(lively music) - On today's "Fit to Eat," I'll prepare a grilled Southern seafood platter, with sweet potato fries, and homemade cocktail sauce.

Our guest is Joff Clarke from Eat Right Meal Prep.

Registered dietician Rebecca Turner has a great idea for using local produce in your weeknight dinners.

And we'll check back in with the folks at Footprint Farms.

It's gonna be a great show, so stay tuned.

(lively music) Welcome back to "Fit to Eat."

I'm your host, Rob Stinson.

Today's guest is Joff Clarke from Eat Right Meal Prep.

Joff, welcome to the show.

- Rob, good to see you, good to see you.

- Yep, good to have you up here in Jackson.

What are we gonna do today?

I will tell you.

We are going to do a classic dish of Mississippi, a seafood platter and fries.

- [Joff] Well, they told me to be hungry when I got here, so, I'm all set.

- Okay, well let me tell you, this is not your ordinary seafood platter and fries.

- Okay.

- Because guess what?

It's not fried.

So, obviously this is gonna be a healthy version.

And to give it some extra flavor, I'm gonna make our salt-free blackened seasoning.

- Great.

- That we know so well.

We're gonna actually do some sweet potato fries, that are gonna be pan-seared, and that'll be completely healthy as well, and then we're gonna show how to make an actual crab cake, without any breading or mayonnaise.

Sounds kind of impossible.

- [Joff] Sounds delicious.

- Yeah, it really is.

All right, so let's get started on the blackened seasoning.

The first ingredients I like to put in, the pepper, black, pepper, white, and then the spice: cayenne pepper.

So it's got all the peppers you would expect.

Now, onion powder, so no salt in any of the powders, garlic powder and onion powder, and that's garlic.

Then we add in the paprika, which is literally what really turns the items to look kinda blackened when they cook.

- Gotcha.

There's a lot of paprika in there, goodness.

- [Rob] Yep, and that is,it's the most.

- [Joff] Yep.

- [Rob] And that's a little ground sage, and a little ground thyme.

And those are finished, believe it or not.

Now, I'm gonna mix that up real thoroughly.

- [Joff] Okay.

- [Rob] And the fun part about this is, and most people don't realize it, a classic blackened seasoning in the store, has got about 65% salt, you know?

And it obviously it's cheaper to make it that way.

It's the flavoring that a lot of people are used to.

So this is really a whole different world, of being able to eat some flavorful food.

So what we're gonna do, and I've already gotten this pan a little warm, I'm gonna turn the heat on now, we're gonna take it, and spray a little zero-fat spray, just so nothing will stick.

And then I'm gonna actually put about a 1/2 teaspoon ever so light, and just let that kinda move around, especially under where I'm gonna put the flounder.

- What is that, Rob?

Is that.. - This is just an olive oil.

- It's olive oil, okay, okay.

- It's actually canola oil with some fresh herbs in it.

I'm sorry.

- Gotcha.

Okay.

- Now, let's go ahead and take this, flounder is the first one, and I'm not heavily seasoning it, as you can see.

Oysters, we're gonna actually season, and pan-sear, kinda grill the oysters.

And then I've got a little shrimp skewer.

And the beauty of this is you can use whatever you get, depending where you are and what's available.

So let's go ahead and the flounder, I love, love, love flounder.

And we're puttin' it right there.

We're gonna slide it around a little bit, just so we've got the whole pan covered, with a little bit of that oil, that's a neat little trick, then put the shrimp seasoning side down, and the same thing with these oysters.

And I mean that really is just such a simple process, but the flavor when you get some good grilled seafood, I like it as much, if not more than than fried.

I really do.

Now, we're gonna.. - [Joff] Well, Rob I'm smelling this, and it smells great.

- [Rob] I know, you're actually smelling all the seasoning of that garlic and all that's in there, the onion, and the garlic, and the sage, and the thyme.

And look how simple that was.

- Beautiful.

- [Rob] You know, that we're gonna save that seasoning, 'cause I'm gonna use that actually for the cauliflower as well, I mean for the sweet potatoes, rather.

But what I wanna show now is kind of an unusual trick.

We're gonna actually take some fresh cauliflower.

- Okay.

- Just a regular food processor, anything is fine, doesn't have to be anything fancy.

Close it up, power it on, and then just pulse it.

(food processor whirring) And what does it do?

It creates this cauliflower that is kinda granulated cauliflower.

And it comes out, it's just that easy.

So that when you see it, and anybody can do this, and it doesn't have to be a fancy food processor.

So look at that.

That's the beautiful part of this, because what is that gonna be?

I talk about use this, not that.

This is going to be the bread crumbs.

This is the filler in the crab cake.

- [Joff] The cauliflower?

- [Rob] The cauliflower, I swear.

- [Joff] Really?

Okay, well.

- [Rob] All right.

So now we're gonna take, and we're gonna turn this burner on, and I'm gonna switch these pans.

So let's take this new pan.

We're gonna take the seafood, and before I move it, let's go ahead and just carefully turn, look at that.

(pan sizzling) - [Joff] Beautiful.

- [Rob] Just beautiful, huh?

And the same thing with the shrimp skewer.

And now on these little guys, they can be a little bit trickier, so I'm gonna grab them carefully.

And you notice that little bit of the zero-fat spray kept them from sticking.

'Cause if these stuck to the pan, it kinda defeats the whole purpose.

- Right.

- But now they're ready.

So now we're gonna stage this over on the side, on very low heat, 'cause it doesn't take much more to cook that, believe it or not.

Now, the pan here, I've got hot.

We're gonna go ahead and in this pan, we're going to do the same thing, put a little zero-fat spray, and again, the same 1/2 teaspoon.

And a lot of that is not even cooked into the food as you notice, you know?

You look at that pan.

And now we're gonna put the cauliflower in the pan, along with some beautiful diced bell pepper, green onion, diced onion, and garlic.

Pretty neat, huh?

And I mean with all of that sitting there, you don't really have much that you really have to worry about.

So what we're gonna do is let that pan get hot, and that's gonna kinda lightly brown.

So I'm gonna turn the heat down on this platter, so we don't overcook it.

But we gotta talk a little bit about how did Eat Right Meal Prep come into being, and man, you gotta talk about the gym, and a little bit of the history here.

- [Joff] Well, four years ago, Rob, it was actually almost four years to the day, I was frustrated because I was trying to...

Owning a gym for 10 years, I was trying to come up with some type of a food prep business that could help my gym members lose weight.

And, all of them would work out like crazy, and they were all expecting to lose all of this weight, and they wouldn't achieve their goals.

Like they would get tremendously fit, but they were not losing any weight.

So as you know, 80% of how you look is what you consume, and 20% is how hard you work out.

So you can't out workout a bad diet.

- [Rob] Wait, say that part again.

- You cannot out workout a bad diet.

- And, you know what?

That's so true.

(Joff laughing) It's so true.

- [Joff] And Rob, I've seen it.

Like being in the gym business for 10 years, I saw people that would just about kill themself seven days a week.

Well, it really doesn't work.

But when we decided to go down the Eat Right Meal Prep Company road, after talking to you, well, as you know, it morphed from some gym customers that we thought was gonna be a good idea, it just absolutely exploded into a real business, helping real people eat great food, that's super healthy.

And quite frankly, if it didn't taste so doggone good, Rob, we'd be nowhere, but it really does, and that was a key to it.

- And that comes back to my little catch phrase, flavorful food that will fool you used to be my seminar for the Mississippi nurses.

But the bottom line is the truth.

Healthy food can taste every bit as good as unhealthy food, if you put the right ingredients, and you have the right, and here, again, the right natural ingredients.

- [Joff] Yeah.

- Fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, like we're cooking here.

Now, nobody is gonna remember all of the details of this recipe.

- [Joff] Sure.

- So it's simple, you can go to mpbonline.org/fittoeat to find the full recipe for everything you see here, and all the information that we're talking about as well.

So now, what we're doing right here, and as you see this, I added a little bit of water, I'm gonna add a little bit more.

(pan sizzling) And all we're doing, is gettin' all of that good flavoring off that pan, and these cauliflower crumbs, bread crumbs if you would, but they're not.

So again, it's a eat this, not that.

That's gonna be the base of what goes with the fresh crab meat for the crab cake.

- It actually looks, it looks like it.

- [Rob] Isn't that crazy?

- It's surprising, yeah.

- It it really is.

And obviously every crab cake, unfortunately, ends up with mayonnaise.

- [Joff] Right.

- We're not gonna use that, we're gonna use a zero-fat yogurt.

So, that's the beauty that I have found.

You can always find a substitute, and keep flavors intact.

And over here on this side, I mean, as we're looking at this, I don't even want, and the reason this is what I try to impart to people, don't touch the food, don't move it too much, 'cause it'll stick to the pan, or it'll fall apart.

So, you know, we're hitting this right on the right note, 'cause what we're gonna do, is take this off the heat, and then let it sit in a bowl, where we can then mix it with egg white, which is the binder, and the yogurt.

And if you're not careful, and you put this in too hot, (lively music) the eggs will start cooking.

Okay, so, looks like we're gonna take a short break, and check back in with Footprint Farms.

Dr. Cindy Ayers Elliot will show us around her farm, to give us an idea of just how much work goes into growing healthy produce.

Take a look.

(light music) - I'm Cindy Ayers, and this is Footprint Farms.

Can't wait to show you some great things we got.

Come on, follow me.

I want you to see what we look like before we do anything.

So this tunnel here, we have not planted anything yet.

So what we've done, we've actually turned the soil, and we're lettin' it breathe.

Healthy soil is so important in what we do and how we do things.

You need to rotate your crops, so that you put back as much nutrients as you can, but also not to take anymore out, by coming back with the same thing over and over again.

Since we grew Mizuna last year in this tunnel, we won't grow the same thing again.

We're growing year-round.

We grow 12 months a year.

By being able to utilize these tunnels, and closing the sides and the fronts, we're able to have 10 to 15 degree more warmth during the winter months.

But because we have these high tunnels, we're able to do traditional crops at different times and seasons.

In this tunnel, we are growing more tomatoes, which is usually a spring crop.

For us to be able to grow tomatoes, and have it for November, December is fantastic.

Here at Footprint Farms, one of the famous crops that we grow, and we're getting ready to save seeds from as well, is okra.

We take pride in growing a lot of different foods, but we also take interest in the life and the cycle of how long seed could really be used to continue to grow food.

We've harvested a lot of this all year long.

As you can see, blooms are still blooming, but for us, we're getting into the last phase.

This will be our step of letting it get hard to save seeds, to be able to reproduce this variety of okra for next year.

There's one thing specifically I want you to see, you gotta see this.

It's a tropical plant, that's traditionally not grown in Mississippi, and that's the sorrel.

This is sorrel, a natural vitamin C plant.

It's one of the best super foods that you actually can grow.

We only had seven seeds about five years ago, we only had seven.

So from that seven seeds, you can see what it does.

You could eat the leaves, and tastes to me like green apples.

A lot of people say it tastes like Jolly Ranchers candy, but it's one of the most beautiful plants we grow.

Like all fruit that produces, it actually creates a flower, and the flower actually opens up, it's a beautiful pinkish flower.

Anytime you see a lot of blooms, just know that it's gonna produce that fruit, whatever that is.

And the more you harvest it out, it will continue to produce more flowers.

You notice this in squash, in cucumbers, in okra.

This is all part of understanding the process from seed to flower, to the finished product.

It's amazing.

Nature is a wonderful thing.

(Cindy chuckling) - Welcome back to "Fit to Eat."

If you're just joining us, Joff Clarke and I are right in the middle of preparing the recipe.

All right, so here's where we are now, sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries.

Obviously not deep fried.

So we're gonna season them, 'cause I want to have some uniformity in flavor.

And as you look at those Joff, you can see, I've left the skin on them.

Now we're gonna do a little of the zero fat spray, and a light bit of oil.

And boy, I hope people can gather how important it is not to use too much oil.

And then we're just gonna kind of drop 'em all in there, 'cause they're gonna mix through.

But we're gonna take 'em, and kind of turn 'em and grill 'em.

And then I thought it might be kind of fun, this is a little tricky, how to cut a sweet potato into fries.

Since we're talking about it.

- Should I be taking some notes here, Rob?

- Yeah, I I think you better leave this one to Michelle.

- I better, I better.

- All right, sharp knife, cut a little piece, so you can turn it on a flat side, all right?

Now the key is, point of the knife and push down.

So, point of the knife, and then coming down as you get further in, and now, you can turn 'em sideways, and again, point of the knife ahead, and then push straight down.

'Cause these are firm, and they're great, but let me tell ya, people are scared to death to do what we just did.

- [Joff] That's right, yeah.

- [Rob] For good reason, 'cause they don't cut easy.

- [Joff] Right.

- [Rob] So, just keep it in mind.

Makes it kinda fun.

All right, so we're gonna keep these on the side for right now.

We've got all this moving forward over here.

And I'm just gonna-- - I'm surprised you used the blackened seasoning on that, Rob.

- [Rob] Yeah, it just, man, it gives them such a nice little kick.

- [Joff] Okay.

- [Rob] And, and like I said, there's so little of it.

- Right.

- And it's gonna coat 'em.

Now, let's talk about, I put all of our cauliflower, bell pepper, onion, garlic here in the bowl, it's cooled down.

Now we've got beautiful crab meat, all right?

And let's let's face facts, crab meat can be difficult to find.

You could actually roast or broil some fish, crumble it up.

You can make use of whatever it is you can find.

- [Joff] Like a substitute crab cake kind of thing?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah.

- And now egg white, all right?

- Okay.

- So no egg yolk.

Put that in.

And then a little bit of yogurt, I know it sounds kooky.

And now we're gonna mix all that together.

And the fun part about this is, as it starts looking more and more like a crab cake, you forget that there's no bread in there.

All right, while I'm doing this, 'cause all I'm gonna do then, let's turn this heat down on this pan.

- Okay.

- 'Cause that's where they're gonna grill, let's talk a little bit about Eat Right Meal Prep, and how it's evolved and where it is now.

'Cause I know it's a whole different world than what it used to be.

- [Joff] Well Rob, you had, you had mentioned the quality of the ingre- ingredients earlier, and I'll tell you what, that is probably the key to Eat Right Meal Prep's food.

It's all free-range poultry, we use all grass-fed beef, we use all fresh-catch seafood.

It's nothing that's processed.

And it started out, we had a very limited range of meals in the beginning.

Well it's expanded out now, I think we have close to a hundred meals.

- And isn't that crazy?

- It is crazy.

And, you know, it a lot of the meals, like we got some some of your favorites.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Like we have your smoked salmon.

- Oh, wow.

- Which is one of one of our customers' favorites.

And they absolutely love the fact that they can, you know, get something that's healthy, that really tastes like you're eating out in a restaurant.

- Right.

- It's really remarkable.

- I'm gonna put that, that mixed crab cake now.

- Okay.

- In the pan, and just flatten it down.

Simple, all right?

Then the key is set it and forget it.

We're not gonna touch it, because it'll fall apart, and we're gonna very carefully wait and turn that over.

- [Joff] Now, we are gonna get to eat these later though, right?

- [Rob] I think so.

- [Joff] When you say, "We're not gonna touch it," I started gettin' a little worried, Rob.

- [Rob] I think that looks like an option that may be coming your way, yeah.

- That's perfect.

I love it.

- [Rob] Let's let's go through this real quick again.

- Okay.

- 'Cause I know, again, people are gonna be stumbling, trying to figure where did all the ingredients come from.

You can definitely go to mpbonline.org/fittoeat to find all the full recipes for everything you see here, as well as all the information we're talking about.

But anyhow, we're coming through.

So all of these are looking just perfect.

And the idea of this is to keep everything nice and fresh, and we're looking so perfect.

I'm gonna hold a little bit longer, and see how that's starting to take shape?

Isn't that great?

- That looks great, yeah.

It sure does.

- I mean, it it's a whole different idea.

- You'd swear there was bread in that.

- Does it not look like there's breading in there?

- It really does, I'm quite surprised, actually.

- [Rob] I almost don't want to turn it, 'cause it looks so pretty like this.

- [Joff] Yeah.

- [Rob] But the idea of each of these, is to kinda get that full effect.

And now over here on these, (pan sizzling) we're gonna throw a little bit of water, just to get all that flavoring, all that seasoning that is on those potatoes.

And I mean, you gotta admit, that's a beautiful, healthy version of a french fry.

- It sure is.

- You know, it doesn't look like any french fry that I can recall.

And then when we come back, we'll go through, and kinda figure how we're gonna put all this together, but I'm just amazed to see the effect that Eat Right has been able to have on people.

(lively music) So right now, we're gonna take a quick break, and check in with registered dietician Rebecca Turner.

She's got some great tips on how to use Mississippi-grown produce to spice up a weeknight recipe.

Check it out.

- Everyone loves taco night.

It's a quick, inexpensive meal that the whole family enjoys.

Who doesn't like Mexican food?

But typically, families rely on the prepackaged kits for seasonings and shells.

These can be full of unnecessary salt, and they leave little room for fresh vegetables.

You can spice up your Mexican night by bringing in some Mississippi fresh produce, and simple seasonings.

Mississippi-grown onions and bell peppers can make for fresh and traditional fajita dish.

But don't be afraid to branch out and add summer squash, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, or even a variety of peppers to your fajita saute.

I like to bypass the tacos all together, and utilize rice grown in the Mississippi Delta, to make a one-skillet beef and rice casserole, no store-bought kit required.

Now to get started, you just place a large skillet over medium high heat, and add a tablespoon of olive oil, and a medium onion chopped.

Just cook until the onion start to soften.

Then, add one pound of lean meat, such as beef, turkey, or even deer.

To help reduce the amount of saturated fat, which is linked to a higher risk of heart disease in your dish, look for that 93% lean on the package.

Now once your meat of choice is brown, drain off any excess fat.

Next come the spices.

No need for a packet.

I bet you already have the Mexican staples in your pantry.

All you need is a 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, and a 1/2 a teaspoon of paprika.

Then you stir in two cups of cooked rice, and one cup of your favorite salsa.

Bonus points if you use homemade salsa, with Mississippi tomatoes.

Now reduce the heat, and place a 10-ounce bag of fresh spinach on top, and watch the magic happen.

Cover and cook for about two minutes, until the spinach has wilted.

Finally, stir in about a 1/2 cup, to maybe a cup of shredded cheese, and then let it rest for a few minutes to settle and slightly cool.

You can get fun with the toppings.

You can put sour cream, avocado, or anything you desire.

Try bringing Mississippi produce into your Mexican night at home, and your meal will be "Fit to Eat."

- Welcome back to "Fit to Eat."

I'm here with Joff Clarke, and we are almost done.

(Joff chuckling) All right, one last little trick.

So, cocktail sauce on the healthy side, some pure tomato paste, some pure tomatoes, then a little bit, you like it spicy?

I do.

Horseradish and this is a soy substitute.

So the beauty of this, is there's no ketchup.

This is a healthy version of a cocktail sauce, good, fresh seasoning, and very simple, and virtually no sodium, no salt.

So listen, you know, it's interesting in the past few years, how things have changed with people focusing on being able to get healthier food at home, you know?

And I I look at "Fit to Eat," it was literally designed to help people know how to cook healthy at home.

Eat Right Meal Prep certainly seems to be fitting right in with that, huh?

- [Joff] It certainly follows in that direction, Rob.

And, you know, the last couple of years have been challenging, and a lot of people don't want to have to go to the grocery store, and look at labels and look at ingredients, but they want to eat healthy.

- [Rob] So it's this, not that.

- [Joff] Right - You know?

And, I think one of the more important things that I really got out of talking to you initially, was-- 'cause I was at that point 4 years ago, where I wanted to lose weight, and, I wasn't really getting the results.

And I was I was exercising like crazy.

- [Joff] I know you were.

(Joff chuckling) - I mean, I really was, and it was frustrating.

- [Joff] Yep.

- I started eating a healthy breakfast, which I'd never done.

- [Joff] Right.

- And focused in on much of the food, and I created dishes in the restaurant.

So it was like this this whole concept, and I believed that Mississippi, it's kind of like rounding out this eco cycle that we've talked about this season.

- Yes.

- You know, of urban farming, getting all the natural products, you know, like you said, such a difference of being able to get good quality products.

- [Joff] When you get your body used to eating healthy, and eating clean, when you eat stuff that's bad for ya, over a period of time, it actually, it tastes horrible.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And you don't realize what cycle you're getting into, until you start to eat clean, you start to eat healthy.

- Right.

- And all of a sudden you see your health improving.

And look at these two old guys.

- [Rob] I know.

And you feel better.

- You know, for a couple old guys, we feel great!

(Joff laughing) - I mean, that's the crazy part about it, is the energy level that I have, it's just crazy.

So there's so many good benefits of eating something like this.

And I tell you what, look at that, now, think about the difference of a fried seafood plate, and how you would feel when you're finished, as opposed to when you finish this, you will be satiated, and you will have flavorful food, and it's healthy food.

- [Joff] Right.

- [Rob] So, I love it.

I love it.

Again, it's just one of those perfect things, where it kind of fits.

I'm gonna take just a touch of some Parmesan, and and ever so much about a 1/2 teaspoon, just to put a little fun finish on this.

I always think about the presentation.

And, you know, you eat with your eyes, as much as you do.

- [Joff] Oh, yeah.

- [Rob] With your taste buds, so.. - [Joff] And Rob, I would eat that, and not that.

- Yes, exactly.

(Joff laughing) I know, well said.

- Thank you, buddy.

- Yeah, you know, and this has been really fun, but I think this is the whole essence of what "Fit to Eat," (lively music) and what we are doing in Mississippi, so it's exciting.

All right.

Well, it looks like we're out of time, but I think everything turned out great.

I want to thank Joff Clarke for joining us today.

And if you wanna learn more about anything you've seen in this episode, then head over to mpbonline.org/fittoeat.

And don't forget to follow and like our Facebook page.

Until next time, I'm your host Rob Stinson.

Eat well.

(lively music)