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's Up, 2014? Mid-Year Update

Do you remember your New Year's resolutions? It's okay if you don't because that was my life for many years.  I still have a lot of work to do, but I can see improvements in my life.

This post is inspired these...

2013 Lessons

What's Up, 2014?

*Have I been uncomfortable? Hell yeah! My theme for 2014 is get uncomfortable-say and do things that scare the shit out of me. I started a little journal earlier this year to track all of my uncomfortable antics. So far, I've launched a 30-Day Vegan Jump-start, paid a chunk of change for biz coaching, met some YouTube & blogging peeps in person (I usually avoid this type of stuff), posted some pics on Instagram without filter (it's silly to think that this is uncomfortable lol), talked about my products and services more, did 2 live Q&A calls with my audience and a slew of other things that I would have NEVER done before.

Lesson learned: For the rest of my life, I will always have a theme for the new year. It's so much easier than a long list of resolutions.

*I'm still a scaredy cat, but not nearly as much as I used to be. It's crazy how you go most of your life not caring much about what people think, only to let an online presence mess with you. I will continue to practice doing me.

*I will also continue to practice enjoying the journey. I tell myself often that I should stop worrying about not having enough disposable income to do some of the things I want our family to enjoy together. Even though there's not room for "extras," our life is very simple right now. Enjoy the journey, Monique! You will regret not doing that.

I think this quote is from Frank Ocean

*I really need to get back to shut up and work!  I've been talking way too much. I check in with my accountability partner once a week, but outside of that, I find myself yapping too much to Eric and my bestie about some of the things I want to do. It holds me back. I will practice silence and get the work done. Derek Sivers was right!

*Gratitude is a game-changer. When I get down about something I always go to my journal and reflect on things that are awesome in my life. It works every time.

Recipe here

*I love cooking for the parents! Often my days, weeks and months run together, so carving out time monthly to cook and chill with my parents is essential. I will definitely continue this ritual!

*Being a woman of my word is still a challenge. I know...I know. I just have a hard time saying "no" and then get mad at myself later for committing. I still need major help in this area. I will practice.

Have you kept up with your resolutions or are you starting a new set for the last half of the year? Leave a comment

5 Meal Planning Tips for NEW Vegan Families (VIDEO)

Adjusting to a vegan lifestyle can be overwhelming enough, but adding a family to the mix can sometimes make you want to pull your hair out. I remember those days!

Hell, sometimes I still have those days with the fam. The struggle is real!

I remember when meal planning was difficult because I couldn't figure out how to put meals together. It was hard not seeing meat as the center of a meal!

To complicate things more, I thought vegans only ate salads and smoothies. Quiet as it's kept, I wouldn't have lasted this long if we were limited to just salads and smoothies. We love variety!

I put together a vlog with 5 tips on saving a little time (and money) with meal planning for a family.

Check out the tips:

Put breakfast & snacks on autopilot-The less thinking you have to do the better! We usually have oatmeal or grits for breakfast and fruit for snacks, but there are limitless options out there for quick, cheap vegan meals and snacks. Other breakfast suggestions: pancakes, smoothies (using plant-based milk like almond or soy instead of dairy), roasted potatoes with a side of fruit, soy or coconut yogurt with fruit and waffles, & bacon and sausage alternatives. For snacks: crackers, trail mix, smoothies, pre-packaged vegan junk food (Oreos are vegan-just saying) & fresh fruit

Keep a food journal-This is a great way to keep track of the meals your family enjoys. You can refer back to the journal when you need quick meals ideas.

Take one main ingredient and make several meals out of it-As a kid, I hated leftovers, so this is a great way to jazz up meals for your family. For example, make a pot of lentils and make 3 meals out of it. On day one you can make lentils and rice, the next day make lentil soup and the third day make tacos or burritos. Of course you can also make a big batch of one of those recipes to eat over a few days.

Get your family's input-In my experience, my family became more open to this lifestyle change when I asked for their input. Find out some of their favorite recipes that you can veganize (make a vegan version of) them. People are more likely to eat what they recommend.

Be open with experimenting with new recipes-use vegan cookbooks and blogs to veganize some of your favorite recipes and to find new ones to experiment with. I tried about 4 vegan macaroni and cheese recipes before I found our favorite one. Be open to experimenting with several recipes until to find one that the majority of your family loves.

Be gentle with yourself and your family in this journey and I promise that meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking will get easier.

Here's the video....

Subscribe to my channel for more vlogs and vegan recipes for families

While you’re here, check out this other blog post with tips on how to go vegan with a family.

Vegan While Out: Chipotle Got Dat Tofu, Yo!

"Vegans & carnivores unite!" is the slogan Chipotle is using to promote their tofu sofritas.

I finally tried the sofritas bowl yesterday! I haven't been to Chipotle in months, so I didn't realize they started offering it outside of Cali (I remember when they were testing it out there several months ago).

I actually found out about it because my cousin in-law (who isn't a vegan) mentioned he lost weight on the what he calls the "sofritas & Subway diet." lol

Chipotle is using shredded organic tofu, then braising it with chipotle chilis, roasted poblanos and a blend of spices. This is an amazing meat substitute for families dabbling into meat-less life.

The texture is perfect! It's firm and has a serious bite like chicken. In fact, my boys said it reminded them of chicken. It's spicy and delicious!

Before sofritas, Chipotle was already very veg-friendly. My usual order is a bowl with black beans, fajitas, crack rice (you know that rice is crack! lol), guac, mild salsa and lettuce - so ordering sofritas was a nice change from that.

Will I order it again? Probably not. I loved the flavor and I'm sooo glad it's on the menu, but I don't like that Chipotle charges $2 for guac when you order sofritas. I'm used to guac being standard in my veggie bowl, so I refuse to pay extra for it. *Ye Shrug*

Anywho, I LOVE that tofu and vegan options as a whole are becoming more and more mainstream. :-)

See if sofritas are available in your area!

Have you had a chance to try it yet?

Grocery Haul & What's Always On My Grocery List (VIDEO)

It's time for another grocery haul! This time I went to the store with my camera and Brandon.

I forgot to hit record (more than once), so I missed a lot of great footage of Bran loading up the cart with produce. Major FAIL.

I did remember to take pictures of what we picked up and put together a short vlog with the footage I did get.

We spent $113.43 on this grocery trip.

I plan to make bean enchiladas, vegetable stir-fry, kale chips, green juice, chickpea salad sandwiches, vegetable quesadillas & lentils and rice. The boys will snack on pineapple, strawberries, carrots & hummus and blueberry & banana smoothies.

Items that are always on my grocery list:

Check out the vlog video below

What are the top 5 items that always make your grocery list?