My Plant-Based Family

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

gluten free

Allergy-Friendly SunButter Cookies

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It’s been a really long time since I’ve shared a dessert with you. I don’t make dessert often. With my little guys food allergies I have to use specialty ingredients. Thankfully they are becoming more mainstream and I can find SunButter at most grocery stores.

I first made these allergy-friendly SunButter Cookies last year. It’s taken me a long time to share them but I hope the wait is worth it.

SunButter Cookies that are Vegan, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, nut-free

I still prefer to buy most of my “special” items on Amazon. I have an Amazon Prime membership so they are delivered to my door so I don’t have to take the kids in the store. Win-Win. I’ll share links to the products I buy if you are curious. I buy them in bulk but you can purchase smaller amounts.

SunButter Cookies that are Vegan, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, nut-free

Sunbutter Cookies

Ingredients

Do

  1. Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat.
  2. “Cream” first four ingredients together in a medium bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl (I use my measuring cup) mix warm water and chia seeds together. Allow them to sit for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  4. In a large bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients together.
  5. Dump all of the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well.
  6. Use your hands to scoop out ping-pong sized cookies and roll them into balls. Roll them in sugar. Use wet hands to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
  7. Flatten them onto the prepared cookie sheet.
  8. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool before eating.

Serve

This recipe makes about 12 cookies. They will be soft in the middle but firm on the edges, the best of both worlds. They are great for lunch boxes too!

For a little change try adding a 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips.

SunButter Cookies that are Vegan, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, nut-free

Substitutions:

I haven’t made this with peanut butter or other nut butters but if you do please let me know how they turn out. You could use a Gluten and Wheat Free Baking Mix instead of using the flours mentioned above. Be sure to read the labels to check for allergens.

If you like these allergy-friendly SunButter Cookies you should try my Brownies!

This page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase I may earn a small percent at no extra cost to you.

Quick and Easy Meal Plans for Back to School

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It’s Back to School month here at My Plant-Based Family! This month will focus on quick and easy meal plans. I recommend you double recipes so you can eat leftovers and save time cooking.

Back to School Month

In case you are just joining us all of the Meal Plans are plant-based meaning they do not contain animal products like meat or dairy, they are also allergy-friendly. Since food allergies vary widely it’s not possible to come up with an allergen-free menu. For each recipe that contains one of the Top 8 Allergens I’ll list substitutions that can be made. Most of my recipes are gluten and nut free although older recipes may container them.

I’ll be handling lunch ideas in a separate post so they won’t be included here.

Meal Plan for Back to School

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Breakfast

I like to keep it simple on school mornings so we will be eating easy foods. Here is a hint, you can prepare breakfast the night before for a quick “heat and eat”.

You can also follow my Plant-Based Breakfast Pinterest Board for more delicious breakfast ideas or see my Breakfast Page.

Dinner

Have you seen my latest Pinterest Board? The Back to School with My Plant-Based Family is a community board, meaning you can add your own pins. All you have to do is follow all of my board on Pinterest and send me your email address and I’ll send you an invite. It’s a great opportunity for bloggers to expand their reach but also fun for anyone.

Are you staring school soon? We start this week!

This page contains affiliate links.

Sweet and Tangy Pasta Salad is Potluck Heaven

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Are you a pasta salad kind of gal (or guy)? The boys in my house love this Sweet & Tangy Pasta Salad! It’s incredibly easy and a perfect dish to share at potlucks or cookouts.

We use gluten-free pasta because of my son’s wheat allergy. This recipe can be altered based on your available ingredients. I’ve add chickpeas to make it more of a “main dish” but we usually use it as a side dish.

Sweet and Tangy Gluten-Free Pasta Salad is picnic perfect

Sweet & Tangy Pasta Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 8 oz package pasta (we use gluten-free spirals)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in halves
  • 1/2 cup diced cucumber
  • 1/4 cup red onion, diced
  • 1 recipe Sweet & Tangy Salad Dressing

Do

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions, set a time so you don’t over cook. You want an al dente pasta.
  2. While pasta is cooking prepare all of the veggies and salad dressing.
  3. When pasta is done drain it well and run it under cool water, drain again.
  4. Mix all veggies and salad dressing into the pasta.
  5. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve

This pasta is best chilled but can tolerate being at room temperature for a little while. It would also be a good addition to a lunch box with an ice pack.

Sweet and Tangy Pasta Salad is perfect for potlucks! Its allergy-friendly and really easy to make.

This was perfect with our Vegan Barbecue Sandwiches. I definitely recommend taking this to a potluck, it will be a hit and it’s very allergy-friendly. You can also try my Potato Salad and Portobello Burgers.

Secret Ingredient Vegan BBQ Sandwich

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Shhh…I have a secret.

Any guesses?

Spaghetti Squash is the secret ingredient in my BBQ Sandwich. I know, you thought I was going to use jack fruit like lots of other bloggers. While I hear it is delicious I’ve never seen it or tried it. I’m all about easy to find, inexpensive ingredients. Of course if I ever see jack fruit in the store I’ll be sure to try it too!

Vegan BBQ Sandwich...You'll never guess the secret ingredient!

We have tried, and I mean really tried to enjoy Spaghetti Squash. I recently took a poll on Facebook to find out how everyone else makes it and it seemed like most people saute theirs butter or oil. While neither of those appeal to me I decided to try a little saute myself, except I’m using Barbecue Sauce.

Vegan BBQ Sandwich...You'll never guess the secret ingredient

Vegan BBQ Sandwich

Ingredients

Do

  1. Prepare Spaghetti Squash as mentioned HERE.
  2. Carefully remove squash from the Crock Pot and allow to cool slightly.
  3. Use a fork to rake out the spaghetti squash and put it in a small skillet.
  4. Pour you favorite barbecue sauce over the squash and mix well.
  5. All the sauce to mix well with the squash then scoop it onto buns.

Serve

These BBQ Sandwiches are perfect for a pot luck. You could even return the BBQ Spaghetti Squash to the Crock Pot for transport and to keep it warm. Serve leftover on top of baked potatoes. We enjoyed these sandwiches with pasta salad. I’ll share that recipe soon!

While Spaghetti Squash will never be our family’s favorite thing to eat this recipe is certainly our favorite way to eat it so far. My 3 year old loved it the most. He finished his in record time.

Do you like Spaghetti Squash? 

If you are taking this to a pot luck I recommend taking Potato Salad! Follow me on Pinterest for more ideas!

The Easiest Way to Cook Spaghetti Squash

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If you like Spaghetti Squash I may be your new best friend! Why? Because I’m about to tell you the EASIEST way to cook Spaghetti Squash. Want more good news…you don’t need the oven.

I kid you not! The easiest way to cook spaghetti squash is in the Crock-Pot!

Before I discovered how easy it was to cook Spaghetti Squash in the Crock Pot I hated to cook it. For one thing, it is always really hard for me to cut the squash in half length-wise and every recipe I’d ever seen told me to do it that way. Second, I don’t like to use the oven unless it’s winter because it heats up my house. Third, every recipe told me to use oil and that is a no-no in my house.

The Easiest Way to Make Spaghetti Squash

The Spaghetti Squash doesn’t really NEED to be sautéed (it’s already cooked) but in an informal poll I did on Facebook everyone who LOVED Spaghetti Squash sautéed it after roasting.

I’ll admit I like it better that way too. My FAVORITE way to use Spaghetti Squash is in my Vegan BBQ Sandwiches!

I’ve got a few more easy Crock Pot Recipes! Try my Easy Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole or my Cheezy Crock Pot Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole. They are both family and reader favorites.

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

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A special thanks to Sunkist for sponsoring today’s discussion.

Do you keep a salt shaker on your table? We used to keep salt on the table until I realized my family would add salt to their food before even tasting it. Salt is a dangerous habit in America. A few years ago we cut out oil and decreased our salt consumption. We still use small amounts of salt but not near as much as before.

A few things helped us reduce our salt intake…

  1. We added other flavors and seasonings like Sunkist Lemons instead of salt.
  2. We allowed time for our palate to adjust.
  3. We bought low-sodium substitutes of some of our favorite products.

We missed salt the most in crunchy snacks. The following recipe uses Lemon instead of salt. The salt is not missed at all.

Decrease Salt by seasoning with Sunkist Lemon's

Lemon-Pepper Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
  • 1 Sunkist Lemon (juice and zest, about 1/4 cup)
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

Do

  1. Drain and rinse chickpeas and gently towel dry them.
  2. In a medium bowl mix remaining ingredients and stir well.
  3. Add chickpeas and allow them to marinate while oven preheats to 400 degrees.
  4. Stir regularly.
  5. Pour chickpeas into a baking pan (with sides, not a cookie sheet) covered with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for about 1 hour.

I recommend you bake for 25 minutes then stir well. Bake for an additional 25 minutes and stir again. Then bake for 10 minutes, stir chickpeas then bake for 5 minutes between stirs until chickpeas are golden brown and crisp. DO NOT BURN.

Serve

These Lemon-Pepper Chickpeas are a fun snack or a great addition on a salad. No one will guess it’s salt-free.

Decrease Salt by seasoning with lemon juice

For more inspiration on using lemon instead of salt take a look at this Sunkist S’alternative info graphic.

Flavoring with Lemon instead of saltSunkist lemons are grown in California and Arizona and available all year round. In addition to helping boost flavor and reduce sodium intake, lemons can be used in a number of ways – from household cleaning to healthy living. I always keep a bowl of lemons on my counter. I use them for cleaning, in drinks and especially in food.
season with lemon

Please take a minute and visit Sunkist to discover recipes and more information about sodium and sodium alternatives.

Which tips are your favorite?