#203: Jackie Akerberg - Veganism Doesn't Equal Bland. How to Live a "Jackfruitful" Life
Jackie Akerberg is the creator of Jackfruitful Kitchen, a popular food blog devoted to simple, healthy, and delicious plant-based meals using minimally processed ingredients.
She's also the author of, The Clean Vegan Cookbook, which features over 60 whole-food, plant-based recipes that will satisfy every craving. (And when you see the gigantic burger on the cover of her book, you’ll see what we mean.)
Jackie grew up in a healthy household and learned to appreciate fresh food and cooking at a young age because her parents owned a successful catering company.
Never one for meat, she cut out eggs and dairy and turned fully to plants as a solution to her own health and digestion problems. Today, she creates content to show that clean vegan food can be nutritious, delicious, and full of flavor.
Today, she and Rip discuss:
Growing up in Iowa with homemade meals from her parents
Why she decided to cut out all animal products
The void she saw in the cookbook space and how “The Clean Vegan Cookbook” came to be
How she enhances her gluten-free recipes with cauliflower rice, zucchini, and other vegetables
The wonders of jackfruit as a “meat replacement”
Using tofu in pancakes?!
How she impresses the biggest meat-lovers with her recipes including chilis, burgers, pastas, tacos, and more.
I feel like sometimes people think clean or healthy vegan eating has to be restrictive or flavorless or doesn't have that satisfying, umami, texture or taste or flavor. And I wanted to show people that it can."
About Jackie Akerberg
Jackfruitful Kitchen provides delicious, easy-to-follow, vegan and gluten-free recipes to help make healthy cooking and meal planning a breeze. These balanced plant-based recipes will nourish your body and help you look and feel your very best. Jackfruitful Kitchen recipes are crafted with pure whole foods and organic ingredients that are good for you and good for the planet.
The name “jackfruitful kitchen” was inspired by four different parts: 1. My first name (Jackie) 2. One of my favorite ingredients for vegan cooking (Jackfruit) 3. The ability to be full and satisfied by eating clean, whole, plant-based food 4. The goal to live a more fruitful life.
Order The Clean Vegan Cookbook
Episode Resources
Watch the Full Episode on YouTube
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Full YouTube Transcript
Rip Esselstyn:
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I'm Rip Esselstyn, and welcome to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. The mission at PLANTSTRONG is to further the advancement of all things within the plant-based movement. We advocate for the scientifically proven benefits of plant-based living and envision a world that universally understands, promotes and prescribes plants as a solution to empowering your health, enhancing your performance, restoring the environment, and becoming better guardians to the animals we share this planet with. We welcome you wherever you are on your PLANTSTRONG journey, and I hope that you enjoy this show.
I love a good creative name, and this one is right up there. Today I speak with entrepreneur, author and photographer, Jackie Akerberg, also known as, drum roll, Jackfruitful on all of her social channels. Of course, how did Jackie come up with the name Jackfruitful is one of the things that she gets asked quite a lot, and I love her intentions behind the name. As she says on her website, jackfruitful.com, the name Jackfruitful Kitchen was inspired by four different things. First, her name is Jackie. Second, one of her favorite ingredients for vegan cooking is Jackfruit. Three, the ability to be full and satiated, eating clean, whole plant-based food. And fourth, and lastly, the goal to live a more fruitful life.
As you're going to learn today, Jackie does live a fruitful life testing and creating recipes on her website and in her book, The Clean Vegan Cookbook, which features over 60 whole food, plant-based recipes that will satisfy every craving, yes, including jackfruit. Believe me, when you look at the gigantic burger on the cover of her book, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Jackie's journey to plants as a solution to her health problems is one that is very inspiring, and food definitely has the power to heal. And you'll learn what some of those recipes were that helped her in her own healing journey. Please welcome the clean, the classy, the wholesome, Jackie Akerberg. Jackie Akerberg, welcome to the PLANTSTRONG podcast.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you so much for having me Rip.
Rip Esselstyn:
My pleasure. We have never met, have we?
Jackie Akerberg:
No, we haven't. But I have been a fan of yours for a while and have been familiar with you. This is our first time visiting.
Rip Esselstyn:
It certainly is, and I look forward to it. For those of you that don't know who Jackie is, Jackie is a recipe creator. She is a food lover and photographer, and she has a rather large Instagram account under the name... What's your handle there? Is it the Jackfruitful...
Jackie Akerberg:
Jackfruitful Kitchen.
Rip Esselstyn:
Jack? Say that again.
Jackie Akerberg:
Jackfruitful Kitchen.
Rip Esselstyn:
Jackfruitful Kitchen.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, and you just came out with a cookbook called The Clean Vegan that I really want to dive into with you. Of course, I love anything that says Clean Vegan. And what represents, I think we have a lot of overlap in our philosophies.
Jackie Akerberg:
For sure, we definitely do.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, yeah. But before we dive in, Jackie, I'd like to get to know you a little bit. Tell me where did you grow up?
Jackie Akerberg:
I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa right in the center of the country.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Do you have siblings or are you a lone child?
Jackie Akerberg:
I'm actually an only child, grew up with a puppy as a brother. That's it, but just me otherwise.
Rip Esselstyn:
What was your puppy's name?
Jackie Akerberg:
Gracie as a kid, then Jackson, now buddy. Always Golden Retriever.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. We always had black Labrador Retriever growing up as well.
Jackie Akerberg:
It's like if you have one type of dog as a family, that's like your go-to for life. Right?
Rip Esselstyn:
Very much. Did you enjoy growing up in Des Moines?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, absolutely. It is a great place to grow up, and honestly, I still live here now and watching it change over the past, man, 10 to 15 years has just been pretty impressive and profound, the way it's grown as a small city. Everything from the dining options to the people, it's a cool place to live and great place to grow up.
Rip Esselstyn:
When you say it's grown, give me an example. Do you know what the population is now and what it was 10 years ago?
Jackie Akerberg:
I guess I don't know what it was 10 years ago, but now I think with Metro it's about 800,000. Still not huge by any means, but Des Moines itself, where I live or my husband and I live, which is very close to the downtown area, is just bustling with people. Lots of new restaurants, lots of new bars and patios and little shops. Just a lot of up and coming stuff.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you have some pretty intense winters there?
Jackie Akerberg:
We do, yes. This year I didn't seem as bad, but Christmas Eve our pipes froze and they stayed froze. We didn't have water in part of our house for three days because it was negative 24. Yeah, it gets intense, but the snow's pretty and you just get through it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Right. Well, I've heard a quote. "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes." If you have the right outfit, what's that? Right?
Jackie Akerberg:
That's 100% true and I definitely agree.
Rip Esselstyn:
What do you like to do in Des Moines? Do you go skiing? Do you get out much?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes. We are really blessed with a great cycling system, like road biking. We have so many bike trails, we can hop on right at our house and bike probably about 40 miles in any direction with a great trail system, all covered by canopies of trees, lots of wildlife. In the winter, cross country skiing. It's fairly flat around here. It's not as flat as people think, but not a lot of downhill skiing. Just cross country. There's some good spots to go boating or just lots of good restaurants as well.
Rip Esselstyn:
I don't know if I've ever been to Des Moines. I'm trying to think. Do you guys have a whole food market store there?
Jackie Akerberg:
We do.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. Then I have been there because I've been to every whole food market store when I was-
Jackie Akerberg:
Every single one?
Rip Esselstyn:
Pretty much. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Wow.
Rip Esselstyn:
For 10 years I was a whole food market ambassador, traveling around pontificating anyone who would listen about all the virtues of a whole food PLANTSTRONG lifestyle.
Jackie Akerberg:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's funny because, for 10 years, I probably went to all 500 plus stores, not only in the States, but Canada and also the UK. It's all melding together. Yeah, but I do remember going to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and doing a triathlon there and just remembering how gorgeous it was. Are you guys near Coeur d'Alene?
Jackie Akerberg:
We're in Iowa.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh my God. Iowa. Oh my gosh. I totally got the I's confused.
Jackie Akerberg:
It just happens all the time.
Rip Esselstyn:
No wonder. I'm like, "Okay."
Jackie Akerberg:
When you said skiing, I was like, "Where does he think I live." No, this is Iowa.
Rip Esselstyn:
It is hilarious. Yeah, I'm talking about water skiing. Come on. Oh, man. Okay.
Jackie Akerberg:
That's amazing.
Rip Esselstyn:
I feel like a total fool. All right.
Jackie Akerberg:
It happens, and you're not the first person, I promise, so don't feel foolish.
Rip Esselstyn:
That is funny. Tell me, you and your husband are self-employed, right?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
What do you guys do being self-employed?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, we have a few different... My husband is, I almost like to call him a serial entrepreneur. He's always coming up with new ideas and wanting to facilitate them in. We have everything from our wealth management business, which is kind of our rock. He's a financial advisor, oversees many accounts and work for individual clients or nonprofits or corporations. We have that side of things, some rental properties, our coworking space, a shared workspace, and then my food blog. Then last but not least, we actually have a kitchen gadget that we invented, that we sell on Amazon called the Crumb Catcher.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Well-
Jackie Akerberg:
That's what I mean. He's always coming up with something.
Rip Esselstyn:
How exactly does a crumb catcher work?
Jackie Akerberg:
Well, the gap between your stove and countertop, it might be a millimeter thick to a half an inch.
Rip Esselstyn:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Stuff falls down there, it gets really dirty. It fills the gap, but it's totally invisible. It self-suspends right in the gap between your stove and countertop, catches all the crumbs, pull it out every couple weeks, rinse it out, put it back.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow, so it's easy to install and then take out?
Jackie Akerberg:
It is. Yeah, it's effortless.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Do you have one handy there, you could show me?
Jackie Akerberg:
Unfortunately, I don't. We just moved into our house about a year ago, and it has an inlaid stove, so it doesn't need crumb catchers. But at our old house, that's why we invented them or my husband has.
Rip Esselstyn:
How is the crumb catcher doing? Is it...
Jackie Akerberg:
Not that well.
Rip Esselstyn:
Come on, people. Crumbs going on the floor or getting caught in between your oven and your blank space there.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, everyone needs a Crumb Catcher. That's our smallest focus out of everything we do. It just sells a few a day on Amazon.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. And then you have a shared workspace, like a WeWork or something like that?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes, a much smaller version of a WeWork. We have about 45 members, 18 private offices, and then the shared workspace.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. That sounds really, really, really cool. Where did you and your husband meet?
Jackie Akerberg:
We actually met at my previous place of employment. My first career was as a hair colorist. He was in the salon that I worked at getting a haircut by another stylist. Yeah, that's how we met.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Were you like, "That guy looks cute." What was it that drew him to you?
Jackie Akerberg:
It was very much the opposite. He pursued me. I thought he was cute for sure, but was not looking for anybody. He was very dedicated to getting to know me, and we finally went on our first date and he also had a Golden Retriever. The rest is history.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. How long have you guys been married?
Jackie Akerberg:
Our four-year anniversary as May 25. We've been together about eight years.
Rip Esselstyn:
Your parents still live there as well?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yep. They live just about 10 minutes away.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, that's fantastic.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, they're wonderful.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, it sounds like you've landed in a great place with a great man, close to your parents with a lot of cool businesses.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Congrats. I'd love to jump into your food journey a little bit.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Tell me, how did you eat growing up? Did you eat just everybody else?
Jackie Akerberg:
I would say no, and that's a great question because I definitely wasn't plant-based growing up, but I erred on the side of that. Both of my parents are phenomenal cooks. They actually owned a catering company when I was a kid, and they did all the fresh baked cookies, all the salads, and were both just very talented in the kitchen. And that certainly carried over into our home. While there were animal products in most meals, for sure, everything was made from scratch. We never had Oreos or Twinkies in the pantry and never grew up eating casseroles or canned cream soup, anything like that. I certainly was, I guess, spoiled or given a nice platform to build from in that regard. Lots of vegetables, never enjoyed meat. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. That lasted until when? Because in reading up on you a little bit, I see that you completely went all in vegan in 2019.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, as I lightly mentioned, I never enjoyed the taste of meat, so I never really ate it. I still would incorporate things like some dairy, a little bit of seafood and eggs into my diet until 2019. I didn't have any major health issues, but just some digestive issues, a lot of skin breakouts and really, really bad allergies and asthma. In Iowa, as I mentioned before, with our negative 24 degree days, there's nothing seasonal and bloom in December that I should be allergic to. Obviously, you have dusts and molds and those sort of things, but for my allergies to be that bad year round, I figured it may be something to do with what I was eating. That's when I decided to cut out all animal products.
Rip Esselstyn:
Was that the culprit, animal products?
Jackie Akerberg:
I think it must have been. I'm no doctor, but as soon as I went vegan, they all went away.
Rip Esselstyn:
Because I see in looking at your new book, The Clean Vegan, that it's also gluten-free and you have a lot of oil free options.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Right. You have a little bit of oil here and there, but for the most part, it looks like it's almost all oil free. Why the gluten-free?
Jackie Akerberg:
Actually, when I was in junior high school, tested allergic to wheat. That is something that I eliminated long ago just for my personal benefit. I find that when I eat grains or an abundance of gluten, that I just feel a lot of inflammation. I personally just digest better and live a more comfortable life when I'm not eating gluten.
Rip Esselstyn:
How does that inflammation present itself to you? Do you feel bloated? Do you feel heavy or what?
Jackie Akerberg:
Bloated, heavy, I can actually see it in my face. It'll be kind of puffy. I'll get a lot of breakouts in my forehead and on my chin area. My body just feels like it aches in the joints.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
I feel sorry for people that happens to... Especially people where it's celiac, where it could be potentially life-threatening.
Jackie Akerberg:
Dangerous, yeah. That's really severe. Mine through this process of developing such a clean diet and figuring out how I feel when I'm eating different foods. It's almost like a blessing and a curse, because I feel like I'm so in tune with my body that what I feel when I eat gluten or a little bit of dairy, I think many people probably feel that way every day and think they're supposed to feel that way, that it's just normal. I am like, "Okay, wow. I can feel so much better if I don't have those ingredients in my life." Just minor changes that I'll notice.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yep. I hear you loud and clear there. We're super wheat proud, but we also are doing our best to come up with gluten-free options as well for people that have a gluten sensitivity.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. Gluten's delicious. I think you should be wheat proud, especially whole grains, there are so tasty and the gluten, the stretchy texture of really good bread. I understand why you love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's nice. But there are so many wonderful gluten-free grains that are out there as well right now and the options are just lots.
Jackie Akerberg:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, where you are right now, is this the 100-year-old house that you're in?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes. It'll be 100 years old next year.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. That means it was built in 1924?
Jackie Akerberg:
That is correct, yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. This house that I'm in right now was built in 1924.
Jackie Akerberg:
Wow. That's really cool.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Yours looks like a little more classy. Mine's basically a little bungalow. Literally, it's a Sears Craftsman bungalow.
Jackie Akerberg:
Oh, I love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
You could order it from Sears in 1924 and then put it together. It's like 850 square feet. This used to be the house that I bought when I was a firefighter and redid it, and where we started our family and then we moved like, oh God, eight years ago, because we were busting at the seams.
Jackie Akerberg:
But you still kept this house?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes. And now it's my office.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay, and where is it located?
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, it's located in Downtown Austin.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay, Austin.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, I'm in Austin, Texas.
Jackie Akerberg:
I love it. Okay, great. Are you going to have a 100th birthday party for your house?
Rip Esselstyn:
Ooh, you know what? Now that you've mentioned it, I think I shall.
Jackie Akerberg:
You shall.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes. Are you going to?
Jackie Akerberg:
Oh, for sure. Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. I do feel like this house has a spirit and a soul to it.
Jackie Akerberg:
I feel the same.
Rip Esselstyn:
Actually, we have three children, and my wife gave birth to all three children here in our bedroom with a midwife. We have a lot of incredible memories here.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, it means a lot, for sure. That's incredible.
Rip Esselstyn:
Especially working on the house, I spent all my off days when I wasn't at the fire station working on this house from redoing the foundation, the electrical, the plumbing, tearing down walls, regutting the bathroom, you name it.
Jackie Akerberg:
Right. You put a lot into it.
Rip Esselstyn:
I put a lot into it. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
I don't know a lot about Sears catalog homes, but I certainly feel like homes were just built differently 100 years ago. You couldn't recreate these today?
Rip Esselstyn:
No. The shiplap and everything, this is a high quality home. Didn't Sears go out of business a couple of years ago?
Jackie Akerberg:
I'm certain of it, yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. Yeah. I don't know what happened. They must have lost something. je ne sais quoi!
Jackie Akerberg:
That's it, for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
Let's get back. You also love to travel and, in fact, you and your husband... What's your husband's name?
Jackie Akerberg:
Clinton.
Rip Esselstyn:
Clinton. Great. You and Clinton, you got married over in Paris, didn't you?
Jackie Akerberg:
Southern France, yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Southern France.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. In the Provence region.
Rip Esselstyn:
Of course.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Nice
Jackie Akerberg:
Rose day, all day. It was very lovely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow.
Jackie Akerberg:
Have you spent much time over there?
Rip Esselstyn:
I've certainly been over there. Let's see, in 1995, I did a mini Tour de France. It was in five different cities in six days, and we did a international distance triathlon in different cities. We actually ended the whole event on top of the, gosh, the Alpe d'Huez, it's a pretty famous climb in the Tour de France, 22 switchbacks and all that. Then once we got to the top, we had to run 10K. That was rather brutal.
Jackie Akerberg:
That's intense, for sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, so yes, I have been to France a couple of times. You've also been to the Caribbean. You love the Caribbean?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, my husband is a big sailor. We both love to dive. I love to sail as well, but he's been doing both his whole life. As much as we can be on a sailboat or traveling the world, definitely we're happiest.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. I can see why. Do you have a favorite Caribbean island?
Jackie Akerberg:
Two years ago, it was 2021, still during COVID, but had lightened up a little bit. We had a 12-day trip to the British Virgin Islands booked with a whole organized itinerary put together by me. And 24 hours before we were supposed to leave, we had to completely pivot because they shut the islands down. We ended up going to the US side, Saint Thomas, Saint John. Saint John was very cool.
Rip Esselstyn:
Did you go to Saint Croix?
Jackie Akerberg:
We didn't make it over there. No. But the whole area is beautiful. I love being on land in those islands, but being under the water and diving and on the water, exploring by boat is just a different experience.
Rip Esselstyn:
How are you finding the coral reefs to be these days?
Jackie Akerberg:
Really devastating. It's almost like a graveyard, honestly. It's just there's so much colorless dead coral. It's very, very sad to see. I don't know if the areas we were in were just... I think that's pretty consistent across the globe, but it was a bummer. I'm an eternal optimist through and through, and even I was like, "This is not good."
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah no, it's definitely a sign of some serious stuff that's going on right now.
Jackie Akerberg:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Although there was a really cool show on nature just this last Wednesday, and it talked about this one strip. I can't remember if it was in the Caribbean. I think it might have been in the Caribbean. It's just as wonderfully robust and alive and colorful as it always has been. It's something about how deep it is and the temperatures and the way the currents run. Nature's usually very optimistic as well and how resilient some of these coral reefs are. They may-
Jackie Akerberg:
That was mostly due to the depth and the temperature?
Rip Esselstyn:
Depth, temperature and the way the currents flow and some other things. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Well, that's good to hear.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, for sure.
Jackie Akerberg:
So much that.
Rip Esselstyn:
I would love to dive into your book.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, let's do it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Great. Why did you decide to write a book? What prompted that? Did people push you? Did your husband push you? Parents?
Jackie Akerberg:
It was something I've always thought would be a wonderful thing to do when I started doing recipe development. A lot of people... I think one of the most common questions, food bloggers probably get asked like, "Okay, when are you going to write a book?" Or, "Are you writing a book?" Or, "When's your book coming out?" I can't tell you how many times I heard that. It was always in the back of my mind and this publishing company actually approached me asking if that was something I would be interested in doing. Talking about my passions or visions with developing a book and knowing that we'd only move forward if we agreed upon a concept that they thought would be beneficial to the market, but also something that I was truly passionate about. I saw a void for a clean vegan cookbook that has really, really delicious recipes. I feel like sometimes people think clean or healthy vegan eating has to be restrictive or flavorless, or doesn't have that satisfying umami texture or taste or flavor. I wanted to show people that it can.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you've hit a home run. I went through this thing in great detail and there's lots of things I love. One of the things I love is that it's not overwhelming. Some of these recipe books you've got 180 recipes. You've got eight different categories from snacks to main dishes to yada yada. You just have, if I'm not mistaken, four different categories.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, four or five.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, you've got nourishing mains, right? You've got super food soups and sandwiches, balanced breakfast, and then you've got your sinless sweets and healthy treats.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yep.
Rip Esselstyn:
I just think that it is fantastic. What I also love about this is every... I think in 2023, just the way we are so visual these days, I think that every recipe and every cookbook...
Jackie Akerberg:
Has to have a photo.
Rip Esselstyn:
Has to. If it doesn't, it's like, "Come on, you're leaving me hanging here. I got to see it, right?"
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
We all know that eating starts with your eyes.
Jackie Akerberg:
For sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
This to me is where you just like, "Oh, incredible." Did you do all the photography in this?
Jackie Akerberg:
I did, yeah. I did all the photography and that was actually a make or break for me that every single recipe had to have a photo for the exact reason you're describing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Page Street Publishing, your publisher, where are they out of? Do you know?
Jackie Akerberg:
They are out of Boston and London. They're under Macmillan as their overhead company.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. Well, that's great. It's always nice when somebody reaches out to you, than you having to reach out to them.
Jackie Akerberg:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Congrats on that. How much time did you spend writing the book?
Jackie Akerberg:
That's a great question. I signed the contract October 2021, maybe a little bit earlier. Submitted my manuscript June 2022, the first draft, and then all the photos, I think, by September of 2022. It was all within a year.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Okay.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, it was pretty fast tracked.
Rip Esselstyn:
You got after it.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. The way I did it, I tested the recipes and concepts for many months, just any hours of the day when I had time. Then I took a three-week period, like 21 full days, where I was shooting, making final tests and recipe writing for probably 10, 11 hours every day.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, and it probably felt so good to finish this labor of love?
Jackie Akerberg:
It really did. It really, really did.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. All right. If you have your copy in front of you.
Jackie Akerberg:
I do.
Rip Esselstyn:
This is what I'd love to do. I love going through and marking recipes that I personally would like to try. Of course, I'd like to try every one of them, but for what we're doing here today, that's not realistic.
Jackie Akerberg:
Right.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm going to go through, and then I'd love for you to talk about the recipe that I bring to your attention.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay, let's do it.
Rip Esselstyn:
I also want to say at the onset how much I love your introduction to every recipe.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's really important that in a recipe book, that the author has just a little introductory paragraph to let us know why this recipe's included, what it means to them, a little backstory on it. You've done that fabulously.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Let's start with best ever veggie burgers, because everybody says they have the best veggie burger, right?
Jackie Akerberg:
It's true.
Rip Esselstyn:
Looking at this and looking at the ingredients... This is the cover of your book and I want you to know that in my second book PLANTSTRONG, my cover shot was a burger as well.
Jackie Akerberg:
A burger.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Which I love. I don't know about you, but when my publisher and I were deciding for the cover photo, obviously, I wanted something really vibrant, really eye catching. We were deciding between three different recipes, the burger, first of all, and then this rainbow veggie sandwich on page 72, which is super colorful and vibrant. And then the third option was this grain bowl that was also really colorful, but when it came down to it, I chose the burger because I'm like, "Okay, that's ironic. Kind of amazing. It says The Clean Vegan, yet it's a big juicy saucy burger. That is like the whole motivation behind my book to show people that you can eat these delicious recipes. You can have full flavored foods, and they can be totally vegan.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, I'm going to go on to another recipe right now. This is still, we're in the nourishing mains.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
This is on page 32. This is yellow cauliflower rice with pineapple and cashews. The reason why I picked this is I never do anything with cauliflower rice, and you talk about it so excitedly that I was drawn to your description of it. I love anything that has pineapple and cashews in it as well. Anyway, this is one that I will make as well.
Jackie Akerberg:
I cannot wait for you to try it. It's funny, we have so much in common in that sense. If it has pineapples and cashews and even better curry, I'm in. When I was testing this recipe, the curry, pineapple fried rice, my husband typically is not, Clinton, he's not a big cauliflower rice fan. He wants real rice, which is great. I made one version of it for me with cauliflower rice, one version for him with regular rice, and he actually liked mine better. It had way more flavor. The texture was just as hardy and delicious. I think with the cashews and some of the other veggies in there, it really bulks it up so you don't miss the grain in there. It just had so much more flavor. The rice, and I felt this way in a lot of times. One reason I always pair a lot of my foods with massage kale versus rice or heavier carbs is because I think that a bland carb sometimes dilutes flavor versus pairing with a vegetable, which just enhances flavor.
Rip Esselstyn:
There's a couple recipes that we're going to talk about here soon where you've done exactly that, and I think that's really smart. The next recipe I want to go to, Jackie, is on page 39. It's the crispy chipotle jackfruit taquitos, right? The reason why I'm picking this one is because I haven't counted exactly how many recipes in your book have jackfruit. I think it's two, but because you're Jackie jackfullness kitchen.
Jackie Akerberg:
Close enough
Rip Esselstyn:
Jackfruitful Kitchen. I was like, "All right, we got to have a recipe that we talk about that has jackfruit." If you, in fact, like the jackfruit, I'd love for you to tell me a little bit about the jackfruit and why you are so enamored with it.
Jackie Akerberg:
Those are all great questions. And yes, I am the jackfruitfulness. It's funny, a couple of my friends actually call me jackfruit, which is pretty cute. But the jackfruit taquitos, if you are... You're right, I think there's only two recipes in my book that use jackfruit, and it's one of my favorite ingredients because it has such a fibrous, meaty texture. I'm not sure how much you cook with it, but it really emulates like a pulled shredded chicken or shredded pork. It's great for you doing barbecue, pulled jackfruit sandwiches in these taquitos. It is so good. These are one of my favorite recipes to make, especially for meat lovers, because they typically... I made these actually for my cookbook lunch party, and this guy that I'm friends with. He's actually on an all meat diet right now. We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.
Rip Esselstyn:
I think they call that the lion diet.
Jackie Akerberg:
Right. It's insane. He'll talk to me about it like I'm going to jump on board. I'm like, "Talk to me in a few years, let me know how you're feeling." Anyway, he took a bite to these and he is like, "Wait, these aren't vegan. These have to be shredded chicken, right?" He thought they were actually meat. I think it's a great ingredient just to emulate that texture that people that do love meat have come to love and crave.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, those look dynamite. Tell me about the jackfruit. What makes the jackfruit so unique? Isn't it like the largest fruit in the world?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, it's the largest fruit in the world. It can be over 100 pounds and three feet long, still grow from a tree. It's insane. Can you imagine walking underneath that at bad timing? That could end badly. When it's harvested young, it has very little flavor, almost no flavor. That's what you want to use for the meat substitutes. That's typically purchased either canned or frozen or refrigerated. Once the jackfruit is ripe, it is sweeter than a pineapple. It is so sugar forward, natural sugars, of course, but just so incredibly sweet and used in more desserts. It's almost syrupy, more a mango pineapple hybrid. It's an incredibly diverse fruit. Like I said, the young unripe version is the one you want to use for these meat based or meat emulating recipes.
Rip Esselstyn:
When did you first get introduced to the jackfruit?
Jackie Akerberg:
It wasn't until... Well, you know what, it was actually probably 8 to 10 years ago. Trader Joe's had this pretty killer frozen yellow curry jackfruit recipe. At that time in my life, I was working like 65 hours a week. The easier the ways to get food in my mouth the better. Trader Joe's was a great place to find... At that time, I was just mostly vegetarian. Those meals, they had this jackfruit curry, and it was incredible. I couldn't believe it. That was the first time I experienced it. And then the first recipe I ever made with it personally was a barbecue pulled jackfruit, which is pretty awesome. You like it?
Rip Esselstyn:
I've only had it a couple of times and maybe as a substitute for a barbecue sandwich. You know what I mean? I don't know, I've never thought to buy it frozen. I've never bought a big old thing because I don't know what I'd do with it. It just doesn't seem very practical to me. I can't remember the last time I had it.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, I typically buy the cans.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. Is that a Trader Joe's thing or Whole Foods or what?
Jackie Akerberg:
Whole Foods. Typically, I think... I can't remember what brand it is. Native Forest maybe, or Edward and Sons is the brand I usually buy. It's super important and I cover these tips in my book, to rinse it really well out of the can and then to wrap it in a clean dish towel and squeeze all the excess moisture out of it prior to cooking with it. Otherwise, you might experience a little bit of a brine taste. If you don't squeeze the moisture out before using in a recipe, it can't take on other flavors. If you're not loving jackfruit, that's a way to start.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Well, good. Well, I love that you have tips like that for people that are just trying some of these new dishes and giving them some helpful hints. Let's go to page 51 and do the Impastable.
Jackie Akerberg:
You like my puns?
Rip Esselstyn:
I forgot the first one for the best burger ever. You said that it is, "A bun in a million."
Jackie Akerberg:
It's funny, I wrote these so long ago that it's like I'm hearing that for the first time and it still makes me giggle. That burger, it really is bun in a million. I think I cut out earlier, but we had it last night with some friends and my meat loving friend that we were with last night, even he was like, "This is the best veggie burger I've ever had."
Rip Esselstyn:
All right, I'll try it for sure. Page 51, this grain-free rigatoni with a lentil bolognese sauce. I love pasta. I love lentils. Just the way this thing looks, it looks so hearty, meaty, flavorful, lot of umami. Talk to me.
Jackie Akerberg:
Everything you just covered was my exact goal. Those lentils just give it such a meaty texture. This is another one. When I was developing these recipes, my opinion is great. I usually think, and then Clinton's opinion, he likes some things that I don't and vice versa. I wanted to have a really wide set of differing tastes and opinions, some meat eaters, some fellow vegetarian, some vegans, et cetera. This was one that I specifically gave it to people that I know eat a pretty meat forward diet and they were enamored by it, exactly like you said, because typically what meat eaters miss in a vegan meal is that umami savory, mouthwatering fat content. The way these ingredients come together with the mushrooms and the lentils, it's incredibly meaty and flavor rich.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Then I love the... My mouth is literally watering, but I'm looking at the... What kind of pasta is that? What's that shape and that size?
Jackie Akerberg:
Rigatoni.
Rip Esselstyn:
Rigatoni, okay. Yes, and of course, it's in the title of the...
Jackie Akerberg:
I wasn't going to call you out, but...
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you know what, you have to start calling me out Iowa, I know Rip. Yeah, please do.
Jackie Akerberg:
I love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
I can just feel it going into my mouth and how it just takes up space and it's wonderful.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you. I can't wait for you to try it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Okay, we're going to move on now to superfoods, soups and sandwiches. I think growing up on Sundays, my mother, we'd always have sandwiches and soups for lunch. When I see this, it immediately made me think of growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and either soups or sandwiches for lunch on Sunday.
Jackie Akerberg:
Wait, you're from Ohio?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes.
Jackie Akerberg:
And you confused Iowa and Idaho? When Ohio is typically looped into the mix.
Rip Esselstyn:
I think it's important that we go back and discuss that. No, for some reason, my brain just was thinking Idaho from the very beginning. I saw the I and I just thought Idaho, not Iowa. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
So, Sunday soups at home.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes. Anyway, let's dive in. I'm going to start on page 61. It's your cucumber melon gazpacho with pine nut pico. People look at this photo. For people that are just listening, you'll have to go and check it out on YouTube because it's worth it. I just think it looks so absolutely gorgeous and I am not a gazpacho type of person. You even start out by saying, if you don't like chilled soups, believe me, you're about to love chilled soups. Why am I going to love this soup?
Jackie Akerberg:
It's funny, I've had so many people tell me they don't love chilled soups. And then they try this and they're obsessed. It's so delicious. I don't like a chunky chilled soup. I like a pureed chilled soup with a garnish, like I've done here. The blend in this of the honeydew melon, the tomatillos, the fresh cucumber, there's herbs, there's citrus, garlic, ginger. It's just so flavor-forward. It's like smoothies better cousin. It's just a little bit savory, but still really fresh and light. It's just the perfect summer dish.
Rip Esselstyn:
Obviously the green, it's the honeydew, the basil, the mint, the avocado, the cucumber.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yep, the bell pepper. Oh yeah, and the avocado, I'm forgetting some of the ingredients here, but the avocado adds that fat content that people typically... Sometimes gazpacho is pretty oil-forward. It'll contain maybe a half cup of olive oil in four servings, but the fat content comes from avocado, so it's really silky.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. You mentioned oil there. Obviously you probably know that I'm not a fan of oil.
Jackie Akerberg:
Right.
Rip Esselstyn:
Why are you not a fan of oil?
Jackie Akerberg:
I would say for the same reasons as you. I think, first of all, it's incredibly easy to cook without it. I think it's a great way to eliminate a very processed ingredient and a lot of calories. It's crazy when you think about, say you're sauteing something, oftentimes I still will use a little bit, maybe a teaspoon or two of avocado oil or cold-pressed olive oil to get started. But then anytime I need to deglaze, it's either vegetable broth or water. And if you think, conversely, if you're just glugging on more oil every time, the amount of calories and saturated fat you're adding in just excess heavy processed ingredients, I just don't love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. I think the keyword there was glugging.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Glugging on more oil. It just doesn't sound good.
Jackie Akerberg:
A technical term.
Rip Esselstyn:
No, it is. It does not sound good.
Jackie Akerberg:
No.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right, good. Let's move on because I got several more I want to hear. On page 67, I am such a chili guy. This is a hardy three-bean quinoa chili. Here's the photo of it right there. You can see it. What got me with this one is not only the photo, but when you mentioned how, in your intro, this is a mic drop recipe. Talk to me.
Jackie Akerberg:
It's one of those chilies... Well, here, I'll tell you this. We actually had a chili cookoff at our office, our shared workspace that we were talking about earlier. We had a chili cookoff back in October, and they were eight different chilies. I made this one, we did not label them, so no one knew it was vegan. And my chili won.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow.
Jackie Akerberg:
It was really funny because everyone had already voted... One person had not voted yet, and he was sitting over there sampling the last chilies. Clinton, my husband, asked him which one he was going to vote for, and he was like, "Oh, you can't say because we haven't announced the winner." He was like, "Oh, I already know. It's obviously number three." I'm like, "Oh, yeah, you picked the vegan one." He's like, "Wait, that one's vegan. Can I change my vote?" It was hilarious. He was being funny and playful about it, but no one knew that it was a vegan chili because it's just that satisfying with the quinoa and the beans and the vegetables. It's delicious.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Well, it sounds like you're a connoisseur of chilies.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
What I'd like to do, probably in the next two or three weeks, I want to send you a care package.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
We're coming out with six new chilies and stews.
Jackie Akerberg:
Amazing.
Rip Esselstyn:
That we're going to commercialize and I'll send you a care package. I want you to let me know your favorites. We've got a black bean, we've got a sweetened smokey, we've got a chunky chipotle. We've got a lentil bolognese. Even some lentil berbere. Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
All those sound delicious.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, you're hearty three-bean quinoa. All right. Let's move on. I've got a version of this sandwich in two of my cookbooks. The reason I was so drawn to this one is because of your title. This is it, it is your no tuna to sea sandwich. And of course, sea is spelled S-E-A. Right. Another one of your puns.
Jackie Akerberg:
Always.
Rip Esselstyn:
This looks creamy, tangy, anything. What else can you tell me about this?
Jackie Akerberg:
It's both those things. It's creamy, it's tangy. It has those capers in it, which give that tanginess. It has a little bit of nori flakes, so seaweed to provide that oceany taste that you typically get from tuna. The tahini is a great creamy base that's paired with those roughly mashed chickpeas. It's just a really satisfying tuna salad that even tuna salad lovers will love.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. This is one that I definitely am going to try. I'm going to move on now to... Let's go into glowing greens.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
We are a huge fan of greens at PLANTSTRONG. We want people to have greens three times a day at least. But what I'm going to start with is jicama and citrus salad with super green cilantro dressing. What drew me to this one was not only jicama, because you're right, I think jicama is fantastic and not enough people use it. But also, I am such a fan of oranges and grapefruits in salads, and you've done both here. Just wow me right now with your description of this salad.
Jackie Akerberg:
This salad is one that, not only is it incredibly flavorful. This dressing is made from cilantro, oranges, lime juice, ginger. It's incredibly flavorful and just coats the ingredients with a lot of subtle sweetness and acidity. It also has those hardy textures. You have the creamy avocado, paired with the juicy citrus that you mentioned, the oranges and avocado. And then that jicama, for those of you that haven't tried jicama, it is one of my favorite ingredients, whether I'm using it as a carrier for dips or slicing it thinly like this for salads. The texture like an apple or radish, but subtly sweet, really mild, but just a perfect crunch amongst the other ingredients and great carrier for the dressing.
Rip Esselstyn:
I'm moving on to page 98. If there's one thing I can't get enough of these days, it's roasted cauliflower, whether it's steaks or whatever. When I saw this roasted cauliflower salad with dates and tahini sauce, I just fell in love. Also, a lot of people don't know this, but cauliflower is also another great way to get your leafy greens, right?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
It's part of that family.
Jackie Akerberg:
A lot of people don't know that.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, and so to make our endothelial cells really fire out that nitric oxide. Tell me about this, because I love that it's paired with dates, right? Give it a great sweetness, the roasted cauliflower, and then this tahini sauce. It just sounds so healthy and comforting like, "Hold me back."
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, it's exactly that. And it's funny because this has become a fan favorite, which I didn't necessarily expect that that people would gravitate towards this one so strongly. I'm getting weekly, if not daily messages about the love for this recipe and people saying, "Hey, I just ate the entire bowl myself. Is that okay?" Because it is, like you said, hold me back. It is just that good. The cauliflower has perfectly charred edges and a bit of an earthy taste. The dates add this wonderful sweetness in every bite and mixed with the warm cauliflower, they soften just a little bit. The sunflower seeds add that earthy crunch, and then the tahini dressing to finish it off is just like, "Hmm, chef's kiss."
Rip Esselstyn:
What was that? Chef's kiss?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
That gets the chef's kiss of approval. Good.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now we're moving on to balanced breakfast. I think of every meal of the day, my favorite time is breakfast. Something about waking up. I'm always hungry. I can't wait to dig in. Some of my favorite things I'm going to ask you about right now. One, every Sunday morning, I make pancakes for my whole family. And you start out with power packed blueberry pancakes. What really got me about this one is I always look at ingredients when I see pancakes, and the first ingredient was silken tofu and I'm like, "Okay, I got to know why silken tofu is in a pancake recipe." Let me-
Jackie Akerberg:
Let's talk about it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Let's do it.
Jackie Akerberg:
I was actually just going to ask if you've ever tried silken tofu in a pancake.
Rip Esselstyn:
No.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay. Think about tofu, it's fluffy and light and silky. Think about pancakes. You want it to be super fluffy. Adding the tofu to the pancakes not only adds to the fluffiness and a little bit of fat content, but it also adds a lot of protein. You take something that... If you're making a whole grain pancake, I'm sure it has a lot of protein and fiber, but if you're thinking of a traditional buttermilk pancake dredged in butter, and probably not even real maple syrup, there's not a lot of nutritional value or protein there. I wanted to create something that was the antithesis of that with a protein-forward fiber rich pancake that was just as delicious as the real deal.
Rip Esselstyn:
Look at this. You've got a stack of six pancakes here, Jackie. Please tell me, these didn't just get thrown out. Tell me somebody-
Jackie Akerberg:
Oh, no. We ate all of them. That was one big thing in my recipe shooting that I did not want to have any food waste. I could not tolerate it. I not only had... People scheduled every single day to pick up the food. Their only requirement was they had to reuse the containers or give them back and they had to give feedback. That they to answer five questions about the recipe they tested. These pancakes just went right into Clinton and my belly, because they were that good.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's your favorite thing to put on top of pancakes when you make pancakes?
Jackie Akerberg:
I am classic girl. I love grade A maple syrup, but a fluffy coconut yogurt and more fresh fruit and a little flaxseed or hemp seed. How about you?
Rip Esselstyn:
You know what? It's interesting. I typically put banana slices in my pancakes along with just a little bit of dark chocolate chips, and I literally just eat them with my hand. I don't typically put anything on top of them. I just put them on a plate and then I eat them with my hand.
Jackie Akerberg:
For sure.
Rip Esselstyn:
That's typically how I do it these days. Yeah, I don't go the maple syrup route. Back in the day, I would do apple sauce. For a while there I was doing peanut butter.
Jackie Akerberg:
I was going to say peanut butter. Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Oh, yeah. Well, we're going to talk about peanut butter in a second.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
I could die in a big vat of peanut butter.
Jackie Akerberg:
Happily.
Rip Esselstyn:
Very happily. Yeah. All right, let's move on. Page 111, Jackie, best ever tofu scramble with massage kale and avocado. This to me, I just saw how you paired these two. And one of my favorite things really, when I'm not doing pancakes is a tofu scramble. Sometimes I love that tofu scramble for dinner. We make it for dinner. The way you've paired it though with kale, as opposed to a grain, which we were talking about earlier, to take on the flavors and the avocado here. What makes yours better than mine?
Jackie Akerberg:
Well, I don't know that it's better than yours because I haven't tried yours, but I would say that what makes-
Rip Esselstyn:
What makes yours better? Let me know.
Jackie Akerberg:
It's all in the preparation. You're scrambling the tofu first, getting some charred edges and a little crispiness. Then you're pouring in this, I don't want to call it a coating, but like a chickpea flour, nutritional yeast and plant milk based seasoning sauce that then the tofu absorbs after it's gotten a little bit crispy, and it takes on that black lava salt in slightly cheesy umami flavor for a super eggy taste and a really satisfying texture.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. I think you may just have me there. When you talked about the chickpea flour and the eggy taste. Let me see if you have it in here. Tell me this, do you like extra firm or super firm or mega firm?
Jackie Akerberg:
For tofu scrambles, I like extra firm, but pretty much every other area of life that requires tofu, which are many moments, I do super firm.
Rip Esselstyn:
Except for the desserts and the pancakes.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah
Rip Esselstyn:
We like the silken.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
For those of the people that have never heard of silken, can you describe how it's different?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. silken tofu is, and correct me if I'm wrong here, firm, extra firm, high protein, super firm tofu is all coagulated or curdled where the silk and tofu has a higher water content, and it's just thickened. Correct?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yes, that all sounds good and it's super light, and it's like a pudding almost.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. It is a texture of pudding or a cheesecake almost. Well, probably more like pudding, but just super silky, really delicate.
Rip Esselstyn:
And it's really ideal for desserts. I haven't had it before. Sometimes in the house, I try using a medium or a super firm for a dessert, and it just bombs every time.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, it doesn't work. There is a time and place for silken tofu, like pancakes and desserts and even smoothies.
Rip Esselstyn:
What can you tell me about this massage kale that you have in here? Anything?
Jackie Akerberg:
It's life changing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay. All right.
Jackie Akerberg:
Actually, if you flip back to page... The very first salad in my ingredients, is life-changing massage kale?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. There's a whole write-up on it because it's so funny. When you massage kale, it really is life-changing. You'll go from thinking it's a rigid, bitter garnish on your plate at your parents' favorite restaurant to wanting it with every meal because it's just that delicious. It's so tender, sweet, juicy, adds a lot of... That's one of the few recipes I typically do, just a tiny touch of oil, lemon juice. But we're talking like a half teaspoon of avocado or olive oil for the whole recipe. It's just a wonderful compliment to almost any dish.
Rip Esselstyn:
What's your trick to massaging the kale? Do you do it with your hands? With tongs?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes, with my hands. I remove the spines of the kale. Typically, I sometimes save those for smoothies or juicing, chop it finer than you think. I like smaller pieces of kale, and then adding, for one bunch of kale, I'll do a whole lemon juiced and a half teaspoon of olive oil and just massage it for about 15 to 30 seconds until you'll see the leaves become shiny. They become more pliable, reduced in size and it becomes so delicious. I could just eat it straight.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. My mother loves saying that kale is spinach with heft.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, I love that your mom says that. That's amazing. Spinach with heft.
Rip Esselstyn:
Spinach with heft, spinach with an attitude.
Jackie Akerberg:
Spinach with an attitude. I like it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. All right. Carrie's heard me say this a lot. Carrie's the producer of the podcast everybody, that I think in another life I was a horse because I love oats that much, which is why I have to ask you about strawberry banana zucchini, and oat nourish bowls right here. I never ever would've thought to add zucchini. And you say you do it to all your oat bowls. Tell me why?
Jackie Akerberg:
I love oats. Also, sometimes for breakfast, I like to eat a bigger bowl without feeling too weighed down. And I think to get as many oats as I want in my bowl, I end up feeling a little bit heavy afterwards. Shredded zucchini adds a lot of volume to your oats.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
You're not going to taste it at all and it has a super low caloric density, and it's very low in carbs and nutrient rich. It's a phenomenal way to sneak in veggies, get more food on your plate, and more fiber, and they're delicious.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you shred it up, or how do you do it in there?
Jackie Akerberg:
Shred it really finely, add it in right when you're cooking and you won't even know it's there.
Rip Esselstyn:
In watching some of your videos on your Instagram channel and watching you chop, I'm like, "Oh my gosh. She can chop like an absolute pro."
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
I've seen Derek and Chad Sarno chop, and these guys are like machines, and you are right up there with them. How did you get to become such a proficient chopper upper.
Jackie Akerberg:
I appreciate that. That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever said to me. And I accept. I'll tell you this, when I was a kid growing up, I was always on salad duty. I remember I complained about it once and my mom was like, "Okay, would you rather set the table?" And I was like, "No, I will stick with salad duty." I was always chopping all the veggies for salads. I grew up working with knives and learning knife safety and how to prep different veggies. I just love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Then I saw you in one of your videos. You also were using, and I'm not going to get the name of this correctly. It's right up there with Idaho and Iowa, rigatoni for the day. Was it a mandolin that you were using to slice something? And you did it so fast, I was like, "Wow."
Jackie Akerberg:
I may have had it sped up, or maybe it wasn't me.
Rip Esselstyn:
No, you didn't. You didn't.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
It was all you.
Jackie Akerberg:
Well, the mandolin makes it so easy, especially if I'm making pickled onions, I want those to be pretty consistently sliced and really thin so they get nice and tender and flavorful. Then also radishes, jicama, those are things I love to use the mandolin for. That just save you time and just make it really consistent across the board.
Rip Esselstyn:
Now, I don't want to spend too much time on this one, but I just was like, "Oh, I really would like a bite of that." That's your eggless spinach artichoke quiche with an almond flour crust. This one right here. And you talk about how you got so inspired when you were, I think, maybe it was on your honeymoon with your husband in France, and you're like, Oh my gosh, I can make something just as good that doesn't have the eggs and all the other contraband." And here she is right here.
Jackie Akerberg:
That contraband, I love it. That one is so delicious. We actually made it Christmas morning this last year with my husband's family, and it is so good. The almond flour crust. I love almond flour for a crust. I know you're a big wheat guy, but that almond crust just has like a hearty, slightly crumbly but dense texture that pairs perfectly with the light eggy texture. Artichokes in there, just a really nice addition for both texture and flavor, and it's just beautiful.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah no, it looks divine. Speaking of divine, if you're cool with it, I'm going to move into sinless sweets and healthy treats. You have several, but I'm only going to talk to you about three.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay.
Rip Esselstyn:
The first one is, this is probably... If these yield 16 bars, my mother could eat every one of them and it's the first one. It's the lemon ginger bars with almond flour, shortbread crust. Look at these. It is just so gorgeous.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
What do I want to ask you about this? It's like, "I don't know, can you send me a box?"
Jackie Akerberg:
I don't know how well these would ship, but Yeah, I'll try that. They're delicious and honestly, what sets them apart from other lemon bars besides being totally plant-based, refined sugar-free, oil free is the ginger. It adds such a nice, subtle piece of interest and extra flavor in depth to it. That's just really surprising.
Rip Esselstyn:
Piece of interest. That's an interesting way of phrasing that. It does. It gives it a little bit of... When I think of ginger, I think of a little hint of heat.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah.
Rip Esselstyn:
Hint of heat, and then a little pop and it's just gingery. It's very cool. Very refreshing.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yes.
Rip Esselstyn:
All right. Let's go on. I'm on page 139 here. It's the ultimate fudgy grain-Free brownies. All right. Look at this. Those of you that know me know that besides peanut butter, my other big thing is chocolate.
Jackie Akerberg:
You need these in your life now.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. What makes these so absolutely special besides, and I don't mean to steal some of your thunder, the avocado, the balsamic vinegar, and the coffee that's in these.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. That's it. They are so fudgy and rich, and I don't know about you, but whenever I was making boxed brownies growing up, it was like if they said to bake for 24 minutes, I was baking for 18 or 19. I want them to be fudgy and dense and gooey. Nobody wants a cakey brownie. These are just all of that, and then the avocado adds a nice silky fat content that's phenomenal. Two different chocolate sources, so really rich and deep on the chocolate flavor. And then the raw cacao and coffee and balsamic, just all three add a depth that just in enhances that chocolate flavor. It's really delicious.
Rip Esselstyn:
Where did you learn to bake?
Jackie Akerberg:
My mom is like a all-star baker. When they had their catering company, it was her chocolate chip cookie recipe that skyrocketed them to success. I've been baking my whole life and I've learned everything I know from her.
Rip Esselstyn:
Well, but you also say that you've learned a lot in the kitchen from your father, especially around breakfast.
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah, but not with baking. That's not his area.
Rip Esselstyn:
Okay.
Jackie Akerberg:
But yeah, breakfast is my dad's specialty. Every morning, he starts with a grapefruit, then he either has oatmeal or granola. Then he has an omelet or a veggie scramble or something. He has like a three-course breakfast. I love it.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. All right. We're going to end the breakfast here with the dark chocolate covered flourless peanut butter cookies because...
Jackie Akerberg:
Oh, these are wild.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, right here. I just know that you combine the two.
Jackie Akerberg:
Your two favorite things.
Rip Esselstyn:
And I'm a sucker. Yes.
Jackie Akerberg:
They are so good. The peanut butter cookies are so chewy and perfectly salted. Yeah, that chocolate coating, whether you do it or not, which we all know that you would choose to. It is just a perfect pairing.
Rip Esselstyn:
Do you have a favorite peanut butter that you like to use when you use peanut butter?
Jackie Akerberg:
I oftentimes use... Oh, what is it called? Saint... I have it at Whole Foods. It's a green label. I'm blanking on it, Glass jar, green label, green lid. Organic. No other ingredients besides organic roasted peanuts and a pinch of sea salt.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. I try and get peanut butter that just has one ingredients that's roasted peanuts. I'm amazed these days how they have these stir-free peanut butter. They've got sugar, they've got high palm oil. It's just, ugh.
Jackie Akerberg:
I know. It's crazy. Then people get addicted to that because the hyper palletization, because they want that extra sugar, that extra fat and that extra salt, and then they don't end up liking natural peanut butter because their mind and body of tricked them into being addicted to sugar.
Rip Esselstyn:
Sugar and that even excessive amount of fat from your palm oil, and you said it perfectly when you said the hyper palletization which is exactly what they're going for. And then, of course, the convenience of, "Oh, I don't have to get my..."
Jackie Akerberg:
Spend 30 seconds stirring?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, and I don't have to get the oil out running down the side of the peanut butter jar and on my hand. I don't have to go to the sink and mess with all that stuff.
Jackie Akerberg:
They've definitely hit on people's pain point there, but come on people.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah, they have. How much do you think that you love Sumos more than I do?
Jackie Akerberg:
Oh, yes. I don't know if this is a fight you want to have. I for sure love Sumos more.
Rip Esselstyn:
You think so? Well, I saw you on one of your Instagram videos coming into the house with, I think it was six boxes of Sumos because you said Sumo season is almost over. The other day I came into my house with seven.
Jackie Akerberg:
Okay. You may have me there on quantity, but the love is deep.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
They are special and it's funny because any person that I get hooked on them, they're like, "Okay, wow. Yeah, you're right. I'm never eating a regular orange or a clementine or a tangerine again, because this is just next level juiciness, sweetness." I just love Sumos.
Rip Esselstyn:
I do too. Although, I got to tell you, to be quite honest, that lately the last couple batches that I've gotten have been a little dry and they haven't had that typical Sumo like specialness to them.
Jackie Akerberg:
Wow factor?
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah.
Jackie Akerberg:
I also noticed that this year, very early season in January, they were dry and then I typically find the last week or two of April that they're available. They were touch dry.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Jackie, this has been an absolute blast, really.
Jackie Akerberg:
I agree.
Rip Esselstyn:
I've enjoyed getting to know you. I've enjoyed the fact that you do actually live in Iowa, and not Idaho. I don't think I'll ever make that mistake again. I'm just so happy for you and the launch of this fabulous cookbook, The Clean Vegan Cookbook. Sixty whole food plant-based recipes to nourish your body and your soul. Jackie Ackerberg, huge congrats.
Jackie Akerberg:
Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Jackie. Any anything you'd like to say before we depart?
Jackie Akerberg:
Super grateful for you having me on. This has been super great talking to you. Had a blast and I appreciate you highlighting so many recipes in my book. It's a great collection of 60 of my favorite recipes that you won't find anywhere else on my blog and on my Instagram. I am sharing other recipes often and other tips and tricks like how to use a mandolin or how to slice a cauliflower. But this is my most recent and curated collection of my favorites, so thank you so much.
Rip Esselstyn:
Yeah. Tell people where can they go to find you on your different platforms?
Jackie Akerberg:
Yeah. On Instagram, I'm Jackfruitfull Kitchen and I post their daily different tips, tricks, recipes. On my website, my blog, it's jackfruitfull.com. And that is where I do offer printable recipes, as well as I have two different four week meal plans. If you're new to a plant-based diet or just want to simplify plant-based eating and reduce food waste and reduce your time spent in the kitchen, those meal plans are a great way to tackle that. Then my book can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods. Really, anywhere books are sold.
Rip Esselstyn:
Wow. Fabulous, Jackie. Fabulous. Will you hit me with a PLANTSTRONG fist on the way out?
Jackie Akerberg:
Absolutely.
Rip Esselstyn:
Boom.
I love it.
Jackie Akerberg:
Keep it PLANTSTRONG.
Love it. Thank you.
Rip Esselstyn:
Thank you. Again, Jackie's book is called The Clean Vegan Cookbook, and Jackie's website is jackfruitful.com. I'll be sure to link up to it in the show notes. Until next time, live a fruitful life and always keep it PLANTSTRONG. Thank you for listening to the PLANTSTRONG podcast. You can support the show by taking a quick minute to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Leaving us a positive review and sharing the show with your network is another great way to help us reach as many people as possible with the exciting news about plants. Thank you in advance for your support. It means everything.
The PLANTSTRONG podcast team includes Carrie Barrett, Laurie Kortowich, Ami Mackey, Patrick Gavin, and Wade Clark. This season is dedicated to all of those courageous truth seekers who weren't afraid to look through the lens with clear vision and hold firm to a higher truth. Most notably my parents, Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. and Ann Crile Esselstyn. Thanks for listening.
