What we really eat

I wanted to create a running list of all the things my family eats regularly and enjoys.  A couple months ago we switched to a plant-based whole grain diet.  The kids and I still eat some cheese, occasionally eggs, and a rare meal with a small amount of meat but that's almost never prepared by us or eaten at home.  My husband is pretty strict vegan.

Here is a running list of what we eat on a regular basis.  I'd like to get this list up to about 20-30 meals as my go-to for meal planning.  This is just dinner - it does not include our breakfasts, lunches, or snacks.  Those have got to be separate posts entirely, at some point. 

Lynn's "Meatloaf" - This is a mock meat loaf of sorts, made with lentils and extra-firm tofu.  We sub out the walnuts for brown rice. We love this with a side of roasted/steamed green beans, potatoes, or fruit.

Black Bean Spinach Enchiladas - I make half with cheese, half without.

Taco Pizza - We love variations of Mexican pizza - whether the base be refried beans (we cook a pot nearly every week) or black beans.  I like to make a large whole wheat crust and then segment this out with what we like.  My husband obviously doesn't have cheese on his part, the kids don't like bell peppers and the youngest doesn't like green onion.  I don't like olives.  Sounds confusing but it's way easier than picking things off later.

Whole Wheat Crepes - This is one that my husband passes on.  I only have 2-3 recipes that I make semi-regularly that he doesn't eat with us.  I like to make 2 fillings for crepes.  The first is sauteed squash and onion and the second is fruit.  I use whatever is seasonal - I love blueberries or strawberries.  Raspberries don't go over great in our family.  Peaches are good.

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos - Our whole family loves beans so this is a no-brainer for us.  I like to use salsa verde, a little bit of salt, green onion, and a sprinkle of cheese. I make 3-4 with no cheese.  We like to eat this with a recipe my mom found years ago for Mexican rice.  Since I don't know the source, I don't like to post it.  But we love it and I have successfully made it with brown rice because we don't eat white rice anymore.

Vegan Tortilla Soup - This is a great jumping point for this recipe.  I like to use any veggies we have on hand and my husband and I love hominy in our tortilla soup.

Sweet Potato Chili - We have actually never used sweet potatoes to make this chili, although I'm sure it's great.  We use roasted butternut squash, added at the end.  Also, this is just sort of a jumping point for our recipe as well, but it's a good starting point.  We do serve it over brown rice (not instant) and I like pinto beans and black beans. Also, we've never added the cocoa powder.

Quesadilla Pie - We've made this for years, probably since about the time it was posted.  Super yummy.  Can do without butter and make it cheesy on half - or omit both of those all together.  Still good.

Easiest Pasta & Broccoli Recipe - Seriously people, this is easy.  But so good!  I add a can of white beans. Feel free to skip the cheese.  Use whole cloves of crushed garlic not minced. Just make sure to take out the cloves or you might get a big garlicky surprise.

Stacked Roasted Veggie Enchiladas - We LOVE this recipe and have been eating in for a while now.  I do make this with cheese on half and on that side I use only light salsa.  The veggie juices soften the tortillas enough and if I use a lot of salsa, my youngest won't eat it well.  I go light on the corn (I'm not big on corn, it's such a "filler"), no poblanos, and add a can of beans (black beans rock) when the veggies are roasting that last 10 minutes.  

Our Perfect Veggie Burger - The obligatory veggie burger recipe - this is a pretty good one.  I don't feed my family meat "substitutes" like veggie dogs or boca burgers.  I don't like the concept or the ingredients (sodium is normally through the ROOF!) but every once in a while you want a burger.  This is a good one but the sunflower seeds need to be processed a little to meet our texture requirements.  Can load this baby up.  We love sprouts, ketchup, various mustards, grilled pineapple ring... you name it, all on a whole wheat bun.  We serve this with homemade sweet potato fries - just sweet potatoes, sliced with our mandolin slicer,  roasted in a tiny bit of olive oil. 

Bean Tostadas or Navajo Tacos - We like these with a pot of homemade beans.  I prefer the concept found in the recipe for the bean tostadas on a fry bread that my friend taught me to make.  It can be made with whole wheat flour (huge plus) and you can load it heavier.  Also, it's easier to eat because I can cut it up for the kids or fold it for the adults.

Sloppy Joes - I have no link for this one because I use a recipe from a friend and instead of ground meat I use 1 can black beans and about 1.5 c. brown rice.  Saute a whole (small) diced onion, add the beans and rice and then the sauce ingredients:
8 oz. can tomoato sauce
T. vinegar
T. mustard
T. chili powder
1/4 c. (or less, depending on taste) brown sugar
1/2 clove garlic OR 1/4 t. garlic powder
Let it simmer and serve on whole wheat buns.  Super yummy and we love it because we used to really like our sloppy joe recipe and this is the same bang for your buck flavor with no meat.  Again, love this with fries but also serve it with a chunky chopped salad, sliced fruit (any combo of apples, pineapple, peaches, watermelon or other melon, bananas, pears - pears are a big hit in our house)

Breakfast for Dinner - We have some super tasty vegan pancake recipes.  I use almond milk in place of dairy milk and applesauce in place of eggs.  Simple, right?  We also LOVE hasbrowns.

Along the lines of breakfast -
Vegan Breakfast Burrito -  We like to do a combo like this: Sauteed zucchini, green onion, potatoes, and then maybe spinach (we use several LARGE handfuls), bell pepper, or whatever else we have on hand.  My husband and oldest daughter like mushrooms, sweet potato would be good, as would tomatoes.  We saute all that up and then make a hole in the center.  We add some extra firm tofu and let it cook a little bit before mixing it all up together.  Salsa is a given.  We wrap it up in a yummy tortilla (we buy all our tortillas local and fresh) and devour it.

Baked Potatoes with... - We like to make baked potatoes because they're easy, healthful (not just carbs, friends.  They're full of fiber and vitamin C) and versatile.  We top them with anything we have on hand:
Chili
Beans
Sauteed veggies such as squash, spinach and onion, steamed broccoli or cauliflower
This recipe for Fiesta Baked Potatoes


Garden Vegetable Soup - We have vegetable soup probably once a week but we have lots of different recipes from chick pea noodle to Mom's minestrone.  This is one recipe that's a little different for us because we don't eat a lot of leeks and there are a good dose in here.  Use veggie broth, obviously.  I use 1 small red potato because I'm not a big fan of potatoes in soup other than potato soup.  Also, I omit the corn, sub in zucchini, and use dried parsley so I use much less.  We really enjoy this soup.  We like to have some variety of brad along side it.  We eat Bountiful Basket's bread - we like to go to the Alpine Valley bread factory in the Phoenix area and buy 10 loaves at a time.  It freezes great and is just so good for you.  If you can get this bread, DO IT! We love it.

Veggie Spaghetti - We enjoy this with whole wheat garlic bread and a green salad.  Could also do roasted broccoli and cauliflower or just steamed veggies on the size.