My Plant-Based Family

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

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May 2, 2016 Weekly Meal Plan

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People don’t eat healthy by accident. It takes effort. A Weekly Meal Plan is an important first step to healthy eating.

Occasionally I get emails and comments asking if these meal plans are for a day or a week or what. I’ve created meal plans for so long that I sometimes forget to include all the details. Most weeks, I create a weekly meal plan. Since we eat leftovers and don’t mind repeats I only plan 4-5 meals for breakfast, 4-5 for lunch, and 4-5 for dinner.

I don’t normally assign meals by day but for understanding sake, I decided to give it a try. I’m going to change up the format too. Instead of listing separate breakfast, lunch and dinner I’ll post all meals by day. I hope that will clear up any confusion.

Weekly Meal Plan for Plant-Based Diet

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Healthy Vegan Baking

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I’ve shared recently how I gave up on baking for a while. I felt like I would spend hours in the kitchen trying to make something allergy-friendly and healthy only to fail. I’ve finally gotten over my fear of failure and you can too!

Lucie at WIN-WIN Foods has created a Healthy Vegan Baking ecourse that will teach anyone how to create healthy, delicious treats.

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse

Allergy-Friendly

If you are like me and avoid dairy and eggs this ecourse will show you how to bake everything from cake, sweet breads, cookies, cream pies, heck…even tiramisu. Plus all of the lovely fillings and frostings.

The best part, these are all healthy, you don’t have to feel guilty about making them.

The eCourse also covers oil-free, gluten-free and soy-free options.

Healthy Vegan Baking eCouse

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse Content

When you sign up for the 7 week ecourse you’ll get a new module each week. The modules include:

  1. Intro to Healthy Vegan Baking (and how not to get overwhelmed)
  2. Baking with Unrefined Flours (including gluten-free options)
  3. Healthy Fats and Low Fat Baking (including oil-free options)
  4. All about Egg Alternatives and A Little About Non-Dairy Milks
  5. Banishing Sugar and Finding the Best Alternatives (including natural calorie-free options)
  6. Decorating Desserts Naturally (icings, frostings, colorings and other decoration options)
  7. Putting All the Knowledge Together and Troubleshooting

Plus you get AMAZING recipes!!! You will also get live Q&A sessions each week and a private Facebook group. 

Healthy Vegan Baking eCourse

Still undecided?

This course is for you if you:

  • Struggle to bake delicious but healthy treats.
  • Have a lot of food allergens to avoid.
  • Used to be a great baker but can’t get the hang of plant-based baking.
  • Can spend 1-2 hours per week learning how to bake.

For me, this ecourse is a gold mine! Every subject is covered. Don’t wait too long, enrollment closes on May 8th. What a great Mother’s Day Gift!

This page contains affiliate links.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

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My youngest son has been picky about breakfast lately. He isn’t interested in anything quick or easy, except fruit. Muffins are just about the only thing he will happily eat, especially these Strawberry Banana Muffins.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and plant-based

This page contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase using my link I may make a small commission.

A while ago I gave up on gluten-free baking. It was hard and it wouldn’t always turn out the way I wanted. After speaking with some expert bakers at last years Food Allergy Bloggers Conference I worked up the nerve to start again. Except this time I decided to stick to gluten-free all purpose baking mixes. After all, I don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and plant-based

If you struggle with gluten-free baking too I recommend getting an all purpose mix and giving it another try. Update: It’s been a few years since I created this recipe. Now I always use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour.

These muffins are perfect this time of year when strawberries are in season but you can also use frozen strawberries. To use frozen strawberries just run them under cold water to defrost them and let them sit and drain (I used a small strainer) while I mixed up the rest of the ingredients.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Banana Muffins

Strawberry Banana Muffins
 
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Recipe type: Muffins
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 bananas (plus more listed below)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup plant-based milk
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1¾ cup gluten-free all purpose flour baking mix
  • 2 cups diced strawberries
  • ½ cup diced bananas
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your muffin pan by using a spray oil or parchment liners.
  2. In a large bowl, mash 2 bananas, then add in sugar, vanilla and plant-based milk. Mix well.
  3. Add in baking soda, salt and gluten-free flour blend and stir to combine.
  4. Fold in half a diced banana and the diced strawberries.
  5. Scoop in equal parts into the muffin tin.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes. Check for doneness and bake for 5-10 more minutes if needed.
  7. Allow to cool before serving.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free

Because of the strawberries these muffins will be really soft, and somewhat gooey on the inside. The strawberries “cook down” and leave hollow spots. They taste delicious and get this, they even freeze well.

Strawberry Banana Muffins gluten-free and gluten-free

They aren’t the cleanest but if you don’t mind licking your fingers you won’t mind. I wouldn’t eat them in the car on the way to work though.

If you missed my Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread I think you should try it! Check out my bread and muffin page for more great recipes.

This page contains affiliate links. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

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One of our family’s all time favorite recipes is Banana Bread. Our old family recipe is delicious but it is made with wheat. I have a gluten-free banana bread recipe but it wasn’t as close to the original as I wanted (maybe because it was refined sugar-free).

Gluten-Free, Vegan Banana Bread that is perfect for brunch, snack or to share with friends.

I found Jewel’s all purpose gluten-free mix and tried my regular recipe. It’s a cup for cup mix but I decreased the flour by 1/2 a cup compared to my original recipe, everything else stayed the same. I wanted to change it up a bit so I went for a cinnamon swirl.

The great thing about this recipe is it always impresses. Enjoy it at brunch, breakfast, dessert and potlucks.

Banana Bread

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
 
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Serves: 12 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup apple sauce
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • ¼ cup plant-based milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1½ cup Jewel's gluten-free all purpose baking mix
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan with non-stick spray.
  2. In a large bowl mix apple sauce and sugar.
  3. Add bananas and smash with a fork.
  4. Pour in plant-based milk and vanilla and stir.
  5. Sprinkle baking soda and salt then dump in Jewel's gluten-free all purpose flour mix.
  6. Stir everything together then scoop out about 1 cup into another bowl. Add one tablespoon of cinnamon to the bowl and stir.
  7. Pour the regular batter into the bundt pan. Then add spoonfuls of the cinnamon batter on top Swirl gently.
  8. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until done.
  9. Allow to cool completely before serving.

We love making banana bread in bundt pans because they are so pretty and the whole in the middle helps them cook more evenly. You can make these into muffins, just cook for 15-20 minutes instead.

gluten-free vegan banana bread

If you try this recipe with a different cup for cup mix let me know which one’s work for you.

See more recipes like this on my Breads and Muffins Page.

One Pot Veggie Pasta + 3 Tips

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How long does your meal prep take each day? Do you spend hours frolicking around the kitchen making everything from scratch?

Neither do I. It sounds lovely, it really does but I don’t have enough time for that. Maybe one day, but until then I’ll take some short cuts. Shopping smart, easy meals and snacks along with having a plan, make eating better in a hurry possible.

One Pot gluten-free Veggie Pasta - Copy

Shop Smart

I regularly get questions about grocery shopping. We are fortunate to have a Sprouts nearby. We do almost all of our shopping at Sprouts. They have the best produce that is always reasonably priced, a great selection of organic and gluten-free products and I can get in out of the store quickly. Plus, they have great Deals of the Month that are always a great value!

tortilla chips and Larabars

Easy Meals and Snacks

I like to plan quick meals for busy nights and leftovers for busier nights. I reserve meals that take longer to prepare for weekends. I buy things like pasta, Muir Glen Pasta Sauce, ready to eat cereal, Larabars, fresh fruit, fresh veggies and Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Tortilla Chips. By the way, those items and more are 35% off right now, no coupon needed.

No matter how busy I get, I can have a quick meal or an easy snack in only a few minutes. This helps tremendously when I’m rushing out the door and need to pack food for the day for all of us.

Veggies

Having a Plan

Meal planning isn’t just, “what are we going to eat?” It’s also when am I going to shop and who is cleaning up. Have I ever said how much I hate doing dishes? A lot!

We often do our shopping on the weekends but when possible we shop on Wednesdays because that is double ad day at Sprouts. No, you don’t have to clip coupons or carry the ad, it means the sale prices for the previous set of ads and the new ads are both valid. You’ll get the best deals!

When you get home from Sprouts go ahead and chop some veggies. Then you can grab your veggies, hummus and Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Tortilla Chips for a snack, even when you are in a hurry.

Doing a ton of dishes kills my back so I’ll try to make one pot meals whenever I can. Psst! The recipe below is a one pot meal!

Organic veggie pasta

One Pot Veggie Pasta

Veggie Pasta
 
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Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 8 ounce package of gluten-free pasta
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 25.5 oz jar of Muir Glen Pasta Sauce (Tomato Basil)
Instructions
  1. Pour 4 cups of water in a skillet, cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil.
  2. Once boiling add the pasta, stir and cover with the lid for 5 minutes. Stir every few minutes.
  3. Add the veggies and stir again, then cover with the lid. Set timer for 10 minutes but stir regularly.
  4. Drain pasta and veggies in a colander then immediately rinse with cold water.
  5. Pour pasta and veggies back into skillet then add pasta sauce and stir well.
  6. Heat for a few minutes until sauce is warm.

The pasta I used had a 15 minute cooking time. If your pasta has a shorter cooking time, like 10 minutes, you’ll want to add the veggies at the same time as the pasta. Make sure your pasta is covered in water, the veggies don’t have to be. The skillet allows the water to come to a boil faster.

I also made sure to cut all my veggies into small pieces while the water was coming to a boil. That allowed them to cook quickly. I just cut extra veggies for salad and a snack later.

For more great deals check out a Sprouts near you! I promise you’ll love it too!

Sprouts will also be hosting a Get and Give Back sweepstakes. Five lucky winners will be selected to receive a $2,000 Sprouts gift card and nominate a local food bank in their community to receive a $2,000 monetary donation.

Breakfast Hash

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As much as I love oatmeal, sometimes I want a savory breakfast. My Breakfast Hash recipe is a hearty mix of potatoes and veggies that keep me satisfied for hours. It’s plant-based and gluten-free which makes it great for serving at family breakfasts.

Hearty Breakfast Hash that features potatoes and veggies. This plant-based (vegan) and gluten-free meal will keep you satisfied for hours.

I’ve been making this for years and developed it when I had a craving for a scramble but didn’t want the eggs and cheese I used before. [Read more…] about Breakfast Hash