When my wife and I decided to change the way we ate, we had a hard time explaining to friends and family what the hell we could eat. Were we vegetarians? Yeah, but stricter than that. Were we vegans? Sort of, but not really. We follow the whole food plant-based diet (WFPB). That’s indeed a mouthful, and to your average meat-a-saurus, it’s eyeroll-inducing. To them it sounds weird and complicated.
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Here’s another versatile dish where you can swap out veggies for really whatever you like. I found this to be best when kept simple with some broccoli and spinach, allowing the sauce and avocado to be the stars of the show.
I love this in the summertime, when you’re not looking for something super heavy, but of course it’s great year-round!
The first time I ever had Korean food I was on my way to the Phillippines on a business trip. I was on a flight from San Francisco to South Korea, and the flight attendant handed me a dinner menu. One side of the menu was American food and the other side was Korean (in English, thankfully). I saw something called Bibimbap on the menu and it sounded intriguing, so I thought, “why not?”
What was put in front of me was the best food I ever ate on an airplane. I’m sure as far as bibimbap goes, it sucked (I mean, it was on an airplane after all). But after that, I was obsessed. The sweet and savory flavors together with the spice of the gochujang paste mixed in… I was hooked.
But then we went plant-based and bibimbap was out of my life. Until now. While this doesn’t use a traditional bibimbap marinade (that would contain sesame oil), a good oil-free teriyaki glaze will do the trick.
Change out the veggies for anything you prefer. This is a versatile dish.
I very often see questions about garlic bread in social media posts.
“How do I make vegan garlic bread?”
“I miss having garlic bread. Is there any way to do it WFPB?”
Unfortunately many answer with, “use xyz margarine,” or, “use olive oil.”
No.
We can make garlic bread and still eat healthy. Just think outside the box a bit.
I’ve tried a few different things but I’ve found a really simple way to make delicious garlic bread while keeping it plant-based and oil-free.
For those who weren’t aware (or were thrown off by the Phillies cap), I’m from Rochester, NY. If you’re from the Western NY area or have ever visited, it’s likely you’ve been introduced to, or at least heard of, the Garbage Plate. The dish began at the famous Nick Tahou Hots in Rochester and has become a local delicacy for wobbly patrons stumbling out of local bars at 2am, as well as famished foodies who can’t get enough of this pile of picnic provisions.
While the term “Garbage Plate” is reserved for official menu items from Nick’s, variations exist at nearly every greasy spoon or burger joint in the area — trash plate, rubbish plate, sloppy plate, or just plain “plate.” If you say “plate” here, everyone knows what you mean. There’s even a local vegan restaurant with a Compost Plate and an upscale restaurant with a Plat De Refuse — be sure to stick your nose in the air when you say that one.
So glad you asked! A traditional Garbage Plate starts with a thick paper plate or styrofoam takeout container. On it, you’ll find a heap made up of two selections from the following: home fries, french fries, macaroni salad, or baked beans. On top of that, you’ll normally have two hot dogs (red or white), two hamburgers, two cheeseburgers, or any combination of those. There are more options for the protein (sausage, chicken, even fish and more) but those are the most common. Finally and most importantly are the condiments — deli mustard, diced onions, and a ton of Rochester-style meat hot sauce. If you want ketchup, at Nick’s you have to add it yourself. Oh yeah, and you get two slices of stale Italian bread with it — that is literally stored behind the counter in a black garbage bag. Thanks to this awful bread, I’m fairly certain Rochester leads the nation in discarded slices of bread per capita.
So it probably goes without saying that the Garbage Plate is super unhealthy, albeit delicious, so after switching my diet to whole food plant-based (WFPB), I was determined to recreate this local phenomenon as WFPB-compliant as possible.
So after some tinkering and quite a bit of sampling, I present to you the KevCooksPlants version — the Plant-Based Plate!
If you’re a loyal member of the KevCooksPlants Community, you know by now that I detest most store-bought vegan mayonnaise, dressings and cheese. They’re loaded with oil and terrible for you. So I’ve incorporated my Oil-Free Vegan Mayonnaise into an easy recipe for macaroni salad — a summer favorite and necessity for a proper Rochester-style “garbage plate.”
This is really simple, so feel free to add whatever veggies/spices you’d like to customize this to your personal tastes.
Despite my oldest son’s claim that he “doesn’t do seafood” (even though he’s never really had seafood), the whole family, including the kids, love these veggie versions of crab cakes. They’re fairly simple to make, healthy, and delicious!
Enjoy these as a main dish or even a side, in a sandwich or just by themselves. I like to dress these up with a dollop of my vegan mayo, while my wife prefers cocktail sauce. The kids go with ketchup, because well, kids love ketchup. There really needs to be a study done on why kids have such a fondness for ketchup…
Anyway… I’ve recently found that after these crabby cakes come out of the oven, they’re even better with a quick sear from the grill (you’ll want to use foil or a grill mat though). Enjoy!
