Welcome Heather Crosby to my Plant Chat today! Heather is a self-described veggie-phobe turned veggie-lover, living in a small town in West Virginia. She is the recipe developer and photographer of the popular website YumUniverse, and the author of the fabulous books, YumUniverse and YumUniverse Pantry to Plate, which can surely inspire delicious, healthful plant-based eating in your own kitchen. Read on to learn more about Heather’s plant-based inspiration and get one of her favorite recipes, too.
What is the inspiration behind your book, YumUniverse Pantry to Plate?
The idea for the book came about shortly after my first book. I was asked quite a bit “what I eat on a daily basis” and when I really thought about it, I realized that I didn’t prepare a new recipe for every meal of the day seven days a week. I ate leftovers, recycled meals into new ones, and more often than not, simply grabbed some goods from the fridge, the counter, the pantry, and threw it together using a few guidelines I had hardwired in my brain thanks to recipe developing. This was cooking for real life, and I talked about how to do it in my first book, but I had more tools to share—the templates that I used and home cooks could use as well to create thousands of different meals based on what they have on hand, what they love to eat, and what their food mood was calling for.
What is your own personal nutrition and eating philosophy?
I strongly believe that everyone comes to the table with different needs, emotional attachments to food, and tradition—some folks thrive eating eggs and fish, some without. I’m not interested in judging or telling people what they HAVE to eat to feel better, but no matter where we land on the diet spectrum, and no matter how that changes over a lifetime (and it sure does), eating more plant-based foods can make anyone feel better. I like to start there, showing folks what can be done with plant-based foods, like making a cheesy sauce out of butternut squash that your BBQ-loving uncle would enjoy just as much as the militant vegan at the table. Personally, I’m always fine-tuning my ability to listen closely to what my body likes and doesn’t like—no matter how surprising this may be. We have instincts and symptoms for a reason. It’s our body telling us which way to go. My health journey has changed every year since I started eating more whole foods—gotta stay resilient and tuned in.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges people face when it comes to cooking healthy, plant-based meals?
A lack of familiarity with what’s possible using fresh foods, a lack of support from family or folks you spent a lot of time with, a perceived lack of time, and overwhelm. This is why I recommend a few things when starting.
1.) Just try one new recipe, or cook with one or two new veggies per week. Add them to your existing rotation. Shift focus from what you can’t eat to what you can and start adding the can, in. It will eventually squeeze out the health-diminishing stuff. If you take changes on all at once, you can burn out, and you’ll ultimately miss all of the little nuances—learning about new techniques when preparing that recipe, the properties of the new ingredients, and how your body feels eating the new recipe. When you’re on a road trip, the windows down, the air blowing around the car, beautiful scenery flying by, it’s not the same experience you’ll have if you walk along the same road. If you slow down, you’ll see the details, smell the smells, connect with the journey in a different way—you’ll be more intimately familiar with the path.
2.) This idea goes for changing habits, too. If we say we don’t have time, we simply aren’t making the time. Or we aren’t being creative about how to make it work. There’s a quote by Michael Pollan that goes, and I’m paraphrasing here, in the last few years we’ve found 10 extra hours a week to be online but we say we don’t have time to cook. Instead of making excuses, just do one new thing a week. Prep some veggies, make a sauce, soak some nuts and grains while you sleep… start with a few changes until they become routine, and then add a few more.
3.) And remember, naysayers are almost always projecting their own issues onto you. Don’t let what they say dictate how you feel.
What cooking tips do you have for people to get in their kitchens and feel more comfortable cooking these meals?
Prep! It only takes a few hours every week to make life easier for yourself throughout the week. Pre-chop aromatic veggies like onions, peppers, celery, carrots, and/or garlic and store in airtight containers in the fridge. For quick meals you can grab a handful, toss in a skillet and sauté them together for a variety of meals from veggie burgers, scrambles, to soups. Pre-cook beans and grains and store in the fridge, too. Stock the pantry with seasoning blends and clean-ingredient sauces to make wraps, scrambles, and other meals. Even if you have the busiest week of your life, if you have a few things chopped in the fridge and some sauce in the pantry, you can scramble them all up together to get those nutrients in.
What are your 5 favorite plant foods that you can’t live without?
Kale: There’s something about seared or crispy kale that makes me want to eat an entire bunch worth.
Cabbage: I’m a fermented foods junkie—always making and eating sauerkrauts and kimchis. I’d be lost without cabbage.
Celery: I spent my entire childhood detesting celery and as an adult, I’m making up for it.
Avocado: So versatile and delicious. Avocado toast has my heart and so does Chocolate avocado pudding.
Mushrooms: I love them seared, roasted, dried and made into “coffee” beverages—their earthy, umami flavor is magical.
Heather shared one of her favorite plant-based recipes with us. Bon appetit!
The Sriracha Mac hits all the happy bases for me. It’s comforting, tastes decadent with a twist (hello Sriracha and Toasted Sesame Oil!), all the while being loaded with a dairy-free cheesy, and nutrient-rich veggie cream sauce. I discovered the magic of Sriracha in my mac and cheese at a vegan diner in Chicago, and I’ve been hooked ever since. For a simple-yet-decadent version, skip the Sriracha, ginger, and scallions. Try adding your favorite veggies or switching up the delicata for sweet potatoes or any other winter squash. It’s a recipe that feels like a big hug in a bowl to me—feeds the bod and the soul.
Ingredients
Scale
One 12-ounce (340 g) package gluten-free macaroni noodles
½ cup (70 g) raw, unsalted cashews, soaked for 4 to 6 hours, drained, and rinsed
1 garlic clove
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons unrefined coconut oil
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon Sriracha (or any similar style hot sauce), plus more to taste
½ teaspoon peeled, minced fresh ginger, or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
4 scallions, sliced
Toasted sesame oil (optional)
Instructions
Get a large pot of water boiling and prepare the macaroni noodles according to the package instructions.
While the noodles cook, combine the squash, water, cashews, garlic, lemon juice, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, salt, Sriracha, and ginger in the blender and purée until ultra-smooth. Taste and add more Sriracha if you like. Transfer to a large pot heated to low.
Drain the noodles and dump into the pot of sauce; add the scallions. Stir together, seasoning with more salt if necessary. Drizzle with toasted sesame oil if you like and serve warm.
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