PlantYou’s Carleigh Bodrug Shares the #1 Underrated Vegetable Scrap You Should Be Eating

Plus more on her new cookbook, Scrappy Cooking, in this exclusive interview.

Reviewed by Dietitian Emily Lachtrupp, M.S., RD

Nothing goes to waste in the home of food influencer and best-selling author Carleigh Bodrug. Known for her PlantYou brand and cookbook of the same name, Bodrug embraces her vegan lifestyle across social media, gaining her millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok.

Now, her newest project and second book, Scrappy Cooking, is available for purchase at your nearest bookstore and online. This book homes in on sustainable eating and reducing food waste, featuring recipes like Coffee Ground Granola, Raid-the-Fridge Noodle Soup, Scrappy Broth and more.

I sat down with Bodrug to talk all about the new book, including her favorite water-saving cooking hack, the underrated vegetable scrap you should be eating and her go-to leftover meals. Read the full Q&A below.

Related: PlantYou's Carleigh Bodrug Shares a Glimpse of Her Budget-Friendly Vegan Shopping List

EatingWell: After your first bestseller, PlantYou, was Scrappy Cooking clearly the next book? What inspired this topic to be the focus?

Bodrug: One of the main reasons that I went plant-based was because of the environmental implications of animal agriculture. And it was probably right after two years ago when I had published PlantYou that I heard the statistic that stopped me in my tracks: 30% to 40% of the entire U.S. food supply ends up in landfills. And you assume when you hear that food waste ends up in landfills that it just decomposes and everything's fine, but it actually emits methane gas, which is a huge contributor to global warming. Food waste creates more emissions than the entire airline industry, which is staggering. So obviously, because I felt that a lot of the reason I follow a vegan lifestyle is because of the environment, it only made sense that I was looking at my food waste as well.

I remember I posted an orange peel candy recipe on a whim one day—these were things I was already doing in my kitchen as a food blogger to help mitigate waste. And it just went absolutely viral. I put my phone down, came back to it a few hours later and a non-exaggerated million people have viewed the video in just mere hours and people were going crazy over the concept. So I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness, people are not only interested in eating more plants, eating healthier, but they're also interested in reducing their food waste.” So it became very obvious at that point that this would be a great cookbook concept, and I think I signed the deal probably a month after my first book was out.

EatingWell: Which came first: your interest in a plant-based lifestyle or your interest in sustainability in the kitchen?

Bodrug: Everybody has a reason for going vegan or plant-based, and mine was health. It was back in 2015 when the World Health Organization announced that red and processed meat were now classed as Group 2 and Group 1 carcinogens. My dad's a colon cancer survivor, and there's a huge tie to colon cancer and your diet. I remember being just so shocked at this news that my family and I actually all transitioned to a plant-predominant diet at that point. So it was really for health reasons, but when someone goes plant-based or vegan, I always say it's like opening Pandora's box. I wasn't aware that what you eat has an impact on the environment, and actually the greatest thing you can do as an individual to reduce your environmental impact is actually eating a plant-predominant lifestyle. There is just such a heavy environmental burden to produce meat, primarily beef, pork and chicken. When I learned about food waste, it was another huge shock to me because we're not taught these things in school, right? It’s all about, “OK, you're taking too long of a shower” or “It's your car emissions or your travel emissions.” We're not taught about the implications of the food on our plate.

Related: Eat Green

EatingWell: What's a meal that you think tastes better or just as good leftover?

Bodrug: I am absolutely obsessed with soups, stews and curries. I think they're so easy to make. They usually require one pot, so you throw everything in and they're delicious. The best thing is that the next day or even two or three days later, they can taste even better. I have an incredible Peanut Butter Curry recipe in Scrappy Cooking. It’s peanut-red curry with all different veggies. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand, but I give suggestions, and you will put that in your fridge overnight after you've eaten it or separate it into meal containers. Because of the spices and the curry paste, it will become stronger and more delicious over time.

Related: Roasted Tofu & Broccoli with Peanut-Curry Sauce

EatingWell: What's a time-saving cooking hack that you wish you knew before starting to cook full-time?

Bodrug: One cooking hack that I learned through the recipe and testing process of Scrappy Cooking is to save time when you're making pasta. I have a great [Penne Vodka] recipe in the book that we make all the time, and you put the broccolini or broccoli, whichever one you want to use, right in the boiling water with the pasta to cook it. This was a genius thing for me. I was like, “Why have I not been doing this my whole life?” Peas and broccoli work really well, you throw that right in with your pasta, cook for the last couple of minutes and then drain it all together. You save on dishes and it’s life changing. That's a big hack and it's a great way to also get some more veggies into your diet. Edamame works great, too. Put it in with boiling rice noodles and then drain it.

EatingWell: In your opinion, what's the most underrated vegetable and what's your favorite way to prepare it?

Bodrug: An underrated vegetable that people always discard are broccoli stems. Broccoli stems are so delicious. If you're paying for broccoli by weight and you're paying for the stem, you are throwing half of your money in the trash if you're throwing out those broccoli stems. You do have to peel the outer layer because it's very hard, hearty and hard to bite through. But once you peel that outer layer, you can slice them up into fries and bake them. They have a flavor reminiscent of asparagus and they're really delicious. I love to chop them up into matchsticks, think of them like a matchstick carrot, and then put them in summer rolls. I have a recipe for that in my new book: Broccoli Stem Summer Rolls. They're crunchy, they're delicious. They're really fresh tasting and they actually contain sulforaphane, which is a really amazing anticancer compound that’s really healthy for you. So delicious, fibrous and underrated times 10.

EatingWell: Do you have a favorite season to cook? And what's your favorite dish to cook in that season?

Bodrug: It’s citrus season, and that is one of my favorite seasons to cook. I am a huge lover of lemons, there's so much you can do with both the skin and the juice. And so making preserved lemons and lemon salad dressings is fantastic. I have a Lemon Peel Pasta recipe in the new book where you use a potato peeler to take off the lemon skin so you don't get that bitter pith, and then you blend it with soaked cashews, nutritional yeast and garlic to make this luscious lemon sauce, almost like a vegan Alfredo sauce. Toss that with pasta and it's a 10 out of 10. I think citrus is really fun, and citrus to me is a reminder that spring is coming. I live in Canada where the winters are brutal, so as you transition the seasons, you can still be making your soups and stews, but salads are coming and freshness is coming. I think citrus is a sign of that.

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