Recipe creation: 1 part skill, 5 parts persistence

After two years of following a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet, I find myself still struggling to consistently create delicious meals to share with my partner and students in my Clean Eating classes. Without using animal products, salt, oil, or any sweeteners other than fruit, I began once again as a novice in the kitchen. Well, let's not kid anyone, I was never an expert cook. In fact, prior to WFPB, I preferred to gnaw on whole, raw carrots rather than design a meal. But with WFPB pre-prepared foods largely non-existent at local restaurants and groceries, the kitchen is where I reside much of my waking hours.

Now, there are a good number of WFPB blogs out there with free recipes, and a few excellent cookbooks as well. You'll find a list of my favorites at the bottom of this post. But everyone has their flavor and texture preferences, and I prefer meals that hit an appreciable number of checkboxes on Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen (if it doesn't contain legumes and whole grains, it can't be a complete meal!). Often, a bit of recipe-tweaking does the trick. But I seem to be a glutton for torture and attempt to develop many recipes from scratch, often failing many, many times before designing something that appeals to us or giving up altogether. That means choking down a lot of very flavor- and/or texture-challenged meals that are, at least, outrageously healthy (In the case of several extreme failures, I have fed the compost pile or the deer roaming in our backyard).

To make food that appeals to non-WFPBers is even more challenging. My partner and I no longer have a concept of what SOS-free (free of sugar, oil, and salt) food tastes like to the uninitiated, as our taste buds and brain have adapted to meals with no added SOS. I tend to be viewed as militant in my Clean Eating classes--not using any forms of SOS and observing with amusement my students chewing or slurping my latest creations, their eyes darting about the kitchen for a salt shaker. A friend suggested I not be so hard on them, since it takes a few weeks of being salt-free for the taste buds to adjust and be able to appreciate the flavors inherent in unadulterated foods. I may loosen up in the future and carry a saltshaker to class with me--at least giving folks the option so that they aren't turned off altogether by their perceived blandness.

Whole food sweetness can be achieved by adding an adequate amount of dates, other dried fruit, bananas, or apples. Fat/oil is easily substituted by using nuts, seeds, or avocado. But there is really no WFPB substitute for salt. In creating savory dishes, I depend heavily on items like coconut and Balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, and a plethora of herbs and spices to boost flavor. Although, onions, garlic, and mushrooms give me trouble because of their high FODMAP content, I try to use them anyway when creating recipes since they are packed so full of flavor and nutrition and most people can eat them without a problem.

So here I go, into the kitchen for several hours of experimentation. You'll know it worked if I post the WFPB Quiche recipe that has been formulating in my brain for a few days, but be patient, as it might take many tries over months to get it just right.

COOKBOOKS (there are a dozen or more plant-based cookbooks available, but these are the two best ones, in my opinion, because they do not use any forms of SOS and the recipes are generally quite good)
• The How Not to Die Cookbook: 100+ Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease, by Michael Greger M.D.
• Straight up Food by Cathy Fisher (NOTE: She calls for fruit juice in some recipes, which is not WFPB-compliant; simply substitute the same amount of peeled, blended citrus.

WEBSITES, in alphabetical order – Many more than listed here! Just search “WFPB recipes” or “plant-based recipes” on Google or Pinterest. Remember to omit/substitute for sugar-oil-salt-fruit juice in any recipe:
• Beans, Rice and Everything Nice
• Clean Food Dirty Girl
• Cori Bernardo
• Fit Living Eats
• Forks Over Knives
• Hello Nutritarian (Kristen Hong)
• Lighter (create an account; free & paid options)
• NutriPlanet (Nele Liivlaid)
• Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine
• Plant Based Cooking (Diane Smith)
• Plant Based Dietitian (Julieanna Hever)
• Plant Based on a Budget
• Plant Plate (Emma Roche)
• Straight Up Food (Cathy Fisher)