What We Ate Today #7 | Vegan Family Meals (VIDEO)

Breakfast: Roasted potatoes, strawberries & blueberries and chocolate milk (using almond milk)

Lunch: Falafel (pre-packed vegan brand from Whole Foods) on pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber & So Delicious Greek-style yogurt and watermelon

Dinner: Macaroni & cheese, sauteed spinach (in garlic, salt, black pepper & olive oil) and Gardein crispy tenders

Here's a recipe video for the vegan macaroni & cheese

Watch the video........

Need more vegan family meal ideas? Check out the other What We Ate Today posts/videos here.

What We Ate Today #6 | Vegan Family Meals (VIDEO)

There’s this misconception that vegan life goes a little something like this:

 1) Spend Saturdays strolling through the produce department of Whole foods (or the farmer’s market)

2) Check out and smile at your $400 weekly grocery receipt

3) Go home and juice 30 lbs of produce for the week and prep endless salads

I’m sure there are vegans out there that live this life, but overall there’s much more variety than juice, salads and smoothies in this lifestyle!

You can enjoy delicious and simple meals that don’t cost a lot of money and most importantly, your family will love it, too.  Overall, vegan meals are a lot of the meals you’re already enjoying (with a few adjustments with ingredients). It isn’t space food!

Vegan meals don't have to expensive or require a lot of exotic ingredients. Check out what we ate in one day as a family in one day....

Breakfast: Grits (with Earth Balance vegan margarine, salt, pepper & all-purpose seasoning) & strawberries for the kiddies, smoothie (spinach, soy milk, frozen blueberries & banana) for me & Eric ate oatmeal with blueberries before we woke up

Lunch: Vegetable stir-fry (broccoli, red bell peppers, mushrooms, Field Roast vegan sausage, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, all-purpose seasoning) & jasmine rice

Dinner: Vegetable pasta (quinoa pasta, spinach, mushrooms, garlic, canned diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, all-purpose seasoning, green onion)

Check out the video below and subscribe to my YouTube for more videos like this. :-)

Check out all the previous "What We Ate Today" posts here

What We Ate Today #5 (VIDEO)

I often get questions about what we eat as a family, so I'm back to making more "what we ate today" videos.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with medjool dates, cinnamon & apples on top

Lunch: Leftover roasted vegetables with quinoa pasta

Snack: plum tomatoes, orange slices and Ritz crackers & peanut butter

Dinner: I veganized the "Drenched Bean Quesadillas" recipe from Mexican Made Easy by Marcella Valladolid

Vegan Sour cream recipe from dinner-

*15 oz can of coconut milk

*1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice

*1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Place the coconut can in the fridge overnight.  Open can from the bottom to drain the water. Scoop out the “cream” and place in a small bowl. Whisk in the acv or lemon juice and salt.

I got this recipe from my girl, Kimber.

More videos like this to come! Be sure to subscribe to the blog and my YouTube channel to get updates.

Check out all the previous "What We Ate Today" posts here

What We Ate Today #4 | Vegan Family Meals

It's been too long since I've shared some of our meals, so I'm back on YouTube to show you the goods.  

Breakfast: 

So Delicious yogurt, granola & apple slices, bagel with Earth Balance

Lunch:

Vegan Tuna Sandwich, Way Better chips & carrots

Vegan Tuna Sandwich

by Brown Vegan

Ingredients

• (2) 15 oz chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 1 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon relish
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ½ cup vegan mayo
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• 6 Hamburger buns

Instructions

Grind chickpeas in a food processor for a few seconds. Transfer to a bowl and mix in all the remaining ingredients. Serve on a bun with lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!

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Dinner:

Lentils & rice, simple salad

Lentils & Rice

by Brown Vegan

Prep Time: 5

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon All-purpose seasoning blend (I used Flax Seasoning)
• 2 cups dry lentils, rinsed (I usually soak mine in water for about 30 minutes)
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 3 cups of fresh greens
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Sauté onion and garlic on medium heat for about 4 mins.

2. Add in chili powder and all-purpose seasoning blend.

3. Continue cooking for another minute, then add in lentils and vegetable broth.

4. Bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat, cover and continue cooking for 15-20, or until lentils are soft.

6. During the last 5 minutes, add in the greens and sun-dried tomatoes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with rice or quinoa.

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Watch the full video here and subscribe to my YouTube channel to get more cooking videos and vlogs.

Check out all the previous "What We Ate Today" posts here

What We Ate Today #3 | Vegan Family Meals

Hey! I hope your week is going well! 

I'm working on unplugging from the Internet to focus on living more in the moment.  It's a challenge since I always feel like I'm "missing something" when I unplug, but I know it will improve my productivity and connection with the ones I love. :-)

Anywho, last week I did another video for What We Ate Today. I recorded what we ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack over the course of one day.  I hope you enjoy the video and recipes.

If you try any of these recipes, please let me know what you think. :-)

Also, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more recipes and vlogs.  

BREAKFAST:

Breakfast Cookies & Strawberries

*I skipped the ground almond and used all oat flour instead
*I also skipped the chocolate chips

Recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker

LUNCH:

French Bread Pizza

*I used Italian bread since my bakery was out of French
*I veganized this recipe by using Daiya vegan cheese and Earth Balance vegan margarine.

Recipe adapted from Divas Can Cook

SNACK:

Avocado, Tomato & Black Bean Dip

Avocado, Tomato & Black Bean Dip

by Brown Vegan & "Clean Eating for Busy Families"

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large tomato, chopped small
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, rinsed & drained
• ¼ cup salsa
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ avocado, diced
• ¼ cup vegetable broth
• Bag of tortilla chips

Instructions

Heat a large skillet on medium heat and cook garlic and onion for 5 minutes with oil. Add tomato and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add in black beans, salsa, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and pour the mixture into a blender (allow it to cool if you don't have a blender with a vent on top). Add in vegetable broth and avocado and blend until smooth. Serve with chips.

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DINNER:

Black Bean Burgers with Mango-Avocado Salsa on Pita

I veganized this recipe from "The Yummy Mummy Kitchen" cookbook

Black Bean Burgers with Mango-Avocado Salsa on Pita

by Brown Vegan

Keywords: bake bread side entree sandwich vegan vegetarian

Ingredients (Makes 6 burgers)

• 1 medium mango, peeled & diced
• 1 small shallot, diced
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted & diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 2 (15 oz) cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 vegan egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed & 3 tablespoons of water)
• 6 pita pockets
• 6 green leaf lettuce leaves

Instructions

Mix flaxseed and water in a tiny bowl with a fork. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven at 400º

For the burgers, in a medium bowl mash the beans with the back of a fork until all beans are broken and able to stick together, but still chunky. Stir in ½ cup cilantro, breadcrumbs, cumin, oregano, salt and flaxseed mixture. Form into 6 patties and back for 15 minutes, turning over after 10 minutes.

While the burgers are cooking, mix together the ingredients for the salsa.

In a bowl, combine mango, shallot, lime, avocado, garlic & ¼ cup cilantro.

Place lettuce in the pita pocket, then burger and finally top with avocado-mango salsa.

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Check out all the previous "What We Ate Today" posts here