My Plant-Based Family

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

Plant Based Diet

Meal Plan Monday: June 21, 2015

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A Plant-Based (Vegan) Meal Plan that is also gluten-free! I used once a week cooking to get this done in a few hours so I don't have to cook again this week.

We had a great Father’s Day weekend. We took our boys to see their first major league baseball game; it was my first game too. It was a lot of fun and a much bigger production that the minor league games I’ve attended. I think next time we will have to go without the kids and make a date night out of it.

On Father’s Day we decided to take the easy way out for brunch and got Van’s Gluten-Free Waffles, Silk yogurt (alternative) and fruit. It was easy and my kids were super excited because the usually eat mostly homemade meals.

This weeks meal plan is looking good! The best part about it is that it is all done. Yes, you read that right! It’s been a while since I documented a Once a Week Cooking day so I decided to do it again. You’ll be seeing the new post soon.

Meal Plan Monday

Breakfast

This week will be Sweet Potatoes, Breakfast Quinoa and Summer Berry Quinoa.

Lunch

We will have leftovers for lunch along with Black Bean Mango Salad, Quinoa-Lentil Salad and Bean and Rice Burritos.

Dinner

As previously mentioned, everything is cooked for the week but I haven’t cut up all the veggies yet. They last longer whole. In addition to the items above we also have black beans, Mexican Rice and quinoa cooked and ready to be mixed into quick meals. We also have:

Vegan Lasagna (it’s also gluten-free)

Enchilada Soup you can also try this version

Cheesy Crock Pot Broccoli and Rice Casserole

All we will need to do now is reheat meals and wash and chop fruit and veggies. One of the great things about this is that I don’t have to heat the house up at night to cook a big meal. I can do a quick reheat which works perfectly because we have one more week of swim lessons and by the time they are over at 6:00 I’m ready to relax.

What did you do this weekend? Did you cook a big Father’s Day meal?

Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

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Oil-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing is my family’s favorite salad dressing. Sweet and tangy, this salad dressing is everything you need to take your salad up a notch.

Oil-free Raspberry Vinaigrette

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My boys love salad but used to be suspicious of salad dressings. They love this Raspberry Salad Dressing. When I make this, they eat big salads and are more adventurous with the salad ingredients.

This Oil-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette is the only salad dressing my husband requests. It’s definitely husband and kid approved!

Oil-free Raspberry Vinaigrette!

If you are new to eating a whole food plant-based diet, you’ve probably discovered how hard it is to find a good, oil-free salad dressing. Without oil, many salad dressings are thin and watery. Not this dressing!

Even though raspberries are low in pectin, they have enough to help thicken this Raspberry Dressing without the need to add extra thickening ingredients. It’s a vegan salad dressing with no added fat that tastes really good!

Oil-free Raspberry Vinaigrette!

Oil-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 heaping cup of fresh raspberries, if you need to use frozen allow them to thaw first
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • up to a 1/2 tsp of red wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup (more or less to taste)
  • a dash of salt and pepper

Do

  1. Pour your raspberries, half of the water, half of the vinegar and maple syrup into a blender. I used my Blendtec. Add your salt and pepper.
  2. Press the pulse button and allow to process until everything liquefies. Pour in slightly more water if needed.
  3. Give your dressing a taste test. Add more vinegar and maple syrup if needed. Some berries are sweeter while others are sour so this isn’t an exact science. I made it as written above and it was perfect for us.
  4. If you adjusted your ingredients pulse again until your salad dressing reaches the right consistency and flavor.

Your salad dressing will be a beautiful raspberry color and taste slightly sweet with just enough kick.

This will make about 1 1/2 cups depending on how much water you use. Store this dressing in the refrigerator and use within 5 days.

Yield: 4

Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

oil-free raspberry salad dressing

This sweet and tangy oil-free, whole food salad dressing is vegan and gluten-free. Get your family eating more salad than ever before with this Oil-free Raspberry Vinaigrette!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 heaping cup of fresh raspberries, if you need to use frozen allow them to thaw first
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • up to a 1/2 tsp of red wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup (more or less to taste)
  • a dash of salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Pour your raspberries, half of the water, half of the vinegar and maple syrup into a blender. Add your salt and pepper.
  2. Press the pulse button and allow to process until everything liquefies. Pour in slightly more water if needed.
  3. Give your dressing a taste test. Add more vinegar and maple syrup if needed. Some berries are sweeter while others are sour so this isn’t an exact science. I made it as written above and it was perfect for us.
  4. If you adjusted your ingredients pulse again until your salad dressing reaches the right consistency and flavor.

Notes

This will make about 1 1/2 cups depending on how much water you use. Store this dressing in the refrigerator and use within 5 days.

Did you make this recipe?

We'd love to see it! Tag us and use #MyPlantBasedFamily!

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

More Oil-Free Salad Dressings

I’ve got a lot of incredible oil-free salad dressings. You can see all of them on my Sauces, Dips and Salad Dressing Page but other than this Raspberry Salad Dressing, these are my favorites!

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Meal Plan Monday: June 15, 2015 and a 15 Minute Recharge

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This weekend we spent time in the pool, had a family move night (at home), attended church and spent some time resting.

We work really hard during the week and need time to recharge on the weekend.

I know that we have to be careful about spending too much time in the sun and use sun screen, I even wrote about it last year, but I feel great after 15 minutes in the sun. I don’t get burned but I get nice and hot and start to sweat. Even when I have a headache, if I can go outside and relax for 15 minutes I feel so much better. Do you have a 15 minute recharge?

We did a little bit of cooking as well. Sweet Potatoes and small red potatoes, brown rice and black beans were all cooked in my Instant Pot. I shouldn’t say “we” because my husband cooked them. He does most of the cooking these days. Isn’t that awesome?

A Plant-Based Meal Plan that is also gluten-free and low fat. Perfect for anyone trying to eat healthier. These delicious meals packed with fiber and nutrients will keep you full.

Meal Plan

Our boys start swim lessons this week so we wanted to be prepared for the week since our schedule will be different. I know all of that swimming will have the boys extra hungry.

Breakfast

No matter what we have for breakfast we are loading up on delicious summer fruit to go with it. Peaches, nectarines, berries and melon!

Lunch

I pack my lunch when I go to the office. In addition to bringing lunch I pack lots of veggies for snacking and always eat a piece of fruit on the way home. Jim takes the boys on a “field trip” once a week and packs them lunch. This week they go to the Science Center.

  • Veggie Sandwich
  • Leftover Soup
  • Bean and Grain Bowl
  • Big Black Bean Salad
  • Baked Potatoes

Dinner

We still have Mexican Casserole leftover along with all of the foods Jim cooked for us. On a side note our 4 year old calls the Mexican Casserole Mess-Kit Casserole. It’s too funny.

We may not need to cook all of those dinners since we have other things already made. We have a plan to fall back on though.

What are you eating this week? I’ll try to post lots of pictures on Instagram.

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Simple Veggie Sandwich

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One of the things I miss from my pre-plant-based days is a really good deli sandwich.

There is no reason I can’t have a great sandwich. Meat and cheese don’t make the meal. Good bread, fresh veggies and condiments make the meal.

Veggie SandwichSimple Veggie Sandwich

There isn’t a set recipe, use the ingredients you love and have on hand. This is more of a template than a recipe anyway.

Ingredients

  • Good bread, you can also use wraps, naan, or lettuce wraps.
  • Condiments, I use spicy mustard and hummus. Guacamole is another good choice.
  • Greens, I used lettuce and chopped romaine. Use what you like.
  • Veggies, I used cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers. Artichokes, pickles and onions are good too.

Do

Build your sandwich in any way you desire. You may want to wrap it in parchment paper if you are on the go.

Veggie sandwiches tend to be pretty messy. I usually only eat these at home so I don’t make a huge mess.

Other great lunch meal include Veggie Wraps, Black Bean Mango Salad, Chick Pea Salad and Not So Tuna Salad.

June 8, 2015 Plant-Based Meal Plan

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Since I’m posting this weeks meal plan a little later than normal I can already tell you what I ate today. Wanna hear it?

Breakfast Rice with diced apples for breakfast, sliced carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers wit hummus for snack, leftover Veggie Pad Thai for lunch, a nectarine for snack, apple slices for my drive home snack and so far chips and guacamole for dinner. Don’t worry, that’s not my real dinner but I had a large portion. Other than the guacamole this is fairly typical. I usually have a large salad in there some where but we were out of greens until Jim when to the store today.

I’ve been really focusing on my food lately. It’s easy to let unhealthy habits find their way into your day. For me, this happens when I’m really busy (who isn’t) or stressed. I’ll use food to meet some need but it doesn’t really do the trick. More often than not we end up making bad choices. Personally I strive to eat healthy most of the time but I allow some room for treats. I made my gluten-free Brownies this weekend!

Let’s talk meals.

A summer meal plan for plant-based vegan diet

Plant-Based Meal Plan

 

Breakfast

We’ve take a little bit of a break from oatmeal and eaten more Breakfast Rice. Instead of cooking it as instructed we will cook a large batch of plain brown rice and add stuff like cinnamon and apples or strawberries and bananas to it later.

I’m ready to bring back Breakfast Quinoa or the Summer Berry Quinoa to help my strawberry cravings.

Lunch

Lunches are usually leftovers or big salads for me. The boys get lots of salads too. Jim makes their lunches. He provides them greens, carrots an assortment of fruit then asks them to pick two of the following: beans, rice or potatoes.

Any leftovers are fair game.

Dinner

White Bean Enchiladas

Enchilada Soup on a rainy day

Black Bean Mango Salad

Light and Lemony Quinoa Wraps

Rice and Bean Bowl

What are you having this week? Any My Plant-Based Family Recipes? If you are addicted to taking photos of your food be sure to tag me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Black Bean Mango Salad

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It’s summer time and that means salads.

When you adopt a plant-based diet the BIG salad is kind of a rite of passage. We aren’t talking the dinky side salads you typically found in your Standard American Diet (SAD) days. We aren’t even talking about the giant meat, cheese and oil salads you may have ordered when you were “eating healthy.”

No, I’m talking about fiber filled, colorful, BIG, flavorful and healthy salads.

Black Bean Mango Salad Vegan Gluten-Free Plant-Based

Unlike most of the recipes you’ll find here this recipe is for a single serving. Sure my kids would love most of the things in this salad but if your kids are like my kids they don’t want it all mixed together. Today, I’m telling the kids to get back. This one is all mine.

Even though this is for a single serving I prefer to build two (or three or four) at a time to eat later in the week. The only real difference is you’ll want to store the diced mango separately because it can get a little slimy.

Let me take just a moment to mention that the measurements below can be adapted to your taste. I actually added a little more of everything for the salad I ate at home. This size was perfect for work. I don’t know about you but it takes me a long time to eat BIG salads. My lunch salads need to be a little average size.

Black Bean Mango Salad Vegan Gluten-Free

Black Bean Mango Salad

Ingredients

  • 2-3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup organic corn
  • 1/4 cup diced tomato (remove seeds)
  • 1/4 cup diced onion (I prefer sweet onion or red onions)
  • 1/4 of a large mango (or half a small mango) diced.
  • diced jalapenos to taste
  • juice from half a lime
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
  • 1/2 avocado (optional)

Do

  1. Place lettuce in a large bowl then top with beans, corn, tomatoes, onion and mango*.
  2. If using jalapenos and cilantro add now. Give the salad a good stir.
  3. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the salad and stir one more time.

*Notes: If you are packing an extra salad for another day leave the mango, lime juice and avocado separate I didn’t use avocado above but I stored my mango and lime in a container. See the photo below.