By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
Upon returning to Phoenix after traveling the last few weeks to my niece, Mallory’s wedding in Massachusetts, visiting with my parents in Cocoa Beach, and scouting villas for retreats in Barbados, I’m getting back into my local farm-to-table shopping and cooking rhythm.
This week I visited my farmer friend, Billy Anthony Lead Grower at the Soil & Seed Garden at Farm at South Mountain, in Phoenix, to catch up and see what was growing in our 100 degree weather. I was especially happy to see hundreds or thousands of beautiful tomatoes, zucchini, and edible flowers.
Inspired by the tomatoes, I intuitively created a Summer Flatbread with other veggies purchased from local Arizona farmers at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. I purchased beautiful baby arugula and carrots from Blue Sky Organic Farms in Litchfield Park and Matt’s tomatoes from the Community Exchange.
Let’s take a look at The Farm at South Mountain, at the beginning of our hot Arizona Summer.
RECIPE: Arizona Summer Plant-Based Flatbread. Edible Flowers.
The Summer Flatbread highlights our local Arizona tomatoes, zucchini, arugula, and carrots, and also features one of my favorite roasted veggies, Brussels sprouts, plus red peppers for flavor and color. The yeast-free flatbread is a quick recipe to prepare when your time is limited as we do not need to wait hours for the dough to rise. The cashew cream is a very simple raw nut cream that works well as a cheesy taste in the flatbread. Finally, the beautiful, colorful edible flowers bring life to the dish.
QUICK AND SIMPLE ROASTED VEGGIES
Simple Ingredients
- 1 large tomato (The Farm at South Mountain)
- 2 cups Brussels sprouts
- 1 small zucchini (The Farm at South Mountain)
- 1 carrot (Blue Sky Organic Farms)
- 5-6 small red peppers
- 2 green onions
- 2-3 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil (Hatun Oregano Olive Oil)
- 1 tsp sea salt
Simple Steps
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Slice all veggies.
- Place all veggies into roasting pans.
- Drizzle with olive oil.
- Sprinkle on sea salt.
- Roast for 12 minutes.
- Stir veggies.
- Roast for another 12 minutes.
- Use veggies as flatbread toppings.
CASHEW CREAM
Simple Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 2-4 hours
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Pinch sea salt
- ¼ cup water, adjust for desired creaminess.
Simple Steps
- Rinse and drain the soaked cashews.
- Pour all ingredients into a blender.
- Blend to desired smoothness.
EXPERIENCE NUTRITIONTM Yeast-Free Quick Flatbread
Simple Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sprouted spelt flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil (dough)
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil (spread on dough prior to baking)
Garnish Ingredients
- 1 cup arugula (Blue Sky Organic Farms)
- Matt’s tomatoes (Community Exchange, Downtown Phoenix Public Market)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch sea salt
- Edible Flowers (The Farm at South Mountain)
Simple Steps
- Place pizza stone into oven. Pre-heat oven to 390 degrees F. Pre-bake the stone for about 5 minutes.
- In large glass bowl, with a fork mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, olive oil, salt.
- Add 3/8 cup water and oil until dough forms a ball. Add additional water, as needed.
- Knead on a lightly floured surface for 3-4 minutes.
- Flatten out the dough on floured parchment-paper.
- With parchment paper on top of the dough, roll thinly with a rolling pin.
- Carefully move flatbread to pre-heated pizza stone.
- Spread 1 tbsp of olive oil onto the flatbread.
- Bake flatbread for 5 minutes.
- Remove stone from oven.
- Spread cashew cream on the top of the flatbread.
- Add tomatoes, red peppers, carrots, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, and onions to the top of the flatbread.
- Cook for about 8 minutes.
- Garnish with arugula, drizzle of olive oil, and edible flowers.
Mindful garnishing of the flatbread.
- Enjoy. Enjoy the beauty. Enjoy the tasty.
- Pause and enjoy the flatbread creation.
- My simple plate…
2019 Local First Arizona Independents Week: June 29 – July 6, 2019
One-time Local Special: Save 20%. Sedona Plant-Based Culinary Retreat, September 13-16, 2019.
Join us for a Memorable Plant-Based Cooking Retreat in Sedona, Arizona, September 13-16, 2019
- Learn simple, easy plant-based cooking techniques.
- View food differently with mindful cooking and eating.
- Enjoy urban farm-to-table cooking experience.
- Experience self-care with hiking and yoga.
- Take home retreat experiences to be healthier & make positive long-term lifestyle changes.
During our Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Fall 2019 Retreat, you’ll experience several days of hands-on, simple plant-based cooking with organic food, mindfulness in the kitchen and eating. We’ll enjoy a farm-to-table cooking experience at a local urban farm. You’ll experience self-care with hiking and yoga in the beauty of Sedona.
In the memorable life-changing retreat, our intention is for you to enjoy the cooking and self-care experiences during the retreat and then most importantly take home the experiences and plant-based cooking learning from the retreat to make positive lifestyle changes in your lives.
Click to learn more about the retreat on our website.
Or, contact, Melanie Albert (Mel@MelanieAlbert.com or 602.615.2486) to answer your questions and to reserve your spot!
