My Plant-Based Family

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

Recipes

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?

Multi-Grain Breakfast Bowl…Goodbye Oatmeal

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Last week I shared our recipe for Overnight Chia Porridge and the fact that most of our household has a sensitivity to oats. You know I love oats. If you’ve followed my Free Meal Plans for a while you also know I ate oatmeal almost every morning for months at a time.

multi-grain breakfast bowl is vegan and gluten free

I had to say goodbye to oatmeal, at least for now, but I really needed a whole grain replacement. If I don’t have a hearty breakfast I’m more likely to skip it all together then make poor choices later in the day.

Every time I make this Breakfast Bowl it tastes different. Sometimes I use brown rice, sometimes quinoa or other grains. Often I’ll mix up several different leftovers. My kids like to eat this cold but I prefer to heat it up before adding the fruit. It’s easy enough that everyone can have it their own way. I guess I should have named it Multi-Grain Breakfast Buffet Bowl.

multi-grain breakfast bowl is vegan and gluten free

Multi-Grain Breakfast Bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of cooked grains (brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, etc.)
  • 1/2 cup of fruit (blueberries, diced apples, bananas, raisins, etc.)
  • a little sweetener (I like maple syrup)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
  • OPTIONAL 1/4 cup Overnight Chia Porridge
  • OPTIONAL nuts or seeds

Do

  1. Heat grains if you want a hot cereal.
  2. Mix in remaining ingredients and stir well.

Serve

This can be made ahead of time and stored in individual portions for quick breakfasts.

I love how easy it is to make using leftover grains.

For more inspiration check out my Plant-Based Breakfast Board on Pinterest or my Breakfast Page.

Overnight Chia Porridge

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When we learned that half of our household had a sensitivity to oats our oatmeal consumption went way down. For a while we replaced that with toast and cereal but both were much more expensive that oats, especially since we had to buy gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free versions. That is when we embraced Overnight Chia Porridge.

Vegan and Gluten-free overnight Chia Porridge

I’m no stranger to chia seeds and I’m not talking about chia pets. We’ve been eating chia seeds regularly since the beginning of our plant-based journey. In fact, in our house we call them “sprinkles” and I keep them in a little shaker bottle. My boys get sprinkles on almost everything they eat. When they hear other kids talking about sprinkles they will chime in because they eat sprinkles too. (yes, I have lots of evil tricks like this)

Vegan and Gluten-free overnight Chia Porridge

Overnight Chia Porridge

Ingredients

Do

  1. Pour seeds into a jar with a leak-proof lid.
  2. Pour milk over seeds, tighten lid and give it a good shake.
  3. Wait about 15-20 minutes then give jar another good shake.
  4. Store overnight in the refrigerator.

Serve

The chia (and hemp seeds) will absorb the milk and you’ll be left with a full jar of firm porridge. I typically use a few tablespoons of porridge and mix it with grains and fruit.

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