Experience Nutrition

Category: Cook Whole Grains with Simple Culinary Methods

A New View of Healthy Eating: Healthy Plant-Based Recipes by Melanie Albert: Spring Hemp Seed Quinoa Tabouli
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This week during our Whole Food SOUL (Seasonal Organic Unprocessed Local) cooking class at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, our focus was on whole grains and the students prepared Quinoa Salad and Hempseed Tabouli.

It had been awhile since I’ve used fresh mint in my dishes, and I loved both the fresh quinoa salad and hemp seed tabouli, that I very intuitively prepared a tabouli with the mint, hemp seeds, and quinoa.

I guide people to cook intuitively very often. The key is to know a few simple culinary skills, and then cook with what’s available at your farmers market or kitchen. Plus, with intuitive cooking, we listen to our body for foods we might be craving and also notice what foods we’re attracted to, with color, textures, and aromas.

Today’s tabouli was intuitive in several ways:
- Listening to my body: My body was looking forward to a grounding grain and I had about a cup of the tri-color quinoa in my pantry.
- Aromatherapy: The fresh aromatherapy and bright tasting mint.
- Looking for a variety of color and textures: Red tomatoes, yellow pepper, green onion.
- Spring garlic: Just love the cross between garlic and onion, when spring garlic is in season.
Two Simple Culinary Techniques
- Cook Whole Grains: Cook quinoa with 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups previously-made veggie stock. Bring to boil on stove, cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Rest the quinoa. Fluff with a fork. Use in recipe.
- 3-Ingredient Salad Dressing: 1 part lemon, 2 parts organic extra virgin olive oil, pinch salt.
HEMP SEED QUINOA TABOULI

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups veggie stock
- ½ cup hemp seeds
- Several tomatoes, rough chopped
- Orange pepper, rough chopped
- 1 green onion, rough chopped
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- Organic extra virgin olive oil
- Handful mint, minced
- Handful parsley, minced
- Pinch sea salt
- Handful pea sprouts
SIMPLE STEPS
- Cook quinoa with veggie stock
- Rough chop all veggies
- Gently toss all ingredients
- Plate with sprouts
- Enjoy
Hemp Seed Quinoa Tabouli: Rough Chop Veggies

Gently toss all ingredients in large bowl.

Enjoy your Spring Hemp Seed Quinoa Tabouli

I have recently created the Simple Plant-Based Eating Group on Facebook, where I share daily tips around plant-based eating, and the community shares ideas. Please join us: www.facebook.com/groups/DailyPlantBasedEatingTips/

Interested in addtional simple culinary techniques and recipes with real whole foods, Melanie Albert’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” is available.

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April 28, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating Recipes: Spiritual Adrenaline Holiday Dessert Guide: Aromatic Apple Crisp
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
It is such an honor to be part of the Spiritual Adrenaline Holiday Dessert Guide. Thanks so much to Tom Shanahan for coming out to Arizona to experience these healthy holiday recipes. The Aromatic Apple Crisp with Freshly Ground Spices is one of my very favorite desserts for the holidays, as it brings back childhood holiday memories of cooking with my Mom and Grandmom. The natural aromatherapy of the freshly ground spices – cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg – is an incredible mindful experience of the cooking. Enjoy preparing and eating this delicious dessert.

Excerpt from A New View of Healthy Eating: Aromatic Apple Crisp with Freshly Ground Spices (pages 126-127)

DESSERT: Aromatic Apple Crisp with Freshly Ground Spices

This apple crisp is one of my all-time favorites. From cooking with local organic apples to mindfully hand-grinding and enjoying the aromatherapy of freshly ground warming spices, from the aromatherapy of the apples sautéing in the spices to memories of eating pies when I was a child, this dessert (or breakfast) is outstanding. Enjoy the process of setting up your mise en place, cooking, and enjoying this dish with your family and friends.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

Topping
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup almonds, walnuts, or pecans, sliced
- ¼ cup maple sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon, fresh ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, fresh ground
- 1 tsp cardamom seeds, fresh ground
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
Filling
- 8 apples, sliced
- 3 tbsp grapeseed oil
- 4 tbsp maple sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon, fresh ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, fresh ground
- 1 tsp cardamom seeds, fresh ground
- ½ tsp cloves, fresh ground
- 1 orange, juiced and zested
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
SIMPLE STEPS
1. Prepare your mise en place.
  - Hand-grind all spices in mortar and pestle.
  - Hand-squeeze and zest the orange and lemon.
Prepare topping.
- Mix all dry ingredients for topping until well combined.
- Pour in grapeseed oil and mix.
3. Cook the apple crisp.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place sliced apples in a large sauté pan.
- Turn heat to medium and add remaining filling ingredients.
- Cook until apples slightly soften; stir occasionally.
- Pour cooked apples with sauce into 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish.
- Top with oats topping.
- Bake on middle oven rack for 20-30 minutes.
1. Enjoy!
If you are interested in more simple whole food, plant-based, gluten-free recipes that are healthy and delicious, my book, A New View of Healthy Eating is available. I’m happy to gift-wrap for your family and friends.

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Come on over to our Facebook page and share your holiday dessert creations, www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating
November 6, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Steps to Make an Incredible Rice Pilaf
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today, I was honored to lead a fun SHOP+CHOP+COOK Cooking Class at the Phoenix Public Market, with a group of Girl Scouts who created their own salad dressing, raw kale salad, and we also enjoyed preparing the delicious tomato gazpacho with the local, in season, farmers’ market veggies. I was fortunate to have some beautiful leftovers, which inspired me to create a rice pilaf. Take a look at today’s rice pilaf with the farmers’ market tomatoes and peppers and the specific culinary technique to make a perfect pilaf.
- Look at the incredible rice pilaf ingredients: Brown rice, tomatoes, peppers, arugula, shallot, and veggie stock.
- Start with sweating the shallots in olive oil for about 10 minutes, and then add the brown rice and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, peppers, and stock to the saute pan. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
- Add the arugula and simmer a few more minutes.
- Fluff the edges of the rice and rest for 10 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Excerpt from A New View of Healthy Eating: How to Make Rice Pilaf for a Dinner Side Dish

Pilaf is one of the main methods of cooking rice and is popular in Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern cuisines. The pilaf method is similar to steaming; however, in the pilaf method, whole grains are first sautéed, often with aromatics (like onions or shallots) before liquid is added, creating a lot of flavor. Pilafs also include extras such as vegetables and toasted nuts or seeds.

Simple Steps to Cook Using the Pilaf Method
1. In a sauté pan over low heat, cook mirepoix (carrots, onions, and celery or just onions) in a fat, such as olive oil. Cook on low heat when you do not want to add color to your dish. For more color, cook at a higher temperature.
2. Add grains to the pan and stir to lightly coat each grain with the fat. Do not rinse grains before cooking.
3. Toast grains by cooking a little more.
4. Add a flavorful liquid, such as vegetable stock.
5. Stir to make sure grain is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6. Similar to the whole grains steaming method (PAGE…), bring to boil, cover tightly, and reduce heat to the lowest setting (or cook in oven).
7. Cook a little longer than the time indicated for your grain and until all liquid is absorbed into the grains.
8. Rest grain for 10-20 minutes.
10. Rest for 10 minutes.
Enhance Your Pilaf

To enhance the flavor and texture in your pilaf, add spices, herbs, fresh vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
- After the grains are coated in fat, add dried spices for extra flavor. Try Middle Eastern spices like star anise, cinnamon, and cumin. For a Mexican pilaf, add chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, and coriander seeds.
- After the cooked grains have rested, add your favorite cooked veggies, fresh herbs, or toasted nuts and seeds to create a meal.
Quick Brown Rice Turmeric Pilaf

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup brown rice
- ¾ cup shallots or onions, finely diced
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 2 cups vegetable stock
SIMPLE STEPS
1. Gather mise en place.
2. Sweat onions or shallots in olive oil.
3. Add rice and sauté until translucent.
4. Add turmeric for color.
5. Add vegetable stock.
6. Bring to boil.
7. Cook for 20 minutes.
8. Rest for 10 minutes.
If you would like this culinary technique, recipe and more simple ways to cook real whole foods, A New View of Healthy Eating book is now available:
October 15, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: 4 Steps to Bake an Organic Apple Crisp with Freshly Ground Spices
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
After teaching a cooking class yesterday at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, today I decided to give myself some self care time in the kitchen. I always love enjoying the aromatherapy of fresh herbs and spices, the mindfulness of chopping, and the natural aroma of desserts in my oven. I decided to cook, for the first time since the launch of my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating, one of my very favorite desserts.

Enjoy today’s step-by-step photos creating the Organic Apple Crisp. For your reference, the complete recipe from the book is here for you, as well.
- Start with hand-ground spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom. The incredible mindfulness of grinding the spices, along with the distinct aromatherapy of each brings back memories of baking with my Mom and Grandmother when I was a kid.
- Slice organic apples, like these fresh apples which grew in Wilcox, Arizona. If you live in an area where you can “pick-your-own” apples, have fun picking and then come home and enjoy preparing this apple crisp.
- Practice your mise en place: Get all of your ingredients together for the apple crisp filling and topping, for mindful cooking.
- Place filling ingredients into a sauce pan and cook for about 20 minutes. Apples, spices, sweetener (local Arizona honey today), grapeseed oil, lemon and orange zest and juice. Near the end of cooking, I added a few organic raspberries to the crisp.
- Mix the ingredients for the topping: oats, chopped nuts (walnuts today), sweetener (Arizona honey today), grapeseed oil, and the ground spices.
- Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes.
- Enjoy!
EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating: Aromatic Apple Crisp with Freshly Ground Spices

This apple crisp is one of my all-time favorites. From cooking with local organic apples to mindfully hand-grinding and enjoying the aromatherapy of freshly ground warming spices, from the aromatherapy of the apples sautéing in the spices to memories of eating pies when I was a child, this dessert (or breakfast) is outstanding. Enjoy the process of setting up your mise en place, cooking, and enjoying this dish with your family and friends.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

Topping
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup almonds, walnuts, or pecans, sliced
- ¼ cup maple sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon, fresh ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, fresh ground
- 1 tsp cardamom seeds, fresh ground
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
Filling
- 8 apples, sliced
- 3 tbsp grapeseed oil
- 4 tbsp maple sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon, fresh ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, fresh ground
- 1 tsp cardamom seeds, fresh ground
- ½ tsp cloves, fresh ground
- 1 orange, juiced and zested
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
SIMPLE STEPS
1. Prepare your mise en place.
  - Hand-grind all spices in mortar and pestle.
  - Hand-squeeze and zest the orange and lemon.
1. Prepare topping.
- Mix all dry ingredients for topping until well combined.
- Pour in grapeseed oil and mix.
1. Cook the apple crisp.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place sliced apples in a large sauté pan.
- Turn heat to medium and add remaining filling ingredients.
- Cook until apples slightly soften; stir occasionally.
- Pour cooked apples with sauce into 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish.
- Top with oats topping.
- Bake on middle oven rack for 20-30 minutes.
1. Enjoy!
If you are interested in more healthy dessert recipes, A New View of Healthy Eating is available now. Order today and I’ll ship tomorrow!

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September 18, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Mindful Mirepoix into Delicious Quinoa Red Lentil Dish
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today was a very mindful, quiet, reflective day and for quiet self care,, I decided to create a new dish inspired by today’s version of mirepoix. Most of us know mirepoix as carrots, onions, and celery as a base to build the flavor profile of a dish. Today, in my intuitive mirepoix I used onions, leeks, garlic, carrots, bell peppers and a little sea salt. I added organic quinoa and red lentils to create a simple, nutritious meal with pseudograins and protein-rich lentils.

Excerpt from A New View of Healthy Eating

Experiment with Mirepoix

Mirepoix, the aromatic vegetables used at the beginning of the cooking process, builds the flavor profile of a dish. Different cuisines around the world typically begin their cooking with different combinations of vegetables. Experiment with various aromatic vegetables to create a wide variety of flavored dishes.

French: onions, celery, carrots

Italian: onions, celery, carrots, plus parsley, garlic, fennel

Mediterranean: onions, tomatoes, garlic, fennel

Spanish: onions, garlic, tomatoes

Asian: garlic, ginger, lemongrass

Cajun “Holy Trinity”: onions, celery, green pepper

German: carrots, celery root, leeks

Enjoy the process from mirepoix to the delicious quinoa lentil meal.
- Today’s intuitive mirepoix: Green onions, leeks, fresh garlic, carrots, and bell peppers.
- Cook: Add 1 cup quinoa, 1 cup red lentils, 1 cup homemade veggie stock, and about 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered with lid, for about 20 minutes.
- Mindfully enjoy. Be intuitive. Quinoa Lentil Side with dehydrated bell peppers.
- Enjoy Cold Quinoa Lentil Side with kalamata olives, capers, and a drizzle of organic olive oil.
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September 11, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Quick Steel Cut Oats with Spice Aromatherapy
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Nine years ago when I was studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition I learned how to cook whole grains for myself and to share with my clients. What I found was that it is so easy, tasty, and healthy. Lately, I’ve been drinking a lot of smoothies for breakfast, so I decided to add a little variety to my breakfast with steel cut oats.

Simple Ingredients: Organic steel cut oats, sunflower seeds, a local Arizona organic apple, goji berries, and vanilla.

Spices: Enjoy the aromatherapy and taste of fresh-ground spices (cinnamon and nutmeg). Use a microplane grater to mindfully grind the spices.

Prep: After thoroughly rinsing the steel cut oats with water, place all ingredients into a pot. Add twice as much water as whole grain.

Cook: Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then simmer with pot covered for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Excerpt from A New View of Healthy Eating

Steel-Cut Oats: Ireland

Steel-cut oats are sometimes called Irish or Scottish oats and grow in the cold, wet climates of northern Europe and North America. Oats are unique among popular grains, as the bran and germ are rarely removed in processing.

Why Oats
- The fiber, beta-glucan, in oats helps lower cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, and enhances the body’s immune system.
- Avenanthramide, a polyphenol antioxidant in oats, may have anti-inflammatory, heart-healthy, and anti-itch properties.
- Fiber helps us feel fuller longer, which controls weight.
- They have the highest protein content of popular cereals.
Eat Oats
- Available as steel-cut oats or oat groats (hulled grains).
- Do not eat instant quick-cooking oats. They are low in fiber because most of the bran is removed. In addition, sugars and preservatives are usually added to the package.
- The mild, smooth, sweet flavor makes oats a perfect breakfast grain to enjoy with nuts, seeds, and fruit.
- Oats are naturally gluten-free, but may be contaminated with gluten during growing and processing. Look for oats certified gluten-free if you are sensitive to gluten.
Share your whole grain breakfast meals with us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating
September 10, 2016