Meal Plan Week #1

Since going full-time with Life is No Yoke, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about healthy meals. One of my weekly tasks is to create a meal plan for Lenny and I that is healthy, easy, and meets our dietary needs.

But I just realized how selfish I’ve been. My future husband and I don’t need to be the only people eating clean. We should share the wealth!

So here’s the way we eat during the week: meatless, dairy free, low carb. You’d be surprised at how creative we can get with vegetables. 🙂

The recipe we send via newsletter on Sundays will be featured in the coming week’s meal plan. And on Thursday nights (6pm CST) we will be hosting a live cooking show on Nom. This platform allows you to interact with us and ask questions live. So join us and learn how to make one of the featured recipes! We even have a Vitamix giveaway set up to promote the show.

Here is Week #1 of my meal plan. In it you will find Life is No Yoke recipes, recipes that have been inspired by other food bloggers, and a grocery list. One note: we use our blender a lot as many of these are Vitamix recipes, but there’s a lot of non-blender foods on our weekly menu too!

Here we go…

MON
BLT Egg salad Tweaked the recipe to make it dairy free and meat free by subbing soy bacon and lite mayo instead of greek yogurt and skipping the cheese. Serve on greens.
Cauliflower pizza Top however you’d like. We use green olives, but mushrooms or peppers would be great too!

TUE
Sweet potato salad Minus the feta.
Veggie burgers and brussel sprouts

WED
California quinoa
Spaghetti squash with dairy-free Alfredo sauce

THU
Tuna/Cucumber salad
Spring salad with apricot poppy seed dressing Making this live on Thu 6/9/16 at 6pm CST via Nom. Join us!

FRI
Mediterranean salad Sub olives for cherries.
“Chorizo” soup Corn tortillas optional.

For an extra treat make this VEGAN Banana bread that was featured in this week’s newsletter (ingredients not listed in the grocery list). Save some for breakfast this weekend!

Don’t let the grocery list overwhelm you. You likely have several of these items in your pantry already.
In order to eat healthy, you need to buy a significant amount of fresh produce.

But don’t worry, many recipes have overlapping ingredients so nothing will go to waste.
If you don’t like something, sub it out for something else. Get creative with it and let us know what you did.

If you make one of the meals, snap a picture and tag us #lifeisnoyoke. We love to see our work in action. 🙂

PRODUCE:
Kale
Sweet potatoes – 4
Cilantro
Edamame
Green bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Limes – 6
Lemon – 2
Mango
Cauliflower – 2 heads
Red onion
Shallot
Avocados – 4
Jalapeno
Cucumber
Tomatos
Asparagus
Beets
Watermelon radishes
Green onion
Apricot – 4
Greens of choice
Red cabbage
Mushrooms
Spaghetti squash
Brussel sprouts

REFRIGERATED ITEMS:
Eggs
Almond Milk
Soy cheese
Soy chorizo (we get ours at Trader Joe’s)
Soy bacon
Veggie burgers

PANTRY ITEMS:
Pizza sauce (or make your own)
Diced tomatoes
Raisins
Coconut flakes
Black beans
Chickpeas – 2 cans
Artichoke hearts
Nutritional yeast
Tuna
Vegetable broth – 8 cups
Kalamata olives

NUTS & GRAINS
Quinoa
Pepitas (optional)
Almonds (optional)
Pistachios (optional)
Walnuts (optional)
Corn tortillas (optional)

THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE:
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
White vinegar
Red wine vinegar
Honey (or agave if vegan)
Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper
Oregano
Basil
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Coriander
Paprika
Cumin
Poppy seeds