My Plant-Based Family

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

Unprocessed

Meal Plan Monday: Unprocessed

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This week my husband and I are challenging ourselves to to eat only unprocessed foods. Read more about that here. I had noticed a lot of processed foods finding their way into our diet. We weren’t eating hot dogs or other faux food creations, but I felt like I was relying on pasta a little to often. I also love sprouted grain bread and eat it at least once a day usually with peanut butter or almond butter. Sprouted grain bread isn’t bad for you and I’d encourage anyone to try it and make it a part of their menu but I’ll attempt to do without. This week I want to replace it with fruit and vegetables. I will very likely be eating a lot of apples with peanut and almond butter.  My friend Aletia will be joining us on this challenge as well as Allie. Thanks friends!

This Week’s Meal Plan

Breakfast will be oatmeal, fruit and smoothies. Sometimes I have leftovers, especially soup.

Snack will be fresh fruit, smoothies, or raw veggies with Jalapeno hummus.

Lunch is typically leftovers, baked potatoes, or a bean and grain bowl.

Dinner

Monday: Minestrone Soup

Tuesday: Black Bean and Quinoa bowl, think Chipotle 

Wednesday: Split Pea Soup (I have never made this but my husband has been asking for it)

Thursday: Huge Salad with homemade avocado dressing

Friday: Lentil Taco Salad or maybe a Lentil Loaf from Chef AJ’s book.

Have you planned your menu for the week? Is it Unprocessed? Let us know!

Unprocessed

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**A special note to my friends: For those of you who think I’m weird enough already this is sure to send you over the edge!

On Monday I mentioned a challenge, an UNPROCESSED challenge. Look at what you ate in the last week, how much of it was processed. Not sure what that means, here is an excerpt from the book Unprocessed by Chef AJ.

What do I mean by unprocessed versus processed food? Whole foods found in the produce section or the bulk section of your grocery store or farmer’s market, and found there in more or less the same state that they were harvested on a farm, are unprocessed; packaged foods with long lists of ingredients are processed. Foods that have been stripped of fiber and refined are processed. Foods that have been concentrated and separated from the rest of the plants they come from– sugars and oils top this list– are likewise processed. Fruits, vegetables, pulses (beans and lentils), while grains, nuts and seeds are unprocessed; Fruit Loops and potato chips are processed. Brown rice, unprocessed; white rice, processed. You get the idea.

Brilliant huh! She goes on to talk about how combining unprocessed ingredients is also eating unprocessed; like cooking veggies in a soup or making salad. She goes into much more detail but you need to buy the book of you want to know what she says. You can also read an interview with Chef AJ here or watch Chef AJ and Julieanna Hever create tasty foods here.

Anyhoo! Who wants to try this with me? How about 90% unprocessed, or just give it your best shot? It will take intentional effort and planning. I will go easy on my kids and feed them a healthy, although not completely unprocessed diet. Toast can be a life saver for my kids, as can coffee for me!

I’ll post a Meal Plan on Monday but a few of the foods we will be eating include oatmeal, Minestrone Soup, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, beans, grains, salads, smoothies, and lots of fresh fruits, and fresh and steamed veggies. Stir Fry would be good also but after my last the Stir Fry Debacle and don’t know if we will try it yet. That means this weekend I will be cooking beans and grains to prepare. 

Do you accept the challenge? 

Meal Plan Monday

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Last weeks meal plan did not work out. We ended up changing plans on several days. I only made the Italian Bake and the Veggie Pot Pie, they were both delicious but I felt like I didn’t cook enough or have near enough leftovers to eat for lunch.

This week will be a different kind of week too so I plan to take it easy on the meal plan, plus I haven’t done my normal “mega veggie buy” at the store yet.

Dinner Meal Plan

Monday: Homemade Veggie Pizza

Tuesday: Special Valentine’s Day Fare that will include Gluten Free Apple Muffins and Gluten Free Chocolate Mousse.

Wednesday: Bean Burritos

Thursday:Enchilada Soup, a.k.a Soup of Awesomeness

Friday: Baked Sweet Potatoes for the kids, dinner out for the parents (hopefully)

This weekend my husband and I notice that The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue was available streaming on Netflix. I’d really wanted to see this movie for a while as I’m a big fan of Fork’s Over Knives. We watched it and realized how we have let a lot of processed food back into our diet. It’s amazing how sneakily it creeps back in. So next week we are going to challenge ourselves to go unprocessed. It wont work for us this week and we want to be fully prepared so this week we will finish off some of the processed food and be ready for next week.

Do you want to join us? I’ll talk more about it this week but I’d like to challenge you to  go unprocessed next Monday through Friday. If you are having trouble losing weight this could really help, have I piqued your interest yet? You can bet that the Minestrone Soup will make an appearance in unprocessed week.

Leave a comment if you plan to join us. If you’re a blogger and want to blog about it next week I’ll include your blog in all of next weeks post.