickpeas. Allow to simmer until veggie are almost done.
  3. Pour in noodles adding more water if necessary. Cook noodles until done.
  4. Stir in dried parsley along with salt and pepper if needed.

I paired this soup with a big salad but it would be amazing with a loaf of crusty bread or some gluten-free crackers. My husband and I really liked this along with my youngest son. This isn’t the best choice for those who don’t like chickpeas but any white bean could be easily substituted in this recipe.

My dry broth mix uses nutritional yeast; if you use something else you may want to add a little nutritional yeast to your soup.

This is an easy dish for those families that only have one or two plant-based eaters. Meat could be cooked separately then added to appease the meat eaters. If you went that route I would cube cooked chicken to roughly the same size as the chickpeas; over time they may not even miss it.

This recipe can easily be doubled and tastes great the next day.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Healthy Cravings Recap: Are You Ready for the Super Bowl

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I don’t watch football but I don’t mind attending a Super Bowl Party, especially if there is good food. Since my idea of good food varies greatly from that of the average person this months Healthy Cravings focused on Super Bowl and party food.

Most of the recipes I’ve been posting lately were recipes presented at Healthy Cravings. Almost all of the recipes were given rave reviews.

Nachos

We started with  Nacho Bar! A friend let me borrow here Crockpot Trio which contained Quinoa-Lentil Tacos, Unfried Beans, and Faux Cheese Sauce. I also had salsa, guacamole, black olives, jalapenos and of course tortilla chips.

I also had the typical veggie tray with Somer’s Vegan Ranch Dressing. Everyone liked it, I used rice milk instead of soy and it didn’t get as thick. Somer told me the soy milk is better so you should try it that way instead.

CHICKpea salad

We also had the CHICKpea salad in lettuce wraps. One of the ladies who attended had just told her husband that she did not like chickpeas; her mind was changed once she tasted these.

I made a gluten-free chocolate cake for dessert but I’m still tweaking the recipe. Hopefully I’ll be sharing it soon.

Another popular item was deviled potatoes that are posted at Happy Herbivore; they were really easy too. I wanted to make Buffalo Cauliflower but as time got short they were cut from the line up. Two friends helped out by bringing a few things. We had Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms using this walnut-pesto recipe from Veggies In My Freezer; another friend brought a pea dip and some delicious energy balls. I don’t have the links for those unfortunately but they were good.

We had great conversation and watched some clips from the Forks Over Knives Extended Interviews. One of the ladies who started coming to Healthy Cravings in September and switched to a plant-based diet in October shared how she has lost over 40 pounds. She is eating healthier and so is her daughter.

Not everyone who comes is eating plant-based but many are trying to eat healthier or just get more ideas and add variety to their diets.

What are you favorite party or Super Bowl Foods? I think the Nacho Bar was my favorite!

CHICKpea Salad…Two Ways

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fruity chickpea salad

I have a few friends who have been dying to get their hands on these recipes. I’ll warn you this isn’t one of my typical healthy recipes and it isn’t low in fat. It uses vegan mayo which isn’t an ingredient I typically use or encourage others to use. I made these for a party; they are party food, not everyday food! I repeat, these are not healthy, you can’t eat as much as you want, you’ll get sick or fat.

I hope that wasn’t too mean. Since most of the recipes I present are whole food, plant-based, and no added oil I didn’t want to mislead anyone but I’m gearing up for the Super Bowl and attempting to make some of my favorite party foods a little more accessible to my new lifestyle.

Veggie Chickpea salad wrap

Veggie CHICKpea Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1/4 cup diced onion (optional)
  • 1/2 cup vegan mayo
  • dash of black salt, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and nutritional yeast

Chickpea Salad

Do

  1. Chop chickpeas in a food processor until they are course, this takes 15 to 30 seconds depending on your processor. Then place in a mixing bowl.
  2. Shred carrot and celery in food processor then add to the chickpeas.
  3. Add mayo and spices and gently stir until combined.

Serve

I served these in lettuce wraps, but they would be great as sandwiches or on crackers too. It keeps well for a few days and travels well with an icepack to keep it cold.

Fruity Chickpea salad in wrap

Fruity CHICKpea Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
  • 1/2 cup grapes, cut in half
  • 1 apple, diced (I used granny smith)
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (OPTIONAL)
  • 1/2 cup vegan mayo (or for a twist use vegan yogurt)
  • dash  of black salt
  • dash of onion powder

Do

  1. Chop chickpeas in a food processor until they are course, this takes 15 to 30 seconds depending on your processor. Then place in a mixing bowl.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently until everything is combined.

Serve

I served these in lettuce wraps too but it would be amazing on top of a bed of greens. I also tried the yogurt version and put it in fillo shells for a fun and delicious dessert. You could also eat this in a sandwich or on crackers, it’s very versatile.

You could make your own vegan mayo for a healthier version.

For more inspiration check out my PARTY FOOD board on Pinterest! Or check out my Faux Tuna Salad Recipe! I think you like it.

How would you enjoy these, on a salad, sandwich, or as part of a wrap?

I submitted this recipe to the Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck!