Natural Awakenings AZ Recipe Article: Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking & Recipe 1

by Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition, Plant-Based Culinary Expert, Award-winning Cookbook Author

It is my honor and pleasure to write “recipe articles” for the Natural Awakenings Arizona magazine. For each recipe over the last few years, I first meet with our local Arizona farmer, primarily, Billy Anthony, Lead Grocer at The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, to determine what is growing during the season. Then, I intuitively create a few recipes to be featured in the Natural Awakenings Magazine.

I was so exited to learn that the March 2020 issue of Natural Awakenings focus was Plant-Based and loved offering a few tips to enjoy plant-based eating in Arizona and in creating the veggie-focused recipes.

Enjoy creating these recipes with your local farmers produce and share your creations  with us on Instagram: @nutritionauthor @plantbasedexperiences

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Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking

Spring in Arizona is an exciting season to enjoy cooking plant-based meals since our local farmers grow a wide range of produce this time of year. We see lots of greens, all kinds of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. If you are new to plant-based cooking and eating, visit a farmers’ market to get inspired by what our local farmers are growing and create simple, tasty, beautiful salads and veggies with different culinary techniques, including raw, steamed, and roasted.

• Eat local. Buy produce, herbs, and edible flowers from our local Arizona farmers or grow your own for the freshest, most nutrient-rich food. Plant-based dishes start with beautiful fresh produce to create tasty, eye-catching meals. Shop at our local farms, farmers’ markets, commit to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), grow at a community garden, or grow your own.
• Keep it Simple. With the plant-based way of eating, we focus on fresh veggies and fruit, nuts, and seeds, whole grains, and beans. With plant-based cooking, we use a few simple culinary techniques for flavor and color. The essential simple plant-based culinary techniques include raw, steaming, sauteing, and roasting. We cook the same vegetables with different culinary techniques to create different flavors, textures, and looks that add variety to our meals.
• Cook Intuitively. Think about it: What grows together goes together. With plant-based cooking, mix and match the produce, herbs, nuts and seeds to create beautiful dishes. All veggies are different depending on the seeds, soil, weather, and geography. As a result, each dish we prepare is unique in a positive way with plant-based intuitive cooking. Be sure to taste while you are cooking and adjust your ingredients to suit your favorite personal taste preferences.
• Mindfully Plate. We eat with our eyes first. Since plants are naturally beautiful, it makes sense to take time to mindfully plate your meals for visual beauty. Have fun experimenting with various plating styles with your version of “food art” using extras such as fresh herbs or edible flowers. Use your favorite bowls and dishes to add to the beauty of your meal.
• Slow down and enjoy. Take a breath. Take time to enjoy the beauty of your local Arizona plant-based meal. Give gratitude to our local farmers for so passionately growing the incredible food and appreciation to yourself for taking the time to shop for and prepare your lovely plant-based meal. Enjoy mindful plant-based eating and the colors, textures, and flavors of your locally grown plant-based meal with your family and friends.

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Three Arizona Plant-Based Farm-to-Table Recipes

These simple, beautiful plant-based recipes were intuitively inspired by and created with produce grown by our local Arizona farmers, The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, and Blue Sky Organic Farms in Litchfield Park.

• Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad
• Arizona Spring Steamed Veggies. Arugula Hempseed Lemon Pesto
• Roasted Arizona Spring Veggies Bowl. Cashew Cream (Will Blog)

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  The Farm at South Mountain Spring Produce, Herbs, and Edible Flowers

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RECIPE: Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

Create a simple, beautiful salad with greens from our local farmers or your garden. Pair a few different light leafy greens and a simple-to-prepare light salad dressing with fresh herbs. This fresh salad, inspired by the local greens grown at the Soil & Seed Garden, also features cherry tomatoes grown at Blue Sky Organic Farms.  We start with a simple salad 3-ingredient salad dressing to toss with the fresh salad greens. And, add extra plant-based extras to create a beautiful salad.

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Basic Salad Dressing: 3 Ingredients. That’s It

Create your own salad dressing. The key components of a 3-ingredient salad dressing include an acid, fat, and salt. Once these elements are balanced, we can add in extras, such as garlic, fresh herbs, mustard, and honey. Acids are citrus, such as lemons, limes, grapefruit, along with vinegar. Fats are oils, such as olive oil. And, salts could be Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt.  Once you’ve learned how to prepare a dressing with this technique, you can use this method to create your own unique salad dressings for your fresh salads.

Simple Ingredients

• 1 fresh lemon, orange, or ½ grapefruit, squeezed, approximately ¼ cup
• Organic extra virgin olive oil, twice as much as the citrus juice, approximately ½ cup
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• OPTIONAL: 2-3 garlic cloves, minced; Fresh dill, fennel frond, mustard, honey

Simple Steps

• Squeeze a fresh citrus juice into a Mason jar.
• Pour in twice as much olive oil as the citrus.
• Shake the jar.
• Taste and notice if your dressing seems too oily or acid-tasting. Add more citrus or olive oil to suit your taste.
• Sprinkle in sea salt.
• Shake the jar. Taste.
• OPTIONAL: Add in minced fresh herbs and garlic.
• Shake the jar. Taste.
• OPTIONAL: Add honey and/or mustard. Shake and taste.
• Taste testing salad dressing is a great way to mindfully use your cooking intuition. Add ingredients until the dressing tastes great.

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Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

For the base of the salad, choose a variety of Spring greens grown by our local Arizona farmers or growing in your garden. In addition to the salad greens and dressing, extra ingredients add texture, beauty, and taste to the salad. Some sweet. Some salty. Some crunchy. Choose a few of your favorite extras such as tomatoes, berries, nuts and seeds, raisins, capers, and olives.  When plating, add beauty to your salad with dehydrated Arizona citrus and edible flowers.

Simple Ingredients

• 4 cups Mixed Greens, such as lettuce, baby kale, arugula, spinach, mizuna, shungiku (chrysanthemum greens)
• 1 cup tomatoes, sliced
• ½ cup berries (eg. blackberries, raspberries)
• ¼ cup cracked pecans, walnuts, or pumpkin seeds
• ¼ cup golden raisins
• ¼ cup Kalamata olives
• 2 tbsp capers
• Garnish: 3-5 sliced dehydrated citrus (oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit); Edible flowers, herbs (dill or fennel fronds)

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Simple Steps

• Chop or tear Spring greens into bite-size pieces.
• Pour dressing over the greens.
• Lightly toss the greens to coat with the dressing.
• Add half of the extras (tomatoes, berries, nuts or seeds, raisins, olives, capers) and gently toss.
• Mindfully plate with the remainder of the extras, dehydrated citrus, herbs, and edible flowers.
• Enjoy!

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Enjoy our local Arizona Spring veggies by cooking with a few simple plant-based culinary techniques – raw salad, steaming, and roasting . Mindfully enjoy your plant-based creations with your family and friends.

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2020 Sedona Plant-Based Cooking & Self Care Retreats

• Interested in a weekend of Plant-based Cooking, Self Care, Hiking and Special Sedona Ceremonies?
• 2020 Retreat Dates: June 12-15, 2020; September 18-21, 2010
• Click here: Take a look at our retreat page to see all the activities, our unique eco-retreat house, and Sedona.
  

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2020 Authentic Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Cooking Experiences at The Farm with Lead Grower Billy Anthony and award-winning cookbook author, Melanie Albert.

Classes held at The Farm at South Mountain, 6101 S. 32nd Street, Phoenix, Arizona

To Purchase, click below on the class date:

• March 28, 2010, 11am-1pm