97: Grilling Out Whole Food Plant Based Style. Happy 4th of July!

Anita: 0:58

Hey, sister, the weather is beautiful outside and you're ready for grill out. Now, how do you grill out whole food plant based style? What in the world do you cook if you can't eat meat? That's what we're talking about today. We're looking forward to having a conversation with you. So let's get started.

INTRO: 1:13

You're listening to the Smarter Healthy Living podcast where we firmly believe that getting healthy should never feel like torture. We're your host Jarrod and Anita Roussel. We're college sweethearts, and health professionals who help you redefine what getting healthy looks like using a whole food plant based lifestyle. It's time to hear from the experts and learn the best tips and tricks that helped others get beyond the overwhelm, to create a vibrant life they love. If you're sick and tired of being sick, and tired, you're in the right place. So pull up a virtual chair, grab your matcha latte, and let's get started. Hey, their friend and Happy Fourth of July. It's an exciting day. The weather is actually not as beautiful here today as we'd wished. It's raining. We hope it clears that before the fireworks start. But we are getting ready and you know what that means grilling out. Now, you may not be listening to this on the Fourth of July. But you can grill out pretty much any time of the year depending on where you live. I mean, we live in Florida. And that means we use the grill a lot. But wherever you are, when you're ready to have a barbecue, these three tips are going to help you to succeed whole food plant based style. You know, maybe you're grilling out at home. Or maybe you've been invited to a barbecue at someone's house at a friend's house. One of the pillars of success is keep it simple. No matter if you're a home or you're going somewhere else. Keep it simple because less stress equals more joy. That's one of our pillars of success. You've got to keep things simple. The truth is it does not have to be a complicated process grilling out or cooking at home, you get it in your mind, this idea of this is just so different. And how am I going to cook veggies on the grill? Or how am I going to grill out if I don't have meat? I think that's the main question. You may not even realize that you can grill out with something other than meat. And we're going to give you some ideas for how to do that today. That leads us to point number two, make if you're at home or take a dish, if you're going somewhere else, make sure you take enough to share because odds are somebody else is going to be interested in it too most people are really interested, especially if they know that you eat a different way. Because they may think well she's Whole Food Plant Based or she's vegan, how is she doing this, What's she going to bring to a grill out this is going to be interesting. And they're all secretly waiting to see what's in your pot, bowl dish, whatever. And so they're all kind of sitting around just waiting to see what you bring in nine times out of 10 when they try it, they're gonna like it. And a lot of times people don't even know. I mean, they don't even know you don't have to tell them. And you show up and you bring this dish and they're asking me for recipes. How do you make this what you put on it. And that's really fun, because then you get to share your experience and hopefully bring more people into at least eating more fruits and vegetables and living their best life.

Jarrod: 4:06

But I would daresay even if they don't do that, and they don't do it immediately. There's still a curiosity there. I think of interest as "Hey, that looks interesting. Let me you know, what are you doing? Let me see that." Whereas curious, maybe they stand back from a distance and they look at you, they may not say much, but think what are they eating? "Oh, that's not meat. How's that even possible?" People are gonna watch. And they may even secretly sample what you have. Because they want to see is this really any good?

Anita: 4:34

Some people aren't going to be so secret, they want to try everything.

Jarrod: 4:38

Well, there will be some people that are more vocal and may even have some opinions and think there's no way that could be any good. But trust us, we've done this long enough. It's amazing.

Anita: 4:49

And really, when you go far enough in this and you're getting results, and you're loving your food, you get to where you just don't worry about what other people think about it. It's so freeing. It's a wonderful thing,

Jarrod: 4:59

Because you walk in more confidence with it. Because you've done it, you know, it's delicious, you feel great on it. And no matter what people ask you, you know, hey, this is my thing. And it works. I feel great. My energy levels, good, my pains are gone. It's delicious. It's a win win all around.

Anita: 5:16

I'm off my medicine. That happens a lot of times too. And the amazing thing is, you know, you can feel good about what you're taking because you know anybody that tries it, it's just going to promote their health and it may bring them into a lifestyle that helps them to get the freedoms that you found or are finding currently. So we're going to give you some ideas of some things to take. The first thing maybe some fruit and veggie kebabs now people think how am I going to get anything to stick to that because I'm used to using oil and we know that oil is a very high calorie, low nutritious food. In other words, it doesn't have much nutrition so it's low nutrition, very high in calorie 120 calories per tablespoon, and I'm not even gonna talk about what it does to your body on the inside besides the calorie. So that's one thing you just want to let go is the oil and you really don't need it here. Use water use broth use a simple marinade with any kind of liquid, you can use pineapple juice or something like that. And when they're marinated maybe with some tamari or garlic powder, or there are all kinds of things look up and marinate and tweak it leave out the oil. Just use the liquids, put them in there, whatever you're taking, let it marinate for a while. If you don't have time, just brush it on there. Leave it in a bowl and take it with you so that it's marinating as you go as you get there. It's waiting to be on the barbecue still gonna marinate for a while. Get those spices on there because that's what makes things taste great.

Jarrod: 6:41

Well and a huge benefit of not using the oil is you don't have the flare ups that go along with grilling because the fat won't go down where the flames are and they get the big flames. You know, it's fun slash funny to watch in a movie. Or maybe your neighbor He's like, Oh, look at the bonfire. But when it's your own and you lift that lid and you've got nothing but char that is not fun.

Anita: 7:03

It's not and another thing is is that is carcinogenic, the char the black burnt, don't eat it, you can get a little bit of grill Mark but really stay away from that Blackburn char It is not good for you. Alright, so here's the big tip to make it more filling. Add some pressed marinated firm or extra firm tofu. I would say firms probably the best bet they are. Press it now why do you need to press your tofu? Well, if you want something that's more like meat texture, it's going to give it that chicken texture that you love. Okay, if you still love it, you know, you may go so far in plant based that you don't still love that texture.

Jarrod: 7:44

Or how you remember, chicken in the past. Yeah, it has kind of that that texture. Like you say,

Anita: 7:49

Well tofu is amazing. It's like this sponge that just soaks up everything delicious that's put on it. So the longer you can let it marinate even overnight, it's gonna take on the texture of not the texture, but the flavor, of whatever you put on it. But if you press out the liquid that's in it beforehand. And you don't want to just slam it down and press it hard because it's gonna just crumble and break on you. But we love using the tofu press method. And we'll leave a link they're very inexpensive to get but they're wonderful little gadgets to have. You can even press a block or two depending on how many tofu presses you have in your refrigerator overnight. And the liquid drains right out of it. And you just dump it out of this nice little container. And there you have your pressed tofu. It just makes it much more firm. And it allows it to soak up even more. It's like if you had a wet sponge that was filled with water. And then you tried to get it to soak up more water versus squeezing out your sponge and then trying to have it soak up the water.

Jarrod: 8:45

You can put it in your marinate and then the flavors get inside of it.

Anita: 8:48

Yeah, so you need a tofu press. Now, if you think I don't want to buy another gadget, I don't want another thing. You can lay your block of tofu on a paper towel and lay another paper towel on top of the tofu and then lay a very heavy skillet like a cast iron skillet on it. And just leave it there for a little while and over time it will press out some of the liquid I've just never found that that method works quite as well as the tofu press.

Jarrod: 9:12

And once you get one it's just so simple to use. It's very simple. You said it. It works and then after however many minutes and you can take it out and it's all ready.

Anita: 9:28

And there are a ton of other things you can do with press Tofu. We won't get into all that today. We just don't have time and I know you're busy too. But listen, tofu is amazing on a kebab. Now, you may be wondering, how do I keep that from sticking because grilling tofu, it could stick to your grill and you're not using oil. So if you're not using oil, what you wanted to do is make sure you get some liquid on that again, you're gonna have your marinate on it. But here's the secret. Cut your veggies a little bit larger for your kabobs cut your veggies a little bit larger than your tofu pieces. Okay, and then the tofu is gonna sit

Jarrod: 10:03

Just above the metal grating

Anita: 10:07

It'll still get that great grilled flavor idea. Yeah, it's even gonna get a little brown from the flames and things but you're not going to have to fight with it to get it off the grill. And that's just our biggest tip. That's our secret there for grilling tofu.

Jarrod: 10:20

But I know what you're thinking. Fourth of July or anyt

Anita: 10:22

You're making me hungry cuz I know where you're going me for grilling. What about ot dogs? I love my hot dogs. Is here any way that I can duplicat that? This is a big Biggie here. All right. If you have not tried with this. carrot dogs, you're in for a treat. Peel some carrots, leave them home. I saw I cut mine about this length of a hot dog. Okay, you want them about the length of a regular hot dog because you want them to fit on a bun or whatever you're using whatever whole grain bread, you can wrap loaf bread around them. We've done that before, whatever you want to wrap your hot dog in. Okay, so you cut it that length. Then after it's peeled and cat, you're going to drop it into some boiling water, just for a few minutes. Don't overboil it or they'll fall apart. So just until it gets fork tender, drain those puppies up get them into some marinade The marinade that I recommend is some tamari. We use low sodium organic tamori. I recommend organic because tamari is like.

Jarrod: 11:33

It's soybean. Yeah, it's like a soy sauce without wheat.

Anita: 11:37

So no wheat so it's gluten free and we bought organic and we recommend organic anytime you're using a soy product because soy is heavily sprayed and it's also GMO. Okay, so you want to look for organic products when you're using soy. So you take your soy sauce or your tamari you put some of that don't ask for ingredient amounts now making this easy for you put some like you would in a marinate. Okay, get some liquid in there. Stir in like maybe with a whisk a little bit of smoked paprika, you might use like a half teaspoon or a teaspoon just depending on how smoky you want it. And some garlic powder. How much how garlicky Do you want it, you get to choose It's that easy three ingredients.

Jarrod: 12:22

This kind of reminds me of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. This is a choose your own recipe recipe.

Anita: 12:27

And that's what we're about these are food formulas. These are the things that we teach our clients all the time because you've got to know how to do this in a way that you don't even have to pick up a cookbook. We love cookbooks, you need those when you're first getting started. And as you go sometimes it's just nice to have a recipe but there are a lot of times when you're in a hurry, you don't have time for all that. And seriously, you can whip up this marinade in about one minute or less. And that's what we're all about. So whip that up, get those par-boiled carrots in there, take those to the grill out or if you're doing it at your house, obviously you just keep them there. And then when you're ready, just throw them on the grill like you would hot dog get those little light grill marks on there. You're not going to believe how amazing they taste. Cover them in whatever you want. Vegan chili, hopefully playing bass chili if you want sauerkraut or slaw, a simple slaw.

Jarrod: 13:24

Because I know in the past I would love mustard on a hot dog. So I've done the carrot dogs with just a generous helping of mustard.

Anita: 13:31

Or use raw onions. Now if you want to make a simple slaw, that's another great thing you can take with you right, but don't forget the bread or whatever you want to wrap it in. If you're going to someone's house, you need to take something like a whole grain bread or wrap. Okay, now, take a slaw So, so simple. You can either pre-grate it or you can buy the bags of pre-made slaw. Don't make it hard on yourself. Buy those bags of slaw dump them in a bowl. All right. And you don't even have to make it Mayoish. If you want to do that I have a recipe in the cookbook that's really good for basically it's like a ranch dressing that would be amazing on there. But you could use something like a cashew cream or you could just totally leave that out. So I like to make mine really fresh for carrot dogs. So we'll just do grated cabbages Don't forget your purples. There's not just green cabbage. So we'll do purple cabbage, maybe carrots, some green onions, garlic, fresh pepper and just a squeeze of lime. Is that easy. That's how many ingredients six max. All right. Then you can take again like Jared said mustard pickles. Don't make it difficult if you think that's just too much. Just take the carrot dogs and some bread and just eat it plain. But again, you can take a vegan chili you can either throw it together very quickly into your instant pot before you go or if you don't want to take all that stuff. Grab a can or two vegan chili at the store. I mean it's easy as you want.

Jarrod: 15:07

Oh, I mean we don't think of really grilling fruit but I mean you could take pineapple slices you could take fresh peaches, mangoes. When you're looking in the vegetable category, we've done this quite a bit where we've done the bell peppers. Those are fantastic grilled.

Anita: 15:29

Cabbage is amazing.

Jarrod: 15:32

We've made cabbage steaks before where you can cut them what is about a half inch thick? I'm pretty sure

Anita: 15:38

That's happening today. I love cabbage steaks. Yeah, you keep them whole.

Jarrod: 15:42

Zuchini, squash, those have been favorites for us as well with grilling.

Anita: 15:47

Other ideas, take a veggie tray with some dip that's whole food plant based right that very easy. I whip up dips and sauces. I put a lot of those in the cookbook because You've got to have quick and easy and it literally takes five minutes. Because if it doesn't tastes good. I don't want to forget about it. Alright, so take a dip. Everybody loves dips. And this is funny too think about this with, you might not want to do this at a party but with kids, you know, you're always looking for different ideas to get them to eat stuff and ours like crunchy stuff. So I'll just set out pre-chopped veggie trays and dips like this, and they just go to town on it. But if they like something just as plain as Iceberg lettuce, you can cut it into little chunks, and let them put little chunks on their plate as a finger food. And they can take those chunks and just dip it right into that dip. And it's a great summertime or warm weather or grillout food. And you don't have to grill the lettuce but it's a great thing to take to a party as far as the veggie trays, you may not want to do again the lettuce if you're taking it to a party, but kids love that. So our kids love to dunk those big chunks of iceberg.

Jarrod: 16:54

Once you get used to eating this way you notice a lot of different flavors. And we've mentioned this before you notice a lot of different flavors are in the food. But I noticed that the iceberg lettuce has a certain sweetness to it. It's not sweet like a fruit but it's got an under flavor of this sweetness to it and if you get a really good one that's very crisp and crunchy. It's just it's fun to eat.

Anita: 17:15

It's so good. My children begged me for it and there's one in particular that begs for the inside of the lettuce where it's more bitter. He loves that and so really when our lettuce when our iceberg is gone it's gone and yes iceberg has nutrients we eat other lettuces we eat a lot of dark leafy greens and we recommend that for you too. But iceberg yes, it does have nutrients

Jarrod: 17:35

It does, and sometimes it's just the right lettuce if you want something crunchy and a salad and bean burgers or different things of that nature.

Anita: 17:46

Well to wrap things like you were saying. I use it to wrap my bean burger cuz I don't like eating as much bread. I love that crunch it gives and I just put that bean burger patty in there. And that's another thing you can grill is burgers, we just recommend probably find a really simple recipe and you can even bake those off before you go and then just throw them on the grill to get some little grill marks or warm them up. Last but not least, this is one of the most important things when you're in any social situation. Focus on building and enjoying relationships because the truth is, it's not about the food, okay, we love good food. Don't get me wrong, but the place you're going or if you're inviting people over to your house, the get together. It's not about the food. It's about fellowship and fun together and enjoying each other and making memories and building your relationships. We wish you all Happy Fourth, and a happy and wonderful grill out no matter what time of the year it is. Thanks for joining us today. Be sure to see the description below if you want to find a tofu press or some other items that you might use for a grillout and we'll look forward to hanging out with you again on smarter healthy living.