My Plant-Based Family

Eating Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet recipes, On a Budget.

Valentine's Day

Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

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Are you making a special plant-based Valentine’s Day meal?

I got an email from a reader who wanted to know what I suggested for a special Valentine’s Day meal. Her husband asked if she could make a plant-based meal, even though he isn’t plant-based. Sounds like a sweetheart!

Veggie Pad Thai

I used to suggest big fancy meals but these days I’m all about keeping it simple. My recommendation was Veggie Pad Thai! I know, it’s not a traditional choice but it’s easy to make, cooks quickly, and is easy to adapt based on what you like.

My husband loves the Veggie Pad Thai. I do a mix of both of our favorite veggies and give him more of the mushrooms while I take more of the peppers. He likes to drizzle Sriracha on top.

Just because it’s Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean you need to put yourself out to make a meal. Spending less time in the kitchen so you can spend more time with your family seems like a win to me.

I know that some of you are over the top kind of people. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean that you love creating big elaborate meals for your family. That is awesome! Go for it!

If Pad Thai isn’t your thing, I’ve got a few other recipes for you. You can check out my post from 5 years ago (yes, I’ve been blogging that long) when my kids were little!

Chickpea Nuggets are vegan, gluten-free, and a fun kid food. They are easy to make and delicious.

More Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Ideas

If I had plenty of time and energy, I’d plan a kid friendly meal of Chickpea Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy and veggies. I’d probably have a veggie tray or big salad too.

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Something you may not have heard yet, my Chickpea Nugget recipe is included in Ocean Robbins new book, The 31 Day Food Revolution! I’m so excited to read this book. You should check it out if you are looking for new reading material.

Plant-Based Dessert

Of course, we can’t forget about dessert. If there was any time to have desserts it’s random mid-week holidays, err, I mean Valentine’s Day. HA HA, just kidding. You don’t have to convince me to have dessert.

Banana Muffins with Chocolate Plant-Based Valentine's day

You can tell from my dessert page that I love chocolate. My husband never really liked chocolate but he has come around a bit. He still won’t eat a lot but he enjoys it in small amounts. With that in mind, big desserts are out, but smaller desserts like chocolate covered strawberries made with Enjoy Life Foods chocolate are totally in.

Another option we love is making my Banana Bread into muffins and putting chocolate chips (or chunks) in half of them.

What is your idea of a perfect plant-based Valentine’s Day meal? Do you like simple, elaborate, family friendly or romantic?

Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

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Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas are saturating every form of social media. I wasn’t planning on sharing any ideas but I realized some of you may need a little push in the right direction if you are avoiding meat, dairy, or allergens like wheat or nuts. I don’t plan to do anything special for my family, I’m hoping for a date night instead.

valentines day

Plant-Based Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

1. Breakfast for Dinner!

Heart-Shaped pancakes with cherries and chocolate chips. Your kids will love this idea and never forget it. I use a Gluten-Free Mix by Maple Grove Farms that I find at Target or Walmart. For the life of me I can’t make good GF pancakes without a mix.

2. Go Italian

I’ve always associated Valentine’s Day with Italian food, it probably goes back to Lady and the Tramp’s iconic meatball scene. Thankfully, I have several recipes to choose from, some are more kid friendly than others. My Gluten-Free Lasagna is a crowd-pleaser; it is husband, kid, and teenager approved. My teen even thought there was cheese in it. (Insert evil laugh here.)

If you are feeding toddlers you may want to go with the Pizza Pasta using small noodles for small hands.

Since it’s for Valentine’s Day try to pick veggies your kids will like best. For my youngest that is broccoli!

3. Steak and Potatoes

Portobello Steaks and Potatoes can take you back to the feel of your omni days without the meat. If your Valentine likes mushrooms this is a great meal. I recommend making either a baked potato or Dirty Mashed Potatoes and steaming asparagus.

4. Picnic at the Park

If you have small kids but would still like to catch a moment with your Valentine try having a picnic at the park. Yes, your kids will be there but they will probably be busy stealing another kids toy or pulling someones hair. Make CHICKpea salad sandwiches and easy finger foods to enjoy. On a side note the weather is in the 70s this week where I live, don’t hate me.

5. Dinner and a Movie at Home

Find a fun movie to rent and order take out or make an easy Crock Pot meal. I love my Easy Crock Pot Mexican Casserole because it comes together in minutes and I only have to wash the Crock Pot. I really dislike doing dishes. Later you can watch your movie as you snack on popcorn.

If you have kids make a Pop Corn Bar with melted Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips, sprinkles, cinnamon, nutritional yeast, crushed candies or other favorite snacks.

6. Don’t Forget Dessert

You need dessert on Valentine’s Day. I think dessert is waaaay more important than the other food. If you are going for the classic V Day dessert you need to make Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Just melt Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips then dip your strawberries in the melted chocolate, refrigerate them until you are ready for dessert. You could also make Brownies or a Fresh Fruit Parfait.

What are your Valentine’s Day Meal Plans?

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.