My Plant-Based Family

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

Healthy

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

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I love eating dips. LOVE them I tell you. Since transitioning to a plant-based diet, oil-free hummus is in my weekly meal plan rotation. This Roasted Red Pepper Dip is oil-free and one of my favorites!

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When I want something with a little more flavor than my classic hummus, I’ll make this Roasted Red Pepper hummus. It’s like magic because I can eat way more veggies when I have hummus than I eat without it. 

Since this hummus is made without oil or tahini, there is very little fat! 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

What do you eat with hummus?

There are so many foods that pair well with hummus. Raw veggies, pita bread, and crackers are perfect for hummus. I also enjoy hummus on wraps, sandwiches, in salads, and mixed into pasta! Adding roasted red pepper hummus to my Mediterranean Bowl brings it to a whole new level.

Substituting Chickpeas

Hummus doesn’t have to be made with chickpeas. If you can’t eat chickpeas because of an allergy or intolerance, you can substitute another type of bean. I recommend great northern beans or any other white bean. 

I routinely make dips like my Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus, Spinach Artichoke Dip and Green Chili White Bean Dip with white beans. There isn’t a big difference in flavor or texture, especially if it would take another trip to the store, just use what you have.

Do you need tahini in hummus? 

I don’t think you need tahini in hummus. Sure it adds some flavor and creaminess but it’s not necessary in my opinion. I’m not a big tahini fan.

I just leave tahini out of all the hummus recipes I make. 

Kids love dip

I don’t really need an occasion to make humus and I find that my kids love it too. They easily eat twice as many veggies (if not more) when I have a delicious dip to enjoy them with. I’ll often cut up veggies and leave hummus next to them on the counter while I’m cooking. As they smell dinner, they come in to snack while I cook. Without a doubt, they eat way more veggies that they would at dinner.

This dip is really easy to make and is delicious with veggies, crackers, chips or in a wrap.

This dip is allergy-friendly by avoiding nuts, sesame and dairy. It’s also vegan and gluten-free, which is pretty typical around here.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients

  • 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained
  • 1/4 cup water (more or less)
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup roasted red pepper

Do

Puree beans, water, spices and red pepper in a Food Processor or high-powered blender and blend until smooth. I use my Blendtec and push the “dip” button for super simple and quick option.

Serve

This is the perfect condiment for your veggie wraps and great with raw veggies. 

Yield: 6

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is an oil-free, low fat hummus that is perfect for people on a whole food plant-based diet.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained
  • 1/4 cup water (more or less)
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup roasted red pepper

Instructions

  1. Puree beans, water, spices and red pepper in a Food Processor or high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
  2. If needed, you can add more liquid to get a smoother consistency.

Notes

Store leftover dip in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

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© Holly Yzquierdo
Category: Sauces, Dips, and Salad Dressings

Meal Plan Monday: Fall Break Menu

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It’s Fall Break so my kids are home from school this week. That means I’ll be doing a lot more cooking with at least 3 times as many interruptions. The weather has finally started to cool off meaning it’s not supposed to be in the 100s. That also means I’m back to using my oven. I’ve been testing a lot of new recipes that will go into an UPDATED version of my Thanksgiving Meal Plan! Stay tuned for more details. I’ve been sharing them on Facebook.

I’m also preparing some food for a Naturopathic Medicine Week Open House at Keystone Natural Family Medicine. If you live in the Phoenix area mark your calendars for Wednesday, October 8th and stop by between 3:00 and 6:00. There will be classes starting every 30 minutes and raffle prizes at the end. I’d love to meet you!

Plant-Based Meal Plan

Plant-Based Meal Plan

This is my Fall Break Menu because when it’s Fall Break I need lots of food available.

Plant-Strong Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon and Raisin Breakfast Rice

Breakfast

I’m taking advantage of the seasonal flavors for most of our breakfasts. Organic Gala Apples were a great price at my local Sprout’s Farmers Market.

Bean and Grain Bowl that is gluten free and vegan

Lunch

I will keep it pretty simple for lunch. My kids will beg for sandwiches everyday and I might give in. I met the Soy Nut Butter folks at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference so we are trying it out.

Vegan Shepherds Pie

Dinner

If you haven’t made a Meal Plan for the week yet take a few minutes and jot down some ideas. Feel free to use these to check out my Meal Planning Pages for Free Meal Planning Ideas. If you’d like all of the work done for you can purchase a ready-made meal plan complete with a shopping list and recipes.

So, what are you eating this week. Your Meal Plan my inspire others. If it’s Fall Break for you what are you plans?

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Custom Meal Plan

When the “Vegan” Husband is Tempted

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As a blogger, I share snippets of my life as I write. Today I think you will have a clearer view of who we are. I’m so pleased to have my husband Jim writing on the blog today. Jim does a lot of things behind the scene’s at My Plant-Based Family from eating recipe experiments that didn’t quite work, to editing, and now writing.

When your Vegan Husband is Tempted

Please welcome Jim!

You’re driving home from work, the whole way home you are tempted by fast food places advertising horribly unhealthy yet appealing items such as burgers, fries, tacos, burritos, pizza…  you name it, I know better…  but I’m still tempted.  So what do you do?  I’m reminded of a line from a movie “you’re cheating on your wife with fast food”, or something like that.

Intro

Hi, I’d like to introduce myself, I’m Jim.  You obviously already know my wonderful wife and you know many of My Plant-Based Family’s stories but as my beloved has mentioned, I’ll be contributing much more to the BLOG going forward.

Wanting to honor God and honor my wife

OK, so here’s what I do, I’m reminded that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  I want to honor God by stewarding my body and my health by taking care of what he has given me.  I also want to honor my wife and do what I can to plan for a healthy life going forward, sometimes I eat in a very healthy manner, like the following:

jimslunch

Daily Meals (what I should be eating)

Vega One shake for breakfast
A 5 Cup serving of an assortment of colorful vegetables and fruit for lunch
Some awesome meal that my wife has created for dinner
For snacks, I’ll eat apples or carrots or something similar

If you choose a low nutrient meal once in a while, that’s OK, just don’t let it get out of hand

I can eat this way for weeks, but let’s just say that I give into temptation on a Friday night… unfortunately, I don’t usually have a single bad meal, it’s usually a series of bad meals, but then on Monday I’m back on the straight and narrow.  So I guess what I’m saying is that it’s OK every once in a while to choose a nutrient poor meal but make sure that you help yourself by putting in safeguards that will help you bounce back from the nutrient poor meal.  You could prepare your next meal ahead of time or you could also plan a fast right after the nutrient poor meal, either of these could help curb your temptation for nutrient poor food.

What about you? Are you ever tempted? How do you handle it?

A quick note: Jim is not vegan but mostly sticks to a plant-based diet and eat’s vegan most of the time. You can read Jim’s weight loss story here. 

5 Time Savers in the Kitchen (not a list of gadgets!)

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Most of us are on a never-ending quest to save time. We make choices that aren’t good for us out of convenience. It seems so much easier to go through a drive thru than to cook our own meals.

Kitchen counter with veggies and knife

Today I want to share some of my favorite time savers in the kitchen.

1. Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Did you know you can cook potatoes in the Crock Pot. It’s so easy. You don’t need foil or oil or anything else. Just scrub the potatoes, prick a few holes in them and put them in the Crock Pot. Cook them on low all day and you have hot baked potatoes when you get home. This is the perfect way to cook those HUGE potatoes that take forever to cook in the oven.

You may say, “these cook all day, that doesn’t save time.” It only takes a few minutes to scrub them, boom, you are done until it’s time to eat.

2. Use your Crock Pot

I know I already mentioned Crock Pot Potatoes, maybe it’s because I could eat potatoes everyday. Most of the soup and casseroles I make can easily be made in the Crock Pot. I don’t cook pasta in the Crock Pot but everything else is fair game. I’ll spend 5-10 minutes dumping everything in then forget about it until dinner. You may need to add more water if you are adapting recipes.

3. Buy Frozen Veggies

I love fresh veggies but when time is short I reach for a bag of frozen veggies, especially frozen Stir Fry Veggies. I can have my Veggie Pad Thai on the table in about 15 minutes. (The noodles cook super quick).

4. Use Veggie Broth (or bullion)

Most of the time when I cook and use the “taste and see” method. I taste the food, see what spices I have that could improve it, then taste again. This process goes on until I feel it’s “just right’ or my kids distract me (or sometimes I just give up).

I’ve found using a veggie broth helps give my dishes a richer flavor from the get go. Of course my Dry Veggie Broth Mix is my favorite. If you aren’t a “make it yourself” kind of person Massel makes some great products that I really love. They have bullion cubes, granulated bullion and liquid stock. The are vegan (yes even the beef-style and chicken-style), gluten-free, and all natural.

Veggie Broth can be used to make quick sauces or to add extra flavor to grains, pasta or soups. I spend a lot less time tweaking dinner when I use a broth mix.

5. Cook Once, Eat Twice

I’m not talking about a full on batch cooking session. Make twice as much food as you need and save it for another time. Four cups of rice cooks in the same amount of time as two cups of rice, the same with beans, potatoes, etc. When it’s time to put the leftovers away put them in the freezer if you don’t want to eat it right away.

Now put all these tips to good use by putting leftover Crock Pot Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot with Frozen Veggies, Veggie Broth and any beans, grains, or other leftovers.

Or, you could take baby steps and just try them one at a time.

On a side not I’ve had LOTS of people tell me I need an Instant Pot. I’ve heard amazing things but I don’t have one so I don’t know much about them but it’s on my future wish list.

How do you save time in the kitchen?

The Forks Over Knives Plan Giveaway

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I recently had the opportunity to receive an advance copy of The Forks Over Knives Plan: A 4 Week Meal-By-Meal Makeover by Alona Pulde, MD, and Matthew Lederman, MD. You’ll remember them as the husband and wife team from Forks Over Knives. The Forks Over Knives Plan debuts today and I’m ready to tell you what to expect!

Forks Over Knives Plan

What You’ll Find Inside

One of the things I hear over and over again from readers is that they have watched Forks Over Knives but they aren’t sure how to make the transition. The Fork Over Knives Plan teaches you how to make that transition one meal at a time starting with breakfast, followed by lunch then dinner.

Part 1

The Fork Over Knives Plan starts by sharing Dr. Pulde and Dr. Lederman’s stories. It gives us insight as to how they became doctors and learned about a whole food, plant-based lifestyle and what it did for each of them. Second, we learn why the “Plan” works to reverse and eliminate disease. Next we learn what a whole food, Plant-Based Diet looks like. You’ll be happy to learn you don’t need to live on a diet of green salads alone and it’s important to get enough calories (which is easy to do on their plan).

Part 2

The second part of the book covers the 4 week transition. Week 1 you focus on making healthy choices at breakfast. They also discuss how to read nutrition labels, what to have in your pantry and protein.

Week 2 encourages healthy choices at lunch, now you are up to 2 healthy meals per day. It also discusses Meal Planning, calcium and will power. Week 3 helps you transition toward a healthy dinner and offers helpful suggestions like cooking in bulk or cooking with friends. There is also a discussion on fats, oil and cravings.

Week 4 is all about fine-tuning your lifestyle and making small changes to get everything working well. There is also discussion on eating out, traveling and carbs.

Part 3

The last section is recipes, glorious recipes! A 100 recipes to be exact! Later this week I’ll share a delicious Fall recipe from The Forks Over Knives Plan.

If you’ve been intimidated by the science in other plant-based books or you’ve tried eating plant-based but would get stuck along the way then The Forks Over Knives Plan may be what you need. You’ll be encouraged by stories from other people who have been on the same journey.

The Giveaway

You can even win your very own copy! The giveaway is open to US residents only. If you don’t live in the US or don’t win the giveaway you can still find it in bookstores and Amazon!

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I received a free copy of The Forks Over Knives Plan. I didn’t receive any compensation. All opinions are my own.

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Meal Plan Monday: Quick Meals and Comforting Soups

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September signals fall sports, dropping temperatures and back to school activities (read homework). Thankfully, I’ve found my back to school routine for the most part. Our evening sports practices make for hurried dinners at least twice a week. I love making quick meals and comforting soups, especially when they are easy.

This weekend is my Gluten-Free Lunch Box Class. If you live in the Phoenix area you don’t want to miss it! The deadline to sign up is Tuesday! Next week I’ll be releasing the New Meal Plans so be on the lookout for more clues this week on Facebook and Twitter!

Meal Plan Monday

Breakfast

I know I’ve mentioned it before but I’ve fallen in love with Oatmeal again. The slightly cooler mornings make it my go to breakfast. I always use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats (it’s a 4 packs).

  • Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal
  • Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
  • Cereal (on busy mornings)

Lunch

I pack a lunch for my kindergartener but my preschooler and I eat at home.

Dinner

I just restocked my pantry so I get to have some of my favorites this week.

I’m thinking of doing a little baking too! Maybe these Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins or Gluten-Free Apple Muffins with hit the spot. They would taste amazing with Sarah’s Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Spice Creamer (warning: contains nuts).

What do you have planned for the week? Have the temperatures cooled down enough for warm soups and comfort foods?