118: Our Top 5 Plant Based Foods We Could Not Live Without (part 2)

Jarrod: 0:58

You're listening to part two of our top five foundational foods we could not live without. If you didn't catch Part One. Go back to episode number 117. And listen to that now. If you already caught it, then we will reveal just as we promised. What did I choose rice or potatoes? Oh, and don't forget, we're also sharing with you how we make our steak fries. no oil, no frying, you don't want to miss this.

Anita: 1:23

Hey there Sunshine. Welcome to the Power On Plants Podcast, where your host, Jarrod and Anita Roussel and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods, and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness, we used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few. And even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned. And now we both have our lives back. And that's what we want for you to the truth is you can do this, and it's not hard, you just need a way that will bring real and lasting change. And that path, it has to be simple and enjoyable. And it's got to be delicious, too. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place, because Living without limits. That's what power on plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte and let's get started. The you didn't answer the important question of rice versus potatoes, I have to go there with you. Because I know you grew up on rice and I grew up on potatoes. And I'm a huge potato fan. And I would choose every time over rice. But we're comparing two things in two different five foundational categories. But I just wondering because people compare rice and potatoes a lot. What would you choose?

Jarrod: 2:51

Probably 30 years ago, it'd be rice. If I had to make it between one or the other. I probably go potato now I feel like really? Yes. Because I feel like even though rice does have nutritional value, I feel like the potato may outweigh that.

Anita: 3:06

I've got to give an action step here. Come on, I've got to give an action step go for Okay, so is it because of the new I have started cooking potatoes lately, because we loved we used to love french fries. And we really haven't had those a lot since we've started living this way. But I've started making steak fries. And they're so good because this is what happens. If you start baking and you're not using oil, which we highly recommend you down. I show you how to do that. It's very simple to give up oil not hard at all. Take it from me, a southern girl who grew up with everything fraud. If I can do it, I promise you can do it. It makes things so much easier. It makes cleanup easier. And just think about how it makes your kitchen only and sticky. Well guess what it does inside your vessels. So it's it's something that's damaging that bogs you down, it weighs you down, it makes you feel sluggish. You don't want it Okay, so we didn't eat a lot of fries because I used to fire fries. Right? Right. And so what I started doing was cutting up raw potatoes and popping them in the oven. Well that was less than satisfying. Why? Because by the time the insomma, get cooked outs, I would be dry and then they'd be like, they'd be chewy, they wouldn't be good. Okay, so this is what you want to do if you want to cook some steak fries, or you want to cook potatoes in a way that they actually get crispy on the outside but they say soft on the inside. So you want to cut up your big steak fries and then you're just going to boil them just till they get for dinner and they're almost completely done. You don't want falling apart in the image they need to still hold their steak brush shape, right and I recommend leaving on a washing and leaving on the skins because that's gonna hold them together better for you. So you're just going to hold them till they get forked Tinder. Carefully drain off all the water and pour them out onto your baking sheet. I put them on out in a single layer that's really important because you want to get the brown crisp, or if you have an airfryer you can try them in the airfryer. A lot of people love doing that. We just don't use one because we have six people in our family and trust me one to two rounds in the airfryer I'm going to fill up more than two people in this household. And I don't have time for all that so I can get several layers into my convection oven several different racks like three racks of cookie sheets filled with steak fries, and they're wonderful. And so what you do is you lay them out in that single layer no all required. I love to season ours up. So either after I've put them on that silpat mat or a piece of parchment paper onto a baking sheet. I'm going to sprinkle those with some garlic powder, some chili powder which is a mix I use a mix of any kind of chili powder and usually so I use a mix for chili powder and it usually has something like cumin and chili spices like chili powders it'll have maybe some onion powder or things like Pepe paprika I'll add that because it gives it the smoky flavor. So that chili powder if it didn't have it mixture powder, I just use a plain chili powder again, like an ancho or Chipotle, and I would add some cumin just a little, not a lot, because if you add a lot of cumin, it's gonna taste bitter, you don't have to add any of those things, you can leave all those off and just add just a little pepper, maybe a little bit of salt, not much we don't, we don't recommend adding a lot of salt to fade, it just isn't necessary once your palette gets used to it. And the less you eat, the less you require, you'll find that if you'll just start backing off a little bit and just start eating it with a little bit less salt than anything, whatever you're eating, then after a week or two, you're gonna find you're not needing as much salt, if you put as much as you would have put before you think, Oh, this is so salty. Okay, so easily you can back off salt, but for the steak fries are you going to do is just boil them, carefully drain them and put them out on your cookie sheet, then you're going to cook it on a quite quite a high temperature probably about maybe 375. And then you're just going to kick them till they get lightly brown, you don't want to kick them really, really high. Like I don't want to catch them on fire. You don't want to think that's dark, dark brown, dark, dark brown signals, it's really not good for you and your feed started creating some chemicals and some changes in there that are not good for you. So when you go to a store and they go to a restaurant or somewhere and they're getting char on their food, donate that that's carcinogenic, it can cause cancer, it is not healthy for you. So you're looking for a light brown, golden brown and a little crisp on the outside. And they're gonna stay light and fluffy and soft, like a fry should be on the inside. Why? Because they're already cooked. They're already bold, and they've got that water that they've soaked. Exactly,

Jarrod: 7:36

that was just thing that has that extra moisture in it from the boiling, right.

Anita: 7:39

So it's going to keep it from drying out, it's going to give you that wonderful steak fry flavor. So it's, it's not really a super long process. I mean, you can buy the steak, Brock headers that you just shove your little, your whole potato down, and it'll cut steak fries for you. Or you can just sit if there's not six people in your family, it's not gonna take nearly as long as it takes me. But what, what I do is I get the kids involved, and they get in there and they start helping me cut up the fries and stuff. And that makes it so much quicker. If they're young, what can they do, you can give them a veggie rush and start teaching them how to scrub potatoes. That makes it so quick. If your potatoes are all washed ship, you've got them cut up, you throw them in a little potable and water, cold water actually. And then you bring them to a bowl in the cold water. Once they come to boil, you turn it down to a low rolling boil. Once they're done, it's not take that long, you put them out on the pan, and then you just let them cook till they're brown. I mean, some of the easiest food you'll ever eat is playing bass food, it is the simplest, easiest, even if it takes a little while to cook, the prep time is so short compared to what I used to have to do. And then the kitchen clean up. Imagine cleaning up all that oil off my countertops and from my stove every time I cooked and just everywhere. I mean the grease and then the bacteria from the meat and all those things that I was bringing into the house on a regular basis having to scrub that at scrub bleach at trying to bleach chef or vinegar it or use antibacterial step. You don't have to do that stuff anymore. We can clean it so easy because the oils not there. And I know we've gotten off track here because we have had to give you a practical tip because I don't want I want you to walk away and go, Oh, great. These are the five things that eat I want you to take the ideas away of these are foods I need to get more of in my life. These are the categories I need to start thinking about why am I not getting these foods? What can I get that I don't normally eat in these categories. And not only that, I want you to think what's the takeaway? What's one thing that I could cook that I could get the oil out of, because I'm telling you, you can buy simply potatoes, you turn that Pepe over and you start reading the ingredients on the back end and just simply potatoes in there, it's got oil, good luck finding a hash of precut hashbrowns or pre cut french fry that you're just going to put an orb oven and I'm not gonna put any oil in it. I'm just gonna pop in the oven and cook it. It's got oil on it, and it's got a lot of oil on it and oil is 120 calories per tablespoon. It's highly inflammatory, it causes pain. My joint pain was so severe, I can even lift my my shoulders at my arms at the back of my head. I had frozen shoulder I cried with daily with pain trying to wash my hair. I don't want that for you. So there's a simple tip for how to cook just one thing. Just one thing that you'll have to go this is so good. Oh my goodness. And you can put whatever seasonings you want on there. Nobody should have to tell you what to put on your fry. What do you want on it? Do you like just garlic? Would you like a little onion powder? Would you like it just plain maybe with a little pepper or do you want to sprinkle a little vinegar on it and have like, vinegar? French fries?

Jarrod: 10:42

That would be good.

Anita: 10:44

Yeah. Now we're talking and then you can do you have to dip them in ketchup? No. Could you dip them in? I love the I like ketchup mixed with a little vegan mayo, like the mayo that I haven't cooked I like doing that or ranch dressing. I love him in that vegan ranch. It's so good. There's all kinds of different ways you can eat those French fries. Right? So you've got to get those sauces, those spices those. Yeah, I mean, you can put time on him, like a little time or rosemary or that's how you end seasonings on Rosemarys

Jarrod: 11:19

fantastic. Potatoes, it's got kind of that pine scent to it smells so good. It's so good. I love it. I like it a lot. Well, what you were saying earlier about converting me over to potatoes from rice, I was also thinking about the practicality, because on a deserted island, I'm going to get a lot more potato from one plant in the ground, then I would from a rice field that I'm going to have to go out and grow and then harvest What

Anita: 11:43

if a plane just flies over and drops off rice to you every once in a while. Or potatoes. You didn't have to Harleys day you didn't have to grow it I probably still go potatoes that I'm flagging them down into right now help so that they can pick me up and hopefully they won't think it says hello. They'll think it actually says yeah, you gotta tie your dog down. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah. Have you seen that ad?

Jarrod: 12:08

I've seen the ad. Yes. Yeah. Where it says help. And then the dog goes and grabs the steak from the pee. And then it looks like Hello. And then the pilots are just flying over and then they send a little wave. Yeah,

Anita: 12:19

just raw. It's so. So yeah, no, I'm finding a way to flag them down if they're flying over with my rice but but yeah, I want to cheese potatoes over rice and you say the same. Wow. I think a word yes. And the steak fry may be part of that.

Jarrod: 12:34

Well, I wasn't thinking that but that certainly isn't a bad thing. Yes, we have developed a great way to enjoy, quote unquote, fries.

Anita: 12:44

I'm not even talking about baked potato. We need to do a whole episode just on bite potatoes. I mean,

Jarrod: 12:49

that's gonna be a series. get me started.

Anita: 12:52

Okay. Okay, so number five. Okay, so number five. Yeah, so we've talked fruits, veggies, like games or beans. Oh my goodness. When I mentioned black beans. I don't even know what being our cheese. I don't know. Cranberry beans, black beans, navy, navy beans. cannelini beans. I mean, how do you choose lentils? Black Eyed Peas. Like you said,

Jarrod: 13:17

Yeah, green peas are so many.

Anita: 13:19

Oh my goodness. I have to really think about this more. But I love cranberry beans because when you cook them in the Instant Pot, they're just creamy and good. And you can just easily mash them up and you can make bean dips or

Jarrod: 13:31

or they remind me a lot of Pintos. But they do get more creamy. They're not exactly the same, but that's the closest thing. If you've never heard of a cranberry bean, that it's very much like a Pinto.

Anita: 13:44

And then that's insane. That's seeds. That's another hard one. Yeah, flax seeds, chia seeds, cashews, walnuts, almonds at Brazil that I'll say pumpkin seeds. We've got sunflower seeds. We've got almonds, cashews. What did I not name? I mean, pecans.

Jarrod: 14:04

Pecans, walnuts.

Anita: 14:06

I don't leave any of those out. I don't know.

Jarrod: 14:09

I think for me, I if I had to choose, I would go with cashew just because I love roasted cashews. There's that one I'm just going based on flavor and preference and not really so much with the health aspect like I was doing with the potato and

Anita: 14:22

all well if you're gonna rice them, that'd be great. And with your rice dishes to you, I mean, you put the rice the broccoli, the cashews, the beans,

Jarrod: 14:29

it would be great with if we did broccoli. You know, I think this whole episode is really making me see how blessed we are. That we have such a wide array and wide variety of different foods to choose from.

Anita: 14:42

There's so much more now than we ever had before. I mean, people think about how, what am I going to eat and I'll now you go into this, you get into it and you're going What can I not eat? I mean, there's so many more choices than we even realized we had before. And then you learn not only what the choices are in each category, but then what are some simple ways that you can cook some easy dishes that are going to taste amazing. They're gonna satisfy you that are going to leave you feeling great about how you live so much. Like Brenda always says, you know, I love the way I live. She tells me constantly. I love I would never dream of going back because the food is so amazing. I have food freedom I'm not addicted to anything. I don't go from meal to meal just dreaming about it. I'm not addicted to anything anymore. I just the flavors that I've never tasted before are there. And we've got five amazing things right here that we can mix and match in different ways assuming that we actually chose but five things that we can choose to eat from that forever or going to feed our bodies the nutrients that they need. But the thing is you don't have to limit it to five. Thank God praise him that we we He's given us this above abundance of food. And we need to be thankful every day that we have an abundance of food. You know, that's not always been the case for the people that have been before us. And a lot of people today don't have that choice. So if you have the ability to go to the store, or to order to your home foods that you can quickly prepare that are going to fuel your body. Well, why aren't you? Why aren't you? If it's that you can't figure out how to do it and you just feel overwhelmed. Get yourself plugged into a group or a space or we have our membership, everything up saying come into the membership, we'll be glad to answer every single question you have to give you step by step, the path that you need to take. But no matter who it is, or where you plug in, find out how to do this, how to get more of these feeds that are going to fuel your body well, because by nature, you're just going to be pushing aside the things that aren't fueling your body. Well, that are the stumbling blocks in your life. We don't just have to choose five, we get a whole variety we have hundreds of honestly, probably 1000s. Yes. And then you start mixing imagine them all different ways. And you've got just endless possibility.

Jarrod: 17:06

Throw in all the herbs and spices and sauces. Exactly. It's it's really I feel like limitless.

Anita: 17:13

Oh, it's amazing. Okay, I'm hungry now. Um, so, yeah, we've got to go eat something really, really tasty. I think I actually just want some potatoes. I'm just gonna be honest.

Jarrod: 17:23

What date is right now we'll go mix up a sauce and have a some potato have some potatoes.

Anita: 17:28

Alright, we hope that you found this helpful. You've got to try the steak fries. Let us know what you think. Send us an email at podcast at power plants calm. I want to know what you think about this method and making your steak fries. And if you have any questions like, Hey, I don't know what a silpat mat is she thought ever to we'll be happy to answer that and any other questions you have. We look forward to getting to know you inside the membership. Get your name on there. We have some specials coming up. We want to let you know about it when the doors open they only open for a week. Once they are closed. They're closed for quite some time so we can get to know our members and help them on their journey to help and healing. We hope you're having a great day. We can't wait to hang out with you again. Next time on power on plants.