Hey guys,

Carleigh here from PlantYou for our weekly countertop catch-up. 🙂 My view was a little sunnier this past week, as we were on vacation! It was incredible to soak in the sunshine after a verrrrrrry long winter in Canada. With that said, travelling with a 7-month-old baby is like an Olympic-level FEAT, and we’re kind of glad to be back at home now and into a routine. If you have any recommendations for baby-friendly vacation spots, I’m all ears for our next trip?! Just reply. I think I'm going to start assembling a list of plant-based friendly locations as well I can put on the blog.

I often get asked in my direct messages and emails what my go-to meals are as a plant-based eater of around 10 years now. The truth is, I think social media, especially as a recipe creator, can give a really skewed and hyper-aesthetic view of what people are eating.

Like, is everyone out here casually making a seven-layer nourish bowl on a Tuesday??? So I thought in today’s countertop catch-up I’d show you exactly the unaesthetic meals I ate on an average-ish day.

The key thing I always tell people when they’re endeavoring on a plant-based diet (or even just trying to eat healthier) is that identifying 4 to 5 meals you love and rotate through each week is a huge key to success.

Let’s be honest, nobody is cooking a different gourmet meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert every day of the week (and if you are… first of all, congratulations, and second of all, please report to a lab for scientific research). It’s OK to lean on your hero meals and then just make adjustments based on the veg in season or on hand.

Breakfast 🍌

The day always starts with a soy milk latte. I dream about this when I go to sleep at night lol. Soy milk is always my plant-based milk of choice. It’s packed with protein and foams great!

Lately, I’ve been having a tofu scramble burrito for breakfast every morning. I use the tofu scramble recipe from my first book and add grated hash browns that you rehydrate from Costco, as well as any veggies I have lying around in the fridge. It’s filling and high in protein, and I find it satiates me until lunchtime :) You can find a really terrible old video of me making the scramble here for visual hahaha.

Lunch 🥬

Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before or a recipe test. On this day it was a leftover red curry (actually my favorite)! Sometimes I’ll just have a loaded smoothie for lunch depending on how hungry I am.

Snack 🍒

I almost always have popcorn spritzed with apple cider vinegar.

Dinner 🌮

Dinner was at home chipotle bowls. We’ve really been liking the lightlife ground meat substitute (it’s one the cleaner ones out there), that we add seasoning to. I serve it with my homemade cashew cream, and have been loving my friend Toni’s Mexican Rice recipe (she made it for us when she visited back in December)!

Dessert 🍫

Usually, we love having a couple of squares of dark chocolate for dessert. Some nights I go crazy and have a homemade smores with graham crackers and dandies marshmallows in the air fryer 😀

What I’m Cooking 🍲

As soon as Wes came down with his cold, I made this herby, garlic ginger broth. It’s great for sipping if you have a sore throat.https://plantyou.com/cilantro-lemon-soup/​

What I’m Loving 💕

Wes totally caught a cold at the tail end of our flight, and has been stuffed up ever since. We made it almost through winter unscathed lol. I’ve been working with Vimergy to integrate their products into recipes, and Jesse and I have been loving their Daily Total Immune Blend in our broths and mocktails for immune support year around (you can even add it to the broth above).

It has ingredients like thyme, zinc, and mullein. Check it out here.​

What I’m Learning 📚

We had a possum in our garage this week, and we were a little bit nervous because he’s a BIG possum and did not want to vacate. My sister informed me that possums apparently do not carry rabies because of their low body temperature! Who knew? They also consume up to 5,000 ticks per season, which apparently significantly reduces Lyme disease risk, which is a big thing in our area of Ontario. We still needed him out of the garage, but I’m OK if he sticks around—although I’m not sure my dog Peach would feel the same.

Enjoy your week :)

Carleigh