Chef Amber’s Wholicious™ – Episode 7 How To Remove Guilt and Shame From Eating
Hi, y’all and welcome to Wholicious and welcome to my spiritual Corner. Today, I want to talk about letting go of the restriction and deprivation mindset, especially when it comes to sweets and desserts.
We often label desserts as bad and feel guilty after eating sweets. Sugar stimulates your nervous system and hunger hormones, and it can actually cause some people to eat more and create a vicious cycle of addiction. I know this cycle very well. And for years, I love the high and sugar because I got when eating processed sugar and sweets. And yes, it can take a lot of work to get out of this cycle. My inspiration to make delicious sugar-free recipes came from my journey over these last couple of years as I have been healing my relationship with food and my body. Cutting out refined sugar is when we really start to feel energized and clear minded again. And there are so many amazing ways to enjoy sweets and desserts without feeling deprived and guilty. I’ll show you three of my favorite treats that I love to make when I want to dessert or a little sweet treat that will not make your body crash or wreak havoc on your system.
Dance! Baby!
But before we go into my Wholicious kitchen, I want to show you a practice that lights me up, gives me a ton of energy, and you know what it’s totally for free. Dancing baby! I love dancing as a tool to help me shift my energy, get back into my body, let go of any emotion, and also I’ll use it as my exercise for the day. If I’m not dealing with my feelings and not allowing myself to emotionally express, I crave to escape with food and especially sugar. So dancing, first thing in the morning really can help you let go of all those energies that don’t belong to you and really open up your body to connect with yourself and your divine energy. It helps you to step into your power and love and accept your beautiful body.
Okay, so feel free to dance with me. I’m going to show you my goddess dance. This is a practice I started about four years ago. The only rules for dancing, there’s no rules. There’s no guidelines. Really it’s about dancing without restrictions without any judgments. This is a great time to really connect with your inner self and allow yourself to let go and surrender to the moment. Okay, when do I dance? I dance when I’m sad. I dance when I’m happy, when I’m angry, when I’m frustrated. Or I just need to move my body and shift some energy. I never regret dancing and you know what, always remember to have fun. I really love to dance when I need to release some emotion. So sometimes I’ll catch myself having a good cry when I dance or I need to laugh or have a good scream. Whatever goes goes and the biggest thing y’all is don’t judge yourself. Really let go and surrender.
Okay, feel free to join me as we dance. Okay, so, what I like to do before I start, is like to close my eyes. So I invite you to close your eyes. Put your hand on your heart, hand on your belly. Take some deep breaths in. Really letting that breath out. Start to move your body. Feel your body tune into yourself. Get present with yourself. Two feet on the ground can feel the energy moving up your feet back of your legs at the back of your spine and start to sway move your arms really feel it. Really feel every part of your body. Be so grateful that your body can move like this. Closing your eyes and really just tune in and let yourself go and have fun!
Deep breath. Shake. Get it all out. We come to an end, really takes a deep breaths in and out. Oh I like to end with my hands again on my heart and my stomach. Really feeling my body, feeling my feet, putting a smile on your face. Really acknowledging yourself, acknowledging your body to move like this. Feeling your heartbeat underneath your hand. Hmm just tune in for a couple seconds and get still and get quiet with yourself.
Now you can open your eyes. How yummy does that feel? So invigorating and you know what you will never feel upset or sad after you dance. Now that we’re feeling amazing and confident in our body, we definitely deserve some sexy nourishing sweets and treats.
Today’s Episode
Today we’re gonna make a creamy adaptogen hot chocolate, then some protein chocolate chip cookies, and this orgasmic fried date with tahini honey and pecans. See you in my Wholicious kitchen.
Okay, so these three recipes today are all about enjoying desserts and sweets without the guilt or shame. No deprivation y’all. Okay, I’m starting with an adaptogen hot chocolate. Then I’m going to make this decadent fried dates with tahini, pecans, rosemary and honey, and then finishing with a plant based protein chocolate chip cookie.
Hot Chocolate Recipe
So first, let’s dive into the adaptogen hot chocolate. And I’ve already got our almond milk warm. And in episode two, I made a Tumeric latte. And you can reference back to that to see how I made homemade almond milk, but I’m going to tell you really quickly, a fast, easy way to make almond milk. Alright, so this is nice and hot and steamed. So a quick way to make almond milk, you can take two tablespoons of almond butter and blend it in the blender with two cups of water. And you’ve got all the milk without the soaking and the straining, none of the nonsense. So that’s like a quick little tip. And again, if you missed the immune boosting episode, with the Tumeric latte, you can go back. Alright, so I’ve got my hot almond milk. And then I’m going to add raw cacao. So the raw cacao was the first adaptogen going in today. And Episode One Dr. G was on, and we really spoke about the healing properties of adaptogen so that you can go back and really hear the whole spiel. But I’ll just remind you guys, what an adaptogen is. Adaptogens really help our bodies adapt to outside stressors. And the reason I love this latte so much, this hot chocolate latte, is because I don’t drink caffeine. And when I was getting off caffeine, I really needed something to boost my energy and the raw cacao gives me so much energy plus it’s full with antioxidants and it helps release the happiness hormone.
Okay, next we’re going to add all the rest of our adaptogens. Okay, so what I’ve got going on here is I’ve got maca root, which is really great for libido, stamina, sexual health, and hormone balancing. I’ve got some Lion’s Mane amazing for brain health and energy. We’ve also got Tocos. Tocos is a brand soluble, which is high in Vitamin E really great for the skin, really great for collagen production, and I’ve got mesquite that’s multi. And last, we have the lucuma which is and they all kind of look the same, but the lucuma is actually really high in vitamin C and it’s actually a really great natural sweetener. So I’m going to throw all these babies in here.
And this is why this gives me so much energy you can already see it’s loaded with all these adaptogens raw cacao. I’m going to make this just a little bit sweet. I’m going to do just like I don’t know, one big teaspoon of maple and if you want this to be zero, you know sugar calories low low glycemic, you can definitely put a couple of drops of Stevia. Alright, I’m going to blend this for about 30 seconds. Okay, perfect. Oh my gosh, I always call this an adult hot chocolate. This is really overall great for sexual vitality and health. That’s why I like to call it an adult hot chocolate. Oh my gosh. Okay, I have to have a sip of this. Before we move on to the tahini. Oh my gosh. It’s amazing. So creamy. Okay, so decadent. All right, I’m gonna put that to the side and sip on that because I already have so much energy from dancing earlier but this is like the best combo.
Happy Accidents
I love Halva. Halva is made with dates and tahini has sesame from the tahini and pistachios and this just reminds me of kind of like a deconstructive Halva without all the sugar. So that’s where this kind of came from a lot of my creations, y’all in the kitchen kind of happened by mistake. I know a cookbook, one day is going to be called, “Happy Accidents.” Because I’ll be creating in the kitchen and experimenting and all of a sudden I’m like, oh my god, this is gonna be awful. And then it becomes a favorite one of my restaurants and it sticks. So that’s kind of like where my best creations. This is where this came from.
So I’m going to put a couple big tablespoons of olive oil on here because we’re going to fry the dates in the olive oil. So you want a really nice quality extra virgin olive oil.
Everyday Pan
We’re going to get this pan hot. And this is kind of my everyday fit pan I use. I always get asked what pans I use this as my everyday pan from Always brand. I love it so much. It’s really important with pans y’all that you make sure they’re toxic, free. So this is a clean, toxic free nonstick pan. I love it.
Tahini Dates
Alright, so my oils getting hot. I’ve got these amazing big juicy dates here. I’m going to add the dates, we’re going to want these to sizzle just a little bit. Okay, this dish happens really quickly. So this the heat is medium high. These are pitted, make sure your dates are pitted for this. You don’t want to bite into a big pit, right? All right, just happened many times. Okay. All right. In love, alright, do you hear the sizzle, okay. Really want to fry those dates in the oil. And the best thing to do too, is really take your spatula, I’m using a wooden spoon. I really always cook with wooden spoons and press the date into the oil and let them fry. Okay, and I’m going to flip them and I’ll show you you can kind of see on that guy starting to get a nice kind of golden carmelized skin. Okay, so we’re gonna let this go for a couple minutes. And let me just flip these. Oh, yeah.
Chefs Make Mistakes Too!
Now be careful because this dish happens really quickly. And it’s very easy to burn these days. Believe me, I’ve done it. Chefs make mistakes too. People always ask me oh my gosh, do you ever burn anything or make mistakes in the kitchen? I’m like, Oh my God. Are you kidding me all the time. Okay, I’m going to turn down our heat because it’s getting pretty hot and I don’t want to burn my dates. And okay, these are looking good. I want to show like see how they’re kind of getting a little bit fried. Kind of dark and carmelized Okay, that’s perfect.
Alright, so what I’m going to do now is I’m really going to turn down my heat almost as low as it can go because I’m going to add the tahini and the thing with the tahini is we don’t want to burn the tahini. So I’ve got my creamy tahini here. Add the tahini. Okay. And my heat is on pretty low. And I’m gonna give this a nice little stir for only about 20 seconds. I want this to cook down just a little. Just a little let’s really coat the dates in the tahini. Okay, so a couple minutes, you’ll see how it’s starting to kind of stick to the pan. Okay, that’s okay. All right, just a couple more seconds here. Just really keep your eye on this now. I like this really saucy. Alright, this is looking good. Okay, perfect. That’s it. Turning off the heat. Okay. All right. So I just want to show, look at how nice and caramelized see how brown that tahini got but it’s not burned. Okay, you see this?
All right. Now look at this. Oh my gosh. So amazing. The smell is like unbelievable. Like I can’t even smell. Okay, let me clean this because I have to have perfect presentation for y’all. Okay, now I’m gonna put a little couple little sprigs of rosemary. The rosemary really brings out the dates and the nuttiness of the tahini. Going to finish it with malden and sea salt. Just a little bit of malden okay. Then I’m also going to do like a little bit of cinnamon. Okay, the sweetness of the cinnamon with the tahini and the dates. Finish it with some chopped pecans. Okay, a little bit of crunch. I need texture. So you’ve the dates are so smushy and soft. So I want like a crunch. So the crunch of the pecans is perfect. And then I’m adding some raw honey. So I’m just going to drizzle this honey. Right on top here. Look at this. Are you kidding me right now?
Okay, this dessert makes me so excited and I know I just danced and show you. So do my goddess dance. But this definitely makes me like want to shimmy, like get really excited. Alright, check out this fried dates with the creamy tahini, olive oil with honey, the rosemary, pecans and cinnamon. And this is pretty hot. But I have to get in here and have a bite before we make those cookies. Oh my god. Yeah, so I can’t wait because I’m gonna get in here later. But it’s really like the best balance. It’s amazing.
And it really hits all the fields for me, because it’s a little bit savory and the sweetness and without the guilt because I spent most of my life not being able to eat dessert or I restricted myself from eating desserts and I labeled them bad because I was afraid that they were going to make me fat, right. And then I would have shame and guilt and all the things. So no more of that as I’ve continued to heal my relationship with food and really learn to love and accept my body. It is possible to love desserts, eat desserts with joy and love and accept your beautiful body. Okay, so that’s a huge big theme of mine very passionate about sharing that message, and helping y’all continue to create a healthy relationship with food.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Alright, let’s dive into the chocolate chip cookies. So these chocolate chip cookies, I have served at my restaurant, Source Cafe, opened it at about nine years ago, and I’ve been making these protein plant based cookies for about nine years. They are a fan favorite. And they’re actually in my cookbook, ‘Sexy Nourishing Food For Your Mind Body And Soul.’ And also this adaptogen hot chocolate is also in my cookbook. So check that out because that was a labor of love passion project and people have been asking me for years, please chef, can you share your chocolate chip cookie? So here it is. Alright, so this cookie is quick. And it’s no fuss because I think if you’ve been following me on Wholicious, you’re gonna know that I’m not a baker and I don’t like I’m not a fussy baker so it needs to be easy and foolproof.
Dry Ingredients
Today we’re using a gluten free flour brand, and it’s Bob’s gluten free flour. You can use any gluten free flour blend. This one’s made out of potato fava beans, and peas, and high in protein already. Okay, so I’m going to add that about two cups.
And then coconut sugar is the sweetener of choice today. And you can sub monkfruit in this if you want this to be like even lower glycemic. It won’t be paleo because of the potato in the flour. Okay, people always ask oh, if I sub monkfruit with the gluten free flower like no. So I’m going to do one cup of coconut sugar, a big scoop here. Okay, just like that. And then I’m going to add a little bit of baking soda and xantham gum. Okay.
And then flaxmeal. So the flaxmeal is actually going to work as our egg in the dish and it’s really going to thicken our dough and help it rise a little bit. So I have flaxmeal also, I love flax because it’s high in omegas and it’s high in fiber and high in protein. So already, we’ve got a very high protein cookie here.
And then I’m using some of my favorite protein powder, Nuzest protein powder. It’s made out of peas. Clean ingredients, three ingredients and high in protein and I liked the protein powder because it gives a little bit of a vanilla flavor. And it also doesn’t bloat me out. A lot of protein powders can cause a lot of bloating and gassiness. So I’m gonna give this a whisk. Okay, so we’ve got all of our dry here with this baby around.
Wet Ingredients
And then we’re going to do our wet to get all the clumps out here. Kind of take my whisk and and smash down the clumps. Okay, that looks good. All right. I’ve got five tablespoons of water, just a little bit of water in here. And then I’ve got our coconut oil. Okay, and obviously the coconut oil you can see I melted. This will not work if you don’t melt it. Okay, and then I’m going to put a big tablespoon of vanilla extract. Oh, looks good. That was a big one. Okay, and let me whisk this. Okay, perfect. And I’m going to add our wet to our dry and give this a little whisk.
Can You Eat This Cookie Dough Raw?
Okay, getting all the clumps out here and I have to tell you that this is a really great cookie dough if you want to eat it raw. Sometimes I’ll even put it in a jar and keep it in the fridge. Bake it off when I want to or the cookie dough is really great if you’re making like a nice cream or a smoothie bowl and you want to have like a cookie dough ice cream. This cookie dough is delicious. You can pull a couple little pieces out from the fridge, roll them up in the balls and mix it in with your ice cream or an ice cream. If you missed my episode, where I made banana ice cream, that would be perfect with this cookie dough.
So I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I used to love some cookie dough. But with all the raw egg and stuff it never worked out well for me. Okay, this looks good. I need to pull all the dough off here. And I need to just kind of shake it out of this whisk. Okay, there we go.
I’m gonna add our chocolate chips. Okay, so these chocolate chips are paleo chocolate chips. They’re made with a really high quality raw cacao. And also, they’re made with coconut sugar. So you can use any chocolate chip here, you can even use chocolate chips with monkfruit. I love a paleo chocolate chip because I know that I’m not getting the process of white sugar, right. Alright, so I’m going to fold this in with my spatula here.
Soft Cookies
And these only bake for like 8 to 10 minutes. Now for me, I like an undercooked cookie because I want it to be a little bit softer and smushy. And specially because these don’t have a egg you can get away with it. So I like to undercook my cookies and then pull them out of the oven and let them sit. So when they cool, they’re fully baked, but then they’re just a little bit softer. All right, look at this dough. Can you imagine this dough in the fridge and you just can pull out a little one tiny little bite. Look at this. You know what I love about it. It’s loaded with protein. And actually for me if I was going to sit around and I don’t just sit around eat cookie dough all day, but if I wanted to cook you’d have a treat. I might add a little collagen to it because I want more protein. Okay. It’s kind of delicious. And it’s fun to eat cookie dough without the guilt and the shame. Okay, took me years this didn’t happen overnight y’all. It took me years but it’s possible.
Okay, I’m gonna do a little spray here with our coconut oil. And then I’m using a scoop, you can use your hand or spoon. But these scoops are really easy to buy off of Amazon. And I’m going to do a nice scoop here. Kind of like an ice like a medium sized ice cream scoop you can use. Okay, just kind of pull these in, scoop this baby up. And you can obviously make these smaller.
Cookie Cake
You can make many cookies with this, you can make a cookie cake meaning if I wanted this to be more of kind of like a brownie cookie, or a cake, I would put all this dough in here and smash it down with my hand and bake it. Man cookie cakes in the south when I was little were so popular. Oh man, those made me feel so awful. Love those things. Alright, this looks good. I’ll bake those a little later. And then what I do with my hands is kind of just pressed down like this. Just kind of pressed down like that. You can obviously make a thinner cookie. You know, everyone’s kind of particular with their chocolate chip cookies. I like a little bit of a fatter cookie.
But if you want this to be nice and thin, you can really press it out and make a nice thin one. I’m going to throw these in the oven for about eight minutes. Okay, I don’t want to overcook them. Okay, let’s check those cookies. I pulled them out of the oven a couple of minutes ago. All right, look at these babies. Okay, cook them for about eight minutes. And I’m going to show you get a nice plate here. I’m gonna show you how soft they are. Okay, let me get this one. So it looks like a good one. And I purposely didn’t use all the cookie dough because you know why I want some of that for my fridge. Look at this. Oh my gosh, see how soft it is. And these have been out for probably five minutes, but I mean they are so soft. Oh my god. This was my adaptogen. I mean, this is the perfect snack, the perfect sweet treat snack.
So I hope you got inspired today and are excited about some healthy sweet treats without the guilt. Chocolate chip protein cookies. Which by the way, you can eat these as a snack like they’re loaded loaded with protein and healthy fat and fiber and if you have kids, like you don’t have to feel guilty serving your kids a chocolate chip cookie. Right? Look at this. That is a plate full of happiness right there. Look at those cookies. So we have the adaptogen hot chocolate. We have our beautiful protein cookies today chocolate chip protein cookies, and then let’s not forget about our gorgeous fried dates and tahini. Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care of yourself, your mind, your body and your soul. And give it a thumbs up if you love this episode and felt inspired. And if you’ve had any questions, comment below because I love staying connected with you. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be an active part of my vision of a healthy world through food. And remember, healthy is the new sexy!
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