My Plant-Based Family

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

Plant Based Diet

Next Plant-Based eCourse Starts May 1

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Summer’s coming and it will be here before you know it. If you’ve been considering getting started on a plant-based diet now is the time to make the commitment and get ready for summer.

Many people are able to reverse disease and eliminate health problems on a plant-based diet. Others lose weight and clear up conditions like acne, asthma, and seasonal allergies. Whatever your reasons the 31 Day Plant-Based eCourse will lead you through a one-month journey that could ultimately change your life.

If you are new to the Plant-Based Diet or struggling to be successful in this new lifestyle you have come to the right place.

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I created a 31 Day Plant-Based eCourse that will lead you through everything you need to know to start a plant-based diet.

There are two options:

  • Self-paced eCourse that you can start immediately, or
  • The group eCourse that starts May 1st

Susan took the January eCourse and says:

The simplicity yet thoroughness of the eCourse allowed even a novice Plant-Based person to educate themselves about why this lifestyle is better than the Standard American Diet and to implement steps to take to eat and be healthier. The meal plans were great and included a variety of recipes to suit many different sorts of tastes. I found many recipes that I can incorporate into my meal rotations and I would do this eCourse again, just to solidify my knowledge and share with others. The fact that there was a group of us all doing the same thing meant for a great camaraderie.

Jennifer says:

The eCourse helped me stay focused and gave me the encouragement to never bring anything non-Plant-Based into the house. The meal plans were wonderful ways to jump-start my shopping list and give me ideas of where I wanted to take my week in food and nutrition. The workout routines kept me motivated the first couple weeks when I was stuck in a hotel for 10 days. Overall it was a fun month and I really appreciate the hard work the design team put into the 31 Day Challenge eCourse.

Whether you decided to start on May 1st with the group or go at your own pace the 31 Day Plant-Based eCourse provides you with everything you need to be successful with the plant-based lifestyle. You’ll have the additional benefit of a private Facebook community for support.

This 31 day class is less than $1 a day!

You’ll get:

  • The Plant-Based Diet Starter Guide ebook
  • Weekly Meal Plans
  • optional Weekly Exercise Guides
  • Daily lessons that will teach you the basics of plant-based living
  • Group support in a private Facebook group

All of that for only $30!

Find out about the limited-time individual coaching opportunities!

Buy Now

Need Extra Help?

For those participating in the 31 Day eCourse that need a little extra help consider purchasing the 31 Day Coaching add-on!

The 31 Day Coaching add-on is an individualized coaching program that will:

  • Help you set and track goals
  • Assist in Meal Plan development (work together to customize a meal plan to meet your goals)
  • Daily accountability via email/messaging and a daily food log
  • Weekly 20 minute phone call/skype/google hangout (only one) to discuss progress and next steps.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, eliminate processed foods or finally go plant-based this 31 Day Coaching add-on can give you the individualized help that you need.

Space is limited!

Add this one-on-one coaching to your 31 Day eCourse experience for only $95 dollars. Email me at myplantbasedfamily @ gmail.com (remove spaces) to purchase or inquire about the one-on-one coaching.

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Meal Plan Monday: Back in the Groove

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We are returning from a nine-day trip to visit family. You may have noticed I’ve been mostly silent on social media.

We visited family members in 5 different cities/towns and drove from Arizona, through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and back home again. We loved our time away but I’m more determined than ever to eat well now that we are home and I’m back in my own kitchen.

I’ll be working a lot this week so I’m sticking to some of my favorite, easy recipes. My body is craving healthy plant-based foods after being on the road.

This week I’m going to be diligent about packing my lunch every day and actually eating it. Too often I get busy working and don’t take a break to eat but I know it’s important for optimal health.

Plant Based Meal Plan

Meal Plan

For Breakfast we will have gluten-free steel-cut oats along with overnight oats, baked sweet potatoes, multi-grain porridge and use toast as a backup for busy days.

My kids will take their regular lunches or leftovers or sandwiches along with fruit and pretzels. We have stuff for wraps and veggies with hummus!

Dinner

Mexican Bean and Rice Casserole

Lentil and Rice Burritos (with Lentil Taco Meat)

Taco Salad

Potato and Kale Soup

Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole

You may have noticed that I’m using my Instant Pot for almost every meal. It’s so easy that it is my go-to method of cooking. If you don’t have an Instant Pot I provide either a Crock Pot or Stove Top version for all of my recipes.

I’ve got more great things planned this week including the Instant Pot version of one of our favorite recipes!

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Instant Pot Mexican Casserole

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I’ve been promising this recipe for a while but keep putting it off. Today I’m going to share my Instant Pot version of my Mexican Rice and Bean Casserole, a.k.a. Mexican Casserole. It uses dry beans so you don’t have to cook anything ahead of time.

The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole will amaze your family and impress your guests! This should be your go to plant-based recipe for your Instant Pot.

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If you’ve tried the Crock Pot version, the Stove or Oven version you know that this is really good and really easy. Some people don’t like the texture of the rice when cooked in the Crock Pot.  The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole comes out perfect every time; if you have a pressure cooker I challenge you to make this.

The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole will amaze your family and impress your guests! This should be your go to plant-based recipe for your Instant Pot.

 

Instant Pot Mexican Casserole

If your family is just starting to try plant-based living, this recipe is for you! You can enjoy it in a bowl topped with your favorite ingredients, wrapped in a tortilla, or with chips.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked brown rice
  • 1 cup uncooked dry beans (if you have trouble with beans not cooking enough, try soaking them first)
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 6 oz can of tomato paste (or 1 8 oz can tomato sauce with slightly less water)
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt (optional)

Do

  1. Dump all of the ingredients into your pressure cooker and stir once or twice.
  2. Close the lid and cook on manual for 28 minutes.
  3. Once done, allow the pressure to come down and open carefully. If you are in a hurry you can do a quick release.

Serve

This meal can be eaten alone or served with tortillas or chips and salsa. It travels well and we often take it in our lunches.

This photo shows what it looks like right out of the pressure cooker! It’s quite a bit darker than the Crock Pot and Stove Top versions.

The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole will amaze your family and impress your guests! This should be your go to plant-based recipe for your Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Cooking Info

If you are new to the Instant Pot or pressure cookers, in general, it’s important to know that it takes time for them to come up to pressure and time for the pressure to come down when they are finished cooking. This will take about 45 minutes to an hour even though it only “cooks” for 28 minutes.

The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole will amaze your family and impress your guests! This should be your go to plant-based recipe for your Instant Pot.

Note: If using beans other than black beans make sure you are cooking this long enough. The rice takes 28 minutes to cook but some beans may take longer. Consult the Instant Pot cooking guides and cook it as long as necessary.

I’ve had feedback from some that their black beans are not soft enough after cooking. Most people do not have a problem. If this is the case for you, make sure you are using beans that are not old. Beans that have been in your pantry for a year will take longer to cook than fresh beans. (This is why I stopped buying giant bags of beans in bulk.)

Also, hard water could make the beans cook more slowly.

If your beans could be older or if you have hard water, I recommend soaking the beans in warm water before cooking.

The Instant Pot Mexican Casserole will amaze your family and impress your guests! This should be your go to plant-based recipe for your Instant Pot.

Get More Instant Pot Recipes

Love Instant Pot Recipes? Get my free Instant Pot Recipe Collection! It’s my gift to you! Sign up and you’ll get it delivered to your inbox! You’ll also get a weekly update with plant-based tips! It’s a win-win!

Strawberry Lemonade

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I love short cuts in the kitchen. If there is an easier way of doing things I want to know.

My kids have been asking for “Lemon Juice” which is their way of asking for lemonade. We never buy the store-bought stuff. Last week a kid in our neighborhood was selling lemons door to door and I bought three; I appreciate a boy trying to earn a little cash. A lot of our neighbors have citrus trees but we don’t.

We have a Blendtec. Why not just peel the lemons and blend away? This probably wouldn’t work with an inexpensive blender Blendtec or a Vitamix you’re in business.

I’ll give a quick note, this recipe has a lot of room for variation. Start slowly adding a little at a time because lemons are different sizes, have differing amounts of juice and varying levels of tartness.

Strawberry Lemonade

Lazy Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients

  • 1-3 lemons (I used one giant lemon) peeled with seeds removed
  • 1 cup of strawberries with stems/leaves removed
  • water
  • sugar or other sweetener

Do

  1. Put lemons, strawberries, 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup of sugar in your Blendtec.
  2. Blend until everything is liquefied.
  3. Add another 2 cups or water and 1/4 cup of sugar (if desired) and blend. Repeat this step until your lemonade has the perfect sweet/sour mix.

I used 6 total cups of water and 3/4 cup of sugar for the whole pitcher. My starting lemon was the size of a grapefruit.

This is so easy I call it Lazy Strawberry Lemonade but you could leave out the strawberries and just have Lazy Lemonade.

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A little bit of Winter and Spring Meal Plan

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You may be living in a cold place but this week will be in the 90s so this meal plan will straddle the seasons and have a variety  foods for warm and cold weather, hence the little bit of Winter and Spring Meal Plan. Our week seems fairly uneventful too, which is always good for cooking. I’m sure that will change but I can embrace it for now.

Winter Spring meal Plan

 

 

Winter and Spring Meal Plan

Breakfast and Lunch

I will definitely make my latest recipe, Triple Berry Porridge this week. Don’t get hung up on the name, it’s basically oatmeal, I just added a few more grains and called it porridge. It is fantastic!

Lunches will be sandwiches, baked potatoes, maybe a veggie soup and any other leftovers we end up with.

I may also make some dip to go with my veggies, I’m thinking Roasted Red Pepper Dip but I may try something else.

Dinner

Lentil Tacos (here is the Instant Pot version) with Mexican Rice

Potato Kale Soup

Veggie Fried Rice but I’ll add a lot more veggie like mushrooms, more carrots, more onions, greens, peppers, etc.

Green Chili, Cilantro and Lime Soup

If I need something else it will be a Soup or a casserole.

So let’s here it! Are you still in winter or leaning into spring?

Triple Berry Porridge

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I use my Instant Pot all of the time for dinner but I wanted to use it for breakfast too. I’ve been trying to work a little more variety into our diets because for the last few months we’ve been eating the same things over and over. It’s all things we like but I know eventually we will get tired of it. The last time I was a Costco I found an organic quinoa, amaranth, millet blend and I really wanted to incorporate it into our meal plan.

Triple Berry Porridge

Breakfast was the perfect option! If you don’t have the quinoa, amaranth, millet blend you could use equal amounts of any grain with a similar outcome although cooking times may be affected. All of the grains I used were gluten-free.

Triple Berry Porridge gluten-free and vegan

Triple Berry Porridge

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Steel Cut Oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free)
  • 1/2 cup Quinoa Amaranth Millet Blend (I used Organic Quinoa Ancient Blend)
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 cups frozen organic berries (we buy a three berry blend at Costco)
  • Plant-milk as desired
  • Maple syrup, optional
  • Chia or hemp seeds, optional

Do

  1. Dump the oats, quinoa blend, water and berries into the Instant Pot.
  2. Close the lid and press Manual then use the arrows to select 10 minutes.
  3. Once cooked (and it beeps) press cancel or unplug and allow the pressure to release naturally.
  4. After the natural release, carefully open the lid and give it a good stir.
  5. Add plant-milk until you porridge reaches your preferred consistency. I like it thick but my sons like it thinned.
  6. Spoon the porridge into bowls and add optional ingredients like maple syrup, seeds and more berries.

You don’t have to have an Instant Pot to make this. You can cook it in a Crock Pot in about 7-8 hours or on the stove 20 to 30 minutes. Both will require more liquid.

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