MY PLANT-BASED JOURNEY AND WHY

HI DARLINGS! Many of you have been with me a long time and have seen me try all sorts of things when it comes to my health, some I liked and some I just couldn’t keep up with. Over the last 6 months, I have been doing pretty good on the Paleo diet and in some areas it worked for me but I couldn’t tell what it was doing to me on the inside. I still felt in a sense “heavy” weighted down. Then about 8 days ago a friend posted about a documentary he had watched and since I am a docu junkie I had to see it.

The documentary is “What The Health” and minutes after watching it 8 days ago I cleared my kitchen of all meat and dairy and have been eating a plant-based diet since then. I won’t go as far as saying that I am now a vegan because that carries a lot of weight and there is so much more involved that I couldn’t even begin to pretend to I understand it all. I immediately thought to myself “what the f*** are we gonna eat now” LOL! so I opened my Pinterest account and started searching for plant based recipes. I am not going to go into why the documentary changed me because everyone has the right to think what they want and feel how they want so I just leave it up to you to watch it if you wish and to make whatever changes work for YOU. The docu can be found on Netflix.

So as soon as I posted I got SO MANY messages about what I planned to eat and what my meals would look like so I promised I would share. I am an organization master and in order to succeed I know, I needed to plan out every meal. I did not take pics of everything because it was my first week and I we were all adjusting but I am hoping going forward that on Mondays I can share a recipe or something we really loved to help you guys along.

Here is the meal plan we had last week, It fed 4 and my total grocery bill was $101.97!! next Monday I will share this weeks plan… (for recipes click the linked text below)

SUNDAY 

Breakfast, Avocado Toast: I just smashed an avocado, add olive oil, lemon juice and some red pepper flakes, a bit of salt and pepper and spread it on a dairy free bread I found at Trader Joes.

Lunch/Dinner, Pot Pie: I had made this pot pie when I was on the Paleo diet and since I am still trying to limit my grains and gluten I made it again but without the chicken. The recipe is HERE (just don’t add chicken, add more veggies and make double the crust, the recipe as is is never enough, also FREEZE the dough for about an hour otherwise it’s nearly impossible to work with)

MONDAY

Breakfast, Cinnamon Banana Pancakes ( the recipe I used in the book I got “Vegan Cookbook for Beginners” was not very good, they were dense and tasteless. I am currently trying other recipes. 

Lunch, Mexican Bowl: This BOWL is super easy and yummy but I used THIS dressing instead.

Dinner, Cauliflower Fried Rice: I did not care for THIS at all although Norris didn’t think it was too bad. The only thing about this was the cauliflower rice didn’t soften but I learned later that I need to use a different brand and steam it first.

TUESDAY

Breakfast, PB  w/ Banana Toast: Easy and quick and so good since I love Peanut Butter.

Lunch, Cilantro Garlic Potatos w/ Salad: THESE are SO GOOD and we just had it with a salad and that dressing above which is addictive and I wanna pour it on everything.

Dinner, Veggie Burger: We tried a “fast food” place called Veggie Grill and it was delicious. It sorta gave me a fix and a break from cooking.

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast, Avocado Toast (same as above)

Lunch,  Penne w/ Mushroom Artichoke: This was amazing!!! I bought BROWN RICE PASTA at Trader Joe’s and I couldn’t tell the difference from regular pasta. The recipe, however, is in the book I mentioned above. I will make and share it again next week if I get permission to post it on the blog.

Dinner, Roasted Veggies/ Mustard Dressing w/ Salad: I used THIS recipe minus the bacon.

THURSDAY

Breakfast, Smoothie: Fruit, green tea, and some mint leaves.

Lunch, Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad: I cut eat THIS all day it’s so good.

Dinner, Mexican Rice Casserole: I used THIS recipe minus the cheese and only 6oz of enchilada sauce.

FRIDAY

Breakfast, Fruit Bowl: Whatever I had in my fridge

Lunch, Roasted Veggies/ Salad: Same as above

Dinner, Chickpea Stew w/ Brown Rice: THIS was so tasty and will be on the menu again soon.

SATURDAY

Breakfast: We tried a vegan restaurant called Cafe Gratitude and it was so good!!! We had Chilaquiles and French Toast

Dinner: We just had leftovers

Here is my grocery list minus the items I had in my fridge and cupboards already. I hope this helps you if you are looking to start and just need a little help.

1. Whole Wheat Flower

2. Egg Replacement

3. Unsweet Almond Milk

4. Unsweet Apple Sauce

5. Pecans

6. Red Wine Vinegar

7. Dried Rosemary

8. Black Beans

9. Corn Tortillas

10. Can of Artichoke

11. Penne Pasta (whole wheat)

12. White Wine

13. Brown Rice

14. Peas

15. Chili Garlic Sauce

16. Sesame Oil

17. Hominy Beans

18. Can Green Chilies

19. Enchilada Sauce

20. Bananas

21. Avocados

22. Cucumbers

23. Red/orange Peppers

24. Corn

25. Green Onions

26. Red Onion

27. Parsley

28. Jalapeno

29. Zucchini

30. Apples

31. Dried Cranberries

32. Cauliflower

33. Button Mushrooms

34. Ginger

35. Mint

36. Carrots

37. Frozen Strawberries

38. Frozen Mango

39. Orange Juice

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