Experience Nutrition

Category: Recipes

New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: My New Favorite Green: Chrysanthemum Green Saute
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This week I’ve been enjoying chrysanthemum greens, a sweet floral green, typically cooked in Asian cuisine. One of our local farms, The Farm at South Mountain, about a half mile from my home is growing chrysanthemum greens this season. We had the great opportunity to enjoy it massaged in a raw kale salad in our Team Building Cooking Challenge with Visit Phoenix. After enjoying chrysantemum greens in the salads, I decided to experiment with them in a quick saute. Check out the recipe in today’s blog. It’s incredible!

PHOTO CREDIT: Cassie Hepler @cassiescouture

PHOTO CREDIT: Cassie Hepler @cassiescouture

After enjoying the chrysanthemum greens so much in the kale salads, I very intuitively sauted the greens with campari tomatoes from McClendon Select and beautiful sweet carrots grown by Steadfast Farm in our area. The saute is so sweet with floral aromatic I’m loving it so much I’ve cooked it three times in the last two days.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Chrysanthemum Greens Saute

Simple Ingredients
- 2 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
- Handful tomatoes
- Handful chrysanthemum greens
- Handful mini-carrots, sliced
- Avocado, sliced.
- Dash sea salt
Simple Steps
- Heat saute pan on medium.
- Add olive oil to pan.
- Once heated add tomatoes, stir, and saute for a few minutes.
- Add dash of sea salt.
- Add carrots, and saute until slightly soft.
- Add chrysanthemum greens and saute about a minute.
- Add sliced avocado to warm in pan.
- Enjoy as a warm salad or with sprouted flatbread.
Join us on Facebook with your favorite greens creations. www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Interested in additional simple culinary techniques, check out Melanie’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating”
January 26, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Superfood Sweet Potato Brownie
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This week I had the wonderful opportunity to lead an amazing Cooking Challenge Team Building with Visit Phoenix. For dessert, I decided to prepare the Sweet Potato Brownie and jazz it up with a raw cacao sauce and goji berries. This dessert is full of so many healthy ingredients, the sweet potatoes, raw cacao, and Arizona Medjool dates. It’s plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free. And, it tastes great. Not too sweet. Chocolatey. Just right.

PHOTO CREDIT: www.facebook.com/cassiescouture

Excerpt from my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating”

Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownie

Delicious vegan, gluten-free chocolate dessert made with a sweet root veggie, the sweet potato. This brownie is always a favorite at kids’ and adults’ cooking classes. It’s one of those desserts we can even eat for breakfast!

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 2 medium to large sweet potatoes
- 12 Medjool dates, pitted
- ⅔ cup raw almonds, ground
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- 4 tbsp raw cacao
- 3 tbsp maple sugar
- Pinch sea salt
SIMPLE STEPS
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- Peel sweet potatoes, cut into chunks, and steam in a bamboo steamer for about 20 minutes until they become really soft.
- Once sweet potatoes are soft and beginning to fall apart, remove from steamer.
- Mix sweet potatoes and pitted dates into food processor and blend.
Put remaining ingredients into a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Add sweet potato/date mixture to other ingredients and stir well.
- Place mixture into 8-inch by 8-inch parchment-paper-lined baking dish.
- Cook for about 20 minutes.
- Test doneness by pushing a toothpick into the brownie. The brownie is ready when a toothpick comes out dry.
- Allow baking dish to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the brownies from baking dish.
- Cool for a few minutes and cut into squares.
- Enjoy!
I had so much fun plating this Sweet Potato Brownie for our guests at the Visit Phoenix Team Building Cooking Challenge. Add a swipe of raw cacao agave sauce, goji berries, and a few walnuts.

PHOTO CREDIT: www.facebook.com/cassiescouture

ACTION: Make a healthy chocolate dessert and share your creation with us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

For more amazing simple healthy recipes, you can buy Melanie’s Book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”

PHOTO CREDIT: www.facebook.com/cassiescouture
January 21, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Arizona Farmers’ Market Avocado Salad with Mindful Plating

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
On our chilly Arizona winter morning —imagine 60 degrees, grey skies, and a little drizzle — I shopped at the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Market. The difference between our grey day and the vibrancy of our local Arizona winter produce inspired today’s Avocado Salad. Thanks Alexa for asking me to blog about this fresh salad.

Arizona Winter Morning at the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market

The Contrast: Vibrant Produce at the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Market

Avocado Farmers’ Market Salad Recipe and Plating Presentation

The Avocado Farmers’ Market Salad was created very intuitively and inspired by a few of my favorites. The first inspiration was golden and chioggia beets harvested early yesterday morning at The Farm at South Mountain for our Visit Phoenix Team Building Cooking Challenge Event. Craving tomatoes today, so I purchased a few beautiful yellow and red from Abby Lee Farms, about 4 miles from my home. I’m loving microgreens this season; this salad features a beautiful Wellness Mix from Arizona Microgreens. I also intuitively reached for the Hatun Basil Olive Oil from my friend, Onur Mendeli. Finally, I added a few capers to add to the beauty of the dish.

Mise en Place: Get your ingredients all set for plating.

A glance at the plating process. When we plate, we mindful place our food onto the plate one-by-one and very mindful. It’s a lovely meditative process to create food art.

Arizona Avocado Farmers’ Market Salad: Beautiful, healthy, and delicious!!!

Action: Have fun intuitively choosing a few beautiful veggies, micro-greens, and olive and mindfully plate your own avocado salad. Post your beautiful creations on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Melanie’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” features 54 simple plant-based, whole foods recipes and 84 simple culinary techniques.

Another look at the Arizona Avocado Farmers’ Market Salad

January 20, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Quick and Easy Tomato Gazpacho
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today I had the opportunity to share how to make a really simple tomato gazpacho to a group with Gregory’s Fresh Market. Tomato gazpacho is one of the simple staples in my cooking classes, as it is so simple for everyone to make – from kids, to adults, to former NFL players and their families, to seniors. This cold soup is also so refreshing and very versatile. Plus, it’s great for hydration.

This soup is so quick to prepare. In fact, today, I chopped for 30 minutes and then prepared two big batches in 30 minutes for the 56 people attending the cooking class. During the classes, rather than blending the veggies, I actually massage the tomatoes to bring out the tomato juice and flavor. Today, we intuitively made one batch with lots of garlic and cilantro, and the other with a little more lemon and green onions.

The recipe in my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” can be used as a basic guide to prepare the soup, then you can experiment with different flavors. Such as lime, dill, lots of colorful heirloom tomatoes, various peppers.

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.
ACTION: Make your own tomato gazpacho, experimenting with fresh herbs, peppers, and colorful tomatoes. Share your cold soup with us on Facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating
January 18, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: How to get Started with Intuitive Cooking and 2018 Week 1 Recipes
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today has been a full day of fun focusing on recipe creating and testing for the Final Project of the Plantlab Culinary Cooking course I’m currently taking . While working today I was intuitively creating my recipe directions, so I decided to share with you the concept of intuitive cooking and how to easily get started to shop and cook intuitively.

Excerpt from “A New View of Healthy Eating”: 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.” – Melanie Albert

4 Steps to Get Started with Intuitive Cooking
- Step 1: Shop at a farmers’ market without a shopping list and purchase a few different veggies and fruit the local farmers’ in your area are growing. Intuitively choose foods that are beautiful to you.
- Step 2: When you get home intuitively reflect on how you’d like to cook the veggies. Will you prepare a simple saute, a salad, or roasted veggies? Just use your intuition. Is it is warm outside and you’d like a cooling salad? Or, is it is chilly outside and you’d like warming roasted veggies or soup?
- Step 3: Get your mise en place set. Chop your veggies. Get all your other ingredients, such as olive oil and sea salt ready. Gather the kitchen tools your need to cook: saute pan, flat cooking sheet, parchment paper.
- Step 4: Enjoy intuitive cooking and mindfully eating your dish.
2018 Week 1 Healthy Recipes

Now, let’s take a look at the healthy recipes this first week of 2018. Hope these recipes and culinary techniques give your ideas to cook a few healthy meals with real whole foods.
Come on over to Facebook, www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating and share your intuitive culinary creations with us.
January 7, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Arizona Winter Salad: Arugula and Avocado

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
It’s fun to intuitively create a quick salad with an avocado base and a few farmers’ market goodies. Today’s Arizona Winter Salad features a few of my very favorite goodies from our local Arizona farmers, including incredible carrots and arugula. Plus, an avocado, which adds to the richness of the salad with its good healthy fats. And, I included a whole grain, with left-over brown rice in the refrigerator.

Thanks to Turkish Fair Trade Imports, LLC for the great Turkish Basil Extra Virgin Olive oil and to the Uptown Farmers’ Market and Arizona farmers – Steadfast Farms for the incredible carrots, and McClendon Select for the fresh arugula.

Steps to Create a Quick Winter Salad

Step 1: Choose a few organic produce. Plus, an olive oil, whole grain, and fresh herb.

Step 2: Get your mise en place – everything into place – with veggies chopped and mindfully organized.

Step 3: Decide which ingredients to pair together for the salad. Today’s pairings: Arugula, tomatoes, sea salt, brown rice, and basil olive oil. Avocado pairing: the avocado, carrots, tomatoes, and fresh Arizona lemon. When you are pairing your ingredients, have fun and use your intutition. There are no right or wrong pairs.

Step 4: Toss the arugula ingredients to coat the leaves with olive oil, lemon, and sea salt.

Step 5: Gently mix the avocado ingredients and press into a ring mold.

Step 6: Plate and enjoy! I had fun playing a little with the sweet carrots!

If you are looking for more simple culinary skills, recipes, and ideas to cook intuitively, check out my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating.”

January 6, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Really Quick Veggie Sauté

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
When our days are full and we don’t have a lot of time to cook, a veggie sauté is a great option for a quickly prepared dinner. Today’s veggie sauté was inspired by several of my purchases from our local Arizona farmers’, including sweet potatoes, I’itoi onions, and arugula. To these veggies, I added a tomato, green pepper, and a few of my favorites, the olives, capers, and sun-dried tomatoes. The quick sauté was a beautiful combination of warming, sweet and earthy.

Simple Steps to make a Quick Veggie Sauté

Step 1: Choose a few veggies. An aromatic onion. Some veggies with more moisture (like tomatoes and bell peppers) and some more dense root veggies, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, or beets. And, some light greens such as arugula or spinach.

Step 2: Chop veggies in different shapes for visual interest in your dish.

Step 3: Heat sauté pan at low heat. When the pan is warm, add a few tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil. Yes, when we use a high quality olive oil, with low acid level, below .7%, we can cook with it.

Step 4: Add onions to the pan and gently sweat for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Step 5: Add bell pepper, increase heat to medium, and cook for a few minutes to release the flavors.

Step 6: Add tomatoes and cook for another few minutes, to build the flavor base for the sauté. Add in a few pinches of sea salt to bring out the sweetness of the tomato.

Step 7: Add sweet potatoes. Cook for another few minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft.

Step 8: Add extras such as sun-dried tomatoes (re-hydrated in a simmering pot of water for a few minutes), olives, and capers.

Step 9: Add a handful of arugula, gently toss, and cook for a minute or two.

Step 10: Plate the veggies and enjoy.

Quote from “A New View of Healthy Eating”

“Have fun preparing quick, delicious veggie stir-fries 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 stir-frying.” Melanie Albert

Culinary Tip from “A New View of Healthy Eating”: What’s the Difference: Sauté vs. Stir-fry

Sautéing and stir-frying are similar dry-heat cooking methods to cook food quickly. Small, bite-size pieces of food are stirred or tossed and quickly cooked over high heat. With sautéing, usually a pan or skillet is used; with a stir-fry, traditionally a wok is used. With stir-frying, the heat is higher and the action is faster with the food continuously tossed and stirred.

ACTION: Have fun shopping at your local farmers’ market and create a quick, simple, delicious veggie sauté and share your creation with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

A few Veggie Sauté ideas from book, “A New View of Healthy Eating”

Interested in more healthy recipes, culinary techniques, and nutrition tips, purchase “A New View of Healthy Eating” today!

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

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January 5, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Salad Inspired by Arizona Farmer’s 3 Pound Lettuce
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
I was so excited at the Uptown Farmers’ Market in Phoenix this week to see huge lettuce grown by Tom at Latchkey Gardens. The lettuce was so heavy, I asked Tom to weight it…it was an amazing 3 ¼ pounds.

Today’s intuitive salad features this lettuce, local Arizona farmer’s produce, and offers you some culinary ideas to create your own unique salad. Take a look at the techniques used to create this fresh farmers’ market salad and choose one or two add to your own salad creations.
- Step 1: Get organized with a few of your favorite fresh veggies. Today I’m excited to make this salad with local Arizona farmers’ produce including a tangerine (thanks Community Exchange), carrots (thanks Steadfast Farms), tomatoes (thanks Tiger Mountain Foundation), along with asparagus, avocado, walnuts, and my favorite olives and capers.
- Step 2: Make the 3-Ingredient Salad Dressing. Start with an acid, add twice as much fat, and a little sea salt to create the base for your dressing. Today’s acid is a tangerine and the fat is organic extra virgin olive oil. I added fresh thyme for extra flavor. Experiment with other fresh herbs and/or minced garlic.
- Step 3: Peel a few carrots. Place carrots in a bowl with ice and water to curl.
- Step 4: Add a quick steam / sautéed veggie. Try a quick steam and saute a veggie, such as asparagus. Place the veggie in a small pan with a little water on medium heat. Onc water has cooked the veggie, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to saute.
- Step 5: Add broiled avocado. Quick broil avocado with a little olive oil and sea salt.
- Step 6: Tear the lettuce into bitesize pieces and place in a large bowl. Gently toss and coat the lettuce with the salad dressing.
- Step 7: Add other ingredients to the lettuce to create your salad. Be creative using your local farmers produce. Today’s salad features carrots, tomatoes, asparagus, avocado, walnuts, olives, and capers.
- Step 8: Mindfully plate your salad and enjoy.
Action: Have fun creating your own lettuce salad using a new culinary technique. Share photos of your salads with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Melanie’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods” features 54 simple plant-based recipes, 3 wild salmon recipes, and 84 simple culinary techniques.

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

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January 4, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Simple Steps to Quick Pickle Veggies
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today was a full day of menu and recipe visioning and farmers’ market shopping for the Plantlab Culinary Cooking Course Final Project. As a result, I did not have a lot of time for cooking and ate left-over roasted veggies and hummus for dinner. With only a little time to share a recipe with you today, I decided to make a very quick pickle to share with you.

Pickling is basically a way to preserve food by fermentation with with acid (vinegar), salt, and a sweetener. Today’s pickle features fennel bulb, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, agave, black peppercorns, plus an orange and fresh thyme.

Simple Ingredients
- 2 cups sliced veggies, such as cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, or fennel, green beans, beets, Brussels sprouts.
- 1 citrus fruit, such as orange or lemon
- Few sprigs fresh herbs, such as thyme, dill
- 2-3 tbsp sea salt
- ½ cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar)
- ¼ cup sweetener (agave, honey, maple sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar)
- ½ cup water, as needed
- Extras: ½ tsp dried spices such as coriander, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, dill seeds, mustard seeds
The Simple Steps to Prepare Your Pickled Veggies

Step 1: Choose a veggie, such as fennel, cabbage, carrots, or cucumbers, beets, green beans, or Brussels sprouts.

Step 2: Thinly slice the veggies with a knife or mandoline. If you use a mandoline to thinly slice the veggies, they will absorb the vinegar mixture more and become more sour.

Step 3: Massage the veggies, citrus with the salt, pepper, and fresh herbs in a large bowl.

Step 4: Whisk the vinegar and sweetener in a small bowl.

Step 5: Place the massaged veggies into a quart sterilized Mason Jar.

Step 6: Pour the vinegar and sweetener mixture into the jar to cover the veggies.

Step 7: Add enough water to fully cover the veggies, leaving about 1” space at top of jar.

Step 8: Cover the top of the veggies with a lettuce or cabbage leaf to make sure all veggies stay submerged in the liquid to prevent bacteria growth.

Step 9: Store the jar at room temperature, out of direct sunlight for 5-7 days to allow for fermentation.

Step 10: After 5-7 days, taste the pickled veggies. When you like the level of sourness, store in your refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

Step 11: Enjoy your pickled veggies with a slice of avocado or nut cheese.

ACTION: Have fun experimenting with quick pickling with veggies from your farmers’ market and with different spices.

For more simple recipes, culinary and nutrition tips, I’m happy to mail a copy of my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating,” to you or your friends.

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

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January 3, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: How to Roast Beautiful Veggies: Romanesco and Sweet Potatoes

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Roasting veggies is such a simple culinary technique that I taught my 88- and 91-year old Mom and Dad how to prepare them while in Cocoa Beach during the Christmas 2017 holiday. The key is to choose a few of your favorite veggies, add some organic extra virgin olive, oil, and sea salt or a mix of dried herbs. I was so excited to purchase a Romanesco cauliflower, a beautiful blend of cauliflower and broccoli and local Arizona farmers’ sweet potatoes for today’s roasted veggies.

Simple Steps to Roast Romanesco and Sweet Potatoes

Inspired by the beautiful Romanesco!

Step 1: Get set with your mise en place – all ingredients in place: Romanesco, sweet potato, organic extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt.

Step 2: Steam Romanesco. Prior to roasting, steam chopped romanesco in bamboo steamer for about 5 minutes. The romanesco is ready when fork easily slides into the veggie.

Step 3: Gently toss sweet potato and romanesco with organic extra virgin olive oil and pinch of sea salt.

Step 4: Mindfully place veggies on a sheet pan. Be sure the veggies do not touch, to prevent them from steaming.

Step 5: Roast veggies in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Flip and roast another 8-12 minutes. Sweet potatoes will be crisp on outsie and soft inside.

Step 6: Get set for plating. Today, I added home-made hummus, olives, and capers to the roasted romanesco and sweet potatoes.

Step 7: Have fun mindfully plating your veggies. Be intuitive and remember, we eat with our eyes first.

Step 8: Mindfully enjoy your meal!

YOUR ACTION: Choose a few of your favorite veggies, roast and plate them. Enjoy. And, share your culinary creation with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

January 2, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Mindfully Drink Green Tea. Try Sencha Today.
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
While I’m a huge fan of matcha green tea, today I decided to enjoy a pot of Sencha tea while getting settled back into the entrepreneurial routine. For me, preparing all kinds of tea is very mindful and meditative. From looking at the beauty of the dried leaves, to gently pouring almost boiling water over the tea, to quietly enjoying a sip of the tea are all part of the mindfulness of tea. The process is very calming and grounding, plus we get the health benefits of drinking green tea.

Today’s Sencha Tea: Simple Steps to enjoy your tea!
- Step 1: Pause and enjoy the beauty of the sencha tea leaves
- Step 2: Pour a few teaspoons of sencha tea leaves into a mesh tea pot strainer.
- Step 3: Bring water to almost a boil, and pour water over the tea leaves. Steep for a few minutes.
- Step 4: Calmly and mindfully enjoy your tea.
Your Action: I invite you to buy real tea leaves, rather than teabags and to mindfully enjoy the tea process. Come on over to our Facebook page and share photos of your tea experience with us. www.Facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

Excerpt from book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”

Start with High-quality Tea

To really enjoy tea, be prepared with high-quality tea and the right tea accessories. Purchase a few different high-quality loose green teas. Start with 1-2 ounces of green teas such as Sencha and Gyokuro.

Top 6 Reasons Why Green Tea is Good for You
1. The antioxidant ECGC, in green tea, is an anti-inflammatory.
2. Research has found that green tea benefits heart health and brain health, and helps prevent cancer.
3. It is full of catechins and polyphenols, which help the brain relax and stimulate dopamine levels.
4. Theanine in green tea helps improve mood and provides a sense of relaxation.
5. Green tea has less caffeine than coffee.
6. It tastes delicious, so enjoy a few cups every day.
3 Popular Green Teas

Matcha: Tea of the Japanese tea ceremony
- High quality Japanese green tea is covered before picking to ac¬centuate its vibrant green color and to increase amino acids, as well as vitamins A and C.
- The tea leaves are stone-ground, so we actually eat tea leaves when we drink matcha tea and receive the full benefits of green tea.
- Intense grassy, green taste.
Gyokuro: High-quality Japanese tea
- The tea bushes are covered for two weeks prior to harvesting with nets or trellises to reduce the amount of sunlight the plants receive.
- The emerald leaf takes on a lustrous, splinter-like appearance.
- Deep, intense, rich green color and grassy, fresh taste.
Sencha: Most popular Japanese tea
- An excellent starting point for those just beginning to explore green tea.
- The splintered green leaf delivers a vegetal, yellow-green cup.
- In Japan, Sencha is served hot in the cooler months and usually chilled in the summer months.
My book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods” is available. I’m happy to mail a copy to you, and hope you enjoy learning some simple culinary skills, intuitive cooking, and of course enjoying green tea.

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

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January 2, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Hummus & Avocado Salsa Combo
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
I love hummus and have been making home-made hummus for years. I always come back to a basic hummus recipe that my company served at the VIP Tailgate Party at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. Today, I paired the hummus with a quick avocado salsa prepared with a tomato, celery, lemon, and sea salt.

Make Your Own Hummus: EXPERIENCE NUTRITION^TM Super Simple Organic Hummus

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- ⅓ cup chickpea water
- 3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste or sesame seeds)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ⅛ tsp cumin seeds, ground
- ⅛ tsp coriander seeds, ground (seeds from cilantro)
- 2-3 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
SIMPLE STEPS
1. Place all ingredients into high-speed blender (such as Vitamix) or food processor.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Stream in organic extra virgin olive oil, to taste.
4. After the hummus has been blended, taste and add more of any of the ingredients to suit your taste.
New Culinary with Matthew Kenney Culinary & Plantlab Culinary

In 2017 I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in several culinary courses with Matthew Kenney Culinary and Plantlab Culinary and learned how to plate food more beautifully. One way to take a simple dish to the next level is to use a ring mold. In the hummus and avocado salsa dish, I layered the avocado salsa with hummus in the ring mold to create this simple lunchtime meal.

If you’re interested in purchasing my latest book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” I’m happy to mail a copy to you.

Email

What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

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

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January 1, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Superfood Wild Blueberry Smoothie
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Happy New Year 2018 to you! As we start our New Year 2018, I decided to share with you every day (my goal!) a quick look at the meals I prepare for myself. The goal is to inspire you to enjoy shopping, cooking, and preparing your own meals intuitively. And to enjoy eating your meals mindfully.

Philosophies

Before I share my first meals (so far) for 2018, I would like to briefly share my food philosophies with you. A few of the keys are:
- Eat real whole foods. Focus on plants.
- Eat organic.
- Eat with the season.
- Shop intuitively with your local farmers.
- Learn a few simple culinary techniques.
- Intuitively experiment in the kitchen.
- Enjoy food and life.
Superfood Wild Blueberry Smoothie

Today’s smoothie was inspired by a gift of wild Maine organic blueberries and left-over pre-soaked sunflower seeds.

Ingredients
- Sunflower seeds, pre-soaked 6-8 hours
- Coconut water
- Wild organic blueberries
- Banana
- Hempseeds
- Basil
Simple Steps
- Pre-soak sunflower seeds 6-8 hours in room temperature water.
- Rinse sunflower seeds.
- Blend sunflower seeds and coconut water (creates a quick nut milk).
- Add wild blueberries and banana. Blend.
- Pour into cup.
- Top with additional wild blueberries and hemp seeds, and freshly picked basil.
Intuitive Cooking Tip: Create your smoothie with other berries, like raspberries and other nuts, such as cashews or almonds.

My book, “A New View of Healthy Eating,” features 54 plant-based recipes, 3 salmon recipes, and 84 simple culinary techniques.

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Happy New Year 2018 to you…Melanie
January 1, 2018
Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli Healthy Recipe
by Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Whole Food Cooking Instructor Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition.
Refreshing and full of flavor tabouli salad. Gluten-free and created with good fat, omega-3 rich hemp seeds. This tabouli is especially refreshing with farmers’ market fresh heirloom tomatoes, and can be prepared with a rainbow of tomatoes. Hemp seeds are a nice alternative to the typical bulgur wheat in tabouli, for those of us who are sensitive to gluten or have Celiac disease.

Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli

Ingredients
- 2 bunches of parsley
- ¼ cup fresh mint
- ½ cup hemp seeds
- 1 large tomato, diced
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 TBSP organic extra virgin olive oil
- 2 TBSP green onions, chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli: Fresh Ingredients

Simple Steps
- Place parsley and mint in food processor and pulse several times until well chopped
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the hemp seeds, tomato, lemon juice, olive oil, onion, and salt
- Toss and serve
- Enjoy!
Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tabouli: Simple Steps

Create your own Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli and share your dish with us on Facebook.
November 14, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Super Simple Organic Hummus Recipe: Just like the hummus we served at the Super Bowl VIP Tailgate Party
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC, Phoenix, AZ. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
Make EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Super Simple Organic Hummus

I’m excited to share with you the same hummus recipe we made a few years ago at the Super Bowl XLIV VIP Tailgate Party for the Super Bowl in Miami. Now, you can make it, too. Scroll down for a fun behind the scene photo from the VIP Tailgate Party.

Super Simple Organic Hummus

EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Organic Hummus Recipe

Step 1: Blend all ingredients in Vitamix or food processor, until smooth
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
  • 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (soak beans overnight, cook for about 1.5 hours with 1/2 strip kombu seaweed for tenderizing. If you do not have time to cook your own garbanzo beans, use a can of beans, such as Eden Organic Garbanzo Beans that have been cooked with kombu
- 1/3 cup chickpea water
- 3 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste or sesame seeds)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp cumin (grind fresh cumin seeds)
- 1/8 tsp coriander (grind the seeds from cilantro)
Step 2: After the hummus has been blended, taste and add any more of the ingredients to your taste.

Step 3: Add any of the following and blend again: Cilantro, dill, sautéed onions and garlic, sun-dried tomatoes or olives. Remember, you can make hummus with any kind of beans.

Step 4: Experiment with your own hummus creations. Once you know how to make this basic hummus, try making it with black beans or navy beans or a combination of your favorite beans.

Step 5: Practice Intuitive Cooking Experience and share your cooking experiences, including hummus, with us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now

Melanie Albert’s book, Enjoy Food & Life, is available as an e-book on www.EXPNutrition.com and you can join her on Twitter @NutritionAuthor She is available for speaking engagements, cooking workshops and retreats.

Melanie Albert at Super Bowl VIP Tailgate, Super Bowl 2008 in Miami.
October 18, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Organic Sprouted Spelt Flatbread Recipe
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
A few years ago I discovered that I was sensitive to gluten (the protein in grains like wheat, barley and rye). By exploring different grain flours, I’ve found that I’m not sensitive (no hives, no bloating, no headaches) to the Organic Sprouted Spelt Flour by One Degree Organic Foods. During the last few months, I’ve traveled with this flour and have made organic flat bread with 15 pounds of it. Have fun making your own flatbread.

What You Need
- ¾ cup hot (not boiling) water
- 1 TBSP dry yeast
- ½ TBSP honey
- 2 TBSP organic olive oil
- 2 cups organic spelt flour
- ½ tsp sea salt
Simple Steps: Make the Dough
- Put 1 TBSP dry yeast into ¾ cup hot water, add ½ TBS honey and ½ TBSP olive oil. Let it sit for about 10 minutes
- Put 2 cups sprouted spelt flour in bowl with ½ tsp sea salt
- Add the water with yeast into the flour
- Blend with a fork a few minutes, then knead with your hands another few minutes. Only knead for about 4-5 minutes total. Otherwise the flatbread will be tough. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. If it’s dry, add more water.
Simple Steps: Dough Rises & Into the Oven
- Split the dough in half. Place 2 balls of dough into a bowl which has coated with organic olive oil, and cover for about 2 hours (to rise)
- Again, split the dough into 2 sections and spread it onto a pizza brick with your hands
Simple Steps: Bake & Enjoy!
- Pre-heat oven at 500 degrees with pizza brick in oven
- Bake for 5 minutes, check it, bake for another 3-5 minutes, as needed
- Enjoy your flatbread with olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar, as a pizza, or just plain
Come over to Facebook www.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now and post your photos or ask questions.
August 22, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Organic Chia Seed Pudding

By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Wellness Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Instructor Holistic Nutrition Conscious Eating and Whole Food S.O.U.L. Food at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
Chia seeds are the rage today! But some of us remember when they were the green hair that grew on our Chia Pets when we were kids. Who knew that decades later we’d be eating them!

Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family that’s native to Mexico and Guatemala, and history suggests it was a very important food crop for the Aztecs.

Top 5 Benefits of Chia Seeds
• Good fats. Chia seeds, like hemp seeds and flax seeds are a great ALA omega-3 healthy-fat rich seed, which is important for brain health and reduction of inflammation in the body.
• High in protein. Great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans
• Stabilize blood sugar. Important for diabetics
• Improve heart health. According to the Cleveland Clinic, chia seeds have been shown to improve blood pressure in diabetics, and may also increase healthy cholesterol, whil lowering total, bad LDL and triglyceride cholesterol
• Good source of calcium. 18% or the recommended daily intake for calcium.

EXPERIENCE NUTRITION TM Organic Chia Pudding Recipe

EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Organic Chia Seed Pudding

Ingredients
• 1/3 cup chia seeds
• 1 cup soy milk (or coconut water)
• 2 chopped bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 Medjool dates, if you desire more sweetness
• Berries, nuts and seeds for toppings

Simple Steps
• Mix chia seeds, vanilla and dates into the soy milk or coconut water
• Fold in the bananas
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight)
• Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with your favorite berries, nuts and seeds

Share your Chia Pudding creations on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now

May 25, 2015
Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 9 Days: Make Your Own Organic Almond Milk Blueberry Smoothie
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts
So many people are now enjoying smoothies made with nut milks. You can make your own fresh organic nut milk with raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds or your own favorite nuts & seeds.

Simple Steps to Make Your Own Nut Milk
It is simple to make your own nut milks which are quick and easy to prepare, and only have a few ingredients. Pre-soak the nuts & seeds if you prefer smoother nut milk. It is not necessary to pre-soak the nuts and seeds.

Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Make Your Own Organic Almond Milk Blueberry Smoothie

Nut Milk Ingredients
- Handful of raw organic nuts &/or seeds
- 1-1.5 cups coconut water
- 1 Medjool date
- Splash of vanilla
- Fresh nutmeg & cinnamon
Smoothie Ingredients
- Handful of frozen blueberries
- Frozen banana
Simple Steps: Nut Milk
- Put nut milk ingredients (except nutmeg and cinnamon) in high-speed blender
- Blend, starting at low and increasing to high speed
- Blend for about 2 minutes
- Taste, add an additional date if you prefer a sweeter nut milk
- Enjoy with fresh ground nutmeg or use the nut milk in your smoothie
Simple Steps: Blueberry Smoothie
- Pour nut milk into blender
- Add frozen blueberries and bananas to blender
- Blend for about 2 minutes
- Enjoy!
Share your nut milk and smoothie photos with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days
February 18, 2015
Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes 10 Have Fun!

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition & food expert, author, speaker; Integrative Nutrition Health Coach; Holistic Nutrition & Whole Food Cooking Instructor Southwest Institute of Healing Arts; Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition
Our final #10 healthy recipe to enjoy Super Bowl 49 with the New England Patriots vs the Seattle Seahawks, is to HAVE FUN!

Enjoy the game, have fun with your friend and family, and enjoy some great (healthy) food!

Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes 10 HAVE FUN!

Our Experience Nutrition; 9 Ways 90 Days; Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes

1. Avocado Salsa

2. Organic Hummus

3. Raw Kale Salad

4. Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon

5. Hemp Seed Tabouli

6. Kale Chips

7. Vegan Chocolate Pudding

8. Hemp Seed Energy Balls

9. Organic Trail Mix

10. Have Fun!

Share your Super Bowl 49 Party photos with us at www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days The top 10 healthy recipe photos will receive e-book, “Enjoy Food & Life,” featuring nutrition tips and recipes by former NFL players and their familiies.

February 1, 2015
Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes: 8: Hemp Seed Energy Balls
Try this simple, quick snack for an energy boost, full of protein and omega-3 rich nuts. Enjoy these during your Super Bowl party!
Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes: 8 Hemp Seed Energy Balls

Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh or soaked dried organic Medjool dates
- 1/2 cup almonds
- ½ cup hemp seeds
- 1/8 cup chia seeds
- 3 TBS cocao powder
Simple Steps
- Take seeds out of dates
- Place dates, hemp seeds, almonds and chia seeds in high speed blender
- Mix on high for about a minute until the mixture becomes soft and warm
- Roll the mixture into small balls
- Roll the balls into hemp seeds
- Roll a few of the balls into cocao powder and hand mix it into the balls
Enjoy!

Share your Hemp Seed Energy Balls on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days Top 10 photos this weekend will win a free e-book, “Enjoy Food & Life,” featuring nutrition tips and recipes by former NFL players.
February 1, 2015