Experience Nutrition

Category: Eat Local Seasonal: CSA

Experience Nutrition: Simple Vegan Herb Cashew Dip. Purple Daikon & Bok Choy with The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
I am so honored to create recipes for The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This week, the CSA, grown by Billy Anthony at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm, features lots of fresh aromatic herbs – basil, onion chives, lemon verbena – and beautiful purple veggies including daikon radish, turnips, and purple bok choy.

With these fresh ingredients I was inspired to intuitively create a simple vegan raw cashew dip. Enjoyed with the vibrant purple daikon radish and bok choy.

Let’s take a look at this week’s Fall 2018 CSA.

The beautiful lush basil growing at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain.

Beauty of the Purple Bok Choy

BASIL, ONION CHIVES, LEMON VERBENA DIP

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 2-4 hours
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- 3 tbsp onion chives
- 1 spring lemon verbena
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp fresh key lime or lemon juice
- Pinch sea salt
- 2-3 tbsp water
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 daikon radish
- 3-4 bok choy leaves
SIMPLE STEPS
- Pre-soak cashews for 2-4 hours in water
- Place basil, onion chives, lemon verbena, nutritional yeast, key lime (or lemon juice), sea salt, and water into food processor.
- Pulse to desired smoothness.
- Stream in olive oil, to desired taste.
- Thinly slice daikon radish with mandoline.
- Plate dip, daikon radish on bok choy leaves.
- Enjoy!
Food Process the herbs, cashews, nutritional yeast, key lime, salt, and water. Stream in olive oil.

Mandoline the Purple Daikon

The Herb Cashew Dip Plating with Purple Daikon & Bok Choy

Join our Simple Daily Plant-Based Eating Tips Facebook Page

Purchase Melanie Albert’s award-winning cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”

Purchase Tickets for the Plant-Based Thanksgiving Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, November 18, 2018, 11am-1pm

Purchase Tickets for Holiday Plant-Based Desserts Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, December 9, 2018, 11am-1pm

A final look at the Vegan Herb Cashew Dip with Purple Daikon & Bok Choy.
November 7, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: The Beauty of Local Farmers’ Food

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLCs
Today I spent the day living my passions and having fun with my like-minded food friends. Next weekend (Saturday, February 17, 2018, 10am) I’ll be leading a Taste of the Market Cooking Demo at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, so I visited the market today to see what our local farmers are growing and to get inspired for ideas for the class.

Our Winter Arizona farmers’ bounty is so incredible, I just wanted to “be” with the food and my farmer friends. I ended up staying at the market for three hours, enjoying the food, taking food, talking cooking, and having my kind of fun. Later in the day, I stopped at The Farm at South Mountain, an urban farm about a half mile from my home.

Sharing some of the beautiful food and a video of some incredible cauliflower…hope you enjoy..

In awe of the cauliflower grown by Blue Sky Organic Farm…

Powerful Purple…

Gorgeous Green…

Fresh Yellow & Orange…

Radish Red…

Taste of the Market Cooking Demo…

Thanks, Downtown Phoenix Farmers’ Market…

And all my farmer friends…Maya’s Farm…Steadfast Farm…Abby Lee Farms…Golo Family Farms…McClendon Select…Community Exchange…Blue Sky Organic Farm…

Interested in my book, you can buy it and I’ll gift wrap and mail to you.

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What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

If your organization is interested in a cooking workshop, event, or retreat, please let us know your interests. Thanks!

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February 10, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: 5 Phoenix Farmers’ Markets & 5 Ways to Shop for Real Whole Foods
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
The Fall is such an incredible time in Arizona as our local farmers’ bounty is growing and it’s so beautiful to enjoy local in-season produce at our farmers’ markets around town. At this time of year, we have many different farmers’ markets. In addition to purchasing real whole foods at farmers’ markets you can commit to a CSA, join a community garden, plant your own, and visit local farms. Enjoy shopping and enjoy your food!

5 Favorite Farmers’ Markets
- Downtown Phoenix Openair Market, Saturday, 8am-1pm, Central and Pierce Street
- Uptown Market, Saturday & Wednesday, 9am-apm, Central and Bethany Home
- Ahwatukee Market, Sunday, 9am-1pm, Warner & 48^th Street
- Mesa Community Market, Friday, 9am-1pm, 20 E. Main Street
- Old Towne Scottsdale Market, Saturday, 8am-1pm, 3806 N. Brown Avenue
EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating

5 Best Ways to Shop for Real Whole Foods

1. Shop at Farmers’ Markets in Your Area

As demand for locally grown fruit and vegetables has increased, farmers’ markets have steadily grown in number throughout the last few decades. According to the USDA Farmers Market Directory, in June 2015 there were 8,260 registered farmers’ markets as compared to 1,744 in 1994—an increase of more than 6,000 in 21 years. In addition to the USDA Farmers Market Database, another source to find farmers’ markets in your area is www.localharvest.org.

2. Commit to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Share

Developed in the 1960’s in Japan, CSA programs are designed to build a relationship between the farmer and the community. At the beginning of each season, farmers sell CSA memberships to consumers. Each week, customers receive a sampling of produce that is available from one farmer or a group of local farmers. CSAs cost $25 to $35 per week for six to eight weeks and are perfect for those of us who wish to experiment with unique, interesting, locally grown food. Farmers distribute CSA’s at farms, farmers’ markets, and convenient pick-up locations, such as yoga studios. Some farms even deliver CSA’s right to your home.

For the winter 2016 season in Arizona, I committed to a 12-week CSA share from Maya’s Farm, just a mile from my home in Phoenix. I love knowing that the produce is fresh since it is harvested the day before I pick it up at The Farm at South Mountain. Each week the interesting variety of goodies in my CSA encourages me to create new, intuitive dishes with different combinations of food. While writing this week, I’m creating a stir-fry with cauliflower, fresh peas, white icicle radish, green garlic, onions, and dill. Fresh flowers are a nice bonus I receive in my CSA. I’m enjoying the incredible natural aromatherapy of chamomile in my home. I’m steeping sun-dried tea, and I will dehydrate some of the chamomile flowers for tea.

3. Join a Community Garden

The National Garden Association estimates that there are three million community gardens in the United States. Community gardens are fun, as you can learn from other do-it-yourself gardeners, enjoy friendships, and experience the mindful meditation of gardening in a beautiful, close-to-the-earth setting.

4. Grow Your Own

Gardening is a big trend. As more and more people eat real whole foods, they are taking their food literally into their hands. The National Garden Association estimates that 42 million households in the United States garden, an increase of 17 percent over 2008 numbers, and 37 million households are home gardening. Gardening takes us back to the basics of eating fresh whole foods.

5. Visit Local Farms

It’s a lot of fun to visit farms in your area to get to know the farmers and to see where your local produce grows. I am so fortunate that there are many outstanding farms in the Phoenix area, where I live. Farms today are reaching consumers in exciting ways: stores at farms, farmers’ markets at farms, pick-your-own produce, and even “honor system” farm stands.

Many of the recipes and culinary creations in my book, A New View of Heathy Eating are inspired by and created with local, in-season Arizona veggies. The book is now available to ship to you!
October 19, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Organic Tomato Gazpacho Cold Soup Recipe
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Recently, I’ve been teaching public hands-on Intuitive Cooking Experience Classes at the Phoenix Public Market and The Farm at South Mountain, in Phoenix. Tonight I’m getting set to lead tomorrow’s class at the Phoenix Public Market. Lately, I’ve been really enjoying tomatoes, so tomorrow, October 15, 2016, at the Phoenix Public Market (9-11am, Central & Pierce) we will intuitively create a simple tasty, fresh tomato gazpacho soup. Looking forward to tomatoes from Abby Lee Farms, about 4-5 miles from my home.

Excerpt from A New View of Healthy Eating

Summertime Tomato Gazpacho Cold Soup

A fresh, cold tomato gazpacho is refreshing, especially on warm days. Make this quick cold tomato soup with red, orange, and yellow tomatoes and red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers for a bright summer side dish. Be sure to try the beautiful (some may think ugly) heirloom tomatoes. If you are fortunate enough to purchase a whole flat of really ripe organic tomatoes, make a big batch of tomato gazpacho for a summertime picnic.

Simple Ingredients: Soup
- 10 medium tomatoes, cut into eighths
- 4 red, orange, yellow, and/or green bell peppers, seeded and rough chopped
- 3 cucumbers, rough chopped
- 2 jalapeno or Anaheim peppers, seeded and rough chopped
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
- Up to 2 cups water, if needed
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Simple Ingredients: Topping
- 4 tbsp cucumber, small diced
- 4 tbsp tomato, small diced
- 4 tsp cilantro leaves
Simple Steps
- Place all soup ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix well.
- Puree half of the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.
- Combine pureed soup with chopped veggies.
- Taste and season with sea salt and/or pepper.
- Top with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, and cilantro.
- Enjoy!
- Refrigerate leftover gazpacho soup and enjoy the next day for an even more flavorful soup.
Create Your Own Tomato Gazpacho

Use your intuition when you create your tomato gazpacho. Use different colors and types of tomatoes. Sometimes make it chunky; other times make it smooth. Try different levels of spiciness using jalapeno or Anaheim peppers. Sometimes make it spicy hot, sometimes make it mild. Try different types of in-season cucumbers, such Armenian, pickling, or lemon.

“The key to a beautiful tomato gazpacho is to blend some of the fresh veggies into a creamy liquid and to keep some veggies chunky.”

I’ll be selling my new book A New View of Healthy Eating, this weekend at 2 events in the Phoenix area:
- Saturday, Oct 15, 2016, Phoenix Public Market, Central & Pierce. 9am-1pm
- Sunday, Oct 16, 2016, Yoga Rocks the Park, Steele Indian School Park, Phoenix (3rd Street, North of Indian School), 9am-noon
If you are not in the Phoenix area and would like to purchase the book, it’s available on my website and I’m happy to ship a copy to you.
October 14, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Mung Bean Heirloom Tomato Salad & How to Easily Slice Tomatoes
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
The home-grown sprouted mung beans that were ready to eat yesterday , along with a beautiful organic heirloom tomato inspired this simple, fresh summer salad.

I am always so excited to have fresh sprouts to play with in my meals and love eating them raw or even in a quick stir-fry. Enjoy this beautiful salad and have fun creating your own salad with your home-grown sprouts. Remember, it only takes 7 days to sprout mung beans.

Today’s salad is a practice in mindfulness and I offer you a culinary tip to make slicing tomatoes very easy.

Choose your veggies mindfully. When you choose your ingredients for a salad, pause and choose a variety of colors and textures, such as this beautiful heirloom tomato, little local Arizona sweet pepper, yellow carrot, the mung beans, and a few extras, such as olives and capers.

Pause and enjoy the beauty of food. I intentionally purchased this beautiful organic heirloom tomato and am still in awe of its natural palette of color.

Excerpt from A NewView of Healthy Eating

Serrated Tomato Knife. To easily cut tomatoes, use a small serrated knife with an up-and-down cutting motion. Years ago I did not at all enjoy cutting tomatoes, but now with my little 5-inch serrated knife, I cut them quickly and smoothly, without the juice of the tomato squirting out.

Pause Again. While you are preparing your salad, pause and enjoy the moment. Enjoy the mindfulness of the beautiful colors, textures, and beauty of food.

Enjoy. Mindfully plate your salad and simply enjoy. Today I plated the salad on a large collard green and then added one of my favorite extras, goat cheese. Yumm…

I invite you to come on over to our Facebook page and share your creations inspired by home-grown sprouts. www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

For easy reference, here are the links to learn how to sprout your own mung beans
- 7 Simple Steps to Sprout Mung Beans
- How to Sprout Mung Beans in 7 Days
September 4, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Philosophies, Part 2

by Melanie A. Albert, Intuitive Cooking Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
It is my pleasure to share with you the next few philosophies of A New View of Healthy Eating, which are the foundation for my new book.

Enjoy Intuitive Shopping. When we shop for our food, it’s important first to pause and listen to our bodies. What are we craving right now? When shopping, mindfully pay attention to the foods, colors, textures, and even aromas you are intuitively attracted to. Sometimes you might be drawn to lots of greens, while other times it may be citrus or tomatoes. It’s especially fun to shop at different farmers’ markets and notice our choices in food during various seasons of the year.

“Intuitive shopping is fun. Listen to your cravings and shop with all your senses.”

Cook with Intuition. With intuitive cooking, we use recipes as guides. We first learn simple, basic culinary methods and techniques (such as raw, steaming, or roasting) to prepare real whole foods with recipes as our guide. Naturally, over time, we learn to trust our own intuition to cook foods we desire using cooking techniques we’ve learned. Over time, you will not need to rely on recipes; you’ll trust yourself and your culinary skills to create your own healthy dishes with local, seasonal food.

For instance, we learn the culinary technique to steam carrots in a bamboo steamer and use our recipe to finish the carrots with walnut oil, toasted cumin seeds, fresh lemon juice, parsley, and a pinch of sea salt. After learning the bamboo steamer technique to quickly steam veggies, we cook other steamed vegetables (such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and peapods) and finish them with different oils, spices, and fresh herbs.

“With intuitive cooking we also naturally cook more mindfully, meditatively enjoying the rhythm of chopping veggies or the mindfulness of massaging kale or grating fresh spices.”

This week, I invite you to visit a farmers’ market in your area and have fun exploring new-to-you veggies. Then, come on over to our Facebook page and share photos: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

August 4, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Philosophies, Part 1
By Melanie A. Albert, Intuitive Cooking Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition
Since I will be blogging some excerpts from my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating, I wanted to first share with you the philosophies of the book. I invite you to join in the conversation around the philosophies on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Philosophies: A New View of Healthy Eating

A new view of healthy eating begins with the food we choose to eat and extends to our shopping, cooking, and eating experiences.

The key philosophies are:
- Eat real whole foods.
- Shop local and in season.
- Enjoy intuitive shopping.
- Cook with intuition.
- Eat mindfully.
- Enjoy food and life.
Let’s explore the first two philosophies.

Eat Real Whole Foods.

Eat foods that are in their natural form, as nature created them. Focus on plants and local, in-season foods. Focus on organic. When we eat real whole foods, we get more nutrition and fiber from the foods and receive the energy from the Earth. When we focus on eating organic, we eat food that is “clean,” without pesticides or herbicides, and not genetically modified (i.e., not GMO).

Real whole foods include vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and wild salmon. It’s quite simple. The recommended foods in “A New View of Healthy Eating” are primarily in alignment with an anti-inflammatory way of eating as advocated by Andrew Weil, M.D., the Mediterranean way of eating, and the Blue Zones as researched by National Geographic, Dan Buettner, and his team. The foods and recipes are all gluten-free and dairy-free.

“Real whole foods are real. Think actual vegetables, fruit, grains in their whole form, like brown rice, legumes such as garbanzo beans or lentils, nuts and seeds, and wild cold-water fish, like wild salmon.”

Shop Local and in Season.

When we eat food grown by local farmers, community gardens, or our home gardens, our food is fresher and more nutritious because it has been recently harvested and has not traveled thousands of miles and many days to arrive at a grocery store and our tables. When we eat with the seasons, we eat food that our bodies naturally need at that particular time of the year or location around the world. We also support our local farmers and local economy and have the opportunity to experiment with new, interesting foods.

“I love the opportunity to try unique, new-to-me foods, especially when I shop at farmers’ markets or receive unfamiliar foods in my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I don’t always recognize a plant food, but I buy it and experiment in my kitchen or cooking classes.”

Excerpt, A New View of Healthy Eating, Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods, by Melanie A. Albert

If you would like to pre-order A New View of Healthy Eating, your copy will arrive in the first print order in late August 2016 / September 2016. Here’s a link to make it easy for you, if you wish to order now. Thanks so much!

Pre-order the book today and receive Top 5 Recipes and Culinary Tips.

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July 29, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating 12-Week Arizona Winter CSA: Part 3: Week 2: Edible Flowers

By Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC.
During Week 2 of 12 weeks with my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Maya’s Farm at The Farm at South Mountain, I was so excited about the beautiful, colorful edible flowers in the salad. All my life I wanted to enjoy edible flowers in my home, and this was the week! Just like fresh farmers’ market produce the edible flowers create a rainbow of beauty and color in our salads.

When I stopped by The Farm at South Mountain on my way to teach a cooking class at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, Maya Daily, the farmer, who has been urban farming for 10 years was getting her market ready for the morning customers.

Week 2 CSA. Full of greens, roots and citrus: green curly kale, red Swiss chard, baby bok choy, salad mix with edible flowers, mini golden beets, red radishes, Arizona oranges, green garlic, and a fresh flowers.

Veggie Stir-fry. This week I prepared another veggie stir-fry, which is a simple way to cook all kinds of roots and greens. This time it was inspired by the mini golden beets (about the size of my thumb) and mini bok choy, with fresh garlic and Arizona oranges. Click on CSA Week 1 to learn the steps to create your own intuitive stir-fry.

Hand-toss Salad Greens. I was so excited about the salad greens with edible flowers and created a very quick and simple salad dressing with freshly squeezed orange, organic extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and sea salt. Unlike kale salads, where we massage the kale to marinate and soften its fiber, the key to dressing light salad greens is to gently hand-toss the greens, coating every leaf, right before serving. I enjoyed this very simple salad with farmers’ market tomatoes and cucumber.

Salad mix with edible flowers and orange garlic dressing.

Hummus with Edible Flowers. This week in a whole food cooking class that I teach at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona, we held a hummus cooking off, which motivated me to make a hummus. Of course, the hummus I created featured the edible flowers and simple green salad. This hummus was so beautiful. It was actually a little hard to stop looking at its beauty and eat it. I totally enjoyed it, along with a second serving and left-overs.

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Click for simple hummus recipe, which is the same recipe we used for catering at the VIP Tailgate Party at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.

ORDER NOW! Our “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” with motivational food, eating, culinary, and self care tips is available.

Come on over to Facebook www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating and share your food creations with local farmers produce.

To read all of the blogs for my 12 Week Commitment to the Arizona Winter CSA.

Week 1:Part 1: Learn about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture

Week 1: Part 2: Veggie Stir-fry

March 4, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: 12-Week Arizona CSA, Week 1: Veggie Stir-fry

By Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC.
During Week 1 of 12 weeks with my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Maya’s Farm at the Farm at South Mountain, only a mile from my Phoenix home, I created one of my favorite simple intuitive creations from the CSA: simple veggie stir-fry.

Simple Veggie Stir-fry
Have fun preparing a quick delicious stir-fry with a few simple steps. The key is to be organized. Pre-chop all your ingredients, and set up your mise en place (all ingredients in place) for your cooking before you start your stir-fry.

To create a simple veggie stir-fry chose a few of your local in-season veggies, some roots and some greens. This stir-fry was inspired by the baby bok choy and fresh green garlic in this week’s CSA. Added to the stir-fry were some other veggies from local farmers, along with sun-dried tomatoes and capers. During the middle of the stir-fry I decided to add a little fresh lemon to de-glaze the pan and to add local Arizona citrus to the dish.

Simple Ingredients
• Organic extra virgin olive oil
• Green garlic
• Brussels sprouts
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Capers
• Asparagus
• Baby bok choy
• Sea salt
• Fresh lemon (extra!)

Simple Steps
• Gather your mise en place.
• Pre-heat saute pan on medium-high.
• Pour organic extra virgin olive oil into the pan.
• Add the aromatics (green garlic) and cook a few minutes.
• Add veggies you’d like to brown a little (Brussels sprouts).
• Add dense veggies that need to cook a little longer (carrots, cauliflower).
• Add extras (sun-dried tomatoes, capers).
• Add vegetables that do not need to cook very long (asparagus, bok choy).
• Enjoy!

This stir-fry (really quick saute) method and recipes are in my new book “A New View of Healthy Eating” to launch in April 2016.

Week 1: Arizona CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Simple Stir-fry

Hope you enjoy your own stir-fry this week! Come on over to Facebook and share your creations: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Join our e-newsletter list for recipes, simple healthy culinary techniques, intuitive cooking, nutrition tips, mindful eating and self care. www.EXPNutrition.com

February 26, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: 12-Week Arizona Winter CSA: Part 1
Arizona Winter CSA Part 1: Organic Salad Mix with Orange Green Garlic Dressing Recipe

By Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC.2007 graduate Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Instructor Whole Foods Cooking and Conscious Eating, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. Her new book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” will be available in April 2016.

Eat Local & In Season
One of the best ways to eat local and in season is to get a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Share. Developed in the 1960’s in Japan, CSA programs are designed to build a relationship between the farmer and the community. At the beginning of each season farmers sell CSA memberships to consumers. Each week consumers receive a sampling of produce that’s available from one farmer or a group of local farmers. Cost is generally $25-35 per week for 6-8 weeks.

CSA’s are great for those of us who wish to experiment with new-to-us locally grown food. CSA’s are generally distributed at farms, farmers’ markets, convenient pick-up locations, such as yoga studios, and some farms deliver CSA’s right to your home.

My Commitment to a 12-Week CSA: A Mile from Home!
This week I committed to a CSA with Maya’s Farm at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix. Maya’s Farm is a small certified organic 7 acre farm and a quick 1 mile walk from my home. I purchased the Winter (Late February through mid-May) Arizona season for 12 weeks, at a total cost of $300, or $25 per week.

Each week, I will blog about my simple whole food intuitive creations with the Winter Arizona CSA and share recipes, simple culinary techniques and nutrition tips.

The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, at Maya’s Farm, The Farm at South Mountain

Week 1: February 20, 2016: Greens, Roots, Citrus and Tomatoes
This morning, when I picked up my CSA at Maya’s Farm I was really excited to see the colorful rainbow baby carrots and smell the fresh green garlic. This week’s CSA share includes several different greens (Tuscano kale, mini bok choy, arugula, spring salad mix), rainbow baby carrots, fresh green garlic, a few tomatoes, red French breakfast radishes and different bright oranges.

Arizona Lettuce Mix

Arizona Organic Salad Mix with Orange Green Garlic Dressing Recipe
As soon as I arrived in my kitchen, the pungent aromatherapy of the fresh green garlic and sweet aroma of the oranges was the inspiration for a very simple salad. The key to a farm-fresh salad is a simple light dressing, gently tossed with salad mix and a few colorful veggies.

Orange Green Garlic Dressing

Simple Ingredients
• Orange, freshly squeezed
• Twice as much organic extra virgin olive oil (eg. 1/8 cup orange juice: ¼ cup olive oil)
• Pinch sea salt
• Fresh green garlic, minced

Simple Steps
• Squeeze orange into jar.
• Add olive oil.
• Add sea salt and garlic.
• Shake.
• Taste. Add additional oil for more fat or orange juice for more acid.

Arizona Winter Organic Salad
Simple Ingredients
• 2 cups salad mix
• 3-4 rainbow carrots, sliced
• 3-4 red radishes, sliced
• 1-2 tomatoes

Simple Steps
• Gently toss salad mix with dressing, coating all leaves.
• Add carrots, radishes, tomatoes and toss.
• Plate and enjoy.

Culinary Tips
- Lightly toss salad greens with dressing right before serving to keep leaves fresh and not soggy.
- To make a great salad dressing, use a high quality extra virgin olive oil and pair it with an acid. Use a 2:1 ratio of fat (olive oil) to acid (citrus or vinegar).
- Create a salad with a rainbow of colorful veggies for beauty and a variety of nutrients.
NOW AVAILABLE: Purchase “A New View of Healthy Eating. A-55 Card Deck” for motivational messages to inspire you to cook simple healthy whole food, try new recipes, learn simple culinary techniques and add selfcare to your life. “A New View of Healthy Eating” book to be launched April 2016.

Join our e-newsletter list for recipes, simple healthy culinary techniques, intuitive cooking, nutrition tips, mindful eating and self care. www.EXPNutrition.com

Share your CSA Creations on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating
February 20, 2016