it’s been a crazy busy month! We were still mostly able to keep up with our healthy and plant based eating. I tried some new recipes that I have been wanting to try for awhile and got my boys into training more new dishes. Which I think is the best thing to do when they are young because the more exposed they are to healthy options and vegan foods the easier it’ll be for them when they’re older. We ate 95% plant based, the odd day we eat Babybell cheeses or a turkey sausage/bacon but no more pork or beef and hardly any dairy.

We have been eating tofu scrambles this month which is something I have been meaning to try for awhile now. I have tried with both firm and soft tofu and I do prefer making it with firm tofu over soft tofu but for the purposes of this blog I am using photos of soft tofu. The firm tofu scrambles better. For the tofu scramble I basically sautéed some red onions and red peppers in a pan. You need to sautée them before you start the tofu because you don’t want to overcook it and so it gets too mushy. Once theyre sautéed to your liking put them aside in a bowl, Place the pan on low-medium and open the tofu and crumble it with your hands into the pan. I add a tablespoon of vegetable bouillon, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, some turmeric, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste. You can get this Indian spice called black pepper (it has a more traditional name, I cannot recall at the moment) to make it taste like eggs. The tofu scramble without this spice doesn't really taste like eggs, i’m not going to lie. It has the texture for sure and it tastes good but it’s not eggy. It can be misleading when trying new vegan foods because it looks so much like th real deal but the taste is totally off. I use the mustard and turmeric because they are both healthy, taste good and give it that yellow eggy colour. When I figure out about that spice I definitely will try that and for sure make a recommendation. As the tofu is frying in the pan this is when I add in the spinach and basil because it doesn’t take long to shrink. And voila you have tofu scramble. Again I recommend firm tofu over soft.

The other vegan breakfast item that I was really wanting to recreate with this new vegan yogurt I tried was a parfait. I have this really amazing granola made from a local place called Nature’s Farm. The granola has chunks of cranberry, coconut and dark chocolate. Is vegan and has 0 sugar added. I bought silk almond vanilla yogurt. It is good and creamy but it doesn’t have as much protein as Daiya's greek style. I made parfaits for both both with the yogurt and granola, hemp hearsts, frozen blueberries, and banana. I also added melted peanut butter on another occasion and that legit tasted like dessert. This parfait was absolutely delicious and with all the other ingredients you don’t even notice that it is vegan.

Most days for breakfast the boys either eat cereal with soy milk or toast and fruit. On the odd occasion we will do frozen waffles. Also on occasion we do turkey bacon with toast, I have really tried tot make an effort into no longer buying eggs which is hard because I do enjoy egg and I know Jesse does too. They are a good source of protein too and I don’t know if I will permanently ever make that switch but I have been watching farming videos and it has been getting to me, hence the tofu scrambles.

Snacks for the month are pretty typical. A lot of fruit and veggies, pretzels and hummus, Veggie Straws, Goldfish and Babybels. The boys are loving cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, pickles, carrots and I even introduced red pepper which they both really adore. For fruit they both enjoy grapes, mandarin oranges, apples, bananas, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. With summer beginning I definitely want to incorporate some watermelon in our daily lives. They basically eat some sort of combination of those veggies on the daily plus broccoli, spinach, mushrooms , cauliflower, peas and corn for dinners most days. It really makes me happy how good they are at eating their fruits and veggies.

One day I took the boys for a treat and we drove to Oh Doughnuts on Taylor and got vegan doughnuts. Jaxson had the peanut butter and jelly doughnut, I had thee sour watermelon doughnut and we shared a bitt of an Oreo doughnut. I was giving Ash bits and pieces to try but he still doesn’t really eat treat like foods like that so he mostly ate the dough part. These were so good and I thoroughly recommend you check this company out and definitely try the vegan doughnuts because they literally taste the exact same and often times have better and more exciting flavours to try from.

Lunches for the month are pretty typical as well. I normally make grilled cheese sandwiches with vegan cheese. I have been using Daiya provolone slices and oh my gosh are they good. Taste like the real deal especially when melted. They go soooo good on the Beyond Meat burger. But yes typically most days I make a sandwich for lunch for the boys whether it be grilled cheese, or peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey. Some days we have leftovers and some days I will just throw together whatever. The jam I bought has no added sugar or thickeners and I bought it from the South Osborne Mother’s Day Market put on by Farm Fresh Foodhub. She was super sweet and bubbly and the grapefruit spread was soooo damn good I could just imagine it on a peanut butter sandwich and knew the boys would love it. I have talked about my love for buying local honey where there is no harm to the bees in the process. I love talking to the farmers and them telling me about their process. Which is why it was super easy to buy a jar of creamed honey from Queen Bee’s. A sister business out in rural Manitoba and the honey is delicious. I know it’s not vegan but I feel confident in supporting a honey farm like that.

We did make perogies for dinner one night because I sometimes get an intense craving for them. They were definitely not vegan. Ash loved them and Jaxson didn’t really care for them to be quite honest which was surprising to me. They were frozen but from a lady who worked with my dad so it’s not like they were store bought. But this is what I am talking about, Jaxson always makes healthy choices. One night this month we also had beyond meat burgers with Daiya provolone slices and mushrooms and damn were they good. So this day was a very lazy lunch thrown together with all leftovers. Ash is still too little for burgers so he got extra perogies. Another day of leftovers consisted of leftover chick’n burgers (vegan Yves brand) that I used in spicy salad wraps the night before (I need to post more about my vegan meals because they are bomb). Another day I used leftover chicken sausage as a sort of homemade lunchables with Babybel, baby carrots, cucumber and home-made cookies from Grandma as a little treat.

Dinners are my favourite. I love cooking dinner for my two little ones. We made the lentil bolognese a couple times and I was able to incorporate red peppers and mushrooms this time and it was so good and hearty. The Yves meatballs are so good. I used the last of our leftover tomato sauce and both boys love this dinner. These meatballs are a dead ringer for the real deal and if you are craving meatiness then I would for sure recommend this product. Tofu has become a staple in this house which is something I never thought I would ever say. Its pretty versatile and can be cooked so many different ways. Jaxson loves tofu. He has no idea its not normal and considers it the same as chicken nuggets say. I sometimes make tofu nuggets with breadcrumbs, or just cook it in some kind of sauce. If I am using smoked tofu sometimes I cook it in some vegan butter because it already has a lot of flavour. I cooked it in tomato sauce with peas for added protein and vitamins one night. We cook peas here most nights because they are extremely easy to make, full of good protein and nutrients and the boys love them. I buy the organic jumbo pack from Costco which lasts us months. We also eat rice stir fries, pasta and quesadillas. The boys go for the vegan shredded cheese brand called Emborg. Looks like cheese, tastes like cheese and melts like cheese. You can’t tell the difference. If you wanted to make vegan nachos this would be the cheese to use for that. I have also recently tried the Tofutti sour cream and omg is it soooo good. It tastes like real sour cream. The only difference I would say is its not quite as rich as regular sour cream. I bought it from Sobeys Taylor near Pan Am Pool. Most of my amazing vegan finds this month were from Sobeys Taylor. It makes my little black heart happy to see so many different options.

That’s about it for food ideas for this month! We had a pretty successful month of eating plant based and I am always so happy to eat vegan friendly and introduce new dishes and meals to my boys. I hope I carried through in life in general so that theey will crave a tofu scramble rather than an egg scramble. As I am typing this I am craving an egg scramble, yum. I am not perfect by any means but we are really trying which I think is the most important. I hope someone can find some inspiration in this blog post because that is what this is really about.