I recently I fantasized about cooking dinner for Kamala Harris. Now I’m turning to her running mate, Tim. There’s no getting around it: Coach Walz is a Midwestern Meat & Potatoes Man.
Among Tim’s favorite foods:
- Corn dogs
- Cheeseburgers (double cheese)
- Tater tot casserole
- Runzas (a Midwestern favorite, comprised of seasoned ground beef in a roll with sauerkraut, cabbage, and onions)
- Soft Serve ice cream
The list is enough to make this East Coast, plant-based, health-conscious home cook fall off the sofa. And yet. I have a plan for that! (Which is way more actionable than a concept of a plan).
I’m a true believer in eating healthy, minimally processed, whole foods. But as a former marketing professor, I understand the importance of satisfying my audience. Which is why I’d happily serve Coach Walz dishes that require fake meat. Because while it may be processed, it is way, way better for him than real beef — which contains hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol, and trans fat. Impossible and Beyond Beef burgers have none of that. What they do have is the texture and flavor of beef, which satisfies (and can deceive!) hard-core meat eaters like Walz.
Watch this 5 minute video by my favorite health geek, Dr. Greger, who discusses the pros and cons of real vs. faux meat.
Which is all to say, if Tim Walz came to dinner, thanks to faux meat, I’d be prepared!
Extra Beefy Beyond Burger: Walz has a weakness for Juicy Lucy burgers, a Minnesota favorite. It’s basically a burger topped with American cheese, and then another burger on top of that. We need to keep our future v.p. healthy, so I’d serve him this Beyond Burger version of his beloved Juicy Lucy. Not an ounce of cholesterol in it!
Runzas: Imagine my happiness when I learned that one of my all-time favorite plant-based chefs, Isa Moskowitz, has a runza recipe. Turns out Isa lived for a while in the Midwest, where she developed a love for the hand pie. This one calls for seitan — which you can make or buy. Most supermarkets carry some form of seitan (it’s the protein stripped from wheat, which makes it low-calorie, high-protein, chewy, meaty, and decidedly not gluten-free). Upton’s has wide distribution. Another option is to buy Beyond or Impossible Burger ground “beef” and use that instead. Any option, I’m certain, will make Tim’s socks roll up and down.
Corn Dogs: Yes, you can make plant-based corn dogs. The base, unsurprisingly, is a plant-based hot dog. When the perennially hip online magazine Eater does a post on The Best Veggie Hot Dogs, you know they’re a thing. And they’re good. What you may not know is that one of the highest rated is made by none other than Oscar Meyer.
Tater Tot Casserole: Plant-based sausage is key to this recipe. Warning: Not all “fake” sausage is created equal. My favorite, by far, is Italian Garlic & Fennel Field Roast. I’m making this casserole for Thanksgiving. It’s a tad too calorically indulgent for weeknight dining, but I’m certain my guests will go wild for it. Thanks, Coach, for the idea!
Soft Serve Ice Cream: Transitioning to a plant-based diet widened my world of food — new flavors, new textures, more deliciousness. But there were two foods I missed terribly: crab cakes and soft serve ice cream. Learning how easy it was to replicate the taste and texture of my beloved Baltimore crab cakes, sans the crab, was a life-changing event. Which left soft serve.
A few years ago, I was in my Happy Place, the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and saw a stand selling Oatly Soft Serve. It was love at first lick. OMG. I told my husband to stop talking, so I could concentrate. I wanted to be alone with that ice cream cone. Yes, it’s that good. The challenge is finding a place that sells it. Good news! If you’re not in San Fran, check out one of Carvel’s 344 locations, and you’ll find it there. Don’t forget the chocolate jimmies!
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