UnchainedTV: Chef AJ's Insanely Delicious, Guilt-Free, Dessert Cookbook

0:00 Author, TV journalist, and the founder of the Unchained TV free streaming network, Jane Velez Mitchell. You're about to hear a secret solution to the problems that plague our world. If you want to revolutionise your health, get truly joyful, and jump to the next phase of human evolution, all it takes is one simple choice. Now, here's your host, Jane Velez Mitchell. And we've got breaking news, wait for it, wait for it, who's our guest today? The amazing chef AJ, the one and only, and she's out with a new book. This woman has written multiple, multiple, multiple bestsellers, but this one is my personal favourite because I don't know about you, but I have a sweet tooth.

0:48 And this book with over 150 vegan and gluten-free dessert recipes shows that you can have your sweet tooth guilt-free, naturally sweetened with just fruit. I want to say it again, this is a miracle book. It will change your life. If you're like me, I've gained and lost those same 10 pounds over and over again, because I've never met a cupcake I didn't like or a pie. Well, guess what? You now have a solution because chef AJ is famous for having lost, well, she's going to tell you in a second, how many pounds by simply getting rid of the sugar and replacing it with fruit.

1:33 And I have personally tasted her desserts and they are crazy good. They are insanely good. They taste decadent. They taste like you should feel really, really guilty about them, but they are totally good for you. In fact, many of them are packed with super foods. So without further ado, I would like to introduce a woman who is my hero, who has literally turned more people vegan than, well, almost anyone and done it in a sweet, sweet way. Chef AJ out with her new book called Sweet Indulgence.

2:17 All right, Chef AJ, tell us why is this book so extraordinary? Well, I think it's extraordinary because first of all, like you say, it's vegan, Jane, and you know, in four days I will have been vegan for 47 years. So even that might be enough, but it hits a lot of other notes that people feel are important to them. So for example, it's gluten-free, it is oil-free, it is salt-free and it is refined sugar-free and of the 157 recipes, only two actually contain flour. So I think there's a little something for everybody in this book. Well, I got to tell you, you are my hero because, okay, behind me is Unchained TV, where I am proud to say Chef AJ has a whole bunch of cooking shows that you can watch.

3:05 She's got a channel on Unchained TV. She also starred in Unchained TV's award-winning series, New Day, New Chef. In fact, she was the very first chef up at bat ever. And I personally watched her make one of these incredible dishes in, I believe it was the German chocolate cake with the strawberries on top. I don't know what it was, but I never forget how when the taping ended, as soon as they yelled cut, the crew just swarmed in and literally it was a fight for every single piece. And I was right in there with them. And these guys who were in the crew weren't vegan.

3:47 I certainly am. I've been for 29 years, but those guys just wanted something that looked really delicious. And it was delicious. So for those who don't believe that you can get the great, great taste without using actual sugar or stuff that's bad for you, what would you tell them? Because, I mean, this is a huge issue, huge operative word. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. And I don't say that looking down. I fight with my weight constantly because, precisely because I have a sweet tooth. Tell us, AJ. Yeah, well, absolutely.

4:27 And I've heard statistics that most Americans eat anywhere between 100 to 150 pounds of sugar per person per year. So even if you don't have a weight problem, sugar is just not a health-promoting food. I don't even think of it as a food. I think of it really more as a drug, or maybe even in some cases a poison. So I would tell people that don't believe that you can have delicious desserts made from fruit, the whole fruit, nothing but the whole fruit, to make a date with dessert. In other words, taste a date. If you haven't tried dates, dates are nature's candy. They are so sweet. There's so many varieties. Some of them taste like Kraft caramels, but they're a whole food. And so instead of being a processed food like sugar, they are a whole food, which means they have water and fibre, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, micronutrients.

5:15 They're health-promoting, and you will experience satiety when you eat food or desserts made from whole foods. You can keep eating sugar and flour and oil all day. That's what a traditional cake is. And you will never feel full, and you will always continue to eat. But when you eat desserts that are made from actual food, your brain and your stretch receptors recognise that this is a real food, and it puts the brakes on so that you will eventually stop eating, I'm pretty sure. And Jane, the dessert that I made on your wonderful show was the strawberry chocolate cheesecake. And the German chocolate cake that you're remembering is, I made it for your birthday once when I lived in Los Angeles. Well, they're all so delicious.

5:56 Honestly, you do not know that this is fruit sweetened. You think, your mind is telling you, oh my God, this is a real decadent dessert. But the great part about it, it's totally 100% guilt-free. The phone line's already lighting up. Michael in Culver City, your question or thought for Chef AJ. Oh, hey, so great to talk to you, Chef AJ. And my question is, I have a really bad sweet tooth. And so there are times when I cannot really access natural sugar. But my question is, what do you think about stevia, which is plant-based, and also just a regular cane sugar, which is not with no bone added to it or anything?

6:45 Are those OK once in a while? OK, so it's funny because I was a communication speech major in college. So the word OK, you need to clarify. OK for what? OK for health, OK for weight loss, OK if you're suffering from food addiction. So I believe that sugar is sugar, oil is oil, salt is salt. And just because some are less bad doesn't mean they're good. But if you are happy with your health, with your weight, who am I to tell you not to eat these things? The thing is, when you say you can't access natural sugars, do you live somewhere where you don't have Amazon or Walmart? Because date syrup and date sugar are available even at Walmart now, for example. So I would rather have people eat sugar and, of course, vegan sugar over stevia.

7:28 Because unless you're just eating the green leaf from a plant you're growing, stevia is highly, highly processed. Most people are eating the powders or the liquid. And it's thousands of times sweeter than sugar. And what happens when you eat stevia, it actually perpetuates your cravings and desire for more sweet, because there's nothing that sweet in nature. And the problem with stevia or erythritol, xylitol, mannitol, aspartame, saccharin, any of the zero-calorie sweeteners, is that you have taste buds on the tip of your tongue. And when you taste sweet, your brain gets really excited, because in nature you found some fruit, you're going to get some calories, you're going to survive. So you taste something with stevia and you have no calories, but you get this intensely sweet taste.

8:09 So the brain is making you hungrier because it wants calories. So I would not recommend stevia or any of the other fake or zero-calorie sweeteners. It just really depends on what your goals are. Wow. Okay. We've got yet another caller. Steve in Dallas, Texas. Your question or thought for the one and only Chef AJ. Hi there. Yes. I wanted to say thank you. I also have a sweet tooth, James. It's great to get ideas for healthier sweet options for myself. But also just wanted to comment. Like when we do outreach, a lot of people are expecting to taste food right there on the spot. When we reach out to them, try to teach them about compassion towards animals, having that sweet treat there on spot to show them a great example of how veganism can be amazing and delicious.

9:02 I passed around cookies at work. I think I blew this guy's mind. He looked at it as if it could not exist. It was impossible for a vegan treat to taste so good. It changed his world with just a cookie. So real powerful stuff. Thank you so much for creating this wonderful book and these ideas. Thank you. Fantastic. And I want to go to the next caller. That was a comment, but a compliment is always nice. Nilo Farr, also in Texas. Hi. It's such a pleasure. Was there, two questions. Was there any vegan physician who influenced you the most in order to make healthy vegan treats without adding plaque to our arteries?

9:52 And question two, I used the link on Chain TV to purchase, to try to purchase the sweet indulgence. And I guess I got stuck where after it asked for the name and email browse file, you have to upload a file to submit. If you could clarify that. Thanks. All right, go for it. Okay, sure. If I understand your second question correctly, you're probably talking about how to get the bonuses because anyone that orders the book anytime up until August 31st, if they submit their receipt to sweetindulgencebook.com, they will get over a thousand dollars worth of bonuses, including a video of every single recipe and much more.

10:36 If you're not able to do that or having trouble, please contact our help desk, which is help at chefaj.com. Now, as far as who influenced me, there are so many giants on whose shoulders I stand. But if I had to pick the three that were most influential, I would say first was Dr. John McDougal, who sadly passed away this year, Dr. Alan Goldhammer, and probably Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, because even before I met Dr. Goldhammer, Dr. McDougal, in August of 2008, I had heard a lecture by Dr. Esselstyn talking about how to become bulletproof against heart disease simply by giving up oil. And I never had heard that oil was not a health food. And it made sense to me having a family that had heart disease, and it didn't seem like it was that big of an ask.

11:21 And truthfully, of sugar, oil, and salt, I think oil is actually the easiest. So he was the one that really had me understand why to give up oil. And then Dr. McDougal was the one that had me understand, like, you got to have starch. If you don't have enough starch, you're going to be hungry. And Dr. Goldhammer, along with Dr. Weil, who wrote The Pleasure Trap, really helped me understand that sugar, oil, and salt really aren't foods, but they're chemicals that are added to the food that fool our brain satiety mechanisms and cause us to overeat. So, of course, there's so many wonderful people like Dr. Barnard and Dr. Campbell. And again, I stand Dr. Ornish, Dr. Greger, but I think those are the three that I've had the most direct experience with. Yeah. And guys, just go to chefaj.com.

12:01 Obviously, you can buy the book on Amazon. Very easy. You just put in sweet indulgence. You can get it. Then you submit that receipt to the link, and you can get a thousand dollars worth of bonuses. But just go to chefaj.com and get involved in this. Super, super fun. And it's a whole new world, honestly. If I hadn't experienced it for myself firsthand, I wouldn't necessarily be as enthusiastic about it because I'm one of these people, honestly, never seen something that's bad for you that I didn't want, except for me. But if it's candy, if it's cigarettes, I'm in recovery from alcohol for 29 years.

12:47 I'm happy to say I'm about to turn knock on wood 30 years sober one day at a time, but I have those cravings and I recognise them. And I was always like, oh yeah, fruit, fruit. Yeah. But honestly, when I tasted Chef AJ's desserts, it was sinful. It was sweet. It blew my mind. And that's why this book is so important because this is 150 recipes. So you've got the cupcakes, but you've got the pies. You've got the cakes. You've got the nice cream, which is vegan ice cream. You've got the puddings. I mean, it goes on and on and on.

13:30 And what I also love about it, Chef AJ, is that I'm somebody who literally still has the tape on my oven because I either use air fryer or a microwave and you have recipes that you can do with your air fryer. Tell us about that. Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny because yesterday I did a podcast and I showed all the recipes in the book that could be done with a microwave. And there's a few with the air fryer because I want people to use what they have and not necessarily have to buy things. There's some also with a dehydrator, but when you take fruit and put it in the air fryer, it makes it even sweeter. I don't know if you've ever tried to air fry apples or bananas or, oh my goodness, plantains or pears.

14:12 Just like when you roast things in an oven, air frying is just quicker and it brings out the natural sweetness and caramelisation in the fruit. And so that's a great way to even intensify the sweetness without using sugar, especially if you have a piece of fruit that's not ripe. Pears, sometimes they're just not sweet, but when you put them in the air fryer, I don't know, something magical happens. All right, I want to play a clip where you actually show strawberries and you kind of explain how they become sweeter and that they become a little bit more malleable. So you're going to see the difference between how berries look before they're macerated because I have some right here that I macerated a few hours ago.

14:54 So you can see it's almost like they get a cooked texture or a texture like they would have if they've been frozen. But the main thing is by macerating them, they just get very, very soft and that's what we're looking for. I will put in probably a tablespoon or two of the California balsamic vinegar. I really don't measure, you can, but usually I just eyeball it. Any fruit that's in season will work. When a fruit is hard though, like an apple, you want to cut it very small because it's not going to macerate the same way as a berry. Yes, it's not going to give up the juice or the liquid when there's not much juice or liquid in it. Oh, mango was another fruit I've used in here. Really, really delicious.

15:36 Now I have to tell you, I always go for mango because it is for me the easiest to take to make something sweet. Like I've nailed mango smoothies. I mean, obviously some fruit is sweeter than others. Yeah, absolutely. And the ripeness will affect how sweet the fruit is. For example, bananas come in the store and they're generally a little bit green on top. And while they might be suitable for eating, like I prefer them less sweet if I'm eating them. If you're using them in recipes, you want to go to the section where they're selling the older produce when they're nice and speckled and brown, especially if you're going to use them for desserts or smoothies.

16:18 Of you bring them home, other fruits kind of stay the same amount of ripeness. I like grapes, for example, don't change. But when you think about frozen fruit, sometimes frozen fruit is actually sweeter than fresh food. I know that for me, sometimes when I buy berries, like blueberries or blackberries, they're not always that sweet. But for some reason, when they're frozen, they are. Raspberries, I find to be the opposite. I find often frozen raspberries are much more tart than fresh raspberries. But you're dealing with a whole natural food, so you cannot guarantee the level of sweetness like you can with fresh fruit, with one exception, dates. Dates are intensely sweet. They're about 70% sugar. They're low water, but they're full of fibre and nutrients.

16:58 And that's why I use them as my primary sweetener, because of the consistency in the recipes. All right, we've got more callers. I have some date questions, not dating questions, but date questions in a second. We've got Tiffany in Santa Monica, and we'll then go to Annie in Sherman Oaks. Tiffany? Thank you, Jane, for taking my call. And Chef AJ, I discovered you on Unchained, watching one of your cooking clips. And I bought one of your cookbooks. I think it was one of the first ones. I love it. But I can never get past the, you do a brussels sprouts with mustard and balsamic vinegar.

17:41 I love it so much. That's all I make now. And I was wondering if there's something like that in the new cookbook, something simple like that one that you're really crazy about. Yeah, that's a great question. And thank you. So I agree, you know, balsamic vinegar, especially the good quality, reduced kind, kind of fixes everything. So there are a lot of easy recipes in the book. I would say that, honestly, off the top of my head, I can only think of three that are a little bit more challenging. And there are the ones that made the cover, the peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake, which was a favourite of actress Heather Graham when I was in LA, the stuffed peanut butter cupcake with a peanut butter chocolate ganache, which was a favourite of Dr. Neil Barnard, and the German chocolate cake.

18:25 I have a history of teaching cooking to the blind at the Braille Institute. And I find that if it's easy for the blind, it's going to be easier for the sighted. So I try to keep things to seven or even fewer ingredients and as few steps as possible. The strawberry chocolate cheesecake that Jane was talking about, this is a photo in my book of Luca, he was seven years old, two years ago, when he took my sweet indulgence dessert masterclass, and he was able to make that recipe. So I'm trying to think there's some of some really well, I mean, some of the easy ones, for example, like, like the waffle, I mean, there's three ingredients in my waffle, it's bananas, applesauce, and oats. I mean, what could be easier than that, putting them in the blender and making a waffle.

19:06 And of course, you can always add spices like cinnamon or vanilla, even my cookies, like my snickerdoodle dates, cinnamon, vanilla powder, and oats. So I really do try to keep it simple. And I have a lot of recipes that don't even require an oven, which makes it even simpler. So they are like recipes that would be suitable for a raw foodist. And they're pretty easy to make with just combining, you know, fruits with things like oats or nuts with things like oats, and making crusts, making fillings. You know, a lot of the fillings of the sweet potato mousse, it's roasted sweet potatoes and bananas with cinnamon and vanilla. So I think you'll find that most of the recipes are fairly easy.

19:48 And hopefully you'll find that all of them are delicious. All right, Andy, your question or thought for Chef AJ? Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me. So Dana, thank you, Chef AJ for being here. I love you so much. Been following you for years. And you're amazing. And I love your how you lost the weight, you've gone through it, you're the experiential chef, you're not just a chef. And you speak from all the experiences you changed your life. And I love Dr. McDougal you had on the show and how I was touched and crying with you, by the way, was for the late Dr. McDougal blesses so you know, may he live in power. And all the doctors, Dr. Goldhamer, everyone you mentioned, I adore them all and adore you the most because you are a living example.

20:36 You healed yourself, you went to North. And what I love is that how you simplify, but you use science-based and yummy taste buds to make these amazing recipes. I am waiting to see your book. I know you're going to order it, Annie, but Annie raises a very good question. Tell us your backstory. Tell us how much weight you lost, how you were able to do it and keep it off. Because you know, losing weight is one thing, but then it creeps right back up if you don't change your lifestyle. Absolutely. Okay, so from my highest weight, I'm 70 pounds down. But from my, my most typical adult weight, I'm 55 pounds down.

21:20 And the funny thing is, I was able to sustain obesity. Oh, there's a doggie, you know, just by being a junk food vegan, I was obese. Well, not the day I was born, but by the age of five, for sure, because that's what I remember. And you know, by the age of 11, I'm only five, five. At the age of 11, I was only five feet tall, and I weighed about 160 pounds. And that itself is obese, because at five, six, 160 is technically obese. And I stayed that way really until about the age of 51, which was 14 years ago. And I was able to do that as a vegan because I was eating processed food. You know, French fries are vegan, Dr. Pepper's vegan, Coke Slurpees are vegan.

22:01 Potato chips are vegan, cotton candy is vegan. And we live in a day now where there are so many analogues of food that are vegan that didn't exist 47 years ago, that are calorically dense, that I don't really think are health promoting, you know, full of sugar, fat and salt. And at the age of 51, I went to the TrueNorth Health Centre. And that's where I really got the information about something that I often teach called calorie density. And when I change the calorie density of the food on my plate, focussing on just the whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, I didn't have to weigh or measure my food or count calories, carbs or points, I really could eat to ad libitum or to satiation. And slowly and surely, I took off the weight. And this wasn't a quick fix.

22:42 It wasn't like Ozempic. It took about two years, actually 27 months for me to lose 47 pounds. But I did it without starving. I did it deliciously eating as much as I want of the right food. And I've been able to keep that weight off now. It's been 13 years. Oh, I can't hear Jane now. To that end, you use ingredients like millet. And I want to play a clip of you turning millet, which is not something you would normally think as of sweet, you think that is some sort of mediaeval brain that nobody eats anymore. But you turn it into a fabulous pudding.

23:23 Let's watch. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a cup of millet, you could toast it if you like. And in the Instant Pot, I have three cups of a non-dairy milk. I'm using unsweetened almond milk. So I'm just going to pour it in just like that. I'm going to make it a little sweet because it's going to be, you know, sort of a dessert-y type thing. It could be a breakfast. This is date syrup. And I'm using six tablespoons. And what I like about date syrup, Dr. Diehl, is that it's really a whole food. It's made only from dates. That's the only ingredient. So it has the fibre and the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants. What I like about date syrup as opposed to refined sugar is I can actually make this in my own kitchen. And I have. This is a wonderful company, Organic. It's called I Love Date Lady. And they don't put any sugar in their date syrup. Believe it or not, some companies do, which kind of defeats the purpose.

24:06 My spices are a teaspoon of roasted cinnamon and a half a teaspoon of cardamom. Wait till you start smelling it. A tablespoon of alcohol-free vanilla. And then all I do is I put the top on. And I'm going to put it on for 10 minutes. So you would have time to do this in the morning. Make it for your breakfast porridge. Walk the dog if you have one. Take a shower. Set it. Forget it. So porridge, that is certainly a phrase I haven't heard in a long time. I mean, are you taking us back to the basics? This sounds like a dish that could have been in the 14th or 13th century. But hey, that's so funny. Yeah, that's funny.

24:46 I don't use the word too often. It makes me think of the three bears. But people have heard of millet. They've probably seen it if they have a bird. It's basically bird seed. It is a whole grain. It's an ancient grain, and in my opinion, an underused grain. And it's very delicious. And you're right, most people think of it as savoury. But any grain can be used to be sweetened. Like most people that eat oats in the morning, they're putting some kind of sweetener, if not sugar, bananas, or blueberries. People have heard of rice pudding. People have heard maybe buckwheat granola. So grains are a great way to get some healthy calories in, full of starch, whether you sweeten them or not. And I think millet is really delicious. So what was that dish?

25:27 Because it turned into something that looked really decadent. You had it in some kind of champagne glass layered. And again, here's something with millet and dates that seems like very granola, in quotes. But the actual recipe itself, when it's done, looks amazing. Just like behind me, you're making something with strawberries and dates that looks super decadent, super colourful. I mean, we eat with our eyes. And suffice it to say, Chef AJ, it's in this book. It's in this book. Yeah. And so this is the Creamy Blueberry Millet Parfait.

26:10 And it's really delicious. And, you know, the thing is, if you are used to eating the standard American diet or a junk food vegan diet, this recipe may not be sweet enough for you, which is why we have a rating in the book of the levels of sweetness. We use a strawberry, which is my favourite fruit. One strawberry, if it's subtly sweet. Two strawberries, if it's nice and sweet. And three strawberries, like for the rich chocolate desserts, which is superbly sweet. We similarly do the same thing with the amount of fat, letting you know whether it's a low-fat dessert, suitable for people following, say, a McDougal, Ornish, Esselstyn, Pritikin-type programme, if it has a moderate amount of fat, or if it's rich and decadent.

26:51 And of the 157 recipes in the book, 108 are low-fat. Wow, that is absolutely amazing. So let me ask you this. I'll be quite honest with you. I have tried, like, I actually cook because being, well, having started Unshamed TV, which is the world's only plant-based nonprofit streaming network, we have hundreds and hundreds of recipes and cooking videos, and we're honoured to have some of yours amongst ours. Some of the most popular, actually, are the Chef AJ videos. But I've had to cook, but I hit a wall when it comes to anything involving baking.

27:34 I'm very intimidated, and I have a feeling a lot of other people are intimidated as well. So what would you say about your book that helps people a breakthrough? Because I would love to break through, but every single time, while I can do a stir-fry and I can do this, that, and the other, every single time I try to do baking, it's a bleepin' disaster. Yeah, well, I think, you know, there's a learning curve with any new skill, and the more you do it, the better you get. You know, that saying, repetition is a mother of skill. I started baking when I was seven, because that's when I got my Easy-Bake Oven. But you're right, baking can be a little bit daunting, because it's a science. There's chemistry.

28:15 You do need to follow a recipe, whereas cooking, or some of the recipes in the book that don't require baking, are more improvisational. That is why, for people that buy before the 31st, I did a video for every single recipe, because I think sometimes watching a video can really help you understand what you need to do in the kitchen. The thing with baking is, pretty much, if you read the recipe once, twice, and maybe three times, and follow it exactly, it's usually foolproof. One of the things I recommend, whether you're making my recipes, your own recipes, is to do something we learned the first day of culinary school called mise en place, everything in its place. When you make a recipe, instead of running willy-nilly to your refrigerator, your cabinets, your pantry, read the recipe, assemble all the ingredients, and then measure all the ingredients, and put them in little different dishes.

29:05 I think that makes every recipe go quicker, and it's almost foolproof that way, because then you're not as distracted, like, well, did I put this in? Did I put that in? So, that's just something I recommend for everyone, and it seems to help a lot of people. Also, get your oven calibrated. This is another important point, and I talk about it in the book. You know, I used to be an apartment manager back in the day when I lived in Sherman Oaks, and when we would have a new move in, they would get a new oven from a very reputable appliance store, and oftentimes, the resident would say, my oven's not working, my oven's not working. I would go down with my trusty oven thermometer that costs maybe $10 in a hardware store, and even a brand new oven may be improperly calibrated.

29:45 So, while it may say 350 on the oven, it might be 290. So, that's the thing. You need to know what your true 350 or 325 is to get your oven calibrated, or to at least know what your oven temperature is, because I've seen a lot of mistakes happen that way. You know, all chef coats have this little pocket in it, and traditionally, you will see a thermometer in there, you know, for chefs that are working in a restaurant, and when I was the pastry chef, that little thermometer was hanging in there so that regardless of what the knob said, we knew what the temperature really was. Well, listen, I think this is all wonderful. I'm going to do it gradually. I want to know the simplest recipe in your, like, Jane, you can't screw this up kind of recipe.

30:33 All right. Okay. Well, then the simplest recipe has got to be... I mean, if you're listening, I got to tell you, get this book, Sweet Indulgence, 150 plus vegan gluten-free desserts. You can get it on Amazon. Just get it delivered right away, and then you can also take advantage of $1,000 worth of value-added bonuses if you order it immediately. But, I mean, my gosh, there are, there's doughnuts, there's pies, there's custards, there's caramel nut tart, there's hockey pucks, there's... How about this?

31:15 Air fry apple pie. It sounds like something I might be able to do. What about that? What about air fry apple pie? Yeah, air fry apple pie is super, super easy. And, but not everybody has an air fryer, which is why I have two apple pie recipes, like apple pie that won't make you die, and the world's healthiest apple pie, as well as apple pie fries. You asked for the simplest recipe. So how about this? One ingredient, banana ice cream. You have to take a banana that's ripe, you peel it, you freeze it, and then through a variety of machines, and I outline many of the machines, you turn it into the most delicious ice cream.

31:56 How about a two-ingredient recipe? Game-changing granola. Very ripe bananas mixed with oats. Maybe you're putting in some cinnamon and vanilla, and you dehydrate it. This is one of my favourite recipes in the book, and it's only, whoa, it's only four ingredients, and I make these all the time. All you really need is a food processor. These are called thumbprint cookies. They are so delicious. You can fill them with any fruit jam you want. And by the way, you don't have to make fruit jam, even though there is a recipe in my book for chia jam, which is just fruit and chia seeds. You can buy it commercially everywhere, even Walmart. And the cookie part is just dates and oats and vanilla powder.

32:37 And these are so delicious, and they only bake for five minutes. This is a very popular recipe from my book. These are called Goodman peanut chews. Goodman was my name before I was married. There are three ingredients in the base, peanuts, dates, and vanilla powder. And the top is just melted 100% cacao, or you can get date sweetened chocolate now, and peanuts. These are just like amazing. And I don't know, these remind me of Golden Girl peanut chews. Talk us through this, because this is precisely the kind of thing I would like to make, because my sweet tooth kicks up at night, right around 9 30. I've worked all day.

33:18 I feel like I deserve something, and one of those would just be screaming, eat me. And you can keep these in the freezer. If you can see, I cut them very small, and these just came from the freezer. So you can just take it out, and actually they're delicious frozen. They taste like a frozen snicker bar. So these are great, and I keep these on hand. And I think sometimes if you have a healthy treat on hand, you won't eat something less healthy. So that's why it's always good to have something in your fridge. Talk us through those snicker type cubes. Well, okay. So really easy to make. You need a food processor fitted with the S blade. I recommend one that's larger rather than one that's super tiny.

34:00 A Breville is the one I like. You can not know affiliation to the company, Cuisinart, any food processor that you like is good. And you simply take the peanuts that are unsalted but roasted, and you process them in your food processor, not to the point where they become peanut butter, but just so they become like crumbs, like breadcrumbs. And then you're going to add your dates. I prefer the deglutinor that are pitted because they're a little bit drier than the medjool. And then as you process them, a ball starts to form, and it starts to stick together. That's kind of the idea of a Larabar, which is a confection that some of you may have heard of, widely available at many, many stores. And I like to add vanilla bean powder, pure vanilla bean powder to almost all my desserts.

34:40 And then you just press it. I like to use a silicone pan because then I don't have to use parchment paper, and you certainly don't have to use any kind of oil or spray oil to grease it. And you press it down. And then on the stove, you take either 100% cacao, which you can get at Walmart and most stores. People have heard of baker's chocolate, for example. And if you're using the unsweetened, you'll have to add a little bit of date syrup. If you're getting date-sweetened chocolate, then you don't. And then you're going to add a little bit of non-dairy milk just to help it melt. And you spread it over the top and sprinkle it with peanuts. It really is a very quick and easy recipe. And people just go nuts for these. We have a huge vegan community in Northern California. And when I take these to the potluck, I mean, you put them out, and the plate is empty.

35:24 And people haven't even eaten their entree yet. So people do really love these. Well, I've seen it with my own eyes, as I've said before, when we did the cooking show. Literally, there were a lot of great chefs, and people did sample the food. But nope, it was the only time where the second we yelled cut, people literally swarmed in like, I've never seen any. I was one of them, fighting for these incredible desserts that look so decadent. OK, I'm going to admit something that I'm not proud of. I got inspired, and I ordered a big slab of date paste. And then when I got the date paste, I froze.

36:07 I froze. It froze. I stared at it for about six months, and I never did anything with it. For somebody who doesn't want to do the paste, because honestly, I looked at that paste, and it was like a psych. I needed a therapist, a date therapist, not a dating therapist. What about just the liquid date for those who can't? Yeah. OK, so what date paste is commercially, what you bought, is basically just dates that have gone through a machine called an extruder. If you think about your showerhead, how the water comes through different holes, or if you think, you know, bad analogy, but when people would make chopped liver, and they put the meat in the grinder, things coming through holes.

36:53 I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know. Yeah, right. But if you've ever seen a movie back in the day about delicatessens, but think of the showerhead then. So you're taking whole dates, and you're putting it through this machine, and now it's coming out through these holes, and then that's how you got this brick. So when you buy date paste commercially, there's nothing wrong with it. But you're right, it is a brick, because there's no liquid in it. So when I make date paste, and when I tell people to make the date paste for my recipes, I'm taking one pound of dates, eight ounces of water, I'm soaking it, and then I'm pureeing it in the food processor fitted with the Esplay. There's also, this is mind-blowing, Jane, there's a recipe in the book to make it in your instant pot. The ratio of water is different, but it takes only one minute.

37:36 So my date paste is really more of a semi-swell, and it's not as liquidy as date syrup. The thing is, yes, you can do it, but in my recipes, I put them so that, realising that not everybody was going to want to buy date syrup, because maybe they don't have a Walmart, maybe they're in another country, maybe they feel it's too processed. So I did concentrate mostly on whole dates and date paste, just because it is the most whole of the whole foods. That said, realise that a date is more of a solid, date syrup is more of a liquid. But I will tell you this, any vegan recipe, or really any recipe you have that calls for liquid sweetener, honey, maple syrup, agave, barley malt, rice syrup, coconut syrup, you can substitute date syrup in a one-to-one ratio.

38:21 So that is absolutely doable. But I can't tell you how to substitute a solid for a liquid without doing some kind of math in my head or making the recipe. But date syrup is wonderful anytime you're needing a liquid sweetener. So when we're doing things like mousses in the book, like the decadent chocolate mousse, which is one of the most popular recipes I have, I demonstrated it on my YouTube channel yesterday. When I cook at Rancho La Puerta, this world-class spa in Mexico, people, their minds are blown. They're not vegan there, and they can't believe it's dairy-free or refined sugar-free or made of tofu, for example. And so I tend to use syrup more when it's a creamy texture than I'm looking for. And you can use it in cakes, but, you know, absolutely, if that's easier for you, just know that it's not a one-to -one ratio of date paste to date syrup because of the amount of liquid.

39:12 Somebody's asking, what about date sugar? Is it an appropriate replacement for date syrup or date paste? Well, you see, it's not. And the reason is, so what date sugar is, are dates that have been dried in a dehydrator or by other means and then ground. So basically, what date sugar is, is very finely pulverised dates. So it's not a liquid. If you think about it, if you have a cup of tea and you put some date syrup in and you stir it, it will dissolve. If you put date sugar in it, it will sink to the bottom because it doesn't dissolve. So as I mentioned, you can't really substitute a solid for a liquid. It just doesn't work.

39:53 Oh my gosh, we got more callers, do we? Is Lauren in Indiana there? Lauren is gone, but we have Tiffany. Great, Tiffany, go for it. Hello? Hi, ask your question, my dear. Yes, hey, I'm on the road. I'm driving back to L.A. from Sacramento and Chef AJ, I think you live in Folsom or you're from Northern California? Yes, I live in the Roseville area. Roseville, okay, that's right. I'm up there every couple months. Do you have any classes coming up or any workshops or are you going to be at the clinic in Sonoma so I could sign up for something or what's on your schedule?

40:38 Wait, so you live up here? Do you live in Northern California? No, she's in L.A. I happen to know her, but she travels. Oh, okay. So in L.A., the only thing I have coming up is October 6th, a Sunday, I'll be presenting recipes for my new book that you can sample at the Best of Nature Cooking School with Dr. Matt Letterman at 7 p.m. on Sunday, October 6th at the South Bay Adventist Church at 401 South Prospect in Redondo Beach. And, you know, in general, thank you for that, Tiffany. I know she's a huge fan. In general, Chef AJ, people can learn. There's a lot of courses.

41:18 Like every couple of days, I get an email from you saying, I'm going to this conference. I'm going to that conference. I mean, you are one busy lady. Trying to make the world vegan, one person at a time. How are you doing? You know, veganism has been under attack lately. You mentioned process, but, you know, I'm always fond of pointing out this isn't desserts necessarily, but having been vegan going on 29 years, you know, the health food restaurants and the vegan restaurants 30 years ago were brown rice, beans, and all sorts of good stuff. And then people say, I would never eat that. So we created, not me personally, but the industry created veggie burgers and all sorts of things to mimic what people were demanding.

42:07 And then they turn around and go, it's processed. Never mentioning that processed meat is officially cancer causing a level one carcinogen, according to the World Health Organisation. So I try to eat a whole food plant-based diet. I'm not perfect. I go out and have desserts and have dinners at fancy restaurants. As long as it's plant-based, I'm cool with it as a treat. But the point is that inherently there is the word processed has been thrown around by the meat industry, which has a war room, the size of Fox news in Colorado, where they send out negative, negative, negative, negative, negative stuff about veganism.

42:51 Never mentioning that there's a lot of processing that goes into animal products. And that processed meat is officially cancer causing. How do you balance all of that? It's really hard. And because at the end of the day, I am an ethical vegan first and foremost. I'm also somebody that struggled with my weight for most of my life because I wasn't eating the whole food plant-based diet. And I also developed pre colon cancer at the age of 43, because up until then I didn't eat any fruits and vegetables. So I can see both sides of the equation. And I don't think the word processed is necessarily accurate with the food that you're talking about, because it's ultra processed, it's refined food.

43:36 So when I take beans and put them in my food processor with a little tahini, lemon, and garlic and make hummus, it's processed. But that doesn't mean that all processing is bad. It's when you refine it to the degree that your grandmother doesn't recognise what it is or the ingredients it was made for. And also, I don't really care if it's processed or not. Is it health promoting or not health promoting for you? If you are Robert Cheek, and you are at a wonderful weight, and you have wonderful health, and you go and eat a Buddha belly burger or whatever, it's fine. But if you're the kind of person that I'm working with, that has 18 stents in their heart that is about to go on diabetes medication, it's a whole different story.

44:19 And that's why we have to treat everyone as an individual and not paint everyone with the same brush. I always tell people, do the least restrictive diet, eat the least restrictive diet that you can that will work for you. And it's going to be different for everyone. There's some people that are one restaurant meal away from a heart attack. There's other people who, through better genetics or for whatever reason, can get away with a little bit more. And again, it's what is right for you. I would much rather have people eat vegan processed food or junk food than eat animal products any day. But it's really going to depend on the degree of processing, your genetics, your health goals, what works for you. Very good point.

45:00 Now, somebody wants to know does Chef AJ recommend monk sugar? I don't. And I can tell you why. And if you have Instagram available, was it yesterday or Monday that I did an Instagram live with Dr. Michael Gorin, a paediatric obesity specialist at USC, who actually wrote the introduction to the book. It is not a health food. If it is not found in nature in its whole food form, so leaf stevia, the green leaf, that's a whole food, the liquid in the powder isn't, then it's not health promoting. You can't make monk sugar. It's not the same as eating monk fruit. You can't make maple syrup. Of course, I always meet a couple of people who are from Canada that can.

45:41 But even if you can make maple syrup, do you really know how to tap the maple tree to get the 40 gallons of sap to boil it down to one gallon of maple syrup? You can make date syrup in your kitchen. Before the brand that I use was available readily, I made it all the time. It just took me an hour, which I really don't have time to do anymore. So no, I don't recommend monk sugar or monk fruit or lohan or anything. I recommend the fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the whole fruit. You also are a huge fan of the Instant Pot. And you have many, many recipes using the Instant Pot. And I want to know why you are so in love with the Instant Pot.

46:23 Yeah, and it doesn't have to be Instant Pot. That's just the brand I have. I have the three quart and the eight quart. They also make a six quart and a 10 quart, because I love to save time. And when I cook on the stove, you know, you had mentioned that to you, Jane, baking is daunting. To me, it's not because you put it in and then you can do whatever you want, as long as you set the timer. Cooking to me is much more stressful, because I got to be watching the stove, it could boil over, it could burn. With the Instant Pot, you literally dump everything in and set it, forget it. We actually have many Instant Pot recipes in Sweet Indulgence. We have a cauliflower rice pudding, we have an apple pie rice pudding, there is many, many recipes that use it.

47:03 But I love that it helps you get meals prepared quickly. One of my favourite things to eat for dinner are soups, stews and chillies. And I can just literally put all the ingredients in like one of my cauliflower bisque, I take a two pound head of cauliflower, don't even cut it up, take a two pound hand of yam, don't cut it up, take a huge softball size sweet onion, just peel it, I throw it in with some liquid, with some spices, I push a button, I walk my dog, I take a bath, I come back when I want, I zhuzh it with the stick blender. I can't think of any way easier to cook than using a pressure cooker. And I prefer the electric to the stovetop, because the stovetop you have to babysit, the electric, you just go about your business. I can't think of anything easier.

47:45 I'm actually doing a course for forks over knives, instant pot made simple, because I think it's the easiest way to get healthy food in your mouth quickly. You are a busy lady. And I know you have something to go to soon. So I want to ask you some important questions. You've been watching the vegan movement for many, many years, as I mentioned a second ago, because we've made so many advances, and because plant based is everywhere. There's pushback from the industries that you know, they're thinking about money in their pocket. Where do you see the vegan movement, the plant based movement, however you want to describe it today, based on your personal experience? Are you hopeful?

48:27 I mean, I don't know if I'm hopeful for the world in general, with a lot that's going on. But I am hopeful because more and more young people are understanding that it's not just about animal ethics, or your health, but that if we don't do something, they're not going to have a planet to live on. So I am hopeful, because I, you know, when I went vegan 47 years ago, nobody talked about the environment. That wasn't even a thing, right. And nobody really even talked about health. But you see more and more documentaries coming out, you know, forks over knives, kind of got the ball rolling that, hey, this is actually good for you, you're going to live healthier, better reverse diseases, lose weight. And then we started seeing things like conspiracy and things about the environment, and inconvenient truth.

49:10 And so I think people are getting the wake up call, but some people still aren't going to wake up. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I'm a hopeful person by nature. And I believe in the law of unintended consequences. And we do everything we can to show people on a daily basis on a minute by minute basis with the network we have that veganism is not a sacrifice. It's a joyous, fun way of cooking is cooking more fun when you cook it meat free and dairy free and that includes eggs. Absolutely.

49:50 Well, it's not just that it's more fun, because those things are gross anyway, but it tastes better. I mean, you know, think about it, Jane, people that eat meat. How many people really eat raw meat? Yeah, you could argue that some people eat sushi, but they're not just eating the fish, they're eating it with the rice and the rice has sugar and salt in it. And they're eating with like avocado and all kinds of dipping sauces. It's the flavour that makes whatever you're eating delicious. And same thing for me, you got to put a heck of a lot of salt and flavour on it just to be able to choke it down. So I even when I wasn't vegan, because you know, my mom, that's all she had. I never I never understood like the big deal about it doesn't taste very good to me personally.

50:33 So what's next for you? How many books have you written? And why is this one I personally feel this is perhaps the most significant, although all of your books are amazing. Because so many people in America, including myself, look, everywhere you turn, there's a seduction. I even on my computer, I'm working my computer and all this bad stuff pops up. And I keep saying ad was inappropriate ad was inappropriate, and it comes right back. This is sort of the escape hatch, sweet indulgence. And if you're listening to this on the radio, sweet indulgence is the name of the book.

51:17 You can just go on Amazon, write in sweet indulgence and order it, you can have it tomorrow and get involved because every single recipe in this book also has a video attached explaining exactly how to do it. Yeah, if they buy the book by August 31. And, you know, thank you, I guess I've written four books. And I'm hoping this book won't just be for vegans. I work places like spas, where people are never going to become vegan. But for whatever reason, they need to be gluten free, or they just don't want to eat refined sugar. So I'm hoping that many of those people will get the book on purpose or accidentally. And that might open a door for them to become either fully vegan, or at least more vegan.

51:59 That is my hope. Well, I would never disagree with you normally. But I never say never. I always call everybody a pre vegan and say there's always hope for every single person I've had people I thought would never go and then boom. Yeah. I wish it could be. Yeah, I can tell you my brother's never going vegan. But other than that, no, I do hold hope that people will, will eventually do the right thing. Well, chef, I just want you to know, Chef AJ, that you're my hero. You make cooking the ethical way the sustainable way, the healthy way, the delicious way so much fun.

52:40 And it is an adventure. You epitomise you embody the joyousness of plant based cooking. And I just would love you and your videos and your books to be in every home, not only in America, but the world. The book is sweet indulgence, right there, get it on Amazon. And, you know, start having fun without any that's the point. So I want to say thank you to you, and wishing you the very best. And I know you're going to have more, more, more, more books, more recipes, more films, more everything. Look, thank you so much. And thank you everyone for watching or listening and realise you don't have to desert desert when you make it from the fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the whole fruit.

53:30 Perfect way to end it. Thank you, Chef AJ. Now I'm going to tell you a little bit about Unchained TV in the minute that we have remaining. You are if you're watching, you're watching Unchained TV on my Samsung TV, one of Chef AJ's many videos that are on Unchained TV. And you can also download Unchained TV right on your phone. It's all free. We are a 501 c three nonprofit. I don't take a salary. This is a labour of love. You just go to your app store and put in the word Unchained TV. And there you go. Look, the the interview that we're doing right now is live on Unchained TV.

54:16 So there it is. You can get access to hundreds of documentaries and cooking shows and biographies, interview shows, live events. And it's all free. And sometimes people go, what's the catch? What's the hook? Well, there is no catch. There is no book. It's a huge group of us who are doing this because we know that this is the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to environmentalism, saving our planet from an ecological collapse, which is really what we're facing. So it's a vegan Netflix. Okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. I love Unchained TV.

54:57 Unchained. Unchained TV. Your life will change. It's just that easy. Unchained TV has all sorts of content for everybody. Unchained TV changed my life. Unchained TV is crushing it. I love Unchained TV. Unchained TV is my go-to. Unchained TV. Who knew? So we'll just say download Unchained TV for free on your phone. It's right there on your phone. You can also download it on any Samsung TV. And you can also download it on any TV if you have an Amazon Fire Stick, a Roku device or an Apple TV device.

55:45 And you can also watch it online. Just go to unchainedtv.com. I want to thank you for joining us. And I hope you do order the book Sweet Indulgence. I'm going to start making some of these recipes right away. See you next time.