Eat Whole Foods Plant Based in 2020

[imadandylion]

Not trying to steal @Malaysia41's thunder, but it looks like many are interested in a Whole Foods Plant Based diet, so here's a discussion thread to keep it going. :)

What is the whole foods plant based diet?
It's a diet that focuses on foods that are not or minimally refined. This means legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruit, seeds, and nuts. It often excludes animal-based products such as meat, eggs, and dairy. However, that doesn't mean it lacks variety. You can still cook, bake, or recreate most amazing foods you already love as a plant-based version.

Why eat whole foods plant based?
- It is often is more cost-effective than eating meat products.
- This diet helps reduces your virtual carbon footprint. Who doesn't like that? :)
- Animals appreciate it!
- You will feel great, and your arteries and colon will thank you for it.

If you can only read or listen to one audiobook, How Not to Die (the book, but also has a separate cookbook) is great resource.

2019 Thread for your perusal: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/go-whole-food-plant-based-(wfpb)-in-2019/


Let's use this thread as a positive resource for healthy discussion, inspiration, and recipes!
All are welcome, whether you've been doing it for a while, curious about the plant-based diet, or looking to transition or simply incorporate more aspects of plant-based eating into your life.

[Calimerostache]

Thanks for starting the thread. Will definitively follow it this year, although I don’t think I’ll be fully vegan This year.
I watched game changer (Netflix) and cowspiracy ... great movies and starting to read proteinaholic. (As recommended on last year thread).
Never though I would join this bandwagon but the data is pretty overwhelming. If you want to be healthy and care for the planet it’s the way to go!

[mspym]

Joining in this thread - we went mostly plant-based* a couple of months ago and it's been great.

*I have a tracking spreadsheet!

[Luz]

I'm taking small steps. This year my focus is to shift to a Mediterranean diet (with animal products taking a supplemental role) as a hopeful stepping stone to going completely (or at least mostly) plant-based in the future.

My first goal is to add much more variety into my meal planning. I made an exhaustive list of ingredients that I'm trying to incorporate. For example, I eat carrots, but rarely have rutabaga or parsnips. I never eat barley, arugula, acorn squash, macadamia nuts, fennel, figs, or black-eyed peas. It's time to change that.

The next step is to come up with a rotation of meals and snacks based on those ingredients. It's definitely a challenge, since I'm not a great cook. Maybe I need to get some cookbooks from the library for inspiration.
 
If I may ask, how much time do you take per week to cook/prepare food?
What does a typical weekly shopping list look like for you?

I think one of the reasons I haven't introduced much variety to my diet is because it's much cheaper, for example, to buy something like peanut butter than cashew butter. But maybe buying 1/2 as much animal products (to start) will allow some room for fancy items in the food budget.

So glad this thread was continued in 2020!

[imadandylion]

@Luz Great work on taking steps!

Good question about the food prep time. Probably at least 7 hours a week including dishes. I try to wash as I cook and right after eating to reduce the pile up and make me feel less cranky about any aftermath of cooking. That's like at least 20 minutes for 3 meals a day or 30 minutes for 2 meals a day. It may vary depending on the recipe and my mood. I try to be efficient as much as possible.

Our weekly shopping list usually includes:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Zucchini. It's my favorite vegetable.
- Fruit
- Unsweetened plant/nut milk of some kind
- Cauliflower
- Whole carrots
- Kale, spinach, or box of mixed greens.
- Cherry/grape tomatoes
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Bell peppers, or actual hot peppers.
- Ginger
- Mushrooms, usually cremini, shiitake, oyster, or king trumpet.
- Spices from the bulk section on as needed basis, such as cinnamon. (It honestly makes a huge difference in flavor/potency.)
- 1 or 2 lemons
- Sweet potato
- Kombucha and/or wine
- Frozen shelled edamame
- Frozen fruit
- Frozen waffles or fresh sliced bread for the husband.
- Dry pasta if needed
- Sometimes extras like jarred olives or sun-dried tomatoes for snacking or making things like pizza.

We have a lot of grains/legumes in the pantry already so it's usually fresh produce we're purchasing weekly, or anything from the pantry we're running low on, such as rice, lentils, nuts, nutritional yeast, hemp hearts, dates, loose leaf tea, squash, beans, maple syrup, steel cut oats, baking supplies, etc. Sometimes we get tortillas or naan to eat alongside curry-like dishes usually involving lentils or beans. If doing a specific recipe we'll get stuff for that, too, but usually the listed stuff is the 'default.'

What kind of foods do you feel like you are defaulting to? I feel like most of the things you listed could actually be great in a soup, except for the figs, macadamia, and arugula.

By the way, if you have a blender/food processor, you can make a good cashew butter yourself pretty inexpensively by soaking the nuts for a few hours or overnight. I actually basically did that this weekend but my aim was incorporate into a homemade cream cheese frosting recipe. Also, I was in a rush so I just boiled the cashews for 10 minutes before transferring to a blender. The nut butter came out really smooth in just under a couple of minutes.

[mspym]

@Luz Cooking time- a couple of hours to make 2 or 3 big items for lunches, like ladera or a grain salad with lots of vegetables. Maybe 15-30 min cooking for dinner. SLTD recommended The Green Roasting Tin last year and it's been a godsend for quick delicious vegan/vegetarian meals, most of which can be easily made vegan.

I've also found this site https://www.olivetomato.com/ super useful for easy/delicious cheap mediterranean meals, most of which are vegan/vegetarian.

Standard weekly shopping list
- Rice milk
- Rolled Oats
- Seeds/Nuts/Dried fruit we are running low on (staples: pepitas, sunflower, walnuts, cashews, dry-roasted unsalted almonds, prunes, dates, apricots, currants, raisins, crystallised ginger)
- Aromatics: onions, garlic, celery, carrots, fennel if it's on sale
- A leafy green - spinach, bok choi, kale
- A hardy green - broccoli/green beans
- Peppers, tomatoes, avocados, mushrooms
- Whatever fruit is in season
- Some citrus
- Firm tofu
- Dried/canned beans
- Dried and canned legumes (staples: kidney, black, white, fava, chickpeas, puy and red lentils)
- Grains (staples: quinoa, rice [basmati/brown/jasmine], bulgar wheat, pearl barley)
- Root vegetables for roasting (potato, kumara, pumpkin)
- Bread (soy & linseed, pita, lebanese)

We normally have a vegetable chili, a pasta with bean/vegetable sauce, a stew, some form of an antipasto meal (ie whatever we feel like eating out of the fridge) Simplifying the meals themselves reduces the load and using seasonal vegetables to add variation stops them being boring.

[sui generis]

I want to move more towards this, and specifically need to cut out/down meat, dairy and eggs.  I feel like I might be at the hard point, where doing more is not as easy as where I have gotten thus far.  We already rely heavily on fresh veg (from store or our garden) and unprocessed grains and nuts.  Here are my challenges and plans and any suggestions are welcome.

-At home, we are basically pescatarian, having fish or shrimp once most weeks.  I would miss our shrimp dishes, but cutting out the fish might not be too hard if I just pick up a few more easy vegetarian recipes that we can add to our normal rotation, so that's a feasible step.  We have so many easy veg recipes, I feel like finding a couple reliable new ones would not be hard with a small effort.

-Eggs are hard.  I've looked up replacement for egg yolks for baking and it seems like a bit of a challenge (I know whole egg and egg white substitute are more easily available at stores).  I would also miss fried eggs, which can't be replaced.  We do that once every other week or so for our special Sunday breakfasts.  Yet this is something I want to replace the most because although we do buy Certified Humane, I still feel like I'd rather not participate in the horrors of this particular industry the most.

-Last week, I bought oat milk for the first time.  I really love creamy dairy, and when I have leftover heavy cream, I actually use that in my cereal (maybe cut with a splash of 2%), so transitioning to the sad, thin, overly sweet replacement milk for cereal is a loss.  Is there anything better?  Oat milk tasted a lot like soy to me and I thought rice was even sadder/thinner.  We won't do almond and husband doesn't like coconut.  But, it's not the worst thing ever, and I'll probably transition away from milk + cereal to oatmeals and things I can make without milk to avoid the sad substitutes and reduce the processed cereals, which is the primary "refined" food we still rely on.

-We use cheese sparingly.  Last time I tried vegan cheese, it was ok, so we could try some of that on like black bean tacos and similar, and may continue with some cheese when we have a rare happy hour at home or for other special purposes.  I wonder if goat and sheep cheeses are any better (from animal cruelty POV) than cow?

-I'd *really* miss Trader Joe's chocolate croissants, another special Sunday breakfast favorite.  We could probably cut back a bit on them (maybe once or less per month as of now), but not sure.

-I anticipate making exceptions when traveling. In fact, I have a food-focused trip to Armenia and Georgia booked for May and there's going to be a lot of meat. 

But I take seriously that incremental changes are meaningful, so taking more steps at home will be worth it. 

[MaybeBecca]

I want to move more towards this, and specifically need to cut out/down meat, dairy and eggs.  I feel like I might be at the hard point, where doing more is not as easy as where I have gotten thus far.  We already rely heavily on fresh veg (from store or our garden) and unprocessed grains and nuts.  Here are my challenges and plans and any suggestions are welcome.

-At home, we are basically pescatarian, having fish or shrimp once most weeks.  I would miss our shrimp dishes, but cutting out the fish might not be too hard if I just pick up a few more easy vegetarian recipes that we can add to our normal rotation, so that's a feasible step.  We have so many easy veg recipes, I feel like finding a couple reliable new ones would not be hard with a small effort.

-Eggs are hard.  I've looked up replacement for egg yolks for baking and it seems like a bit of a challenge (I know whole egg and egg white substitute are more easily available at stores).  I would also miss fried eggs, which can't be replaced.  We do that once every other week or so for our special Sunday breakfasts.  Yet this is something I want to replace the most because although we do buy Certified Humane, I still feel like I'd rather not participate in the horrors of this particular industry the most.

-Last week, I bought oat milk for the first time.  I really love creamy dairy, and when I have leftover heavy cream, I actually use that in my cereal (maybe cut with a splash of 2%), so transitioning to the sad, thin, overly sweet replacement milk for cereal is a loss.  Is there anything better?  Oat milk tasted a lot like soy to me and I thought rice was even sadder/thinner.  We won't do almond and husband doesn't like coconut.  But, it's not the worst thing ever, and I'll probably transition away from milk + cereal to oatmeals and things I can make without milk to avoid the sad substitutes and reduce the processed cereals, which is the primary "refined" food we still rely on.

-We use cheese sparingly.  Last time I tried vegan cheese, it was ok, so we could try some of that on like black bean tacos and similar, and may continue with some cheese when we have a rare happy hour at home or for other special purposes.  I wonder if goat and sheep cheeses are any better (from animal cruelty POV) than cow?

-I'd *really* miss Trader Joe's chocolate croissants, another special Sunday breakfast favorite.  We could probably cut back a bit on them (maybe once or less per month as of now), but not sure.

-I anticipate making exceptions when traveling. In fact, I have a food-focused trip to Armenia and Georgia booked for May and there's going to be a lot of meat. 

But I take seriously that incremental changes are meaningful, so taking more steps at home will be worth it.

I've been vegan for going on 3 years this summer, so I can help with some of this.

What specifically are you using the egg yolks for?  Egg substitutes for vegan baking can be purpose-dependent, but there's a suitable substitute for them almost anywhere.  If it's for something like a brioche, a more suitable replacement would be something like olive oil.  If it's supposed to be a binder, a flax egg or aquafaba is better.  I've also used banana, unsweetened applesauce, and boxed ener-g egg replacer (meant for allergy sufferers) and they're successful in the right recipes.  The only baked goods I am more careful with is cookies, since the structure is so important (I don't use banana or applesauce for these, generally). And macarons and other things traditionally made with whipped egg whites can only be made with aquafaba.

For fried eggs, at least scrambled can be done if you get some black salt to add to tofu scrambles.  This is a sulfurous salt that replicates that eggy taste. You'll have enough for quite a long time buying a small bag.  I've also seen recipes for vegan eggs with "yolks", but I haven't tried any of them because I don't care enough to. The most important thing for taste is black salt, though (also called kala namak).

If you are really into milk currently, the best thing you could do if you want to transition off of it, is to cut it out for a time.  I was always a skim milk drinker, so switching to a plant milk wasn't an issue for me, especially when I wasn't drinking glasses of it.  There are some vegan creamers available in-stores that you could try that are pretty thick and creamy, and I think cashew might treat you well once you're not used to dairy milk. Another alternative is to reduce an unsweetened plant milk to get it a bit more to the mouthfeel you're looking for, but it still won't taste the same.

As for sheep/goat cheese, I can't imagine it's better than cow's from an animal welfare perspective.  Those producers have the same profit drive as cow dairy producers, with a narrower market.  The scale is possibly not as egregious, but I don't think that would matter to the animals that are still used for those purposes. 

[nessness]

@sui generis I find cashew milk to be the closest to dairy milk. Have you considered solving the ethical problems with eggs by getting a few chickens? I obviously don't know your living situation to know if it's an option, but they're easy to care for and kind of a fun hobby.

[Luz]

@mspym and @imadandylion: thanks for the great feedback! I'm a detail person, so it's helpful to see the ins and outs! Time and money are definite considerations, as is flavor.

My default is usually pb or avocado toast with yogurt & berries or egg in toast for breakfast (which my toddler has too). For dinner, I make 4 meals per week: 1 veggie (eg: roasted veggie pasta bake), 1 red meat (eg: spaghetti with ground beef), 1 seafood (eg: shrimp soup) and 1 chicken (eg: drumsticks and potatoes). We eat leftovers for lunch. I use a lot of rice, pasta, tortillas, and bread. I eat a salad everyday and either a cooked or raw veggie. I'm trying to get in the habit of doing a green smoothie in the morning. I eat pretty healthily thanks to a bout of hives in my 20's that made me cut out processed foods (and dairy for a time, so I know it can be done without much loss). But I need more variety and less dependence on animal products.

My plan is to have grains and smoothies for breakfast most days of the week and reduce egg breakfasts to 1-2 days.
For lunch, have tubers, pasta, wraps, galettes, sandwiches, soups, etc. And if called for, use 1/2 the amount of dairy, so it's not the main focus of the dish.
But I'm not sure about dinner. The idea is to do 1/2 the amount of meat and double the amount of veggie and starch. And maybe add in some kind of legume side, like smashed beans or a red lentil or hummus dip.

I'm cutting down on animal products rather than cutting them out entirely because I think it will help me with the challenge of making my dishes taste good. I've spent hours cooking some pretty awful-tasting vegan foods! So I'm overwhelmed with the idea of trying to make plant-based food taste good without the help of animal products. Even my animal-product dishes are borderline! But if I can cut down so meat is more of a side rather than the main dish, I think it will help me expand my skills in making plant-based food more flavorful.

My husband is Mexican and I don't think he could imagine life without meat. But even he pointed out that in Mexico, they eat much smaller servings of meat (with lots of sides including beans, rice, tortillas, salsas, guacamole). So I think we're on the same page.

I have 6 hours per week set aside for cooking. I'm really slow, but I suppose the time I have to dedicate is fairly average for the US. I read that in India, people spend 13 hours on average per week preparing food. And in France, they take much more time for eating than we do here. I'll have to read more about the food culture of Mediterranean countries.

This week's goal: get some cookbooks from the library & look up food blogs then start transitioning my dinner dishes.

[mspym]

@Luz If you're looking for inspiration I'd recommend anything by Rukmini Iyer for easy prep + delicious, and Mark Bittman's Vegan Before Six because he has a sensible approach to overall reduction. A number of Rukmini Iyer's recipes are available online if you want to try them out.

I am not calling myself vegan because, as per the mealplans I post in my journal, we have a couple of non-vegan meals a week [otherwise there would be household revolution] and also I am not killing myself over 1 egg divided into 24 fruit/nut bars buuuuuut we have moved from ~14 meat based meals a week to 1-2, mostly by adding legumes and root vegetables for heartiness and basically completely cut out dairy. My default breakfasts are 1/2C of rolled oats, with pepita/sunflower/almonds/cashews/prunes/half a piece of fresh fruit chopped up, with rice milk and left to soak for 10 minutes OR grainy bread with good peanut butter & banana or apple slices/ avocado with diced tomato, red pepper, cucumber. Something solid enough that I didn't become *starving* by 10.30 once I moved away from eggs and yogurt. Smoothies left me ravenous but I know that's not everyone.

Have fun!

[sui generis]

Thanks, @nessness and @MaybeBecca!  I was concerned about having the same issues with cashew milk that I have with almonds (water usage), but doesn't look like that applies to cashews (other issues....sigh....is there anything that it's truly ok to eat that we didn't grow ourselves?). Anyway, maybe will still try it and can imagine it would be creamier than the others.  I also saw flax milk at the store, too, though I'm guessing that's pretty thin.

As for eggs, appreciate the suggestions.  We can't do chickens at home at this time, but could be more aggressive about substitutes.  We use yolks primarily for two things - a really great lemon ricotta hotcakes recipe (though, this violates more tenets of a whole-food plant-based diet than just the eggs and the eponymous ricotta) and my husband really likes puddings, which always require some yolks.  I'm unfortunately not sure what role egg yolks play in puddings, and welcome your suggestions if you have them, but will also ask our friend google what the best substitute in a pudding would be and see what I come up with before our next foray into puddings.

Sorry if the following is too far off from the goal-oriented nature of the thread.  I'll desist in future if folks prefer not to muddy the waters.  I ended up driving by a cattle farm last week.  It went on forever and they had ag-gag laws posted everywhere.  It was dystopic.  Remembering that just made me wonder, do any of you use or enjoy Impossible or Beyond Burgers?  I've tried them both and thought they were quite good, but recently have come to understand that even widespread use of them wouldn't be super impactful (and they are too expensive for widespread use still) because we won't cut down on cattle farming until we can cut down on demand for the premium cuts. 

With respect to the dystopic cattle farms (et al), I really believe ours is such a hard time to be living - in the past humans couldn't exploit so many animals so efficiently, and in the future I believe we'll have technological solutions to reduce or obviate the inhumane treatment we are ok with or ignore right now.  We are in this unique period of time, which will end up being a short period in the whole of human history, where we can do the former and avoid the latter.  Anyway, that's one of the reasons I'm pursuing this for myself.  Can't wait around for that technology or for society to make it any easier. 

[Caoineag]

Definitely not vegan but trying to get animal products of all kinds down to extremely minimal usage for health reasons and since we are cutting way back, focusing on purchasing the most humane sources when we do use them. Personally I need to stay away from most processed items anyway since I am sensitive to most preservatives (triggers migraines) and at least one food dye (high doses trigger breathing difficulty).

We made a lot of progress last year (meat and dairy are at a good level for us) but this year's goal will be to cut the butter intake. I am replacing butter on my toast with olive oil for now and am planning on removing butter from my refried black beans by subbing a Chipotle pepper. Making refried black beans without a fat is easy enough but the butter really added a unique flavor that we would miss hence adding a strong flavor to replace.

For us, trying to mimic the taste of animal products only draws our attention to how it's lacking so we usually focus on substitutions that are functional rather than mimicry. i.e. pancakes made with a flaxseed egg, a veggie stir fry for breakfast with what veggies I would usually eat scrambled with eggs, chili and soups made with extra beans and veggies, soups made naturally creamy via beans instead of dairy, etc.

50-80% of our shopping list is produce depending on what staple items need to be restocked. I still need to increase my fruit intake as that is a pitiful average of one serving per day. I am definitely more a fan of veggies than fruit.

[Calimerostache]

curious to know if for those who already converted from a western diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet if they noticed any significant decrease in their grocery budget?if so by how much ?

Sorry if this was already asked in an earlier thread.

[Calimerostache]

curious to know if for those who already converted from a western diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet if they noticed any significant decrease in their grocery budget?if so by how much ?

Sorry if this was already asked in an earlier thread.

This is a normal objection to vegan eating.  The short answer for me is that it’s similar and my MMM tendencies always kept spending in check.


Thanks will see this month how it compares, as we did not put any meat or dairy in our shopping cart this month 🤞
If you stick to staples like lentils, beans and the like particularly the dry and bulk varieties you will save over meat.  If you eat plant based meats every meal just to replace meat you will spend more.

Learn to cook things like tofu.  It’s all about spicing and cooking styles.  Super cheap!

[mspym]

curious to know if for those who already converted from a western diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet if they noticed any significant decrease in their grocery budget?if so by how much ?

Sorry if this was already asked in an earlier thread.

This is a normal objection to vegan eating.  The short answer for me is that it’s similar and my MMM tendencies always kept spending in check.

Thanks will see this month how it compares, as we did not put any meat or dairy in our shopping cart this month 🤞

If you stick to staples like lentils, beans and the like particularly the dry and bulk varieties you will save over meat.  If you eat plant based meats every meal just to replace meat you will spend more.

Learn to cook things like tofu.  It’s all about spicing and cooking styles.  Super cheap!

It's hard to say right now because we ramped up our WFPB eating as we were getting on to Christmas AND I discovered a genuinely delicious vegan ice cream at Aldi and needed to buy All. The. Flavours [there were 4, because Aldi] but last week we bought an astonishing amount of food for $100 less than our previous normal spend [we are in Australia, our prices make Americans cry] so it sure seems like it. I mean, you take out $10 of chicken and put in $2.50 of tofu or $1.25 worth of beans, it's clearly cheaper. And even if I do buy a fancypants packet of 5 goats cheese slices, it will last me 2 weeks and there are 5 other sorts of cheese that we aren't buying at all. It's leaving me quite a bit of wiggle room for avocados and cashews.

[nalor511]

curious to know if for those who already converted from a western diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet if they noticed any significant decrease in their grocery budget?if so by how much ?

Sorry if this was already asked in an earlier thread.

We sort of spend whatever we want on groceries, though definitely watch the bottom line, there's no budget, per se. Our spend has gone down 30-40% cutting out meat and almost all animal products

[Fresh Bread]

I'm in.

[MaybeBecca]

@sui generis I noticed you mentioned water consumption concerns regarding almond farming. Even though almonds have high water usage, it is nowhere near that of cows milk. The cows have to be fed crops that need watered, as well as drink water. As for pudding, I know there are some with blended Chia seeds, but that texture can be off-putting to some. First recipe I found called for full-fat coconut milk and an arrowroot starch thickener. Tapioca starch would be another good option, I think.

[Caoineag]

curious to know if for those who already converted from a western diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet if they noticed any significant decrease in their grocery budget?if so by how much ?

Sorry if this was already asked in an earlier thread.

One, we never were big on meat so cutting that would never have saved us much. Two, we went from a lot of eating out (massive overtime) to eating at home (retired) so our grocery budget went up not down. Also since we are full time traveling there are a lot of things we can't cook from scratch right now. If you are just cutting animal products, the costs should go down. If you suddenly start buying a ton of nuts or other specialty items, the costs would go up.

Basically, just like any other thing, you can control how cheap or expensive it is by what you choose to buy. Because we are increasing the variety, we are in the more expensive category but we could also do this a lot more cheaply if we wanted to. I will say that you need more vegetables to equal the calories of animal products but greater veggie intake is also why the vegan diet is so good for you.

[sui generis]

@sui generis I noticed you mentioned water consumption concerns regarding almond farming. Even though almonds have high water usage, it is nowhere near that of cows milk. The cows have to be fed crops that need watered, as well as drink water. As for pudding, I know there are some with blended Chia seeds, but that texture can be off-putting to some. First recipe I found called for full-fat coconut milk and an arrowroot starch thickener. Tapioca starch would be another good option, I think.

Good point.  I was concerned about almonds because California produces nearly all of them for the whole world, and we are a drought-prone state with lots of water rights issues, so I'm quite sensitive to that.  But, apparently, one of every 5 US dairy cows is in California as well! And of course, with climate change, a lot more places need to be concerned about water supply than just California. I'm pretty sure my DH is perfectly happy with any type of milk, and if I start moving away from manufactured cereals again, it will be less of a concern for me, too.  Ironically, before I early retired, I rarely ate cereal, since a green smoothie was easy to make and take to work.  I still often use my green smoothies for a midday snack, but have been trapped back into the convenience of cereal since I retired. 

[ATR]

PTF and to move towards a more plant-based diet in 2020!

[TrMama]

Posting to follow. As a family we're not vegan, but we have hugely reduced the amount of meat, dairy and eggs we eat over the past year.

[lollylegs]

I've been re-reading Dr Fuhrman this week and working on having a huge salad everyday. Lots of greens, nuts, seeds, peppers, sweet potato, beans. I'm coming up with different variations and they taste great. Buying pre-cut/shredded veggies makes it quick to prepare.

Breakfasts I usually have fruit smoothie with almond milk or soup or almond muffin with fruit & home made yoghurt.

Dinners - I'm limiting meat meals to three times a week maximum.

Just did my shopping list for the week and plan on making vegetarian spring rolls and a bean casserole on the weekend for the freezer.

[imadandylion]

@sui generis The discussion is great! After all, if we can't have a polite open discussion here, where can we have it? Most people in real life don't want to talk about it, so it's good to share in the conversation, at least here. :)

Regarding plant-based milk consistency, if you make it yourself, you can control the body of your beverage with the amount of water. For instance the ratio of 1:3 of nuts/oats to water should give a nicer body and taste to 1:4, a more diluted version. Plus, you can control the sweetness or lack of sweetness, which is great if you can't seem to find unsweetened plant-based milk for some reason. You could also give macadamia milk (brand - Milkadamia) a try if you haven't yet. I really enjoy that as part of my rotation. Lastly, you may consider 'barista blend' of any plant-based milks. These are specifically made to have a thicker, creamier body which is used to produced creamier/foamier plant-based lattes, but there's no reason why you can't just drink it straight up or substitute for any other use.

@Calimerostache Our grocery bill significantly reduced from over $700 a month (pretty excessive!) as omnivores to between $276-$400 per month (or $69 to $100 a week) as a household of two adult plant-based eaters, depending on if we need to restock something. We don't buy a ton of pre-made products, and we do prefer to get better quality produce.  Maybe the level of savings is not impressive to some people but we refuse to cut too many corners in our diet because it's not worth it, and it'd definitely be lower if we never bought kombucha and wine. It's easier to have a cheaper budget sometimes depending on where you shop and if you consume more grains than anything else. I consider our diets to be skewed slightly more on the 'luxury' side, though, and I am very big on cooking and baking and don't think it's a chore. To be honest, I never had too much luck with Safeway produce, so that's a big reason, so others maybe have better luck depending on their local options. Farmers markets tend to be cheaper. We don't buy meat alternatives but sometimes like to get the impossible meat/beyond burger if we're going to make a burger.

@FIRE_at_45 I'm surprised the vital wheat gluten is almost $12! The normal going rate here is $6 for the same bag - brand and size. I haven't found another source yet, unfortunately. That recipe sounds interesting - thanks for sharing! I've been wanting to try making something similar - maple sausages, like how they have those tiny sausages that are sweet for American breakfast. Usually I keep the seitan pretty simple though and just pan-fry them - they're really chicken like. Next time I make them, I'm going to shape them into little balls to make something that is like Taiwanese basil chicken. Looooved that stuff so much. I have also had good luck with making "pepperoni" for pizza with vital wheat gluten.

Someone mentioned missing chocolate croissants, and it reminded me it's something I still need to try baking! I've generally had a lot of success with plant-based baking so I expect this will be good. Here is a recipe I intend to try: https://heartofabaker.com/vegan-chocolate-crossaints/

I am also planning on making doughnuts sometime. :)

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This post is getting really long but I wanted to share my planned meals this week. I spent under $70 yesterday to replenish some produce and stuff and here's some dishes we've been eating. There's kind of an Italian theme going on.

- Homemade pizza, about 14" diameter, using the second half of the dough we made a few days prior. Costs around $8.82 per pizza. Pretty sweet deal, considering take-out pizza can be as much as 4x the cost and you still have to tip and pay taxes on it, lol. Topped with homemade marinara, vegan mozzarella, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh basil. Very savory. Very good. Try this combo next time you make pizza, guys! This is the pizza dough. For best texture,  do *not* substitute with all-purpose flour! :) https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe-1921714

- Focaccia with rosemary. So good, easy, and CHEAP. Consume with oil and vinegar. :) here's a recipe if you guys want to try it: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/rosemary-focaccia.html
^ Focaccia can also be topped and baked with various things, if you didn't know!

- Spaghetti with homemade marinara with mushroom 'meatballs' and small roasted cubes of Italian eggplant. Husband really liked the 'meatballs.' Topped with extra vegan parmesan and italian parsley. Served with red wine. :)

Other planned meals:
- Pasta alla norma... I'll probably add zucchini to this, though: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Saveur-100-2011-Pasta-Alla-Norma-Pasta-with-Tomato-Sauce-and-Eggplant/

- Kale salad. Made this before and it's been my favorite salad for a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOQyIzuu8Y4

- Eggplant parmiagiana. The version you layer/build up many eggplant slices in a pan, not just slicing a thick piece of eggplant and putting stuff on top.

- Chickpea vegetable soup. Probably eat it with the focaccia. Similar to this recipe except I'll be using kale and not chard as the recipe says since that's what I bought this week and I'll add oyster mushrooms and no potatoes: https://www.tastymediterraneo.com/mediterranean-chickpea-vegetable-stew/

- Homemade naan w/ cilantro lime rice with chickpeas and peas.

- Black bean brownies.

- Tofu scramble with baked sweet potato.

[Fresh Bread]

@imadandylion Vegan parmesan - is that nutritional yeast or something else? I've bought nutritional yeast and it's ok but if there's something else...

[imadandylion]

@Fresh Bread I use this one: https://violifefoods.com/us/product/just-like-parmesan-wedge/

I haven't tried making parmesan from nutritional yeast before.

[Malaysia41]

Wow I'm inspired by the activity here! I'm thrilled you started a 2020 thread @imadandylion

@FIRE_at_45 those vegan sausages look incredible.

I've been off the forums for a while - I put most of my time these days into two organizations I co-founded - the Vegan Justice League and Agricultural Fairness Alliance. We made VegNews in November !
https://vegnews.com/2019/11/lobby-groups-propose-program-to-congress-to-transition-animal-farmers-to-plant-based-agriculture :).

Here's a recent article I wrote about the environmental impact of dairy and looking at the impact if a Wisconsin dairy I'm working with transitioned to growing hazelnuts.

https://www.agriculturefairnessalliance.org/news/environmental-impact-of-dairy/

I'm so sick of my same recipes. I may try that vegan parm soon.

[Caoineag]

We were tired of winter soups so I made a pot of Chipotle black beans and we had taco salads. It was a nice combo of warm and cold food. We also like to make vegan fried rice with brown rice and vegan lo mein as our "takeout" meals when we are in the mood for something a little less healthy. Both are really quick to make so great for a last minute meal.

[cupcakery]

I eat mostly WFPB, but am not 100% compliant.  Partially because I live with other people who aren't and it gets hard and sometimes I'm just lazy (ie:  when I'm already hungry I don't care anymore).  I feel much better eating WFPB and rarely get sick anymore since starting this WOE.  It helps to meal plan and to cook in bulk and freeze leftovers for later.  My freezer is full of soups, muffins, etc.  I try to vary my diet and not eat the same thing ever day.  I get bored, but am also trying to make sure that I get varied nutrients.  I feel like I slipped up a bit last year and need to get back on track this year. 

[Raenia]

We are not 100% vegan or even vegetarian, and I'm not aiming to get to 100%, but do want to take some small steps in that direction.  Right now I am trying to eliminate or at least decrease cereal/milk for breakfasts.  In the winter, I prefer oatmeal, but we often are in a hurry in the mornings and don't have time to eat oatmeal.  For myself, I keep a tub of oatmeal at work for emergencies, but DH doesn't have that option.  So instead, I am trying to make sure we have good (homebaked) bread for toast available, with home-canned preserves of some kind.  I have a good supply of preserves at the moment, since I did a lot of canning before the holidays (apple butter, orange marmalade, cranberry marmalade, and lemon curd [not vegan]), but keeping up with the baking is difficult.  So that's my goal for now, to bake bread for toast and encourage DH to have toast instead of cereal.  I will focus on simple breads that don't have milk or butter in the dough.  This will massively cut down our milk consumption, as we don't really drink milk other than with cereal, and occasionally for baking.

Yesterday I made a batch of bagels, which should help with on-the-go mornings.  They are a lot of work to do all the time, but I should make the time more often.

[cupcakery]

We are not 100% vegan or even vegetarian, and I'm not aiming to get to 100%, but do want to take some small steps in that direction.  Right now I am trying to eliminate or at least decrease cereal/milk for breakfasts.  In the winter, I prefer oatmeal, but we often are in a hurry in the mornings and don't have time to eat oatmeal.  For myself, I keep a tub of oatmeal at work for emergencies, but DH doesn't have that option.  So instead, I am trying to make sure we have good (homebaked) bread for toast available, with home-canned preserves of some kind.  I have a good supply of preserves at the moment, since I did a lot of canning before the holidays (apple butter, orange marmalade, cranberry marmalade, and lemon curd [not vegan]), but keeping up with the baking is difficult.  So that's my goal for now, to bake bread for toast and encourage DH to have toast instead of cereal.  I will focus on simple breads that don't have milk or butter in the dough.  This will massively cut down our milk consumption, as we don't really drink milk other than with cereal, and occasionally for baking.

Yesterday I made a batch of bagels, which should help with on-the-go mornings.  They are a lot of work to do all the time, but I should make the time more often.

These are a nice substitute for oatmeal.  I keep a batch in my freezer at all times.  I usually just add frozen blueberries to the batter rather than the dried fruit.  They are very filling and can be tweaked with what you have on hand.  Pumpkin puree vs. banana, non-dairy yogurt, etc.

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/morning-glory-muffins-2

[Hirondelle]

I'm in! Have been expanding my vegan recipe repertoire for years and I'm probably one of the few folks where vegans don't have to bring their own food if they get invited for a party or potluck.

I'm not a vegan or even vegetarian myself, but I don't accept meat inside my house, will eat meat/fish only when others offer me and am forever struggling with dairy due to a love for cheese (tried a couple vegan cheeses, they ok as a substitute but they don't satisfy the thing I crave about cheese). My best strategy to cut back is to cook and cook and cook lots of Asian cheese-free dishes that I can eat for breakfast or lunch. They're satisfying enough to not get me temped :)

We are not 100% vegan or even vegetarian, and I'm not aiming to get to 100%, but do want to take some small steps in that direction.  Right now I am trying to eliminate or at least decrease cereal/milk for breakfasts.  In the winter, I prefer oatmeal, but we often are in a hurry in the mornings and don't have time to eat oatmeal.  For myself, I keep a tub of oatmeal at work for emergencies, but DH doesn't have that option.  So instead, I am trying to make sure we have good (homebaked) bread for toast available, with home-canned preserves of some kind.  I have a good supply of preserves at the moment, since I did a lot of canning before the holidays (apple butter, orange marmalade, cranberry marmalade, and lemon curd [not vegan]), but keeping up with the baking is difficult.  So that's my goal for now, to bake bread for toast and encourage DH to have toast instead of cereal.  I will focus on simple breads that don't have milk or butter in the dough.  This will massively cut down our milk consumption, as we don't really drink milk other than with cereal, and occasionally for baking.

Yesterday I made a batch of bagels, which should help with on-the-go mornings.  They are a lot of work to do all the time, but I should make the time more often.

Is overnight oats an option for you? I'm not sure what part of eating oatmeal takes longer for you compared to eating cereal, but if you just put the oatmeal some plant-based milk the night before (or even 10 min, so before you take a shower) it's ready to eat once you get up.

I'm personally not a big believer in 'special foods in the morning' so I just eat whatever I'd have for dinner or lunch at 6 AM too.

[Friar]

@Hirondelle I'm right with you on eating non cereal breakfasts. I'm currently doing a 16:8 intermittent fasting routine and so don't eat until 10:00, but my go-to breakfast is some roast veg (until the new year it also included scrambled eggs) and I would get some weird looks and comments from my coworkers. Apparenly, one must eat cereal for breakfast or nothing at all.

Nonsense, I say.

[Raenia]

I'm in! Have been expanding my vegan recipe repertoire for years and I'm probably one of the few folks where vegans don't have to bring their own food if they get invited for a party or potluck.

I'm not a vegan or even vegetarian myself, but I don't accept meat inside my house, will eat meat/fish only when others offer me and am forever struggling with dairy due to a love for cheese (tried a couple vegan cheeses, they ok as a substitute but they don't satisfy the thing I crave about cheese). My best strategy to cut back is to cook and cook and cook lots of Asian cheese-free dishes that I can eat for breakfast or lunch. They're satisfying enough to not get me temped :)

We are not 100% vegan or even vegetarian, and I'm not aiming to get to 100%, but do want to take some small steps in that direction.  Right now I am trying to eliminate or at least decrease cereal/milk for breakfasts.  In the winter, I prefer oatmeal, but we often are in a hurry in the mornings and don't have time to eat oatmeal.  For myself, I keep a tub of oatmeal at work for emergencies, but DH doesn't have that option.  So instead, I am trying to make sure we have good (homebaked) bread for toast available, with home-canned preserves of some kind.  I have a good supply of preserves at the moment, since I did a lot of canning before the holidays (apple butter, orange marmalade, cranberry marmalade, and lemon curd [not vegan]), but keeping up with the baking is difficult.  So that's my goal for now, to bake bread for toast and encourage DH to have toast instead of cereal.  I will focus on simple breads that don't have milk or butter in the dough.  This will massively cut down our milk consumption, as we don't really drink milk other than with cereal, and occasionally for baking.

Yesterday I made a batch of bagels, which should help with on-the-go mornings.  They are a lot of work to do all the time, but I should make the time more often.

Is overnight oats an option for you? I'm not sure what part of eating oatmeal takes longer for you compared to eating cereal, but if you just put the oatmeal some plant-based milk the night before (or even 10 min, so before you take a shower) it's ready to eat once you get up.

I'm personally not a big believer in 'special foods in the morning' so I just eat whatever I'd have for dinner or lunch at 6 AM too.

I eat overnight oats in the summer, but in the winter I prefer to eat it hot, which takes longer to make and to eat - can't scarf hot food!  Plus there's the planning ahead aspect, we historically don't have a great record remembering to make them the night before.

I also don't buy non-dairy milks, DH is not a fan and it's not something I'm prepared to push right now.

I should make more muffins though, they are much easier than bagels and just as satisfying.  Thanks for the reminder!

[OtherJen]

Posting to follow. We're already on board with the whole foods approach, but one of my resolutions this year is to increase the plant content of our diet. We're not interested in going vegan or even full vegetarian right now, as my celiac disease already places a restriction on our diet. But eating a vegetarian or vegan diet a few days a week and cutting back on meat/dairy/eggs is very doable, a major achievement for my formerly carnivorous husband, and better for our health and the environment.

[OtherJen]

Here’s a recipe that we tried for the first time last week: Mushroom bourguignon.

This was SO good, rich and savory but not heavy. We didn’t miss the meat at all. Husband made mashed potatoes to go with it, but it would also work with pasta. I ate some of the leftovers with (GF) bread to mop up the gravy, and I think I liked that better than the potatoes.

[imadandylion]

@Malaysia41 Awesome work! I read the articles and it's a really good idea to provide an incentive for plant rather than animal agriculture. It'll be interesting to see as time goes on how many farms will make the switch especially with plant-based being more popular these days. The vegan section at our grocery store has definitely taken a hit, I'm guessing because of 'Veganuary,' so every time we go, everything's really low multiple times a week, so lately when we've been wanting tempeh we're S-O-O-L. :)

@FIRE_at_45 Thanks for the recipe! I'll definitely give it a shot because I have some extra cashews on hand. :)

@OtherJen That mushroom bourguignon looks amazing! Thank for you sharing. The husband would really love that.

@Caoineag Those sound great! I haven't made chow mein in a while so that's a good idea. I've sometimes made 'fried rice' with quinoa, it's pretty good. https://www.hummusapien.com/quinoa-fried-rice/

@cupcakery I'm the plant-based foods is mostly working out for you. It's always good to know that's it's actually making a difference in how you feel. I don't know if you do a lot of 'meal planning' but I'm trying to take that more seriously because I also get really bored of the same old stuff we tend to default to or impulse buy stuff without a plan. So far so good.

@Hirondelle Yes! I'm with you about breakfast. I'm Asian and I grew up eating savory meals, or just leftovers, for breakfast, usually with rice if it's not a rice noodle soup. I did have some cereal, but ultimately it wasn't something I regularly wanted. I don't think I've had any for like 10-11 years. It just doesn't taste good to me! I find most American breakfasts to be extremely sweet (waffles, pancakes, etc.) I do like steel-cut oats, though, but I don't sweeten it very much.

[DaMa]

I'm in.  I've been "mostly" vegan for 3 years with varying levels of success, but really want to get to 100% this year. 

+1 for Minimalist Baker's Vegan Parmesan.  I make it and keep it in a jar in the fridge.  She has lots of great recipes.  Try Mexican Quinoa Stuffed Peppers.  When peppers are in season, I make that weekly.

One of my ongoing struggles is with coffee creamer.  I love the bad chemical stuff like Coffeemate.  In the past I've had to just give up coffee and switch to chai tea, because none of the vegan cream options deliver.  Then I inevitably give in to the allure.  I just picked up a bottle of Califa Farms pecan caramel this week.  Nope.

I do love chia pudding, and think if you like tapioca pudding, then you'll like chia pudding.  The consistency is similar.

I use a Crockpot Lunch Crock to cook steel-cut oats overnight.  4 oz of water to 1 oz of oats.  I do not care for the texture of most oatmeal, and this is the only way I like it.  I put 16 oz of water and 4 oz of oats in the little crock, plug it in, and cook overnight.  This makes 4 servings for me, and I will reheat in the microwave on following days.  When DH was alive, I cooked it every day and he would eat 3/4 of it.  I add 1/2 a banana, 1/2 oz of chopped pecans, and cinnamon to each serving.  I need to try adding flax meal.

I have a couple of delicious, easy recipes, that DH and I would eat pretty much every week.

Stuffed pepper soup:  https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/iso-good-vegetarian-chili-recipe/msg2523475/#msg2523475

Ethiopian Cabbage.  Everyone raves about this, and it's great as a side dish for non-vegs.

2 T olive oil
4 carrots, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
5 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Cook the carrots and onion about 5 minutes.
Stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, and cabbage and cook another 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the potatoes; cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

[Luz]

This challenge came at a good time. The last few weeks, we've run out of food at the end of the week and I couldn't figure out why. Until I realized that the toddler was eating adult-sized portions due to a major growth-spurt.

Rather than adding in another dinner to the weekly menu (I make 4 currently), I decided to reduce our dinners to 3 per week (still fish, poultry, and red meat) add in a few (mostly) vegan lunches for the toddler and I (rather than having leftovers from dinner) and double or triple the starch and veggie sides for dinner.

This week I'm making steak fajitas with half the meat I usually use + rice, beans, and guacamole to help fill us up. We're having a Tex-Mex shrimp salad with loads of veggies (corn, tomatoes, chiles) and I'm adding in rice and baked zucchini to replace 1/2 the shrimp. I made chipotle chicken tonight. We usually just eat it with tortillas, but I roasted 4 pounds of potatoes in the crockpot (next time I might do a few more pounds) and broccoli, onions, and mushrooms in the oven. I also added twice as much broth to the chicken.

Throughout the week, the toddler and I will chip away at a roasted veggie pasta (I put in half the cheese and might try without next time) and black bean tostadas. We're having oatmeal with steamed apples, peanut butter, chopped nuts/granola 4 days this week, had vegan muffins (store bought) this morning, and I'm making a sweet potato/kale/red pepper/shallot hash with a fried egg and avocado on top 2 days this week. And we're going to finally get our smoothie habit up and running with a berry smoothie (spinach, berries, banana and yogurt) 2 days this week. Eventually I'll look at what to use instead of yogurt (though that's my favorite animal product).

I spent $25-$40 more on groceries this week than I usually do, but part of that is because I'm actually accounting for the extra mouth we have to feed in my meal planning now (she kind've flew under the radar before all this growth stuff)! And I also hope to whittle it down as I get a system. I'm expecting to spend more time and money for the first month or two until I get into the groove. My realistic goal is $150 per week. In an ideal world, $125

Overall, I'm really pleased. And I'm excited to get into bulk-bin shopping more. I feel like ingredients that would normally be out of our budget are more accessible that way.

Goal for this week: find breakfast recipes (based on my varied ingredient list) to add to the rotation.

[Miss Stachio]

I'm in. It's great to see the recipes being shared since part of my struggle is finding tasty, nutritious recipes. Sharing recipes here would keep me motivated and help save time in searching for ones that work.

[Luz]

@DaMa, care to share your Chia pudding recipe? That's on my list of things to introduce!

[sui generis]

Here's a suggested recipe that I just dug out from deep in my own files.  Hadn't made it in a couple of years and don't know why!  https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-braised-coconut-spinach-chickpeas-with-lemon-recipes-from-the-kitchn-164551

The brightness of the lemon is a perfect accent to the richness of the coconut milk and the tons of spinach and serving it over a roasted sweet potato makes it very healthy!  My husband loves it even though he's hesitant about coconut milk because he's always concerned I'm trying to kill him with all my fatty coconut milk recipes.  But coconut milk is sooooo good!

[Hirondelle]

Here's a suggested recipe that I just dug out from deep in my own files.  Hadn't made it in a couple of years and don't know why!  https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-braised-coconut-spinach-chickpeas-with-lemon-recipes-from-the-kitchn-164551

The brightness of the lemon is a perfect accent to the richness of the coconut milk and the tons of spinach and serving it over a roasted sweet potato makes it very healthy!  My husband loves it even though he's hesitant about coconut milk because he's always concerned I'm trying to kill him with all my fatty coconut milk recipes.  But coconut milk is sooooo good!

This looks great, totally the kind of recipe I'd like! Fellow coconut milk enthusiast here :)

[imadandylion]

@Misstachio Glad to hear it! :)  I'm loving all the recipe sharing/ideas here, too. Definitely helps me break out of any routine.

@DaMa The stuffed pepper recipe sounds delicious. This reminds me I haven't had cabbage in a while but should since they're often really inexpensive and store for quite a while in the fridge.

@sui generis I love that the recipe involves serving it inside a sweet potato. I love sweet potatoes so much so this is a great excuse to consume it another way. :D

@Luz Bulk shopping is definitely the way to go when you can. I wish I started doing it a looong time ago.

Found this recipe that reminds me of the mushroom bourguignon recipe that was posted earlier but it's with mash potatoes with kale mixed in, which looks pretty good minus the sour cream and milk. Might do a vegan sour cream since I happen to have all those ingredients to do it. I might do a hybridization of the recipes where I do the bourguignon mushrooms and use the kale/mash potato side, and maybe add farro since I have that and need to use it up
https://www.budgetbytes.com/balsamic-roasted-mushrooms-with-herby-kale-mashed-potatoes/

I also had success the other day making this lentil soup. I used everything required but increased the lentils to 1 and 1/3 cups instead, used maybe 1 cup of red onion or more (onions I get seem to always be  huge?) instead of the 1/2 cup, added in a few ribs of celery, 2 or 3 additional cups of water, 1/2 tsp of sweet paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon of dried urfa biber (a sweet-smoky turkish chili). Wasn't sure what kind of 'green chili' was meant to be used so I just used 1 medium sized jalapeno. Used swiss chard, including the ribs, instead of spinach. Served over white rice. Really good. Definitely will do this again soon. Next time I'll see about doubling the yield or as big as my biggest pot can hold because although it says it 'serves 4' that might be accurate except I usually eat like 2-3 servings of any vegetable soup at a time... or any food really.
https://www.veganricha.com/2019/02/everyday-vegan-lentil-soup.html

Doing a vegan mapo tofu tonight which isn't remotely healthy because of all the oil but it's a guilty pleasure and oddly find the tingling from the sichuan pepper addictive. :) I will be using chopped mushrooms and a bit of green lentils in place of pork, and plenty of green onions. Maybe another time I'll try doing a version that cuts back on the oil and do a veggie/mushroom broth and thicken it up with corn starch or something.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/02/the-best-vegan-mapo-tofu-recipe.html

[DaMa]

@DaMa, care to share your Chia pudding recipe? That's on my list of things to introduce!

I use this one:  https://minimalistbaker.com/overnight-chocolate-chia-seed-pudding/
I've liked or loved every recipe from the Minimalist Baker, so I usually check there if I want something. 

I like my chocolate chia seed pudding with fresh raspberries. 

[Caoineag]

We make hummus sandwiches and one of the salads we made is below

1 large bunch curly parsley, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1 large cucumber, large dice
1 green pepper, diced

lemon juice to taste (about 2 Tablespoons, basically the veggies should taste bright to you)
olive oil, 2-3 Tablespoons (mainly as a preservative, makes it stay crispy and fresh in the frig)
seasoning salt to taste.

Basically coat your sandwich bread in hummus, add Kalamata olives and romaine and the salad above. Makes a scrumptious, refreshing sandwich. We served it with a red cabbage salad as a side. Yummy stuff.

[Kmp2]

Yummy recipes here!

We've been making stir fries based on this recipe for sometime or another
https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2019/04/sesame-stir-fry-noodles.html

This week we doubled the recipe (there's 5 of us), and double doubled the vegetables increasing the noodle:veggy ratio and this time instead of carrots and spinach we added almost a whole cabbage, and a package of tofu. The tahini really doubles down on the sesame flavour and it is amazing - we also probably use more oil than we should though. We found some brown rice ramen, but I'm not really sure if noodles qualify as whole food - you could always swap a cooked whole grain for a more fried rice like version or spiralized zukes if that's more your thing.

Our other whole foods recipe was a lentil chili (recipe here: http://sweetpotatochronicles.com/2014/02/chili-week-amazing-lentil-chili/ ) and cornbread. The lentils really do mimic the texture of ground beef well, and chili powder tastes the same in meat chili's as veggies (to me anyway).

We also did a chickpea aloo gobi - it's this recipe with added chickpeas... http://www.dinnerwithjulie.com/2009/05/19/sweet-potato-aloo-gobi/

Tonight though, we are having full on meat lover's order in pizza for my son's birthday... followed up by ice cream cake - because only canadians have ice cream cake when it's minus a bazillion outside!

Overall we are trying to eat about 80% vegetarian, 20% normal (but healthy) north american. Some of the swaps we've made over the years have included me now making my own 50-75% whole wheat sourdough, which covers most of our weekly bread needs. We've swapped out most of our refined flours in baking goods with whole soft white wheat and whole barley flour. And we boil up a pot of grains and/or dried beans most weekends to be used throughout the week. Curries, salads, soups, hummus and roasted chickpeas. We are not actively trying to reduce dairy and eggs - but actively including a lot more pulses... which is kind of having that effect.

[mspym]

I've been enjoying this youtube series where the youtuber goes to a supermarket with a budget of 12-15 pounds for the week's food and then cooks it. It's pretty easy, delivious and cheap and she's clearly done her years on a student budget and understands the constraints of poverty. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8QDbHDg_9YbfxAVfCwf36yCxMKf-CrRe

[Miss Stachio]

Oh so many delicious recipes. Bookmarking the balsamic mushrooms and kale mashed potatoes to try.

Making a meal prep menu for the next week's worth of lunches and dinners. Currently planning for big pots of
- corn potato chowder with plant based milk
- Indian-style chickpeas and spinach
- veggie stir fried rice with tempeh, coconut, and nuts