Experience Nutrition

Category: Stay at Home Tips

Experience Nutrition: Gardening: 10 Steps to Plant Your Summer Garden
So many people are gardening now with the Coronavirus pandemic. I hope you are inspired to plant and enjoy your own garden this year. Then enjoy the harvesting and cooking of the beautiful food you grow with and for your family and friends.
Happy to share with you the second phase of planting my little Arizona edible garden. Click to see Gardening Part 1: Earth Day: Slow Down with Home Gardening. Worms!

10 Step Summer Gardening Experience

After returning from the Arizona Worm Farm (see more in the Earth Day Blog), I knew I only had a few hours to plant my garden and use the Worm Tea. Thus, I was focused, mindful, and in the moment with these 10 Gardening Steps:
1. Choose your Plants.
2. Gardening “Mise en Place.” Get organized with the plants, mulch, worm castings, and worm tea for your garden.
3. Take out the old (plants) to leave room for the new.
4. Pull out all old roots and thoroughly mix the soil.
5. Add mulch and mix it into the old soil.
6. Plant the transplants.
7. Sprinkle a layer of nutrient-dense Worm Castings onto the top of the soil.
8. Drizzle Worm Tea onto the top of the soil, around all of the plants.
9. Water the garden.
10. Enjoy!
Let’s take a quick video look at the Pre-Garden and then get started on our New Summer garden.

Step 1. Choose Your Plants

In general, at this time of year, in the Phoenix area and in many different areas across the USA, it’s time to plant warm-weather, hydrating crops. Think tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, watermelon, melons, summer and winter squash, beans, and herbs.

Top Tips to Choose your Edible Garden Plants

When purchasing plant-starts (transplants) be sure to purchase:
- “Organic” or pesticide-herbicide-free.
- Local crops, that will do well in your area.
- Seasonal crops, to be planted now for the Summer.
- Your favorite veggies, fruit, herbs, and edible flowers.
Although I’ve lived in Arizona, this time for 15 years, I totally rely on the expertise of our local Phoenix area entrepreneurs who grow plant-starts for our community. A quick list of what I’ve purchased so far this season:

Vilardi Gardens, Phoenix

Vilardi Gardens is known as one of the best places for high-quality Arizona-grown edible transplants: All-natural, chemical- and pesticide-free. Perfect for growing in our Arizona climate. During the Coronavirus “stay-at-home,” at this point in time, Vilardi Gardens is selling at the Roadrunner Park Farmers Market (Cactus Road & 35th Street) on Saturday mornings and delivering to our homes!

A few weeks ago, I opted for home delivery of a few summer favorites:
- Tomatoes
- Purple tomatillos
- Peppers
- Sweet marjoram
- Italian oregano
The Vilardi Organic Transplants.

The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix

Thanks so much to Billy Anthony, farmer at the Farm at South Mountain, for my favorites, including edible flowers!
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Watermelon
- Lemon balm
- Peppers
- Marigolds
The Farm at South Mountain. Soil & Seed Garden. Plant-Starts.

Step 2. Gardening “Mise en Place.” Get organized with the plants, mulch, worm castings, and worm tea for your garden.

Step 3. Take out the old (plants) to leave room for the new.

Step 4. Pull out all old roots and thoroughly mix the soil.

Step 5. Add mulch and mix it into the old soil.

Step 6. Sprinkle a layer of nutrient-dense Worm Castings onto the top of the soil.

Worm Castings onto the Soil.

Step 7. Plant the transplants from The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain.

Step 8. Drizzle Worm Tea onto the top of the soil, around all of the plants.

Step 9. Water the garden.

Step 10. Enjoy!

Let’s take a video look at the newly planted elevated garden…All ready with Summer plants!

Stay in touch with us on www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenturitionaz and tag us #experiencenutrition on your edible gardening and plant-based culinary creations.

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.
April 29, 2020
Experience Nutrition: Cook at Home Roasted Veggie Bowl with “Social Distancing.” 5 Tips to Roast Veggies Perfectly Every Time
Now that we all all cooking more at home, it’s a great time to learn a few simple culinary (it’s cooking!) methods.
With a plant-based way of eating, we do eat a lot of vegetables. With this in mind, it’s important to know several different simple culinary skills to prepare vegetables, such as roasting, steaming, sautéing, and raw.

One of my favorite ways to cook veggies is roasting. With this method of roasting, we cook the veggies spread out “distancing” in the oven to brown the outside, while keeping the center a little soft. We can roast all kinds of veggies which gives us a nice variety of tastes, textures, and colors. – Melanie Albert

Visit our new Experience Nutrition YouTube Channel for the video of the Roasted Veggie Bowl Recipe.

Thank You Farmers and Farmers Markets

Today’s roasted veggies were created with produce from local farmers: The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, and Blue Sky Organic Farms, Litchfield Park, Arizona. All of the veggies were in CSA’s (Community Support Agriculture) offered by the farms during our Coronavirus stay-at-home.

In Arizona, we are so fortunate that our farmers and farmers’ markets are considered essential grocery stores. Thus, we still have the opportunity to purchase beautiful food from our farmers, and they can continue to harvest and sell to our community. Thank you!

The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, April 2020

Farm-to-Table Spring Roasted Veggie Bowl

Enjoy this tasty roasted veggie culinary method and create a bowl with brown rice and beans for a perfect lunch. Use this recipe as a guide to roast crispy on the outside and soft on the inside veggies. Choose a few of your favorite vegetables from your local farmers that are right in your kitchen and enjoy roasting beautiful, tasty veggies at home.

Roasted Veggie Bowl: The Veggies, Olive Oil, Sea Salt

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- Blue Sky Organic Farms
  - 1 fennel, root sliced
  - 1 spring green garlic, sliced
  - 1 leek, chopped
  - 3-4 celery stalks, sliced
  - 3-4 cauliflower florets
  - 3-4 broccoli florets
- The Farm at South Mountain
  - 2 beets (golden and red), sliced
  - 1 radish (breakfast), sliced
  - 1 turnip ( scarlet) sliced
- Grocery Store / My Pantry
  - 1 sweet potato, sliced
  - 2-3 TBSP organic extra virgin olive oil
  - Pinch sea salt
- Extras
  - Plating: Brown rice, beans
  - Garnish: Edible flowers
SIMPLE STEPS
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Chop all veggies into equal-sized pieces.
- One-by-one, place veggies in a bowl.
- Coat veggies with olive oil and sea salt.
Chopped veggies ready to be coated with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.
- Place veggies flat side down on unbleached, natural parchment-paper- lined flat sheet pan.
Veggies “social distancing” on the parchment-lined sheet pans.
- Cook for 12 minutes.
- Flip.
- Cook another 12-15 minutes.
Roasted veggies. Ready to be mindfully plated.
- Enjoy as a veggie bowl.
TOP 5 TIPS TO ROAST VEGGIES PERFECTLY EVERY TIME
1. Coat the chopped veggies thoroughly with oil.
2. When placing on unbleached parchment paper, be sure the veggies do not touch each other.
3. When placing veggies on parchment paper, place flat side down, so the side of the vegetable can brown.
4. Flip veggies about half-way through the cooking process.
5. Pay attention to veggies while they are cooking, as they cook at different speeds. More dense vegetables (like beets and sweet potatoes) take longer to cook than water-rich veggies, like onions.
If you are enjoying our Experience Nutrition Blog, with simple plant-based recipes and lifestyle tips, please subscribe to the Blog, our www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ , and new YouTube Channel.

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.
April 14, 2020
Experience Nutrition Tip: Cooking More at Home? Simple Roasted Veggies with What’s In Your Refrigerator
Use this quick and easy culinary technique to roast any kind of veggies in your refrigerator, if possible, grown by your local farmers. All you’ll need is a few of your favorite vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt. That’s it. A few simple ingredients and easy cooking method to create a tasty, healthy veggie side dish. – Melanie Albert

Click to watch the Video of the Simple Roasted Veggie Bowl.

Thank You Farmers

Thanks to our local Arizona farmers who are working so passionately to bring great, local food to our community while we’re all social distancing and cooking more at home. Thanks to my long time farmer friends at The Farm at South Mountain, Blue Sky Organic Farms, The Farm at Agritopia, Crooked Sky Farms, Rhiba Farms, Whipstone Farms, Steadfast Farm, Phoenix Pinnacle Farms, Maya’s Farm, and the Community Exchanges. From my heart, I really appreciate you.

Thank You Farmers Markets

Here in Arizona, I’d also like to thank our local farmers markets to continuing to stay open as grocery stores, so we have a safe place to purchase the quality food from our farmers, and our farmers have a place to sell the produce that is growing so abundantly right now. Special thanks to my friends at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, where I’ve been leading cooking demos for several years.

Quick Roasted Veggies Recipe

Create this quick roasted veggie dish with a few of your favorite veggies in your kitchen and enjoy it with quinoa or brown rice.

Cooking Tip: Since some veggies cook faster than others, be sure to remove veggies from the pan when they have been cooked.

Simple Ingredients
- Four to six of your favorite veggies.
  - For this intuitively created recipe, I pre-ordered a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Blue Sky Organic Farms in Litchfield Park, Arizona. I then quickly picked it up at the Saturday Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market.
- ½ Caraflex cabbage (sweet and mild)
- 4-5 orange carrots, sliced
- 1 large green onion, sliced
- ½ kohlrabi, sliced
- ½ yellow (cheddar) cauliflower, sliced
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch sea salt
- Garnish: Sunflower seeds, arugula, edible flowers
- Extras: Cooked brown rice or quinoa
Quick Roasted Veggies: Ingredients

Simple Steps
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Slice all veggies into bite-sized pieces.
- Place veggies into baking pan.
- Drizzle veggies with the olive oil and sea salt.
In to the Pan: Veggies, Olive Oil, and Sea Salt
- Roast for 12 minutes.
- Toss veggies.
- Roast for another 12-15 minutes.
- Enjoy veggies with quinoa or brown rice.
Plating
- Plate the veggies in a veggie bowl with quinoa or brown rice, along with pumpkin seeds, arugula, and edible flowers.
Enjoy! Quick Roasted Veggie Bowl

Click to watch the Video of the Simple Roasted Veggie Bowl.

Please ask any questions, anytime, and share your culinary creations with us.

Visit us on Facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenutritionAZ #experiencenutrition

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.
April 11, 2020
EXPERIENCE NUTRITION: Food & Lifestyle Tip of the Day: 5 Steps to Cook Intuitively During our Stay-at-Home. Avocado Salsa Recipe
Now that nearly everyone around the world is staying at home to help flatten the Coronavirus Curve, I will be sharing simple Food & Lifestyle Tips of the Day. The intention of the tips is to give you ideas that you could incorporate easily into your day-by-day activities around living a healthy lifestyle while we are all at home. And, in the long run implement tips that resonate with you to positively affect your life. — Melanie Albert

Some of the tips will be around plant-based food, cooking, and eating with recipes, culinary (cooking) techniques, and even food art. Other tips will focus on positivity, mindfulness, and self-care.

Meet Melanie Albert

As a little background for those of you who do not know me, a few highlights. I am the founder & CEO of Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona, and award-winning cookbook author.
- My passion is plant-based farm-to-table culinary, and I’ve led hundreds of cooking experiences, courses and retreats. I’m trained with 610 hours of plant-based culinary training.
- 2007 graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition / Certified International Health Coach
- 9 years marketing, branding, and licensing consultant with Weil Lifestyle, LLC/Andrew Weil, MD
- 5 years nutrition and cooking with former NFL players, catering and events at Super Bowls, and official Health & Wellness Partner of the NFL Alumni Association in 2011.
- 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher and nearly 20 years practicing yoga.
- For decades, I’ve lived my passion around healthy lifestyle, cooking, and eating, and am happy to share ideas with you.
- I’ve been a work-from-home entrepreneur for 25 years; thus I have decades of personal experience with being at home, and enjoying it.
I hope you are inspired by some of the motivational food and lifestyle tips I share with you.

Experience Nutrition: Food & Lifestyle Tip of the Day: Cook Intuitively…with what’s in Your Refrigerator.

What is Intuitive Cooking?

With Intuitive Cooking, we pay attention to food. We notice the shapes, colors, flavors, and aromatherapy. By listening to our heart or gut, we choose a few foods we wish to purchase (at local farmers markets, if possible). When it’s time to cook, we pay attention to our bodies. What are we craving. Which foods are we visually attracted to. Then we cook with those foods and enjoy our meals.

During our stay-at-home, it is also important to cook with our intuition. We listen to our bodies and senses. And, we cook with what’s available in our kitchens during these days when our food options may be limited.

5 Simple Steps to Get Started with Intuitive Cooking
1. Learn basic culinary (or cooking) skills or techniques and then use those skills to intuitively create dishes and meals with ease and confidence.
2. Cook with what’s in your kitchen.
3. Use a recipe as a guide.
4. Substitute ingredients in the recipe with what you have in your refrigerator.
5. Have fun experimenting and enjoy your creation.
Intuitive Cooking Avocado Salsa Recipe

Today, with intuitive cooking in mind, I created a very simple Avocado Salsa with what was in my refrigerator and little edible garden. This is a quick and easy lunch or snack. You’ll need an avocado, an aromatic (any onion), garlic (if you have it), a small tomato, citrus (lemon or lime), a fresh herb (parsley, basil, cilantro, marjoram), and sea salt. Plus, include optional ingredients for plating (such as broccoli or cauliflower).

Use this recipe as a guide for Avocado Salsa with whatever veggies are in your refrigerator. Some ideas: Green or red bell peppers, carrots, celery, cucumbers, olives.

Serves 1

Simple Ingredients
- 1 avocado
- 2 tbsp onions
- ½ tsp garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small tomato or ½ cup mini tomatoes
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp fresh herbs, such as basil, cilantro, or marjoram
- Pinch sea salt
- Optional: few broccoli stems
Simple Steps
- Chop ingredients.
Avocado Salsa: Ingredients Chopped & Ready
- Toss all ingredients into a bowl.
- Mix with a fork.
- Mindfully plate.
- Enjoy.
Please share your Avocado Salsa creations with us on Instagram @nutritionauthor #experiencenutrition and let me know if you have any cooking questions.
April 4, 2020