Heather Crosby :: A REAL Food Chef

Like many of my favorite chef friends, Heather is somebody I just recently met through the WWW, mainly twitter. I want to introduce you to her, the Yum Universe blog, have her tell us about herself and share her special pancakes recipe with you. 

Juli: What is your favorite Summer dish so far this year?

Heather: I've made my creamy quinoa and kale salad a lot this summer. My chocolate ice cream is a fav and for bfast, the apple chard smoothie.

You can read a little more about Heather below, her health story is inspiring! 

She's a T. Colin Campbell Foundation Certified Plant-Based Nutrition Coach dedicated to making this way of living easy and inspiring.

"Like most of us, I grew up eating the typical American diet. You probably know it—meat, dairy, sugar and processed foods that slick marketing assured our families were good for us.

Around 21 years old, I started having health issues more serious than the bi-monthly cold or bout of strep throat that I seemed to always be battling. For the rest of my twenties, I struggled with the confusion and frustration that came from various vague and conflicting medical diagnoses. I had all the scary tests yet I wasn’t getting any real answers. I knew that my body was trying to tell me something—it was giving me signals, a.k.a symptoms. I felt like the brake light was on in my car, and I didn’t want to just tape over it and keep driving. I wasn’t interested in medications that “masked,” I wanted to feel good naturally. Time to take matters into my own hands.

After years of voracious researching, plant-based nutrition study, going out of my comfort zone, experimenting with new foods, recipes and ideas, I have found next-to-complete relief from my symptoms because I am treating the cause. Alkalizing my body by optimizing the assimilation of my food (real, clean food) and reducing physical and nutritional stress has helped me find a place in life where I feel strong, full of energy and, well, quite happy. The right foods, heal. I haven’t had a cold in 3 years. I rarely need naps anymore. I can work out for 2-3 hours without fatigue. Am I perfect? Noooo way. Am I still learning and healing? Yes. Do I fall off the wagon? Sure. Am I going to share with you what I discover along the way? You bet."

HEATHER'S PANCAKE RECIPE

Ingredients:
For topping
3-4 organic strawberries, or any fresh fruit you like
Date Puree

For pancakes
1 cup organic buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
¼ teaspoon aluminum-free baking soda
½ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
3 Medjool dates (here’s how you remove the pits)
1 ½ cups pure water
¼ cup raw, organic cashews
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or seeds from one vanilla bean (how to remove seeds)
Pinch of fine ground sea salt
Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Cold-pressed virgin coconut oil for pan

Wash your berries well, chop and set aside.

Place a small dollop of coconut oil in a pan and warm to medium-high heat.

Place all pancake ingredients in the blender and mix until thoroughly blended and creamy.

Directly from the blender, pour batter into pan to create the size of pancakes that you want. When you see many air bubbles form, and the edges of the pancake are starting to dry…

Flip...

Brown the other side, remove from pan and top with berries, Date Puree, honey or whatever syrup you’d like and enjoy.

I tend to make small pancakes and keep extras in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator. I eat them cold for a snack. They are great to take to work, too. When you get hungry, just eat them like you would crackers.