Experience Nutrition

Category: Make Raw Veggie Interesting

A New View of Healthy Eating: Top Super Bowl Healthy Recipes: Wild Salmon & Avocado Salsa
by Melanie A. Albert, Intuitive Cooking Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
As a continuation of yesterday’s post of my top 3 favorite healthy Super Bowl recipes, today’s recipes are wild sockeye salmon on the grill and avocado salsa.

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon on the Grill

Wild salmon is a rich source of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, a good source of protein, and rich in Vitamin D, which is important for bone health, the immune system, and brain health.

In 2011, as an Official Health & Wellness Partner of the NFL Association, my organization Experience Nutrition Group, LLC had the honor of serving this simple Wild Alaskan Salmon recipe at several Super Bowl XLV weekend events in Dallas. Former NFL players kept coming back for more salmon, so apparently they enjoyed it. The recipe is very easy to prepare and delicious every time. Grill or broil the wild salmon with a few spices and olive oil to create a restaurant-quality meal quickly in your home.

Grill or broil wild Alaskan salmon using this simple recipe as a guide. Then, be creative and intuitively prepare the salmon with your favorite dried spices and herbs.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 4 wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets (4-6 oz. per person), sliced into ½-inch strips
- ¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp dried herbs and spices
SIMPLE STEPS
1. Defrost salmon fillets in a refrigerator for a few hours or under cold running water.
2. Slice wild salmon into thin strips, about ½ inch wide and 1-2 inches long.
3. Prepare salmon marinade by mixing olive oil and spices and herbs.
4. Marinate salmon with spices and herbs in a refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, or overnight.
5. Pre-heat grill on medium high for 15 minutes before you are ready to cook the salmon. If broiling, preheat broiler for 15 minutes.
6. Place fillets directly on the grill or on a flat baking sheet with parchment paper for broiling.
7. Cook each side 3-5 minutes.
8. Remove salmon from grill right before it has completely cooked, as it will continue to cook when removed from the heat of the grill.
9. Let salmon rest for 5 minutes.
10. Enjoy with a veggie stir-fry, steamed vegetables, or a raw kale salad, with a side of whole grains such as quinoa or brown rice.
Former NFL player, John Bronson, learning the simple way to grill wild Alaskan sockeye salmon.

Basic Avocado Salsa

Have fun intuitively creating your own avocado salsa with the veggies available right in your own refrigerator.

This simple-to-make avocado salsa (or guacamole) is the best. Make it for lunch, as a snack, or for tailgating parties. It’s so easy to prepare and it’s so delicious that you’ll want to eat it a few times a week. With good monounsaturated fats, fresh veggies, and a squeeze of lemon, enjoy your avocado salsa with your favorite crunchy fresh organic raw veggies.

Simple Ingredients
- 4 soft, ripe avocados
- 2-3 heirloom tomatoes or 6-8 cherry tomatoes
- 3-5 green onions
- Handful fresh cilantro or basil
- 2-3 cloves raw garlic, minced
- Fresh squeezed lemon juice, to taste
- Sea salt to taste
Simple Steps
- Chop and gently mix all ingredients.
- Enjoy as a salad or in a wrap.
These recipes and more are in my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating.

Purchase today and I’ll personalize and mail a copy to you.

Join our e-newsletter to receive culinary tips, simple recipes, and upcoming classes and events.

First & Last Name

Email

What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

Δ

Enjoy the Super Bowl!!! And, come over to our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating, and share your Super Bowl snacks.
February 2, 2017
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: Kale Chips with Raw Cashew Cream & Nutritional Yeast
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
In addition to simple dehydrated kale chips with olive oil, dried herbs, and sea salt we can also make kale chips with a cheesy-taste. Soaked raw cashews and nutrition yeast are the key ingredients in these kale chips. Nutritional yeast, a fungus grown on molasses, is a complete protein, rich in vitamin B12. It melts and has a mild Cheddar cheese flavor, and adds flavor to kale chips, sauces, and soups.

EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating

Kale Chips: Dehydrated & Baked

Kale is such a popular food, eaten as a salad, chips, or a wrap. Here’s a very quick way to make delicious dehydrated kale chips. Once you have learned to make dehydrated kale chips, you can easily change the flavor with different spices and herbs, such as fresh ginger, basil, or oregano.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 2 large bunches kale, dinosaur or curly green, torn into pieces
- 1 cup raw cashews, pre-soaked in water 4-6 hours
- 1 fresh lemon, approximately 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½-⅔ cup water
SIMPLE STEPS
- Soak cashews for 4-6 hours in water. Once soft, drain.
- Wash kale, remove the leaves from the stems, and tear leaves into big pieces.
- Place lemon juice, nutritional yeast, onion powder, and garlic powder into high-speed blender.
- Add about half of the water and blend.
- Continue to add more water, if needed, to create a thick, pourable dressing.
- To prepare the kale chips, place the kale pieces into a large bowl and pour dressing over the kale.
- Using your hands, thoroughly coat the kale leaves with the dressing.
- Place the kale leaves onto dehydrator trays, making sure that the leaves are in a single layer so that they dehydrate evenly.
- Dehydrate at 115°F for approximately 7 hours or until dehydrated and crisp.
Simple Steps to Bake Kale Chips
- Preheat oven to 275°F.
- Line 2 large, flat baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place kale leaves on the baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, turning leaves halfway through cooking.
A New View of Healthy Eating is available NOW!
September 25, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Fresh Organic Arugula Salad with 3 Ingredient Salad Dressing
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This week I was inspired by fresh organic arugula grown at Maya’s Farm, less than a mile from my home. Many people do not care for arugula because it tastes too bitter. With the simple “3 Ingredient Salad Dressing” made with high quality organic extra virgin olive oil, the bitterness of the arugula is totally reduced and the arugula is a refreshing salad.

When we create a salad with light greens, such as arugula, spinach, or spring greens, it is important to lightly toss the leaves in the dressing right before eating them. This is different from raw kale salads where we massage the kale with the dressing to break down the fibers in the kale.

Enjoy the beauty of this simple, refreshing arugula berry pecan salad and have fun creating your own salad. Share your salad creations with us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Gather your mise en place: Arugula salad with berries (blueberries, blackberries), nuts (pecans), and organic heirloom tomato.

Dressing: organic extra virgin olive oil, local Arizona lemon, sea salt, garlic.

Make 3 Ingredient Dressing and gently toss with the organic arugula.

Mindfully plate.

Enjoy your light, fresh berry and pecans arugula salad.

EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating

Basic Salad Dressing: 3 Ingredients. That’s It

Three base ingredients for a salad dressing include a fat, an acid, and salt. Optional add-ins are aromatics (such as garlic and onions), fresh herbs (like basil and oregano), and sweeteners like local raw honey and fresh dates. To make your first dressing for a kale salad, start with fresh lemon, organic extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and garlic. 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 a raw kale salad or other fresh salads.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 fresh lemon, squeezed, approximately ¼ cup
- Organic extra virgin olive oil, twice as much as the lemon juice, approximately ½ cup
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (extra)
SIMPLE STEPS
- Squeeze a fresh organic lemon into a pint-size Mason jar.
- Pour in twice as much olive oil as the lemon.
- Sprinkle in sea salt and minced garlic.
- Shake the jar.
- Taste and notice if your dressing seems too oily or acid-tasting, or if it uses too little or too much salt. Taste testing salad dressing is a great way to mindfully use your cooking intuition. Add ingredients until the dressing tastes great.
6 Ways to Create Your Own Salad Dressing

Learn the simple salad dressing technique and then create your own with different fats, different acids, and various add-ins, such as freshly minced herbs or sweeteners. Use sweeteners to balance a dressing that seems too acid-tasting.
- Fats: Olive oil, grapeseed oil, nut oils such as walnut oil
- Acid: Citrus (lemons, limes, oranges); vinegar (balsamic, rice, red or white wine), or stone-ground mustard
- Salt: Your choice of sea salt or Himalayan salt
- Optional Sweeteners: Raw honey or dates
- Optional Aromatics: Garlic, green onions, shallots, red onions
- Optional Freshly Minced Herbs: Basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley
A New View of Healthy Eating Book is available for you, as gifts, or for your organization.

UPCOMING PUBLIC COOKING EVENTS

Intuitive Cooking Experience at The Farm at South Mountain

October 9, 2016, Sunday, 11:00am-1:00pm CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKET PRICE: $45 per person

Want to learn how to cook with different farmer-fresh organic ingredients? Do you receive your produce from your CSA or the farmers’ market and are puzzled on how to cook with them?

During the experience you will learn culinary skills such as making simple lentil veggie soup, unique salad with what’s in season, a perfect herbal salad dressing, and a quick hummus to enjoy with farm fresh organic veggies. Once you intuitively create your dishes, you’ll enjoy mindfully eating your beautiful creations with community in the beauty of The Farm.

A New Look at Shopping & Cooking at the Phoenix Public Market, Fall 2016

October 15, 2016, Saturday, 9:00-11:00am CLICK TO REGISTER PRICE: $10 per person

Enjoy hands-on interactive cooking demonstrations with farmers’ market fresh produce. Learn what to look for while shopping at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market. Learn simple culinary skills, the intuitive cooking method, and enjoy dining on the food you prepared with friends and community.
September 24, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Steps to Make Your Own Kale Chips

By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Right now kale is in season here in Arizona. In addition to massaging kale (yes! we massage kale!) and making all kinds of delicious raw kale salads with fresh berries, fruit, and figs, I decided to dehydrate a batch of kale. The simple way to dehydrate kale is to lightly massage (or coat) the kale leaves with organic extra virgin olive oil, add sea salt, and dried herbs, such as basil and oregano.

I am so fortune to live less than a mile from Maya’s Farm in South Mountain, Arizona, that I had the opportunity to visit the farm this week and see the organic kale growing.

SIMPLE STEPS TO MAKE YOUR OWN ORGANIC KALE CHIPS

Step 1: Gather mise en place: Organic kale, organic extra virgin olive oil, dried herbs (basil, oregano), sea salt. Keep kale leaves as large as possible, as they will shrink when dehydrated or baked in the oven.

Step 2: Gently massage (toss) organic kale leaves in the organic extra virgin olive oil, freshly ground herbs, and sea salt.

Step 3: Mindfully spread the kale leaves onto dehydrator trays, being careful that the leaves do not touch each other.

Step 4: Slide trays into the dehydrator. I’m so excited to dehydrate kale on all 9 trays of my dehydrator.

Step 5: Dehydrate at 115 degrees F for about 7 hours.

Step 6: Plate and enjoy the fresh, crispness of your home-dehydrated organic kale chips!

Step 7: Place extra organic kale chips in class containers for healthy ready-to-eat healthy snacks.

If you enjoy this simple recipe, I invite you to take a look at my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating, which is available now!

Step 1: Order the Book

Step 2: Fill out the form and receive Top 5 Recipes & Culinary Tips

First & Last Name

Email

What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

Δ

September 22, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: 3 Types of People who Dehydrate
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
The last few days, I’ve been having fun dehydrating and tomorrow I will post a blog with the 9 trays of kale chips that are in the dehydrator right now. Meanwhile last night I dehydrated a few apples and realized how much I love the crunch, sweetness, and texture of dehydrated apples.

EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating

What is Dehydrating?

Dehydrating is the process of removing the moisture from food by surrounding food with a warm circulation of air, not exceeding 118 degrees Fahrenheit. This process concentrates flavors and creates dry, crisp food.

Dehydrating is a simple, quick way to prepare food for different types of people and various culinary uses:
- Raw Diet. Raw foodists (who eat food that is not cooked above 118 degrees) dehydrate lots of fruit, vegetables, wraps, and crackers with nuts and seeds for everyday eating.
- Simple Fruit. Kids and adults of all ages enjoy dehydrated fruit (bananas, apples, persimmons) for everyday snacks.
- Culinary Delight. Chefs and culinary enthusiasts dehydrate to concentrate and intensify the flavor of food, such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, and beets.
If you’re interested in my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating, it’s available and I can ship it to you right away.

Step 1: Order the Book

Step 2: Fill out the form and receive Top 5 Recipes & Culinary Tips

First & Last Name

Email

What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

Δ
September 21, 2016
A New View of Healthy Eating: Vegan Pesto Recipe for Spiralized Organic Veggies
By Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This past Saturday at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, I had the opportunity to lead a fun, hands-on cooking class, SHOP+CHOP+COOK. During this class, I guided the participants to create their own veggie pasta. Often we think about making veggie pasta with zucchini, but during this class, we also spiralized a local organic butternut squash and a few sweet potatoes.

We also created a delicious vegan, dairy-free pesto with pre-soaked raw cashews, fresh organic basil from Maya’s Farm, a little lemon, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt. This dish was so incredible that a local farmer friend of mine with “The Community Exchange” Table stopped by and enjoyed the left-overs.

The key takeaways from this class were that we can make a pesto without cheese and we and eat some veggies raw that we would generally think we’d need to cook.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

EXCERPT from A New View of Healthy Eating

Spiral Veggies with Nut-Based Creamy Dressing

Learn how to spiral colorful veggies and create a simple dressing with raw cashews and basil.

Basic Salad Dressing: Raw Cashews & Basil Pesto

A vegan, dairy-free, creamy dressing is the base for this colorful raw spiral veggie salad. With fresh basil and lots of garlic, this refreshing dressing is a perfect alternative to a cheese-based pesto.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked 3-4 hours in water
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 fluid ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
SIMPLE STEPS
- Place all ingredients except organic extra virgin olive oil into food processor.
- Add olive oil little by little until smooth.
- Taste and add extra garlic, lemon juice, or basil leaves to create a taste that’s right for you.
Cashews are an excellent substitution for cheese in raw vegan dishes, as they are creamy and smooth in sauces and dressings.

A raw spiral veggie salad is a perfect way to introduce raw food to everyone, from young kids to adults. It’s simple, delicious, and fun to prepare.

Spiral Veggies

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 large zucchini
- 1 butternut squash, solid end, peeled
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 red beet
- 1 golden beet
SIMPLE STEPS
- Spiralize veggies into long, pasta-like shapes using a spiral vegetable slicer with a small blade. Be sure to spiralize the red beets last and separate them from the other vegetables to limit bleeding.
- After spiralizing each vegetable, slice to make the pieces shorter.
- Allow the vegetables to sit at room temperature to dry.
- Toss all spiralized vegetables together.
- Add pesto to the vegetables and toss.
- Serve and enjoy this fresh raw salad.
Spiralizing veggies is very mindful and meditative. I love creating the long, beautiful spirals with a rainbow of different colored vegetables.

Have fun experimenting with spiralizing different types of organic veggies and creating a vegan pesto. Share your dishes with us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who has already purchased my new book, A New View of Healthy Eating. It was a joy to share the book publically for the first time at the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market this weekend.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.
September 19, 2016