Top 11 Reasons to Go on a Plant-Based Cooking Retreat
by Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO of Experience Nutrition Group, LLC in Phoenix, Arizona, Award-winning Cookbook Author, and Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking Expert
If you’re still curious…
During our Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Fall 2019 Retreat, September 13-16, you’ll experience several days of hands-on, simple plant-based cooking, mindfulness in the kitchen and eating. We’ll enjoy a farm-to-table cooking experience at a local urban farm. You’ll experience self-care with hiking and yoga in the beauty of Sedona.
In the memorable life-changing retreat, our intention is for you to enjoy the cooking and self-care experiences during the retreat and then most importantly take home the experiences and plant-based cooking learning from the retreat to make positive lifestyle changes in your lives.
LEARN TO COOK SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL PLANT-BASED MEALS
Have fun with hands-on interactive cooking with Plant-Based Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. With hands-on interactive cooking you’ll learn culinary techniques to prepare a variety of plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
ONE: Learn How to Prepare Simple Delicious Healthy Breakfasts
Learn the basic culinary techniques to prepare plant-based breakfast options and when you return home intuitively create your own breakfasts with your favorite whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fruit.
Whole Grains (gluten-free)
Quick, easy, and tasty nut and seed milk
Superfood Smoothies
Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding
TWO: Learn to Cook a Variety of Plant-Based Lunches
For lunch, our focus is preparing beautiful, tasty raw salads, raw taco, and cold soup.
Raw Massaged Kale Salad with fruit, berries, nuts, and seeds. 3-ingredient salad dressing.
Avocado Tartare with fresh veggies
Raw Almond Walnut Taco with Quick Pickled Veggies
Cold Veggie Soup
Raw Dehydrated Crackers
THREE: Learn how to prepare tasty, healthy plant-based Appetizers, Meals, and Dessert for Plant-Based Dinners
For dinner, we’ll cook complete plant-based meals with delicious Mediterranean appetizers, Veggie Main Dishes, and beautiful, tasty desserts.
Mediterranean Appetizers
Hummus, Hempseed Tabouli, Olive Tapenade
Meals
Veggie Sautés (Roots & Greens)
Roasted Veggie Flatbread
Turmeric Lentil Soup
Veggie Brown Rice Pilaf
Raw Deconstructed Lasagna
Deconstructed Lasagna
Desserts
Raw Superfood Pie
Raw Cacao Berry Pie
Aromatic Apple Crisp
Raw Cacao Berry Pie
FOUR: Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Cooking Class at an Arizona Organic Farm
Enjoy a true farm-to-table experience. Tour a local organic farm with an Arizona urban farmer. Have fun cooking your dinner right at the farm with just-harvested produce from the farm and local farmers markets. Enjoy your culinary creations in the beauty of the farm.
Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition. Getting set for a farm-to-table cooking experience.
FIVE: Enjoy an afternoon Snack at a Local Sedona Plant-Based Restaurant
After hiking in Sedona, we’ll stop by a popular organic vegetarian Sedona restaurant to enjoy their delicious plant-based creations and chocolate treats.
MINDFUL COOKING & EATING
SIX: Practice Mindfulness while Cooking, Plating, and Eating
During the retreat, we’ll focus on mindfulness and being present throughout the cooking process. We’ll practice mindfulness while cooking our meals, beautifully plating our food, and enjoying our meals together.
Mindful Cooking. During the retreat, we will focus on mindfulness and being present while cooking, as part of the cooking process and a form of self-care. We will:
Mindfully choose the ingredients (beautiful veggies) and herbs and spices for our dishes.
Mindfully chop our food. (Learn basic knife skills).
Enjoy the beauty, the colors, the textures, the shapes, and the aromatherapy of our food.
Mindfully set up our mise en place. That is, get all of our ingredients in place before we start cooking for mindfulness and organization.
Learn to plate your foods beautifully. Since we eat with our eyes first, you will learn skills to plate foods beautifully. You’ll learn fundamental principles in the art of plating. You’ll have the opportunity to practice plating skills every time we cook and begin to develop your own plating style. We’ll use edible garnishes, herbs, and flowers in our plating to elevate the eye-appeal of our meals.
Mindful Eating.We’ll mindfully enjoy our meals in the beautiful Sedona environment with our retreat community. We’ll enjoy meals in the beauty of the retreat house and in the beauty of the Sedona Red Rocks. We’ll pause, slow down, and really enjoy the beauty and flavors of the food we prepare.
SELF CARE IN THE MAGIC OF SEDONA
SEVEN: Take time for your own self-care, relaxing in the beauty of the retreat house. Get away from day-to-day life. Retreats are the perfect place to really take time for you. Away from work, responsibilities, and technology. During your Sedona retreat, unplug and allow yourself to settle into quiet, to relax, recharge and reflect.
Relax at our Retreat House
EIGHT: Enjoy hiking and nature in beautiful, magical Sedona, Arizona. In Sedona, we can immerse ourselves in nature by hiking with the grounding red rock and expansive big sky environment which provides the perfect place to exercise and unwind. In Sedona, we’ll hike in the Vortex energy, breath in the fresh air, and enjoy the magnificent sunsets.
Cathedral Rock: Melanie Albert’s very favorite spot in Sedona.Hike at the Sedona Airport Vortex
NINE: Practice yoga on the Sedona Rocks and our private yoga studio at the retreat house. Participate in a yoga class or practice on your own for self-care, quiet, and meditation during the retreat.
Retreat House Private Yoga Studio
Enjoy One-of-A Kind Sedona Experiences
TEN: Enjoy Memorable One-of-A-Kind Sedona Experiences.Only in Sedona experiences. During the retreat, you’ll experience the Sedona magic with Spiritual Reading, and a private Kiva Ceremony.
ELEVEN: Visit Magnificent Antelope Canyon. As a special add-on to the retreat, visit one of the most magnificent spots in Arizona on our adventure day to the Antelope Canyon, one of the most beautiful, mesmerizing, photographic locations in the world. A photographer’s dream, the canyon is known for its wave-like structure and the light beams that shine directly down into the openings of the canyon, creating a supernatural appearance.
If you and your friends are interested in our Fall 2019 Plant-Based Cooking & Self-Care Retreat, September 13-16, 2019 in Sedona, Arizona, please fill out the form and I’m happy to share more and answer your questions. – Melanie Albert
View food differently with mindful cooking and eating.
Enjoy urban farm-to-table cooking experience.
Experience self-care with hiking and yoga.
Take home retreat experiences to be healthier & make positive long-term lifestyle changes.
During our Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Fall 2019 Retreat, you’ll experience several days of hands-on, simple plant-based cooking with organic food, mindfulness in the kitchen and eating. We’ll enjoy a farm-to-table cooking experience at a local urban farm. You’ll experience self-care with hiking and yoga in the beauty of Sedona.
In the memorable life-changing retreat, our intention is for you to enjoy the cooking and self-care experiences during the retreat and then most importantly take home the experiences and plant-based cooking learning from the retreat to make positive lifestyle changes in your lives.
Learn Simple Ways to Cook Healthy Plant-Based Organic Food
During the Sedona retreat, our key focus is simple, beautiful, healthy plant-based cooking. We’ll enjoy cooking and eating beautiful, fresh, delicious farm-to-table plant-based meals. Alongside award-winning cookbook author, Melanie Albert from Phoenix, Arizona, you’ll learn simple culinary skills for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
With interactive, hands-on cooking with local Arizona farmers organic produce, you’ll learn simple plant-based culinary techniques. We’ll focus on learning the cooking methods and guiding you to be intuitive with your cooking so you will be able to cook intuitively at home with seasonal produce grown by your local farmers.
All of the cooking is based on the anti-inflammatory way of eating, Mediterranean way of eating, and inspired by the Blue Zones, where people live the longest and healthiest lives. Learn during the retreat and feel confident to prepare the foods when you return home.
Award-Winning Cookbook Author, Melanie Albert at the Sedona Retreat House
Key Plant-Based Foods
During the retreat, you’ll learn simple plant-based culinary methods to cook key healthy plant-based foods. Our organic retreat meals feature as much local Arizona farmers food, as possible.
Roots & Greens
Whole Grains
Beans
Nuts & Seeds
Superfoods
Plant-Based Culinary Techniques
During all of the meals, you’ll learn a variety of cooking techniques to use when you return home. The culinary techniques during the retreat:
Proper steps to sauté veggies with flavor layering.
Steps to roast veggies for crispiness on the outside and a soft inside.
The process to cook flavorful veggie soups.
Simple steps to prepare whole grains perfectly every time.
Steps to create a 3-ingredient salad dressing.
Ways to create beautiful raw salads with what your local farmers are growing in season.
Steps to make raw dehydrated crackers.
Techniques to create simple raw sauces.
Plant-based dessert techniques with nuts, fruit, raw cacao, and superfoods.
Organic, Local Arizona Farmers Produce
RETREAT HIGHLIGHTS: Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreat with Award-Winning Cookbook Author, Melanie Albert
Sedona Eco-Retreat House: 3-Days and 3-nights at eco-retreat house in the beauty of Sedona, Arizona.
Noon-3:00pm Drive from Sedona to Phoenix for flights
ADD-ON TO RETREAT: ANTELOPE CANYON EXCURSION
Monday, September 16, 2019
6:00-7:00am Early Breakfast at Retreat House
7:00-8:00am Drive to Flagstaff
8:30-5:00pm Drive and Tour Antelope Canyon
5:30-7:30pm Dinner in Flagstaff
7:30pm+ Hotel in Flagstaff
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
8:00am-1:00pm Drive to Phoenix
To learn more about the retreat and to chat with retreat host, Melanie Albert, please fill out the form, or give me a call at 602.615.2486 or e-mail: Mel@MelanieAlbert.com
I look forward to connecting for both of us to get to know each other and to answer any questions about the retreat. — Melanie
ABOUT OUR LIGHT HOUSE Retreat House
Eco-Home. We are thrilled to hold our retreat at the Light House in Sedona, a truly eco-home with a collection of indoor and outdoor spaces created with a complimentary merging of Indonesian, Japanese, Moroccan and East Indian cultures. The Light House offers a full natural sensory environment with comforting courtyards, peaceful meditation gardens, hanging lounges, tranquil pools, and restful waterfalls.
Sedona Eco-Home Retreat House
Feng Shui.The Light House incorporates the principles of Feng Shui to create an environment that is energetically aligned promoting harmony, serenity, creativity, and vitality. An impressive cleansing crystal is strategically placed in the center of the house to ensure a healthy environment and numerous Feng Shui essentials are found throughout this landmark home. The Light House is the perfect environment to relax, reduce stress, and rejuvenate.
Welcome to our Retreat House
Salt-water Pool. Light House features a beautiful salt-water pool and Jacuzzi to unwind.
Retreat House Beautiful Salt Water Pool
Sedona Beauty. The natural outdoor beauty of Sedona is just out the back door with the beautiful Oak Creek and a glimpse of Cathedral Rock.
Our Retreat Home View of Cathedral Rock
Our Retreat Bedrooms
The Light House Retreat features 6 unique bedrooms, with a variety of beds and accommodates couples or singles. We welcome a group of friends or couples to attend the retreat
ONE: Downstairs Master with King and sitting room. Unique custom ‘pebble’ master bathtub and large glass steam shower.
TWO: Downstairs Off-Master with Queen. Private bedroom off Master. Shares master bathroom with ‘pebble’ bathtub and large glass steam shower.
Downstairs Master. King.
Master Bathroom
Downstairs Queen, off Master.
THREE: Downstairs Asia Room with King.Outdoor hallway to room with lounging sofa, desk and glass window views.
FOUR: Downstairs Bali Room with 2 Queens.Screen door access to outside lounging and garden areas.
FIVE: Upstairs Private King. Private outdoor patio with view of pool and Cathedral Rock. Shares bathroom with Sunrise Room.
SIX: Sunrise Room Upstairs Loft with Queen and Double. Fun loft. Shares bathroom with Private King.
ABOUT SEDONA
Beautiful, magical Sedona is a true oasis, a paradise in the middle of the northern Arizona desert. In Sedona, enjoy canyons, green forest, azure skies, and the dramatic red rock formations that glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. Sedona offers adventures including red rock jeep tours, hiking, Slide Rock, and Oak Creek Canyon, as well spiritual healing, psychic readings, and energy vortexes. Sedona will have your senses buzzing for days! Sedona offers a unique, one-of-a- kind culture and is an experience of a lifetime.
To learn more about the retreat and to chat with retreat host, Melanie Albert, please fill out the form, or give me a call at 602.615.2486 or e-mail: Mel@MelanieAlbert.com
I look forward to connecting for both of us to get to know each other and to answer any questions about the retreat. — Melanie
Top 11 Reasons to Go on a Plant-Based Cooking Retreat
During our Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Fall 2019 Retreat, you’ll experience several days of hands-on, simple plant-based cooking, mindfulness in the kitchen and eating. We’ll enjoy a farm-to-table cooking experience at a local urban farm. You’ll experience self-care with hiking and yoga in the beauty of Sedona.
In the memorable life-changing retreat, our intention is for you to enjoy the cooking and self-care experiences during the retreat and then most importantly take home the experiences and plant-based cooking learning from the retreat to make positive lifestyle changes in your lives.
LEARN TO COOK SIMPLE, BEAUTIFUL PLANT-BASED MEALS
Have fun with hands-on interactive cooking with Plant-Based Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. With hands-on interactive cooking you’ll learn culinary techniques to prepare a variety of plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
ONE: Learn How to Prepare Simple Delicious Healthy Breakfasts
Learn the basic culinary techniques to prepare plant-based breakfast options and when you return home intuitively create your own breakfasts with your favorite whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fruit.
Whole Grains (gluten-free)
Quick, easy, and tasty nut and seed milk
Superfood Smoothies
Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding
TWO: Learn to Cook a Variety of Plant-Based Lunches
For lunch, our focus is preparing beautiful, tasty raw salads, raw taco, and cold soup.
Raw Massaged Kale Salad with fruit, berries, nuts, and seeds. 3-ingredient salad dressing.
Avocado Tartare with fresh veggies
Raw Almond Walnut Taco with Quick Pickled Veggies
Cold Veggie Soup
Raw Dehydrated Crackers
THREE: Learn how to prepare tasty, healthy plant-based Appetizers, Meals, and Dessert for Plant-Based Dinners
For dinner, we’ll cook complete plant-based meals with delicious Mediterranean appetizers, Veggie Main Dishes, and beautiful, tasty desserts.
Mediterranean Appetizers
Hummus, Hempseed Tabouli, Olive Tapenade
Meals
Veggie Sautés (Roots & Greens)
Roasted Veggie Flatbread
Turmeric Lentil Soup
Veggie Brown Rice Pilaf
Raw Deconstructed Lasagna
Deconstructed Lasagna
Desserts
Raw Superfood Pie
Raw Cacao Berry Pie
Aromatic Apple Crisp
Raw Cacao Berry Pie
FOUR: Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Cooking Class at an Arizona Organic Farm
Enjoy a true farm-to-table experience. Tour a local organic farm with an Arizona urban farmer. Have fun cooking your dinner right at the farm with just-harvested produce from the farm and local farmers markets. Enjoy your culinary creations in the beauty of the farm.
Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition. Getting set for a farm-to-table cooking experience.
FIVE: Enjoy an afternoon Snack at a Local Sedona Plant-Based Restaurant
After hiking in Sedona, we’ll stop by a popular organic vegetarian Sedona restaurant to enjoy their delicious plant-based creations and chocolate treats.
MINDFUL COOKING & EATING
SIX: Practice Mindfulness while Cooking, Plating, and Eating
During the retreat, we’ll focus on mindfulness and being present throughout the cooking process. We’ll practice mindfulness while cooking our meals, beautifully plating our food, and enjoying our meals together.
Mindful Cooking. During the retreat, we will focus on mindfulness and being present while cooking, as part of the cooking process and a form of self-care. We will:
Mindfully choose the ingredients (beautiful veggies) and herbs and spices for our dishes.
Mindfully chop our food. (Learn basic knife skills).
Enjoy the beauty, the colors, the textures, the shapes, and the aromatherapy of our food.
Mindfully set up our mise en place. That is, get all of our ingredients in place before we start cooking for mindfulness and organization.
Learn to plate your foods beautifully. Since we eat with our eyes first, you will learn skills to plate foods beautifully. You’ll learn fundamental principles in the art of plating. You’ll have the opportunity to practice plating skills every time we cook and begin to develop your own plating style. We’ll use edible garnishes, herbs, and flowers in our plating to elevate the eye-appeal of our meals.
Mindful Eating. We’ll mindfully enjoy our meals in the beautiful Sedona environment with our retreat community. We’ll enjoy meals in the beauty of the retreat house and in the beauty of the Sedona Red Rocks. We’ll pause, slow down, and really enjoy the beauty and flavors of the food we prepare.
SELF CARE IN THE MAGIC OF SEDONA
SEVEN: Take time for your own self-care, relaxing in the beauty of the retreat house. Get away from day-to-day life. Retreats are the perfect place to really take time for you. Away from work, responsibilities, and technology. During your Sedona retreat, unplug and allow yourself to settle into quiet, to relax, recharge and reflect.
Relax at our Retreat House
EIGHT: Enjoy hiking and nature in beautiful, magical Sedona, Arizona. In Sedona, we can immerse ourselves in nature by hiking with the grounding red rock and expansive big sky environment which provides the perfect place to exercise and unwind. In Sedona, we’ll hike in the Vortex energy, breath in the fresh air, and enjoy the magnificent sunsets.
Cathedral Rock: Melanie Albert’s very favorite spot in Sedona.Hike at the Sedona Airport Vortex
NINE: Practice yoga on the Sedona Rocks and our private yoga studio at the retreat house. Participate in a yoga class or practice on your own for self-care, quiet, and meditation during the retreat.
Retreat House Private Yoga Studio
Enjoy One-of-A Kind Sedona Experiences
TEN: Enjoy Memorable One-of-A-Kind Sedona Experiences. Only in Sedona experiences. During the retreat, you’ll experience the Sedona magic with Spiritual Reading, and a private Kiva Ceremony.
ELEVEN: Visit Magnificent Antelope Canyon.As a special add-on to the retreat, visit one of the most magnificent spots in Arizona on our adventure day to the Antelope Canyon, one of the most beautiful, mesmerizing, photographic locations in the world. A photographer’s dream, the canyon is known for its wave-like structure and the light beams that shine directly down into the openings of the canyon, creating a supernatural appearance.
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, award-winning author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
A week ago I was enjoying the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Arizona. When I returned home to Phoenix after my brief get-away, I had a huge ah-ha. As a former Type A Marketing Professional and now 23-year successful Entrepreneur, I learned first-hand how valuable it is to “Unplug.”
Thanks. Before I share my insights, I want to take a moment to thank my friend, Cassie Hepler, founder of the travel and lifestyle blog, www.ExplorewithCassie.com for inviting me to be her “plus-one” on her media trip with Grand Canyon Adventures www.DoTheCanyon.com
Thanks Grand Canyon Adventures for the enjoyable, memorable day at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Profound Mini-Trip. Little did I know that when Cassie invited me several weeks ago how profound this mini-trip would be for me.
Anyway, I’m usually sharing my behind the scenes with cooking and intuitive cooking creations, but I decided to share with you the behind the scenes with my “Unplugged” adventure.
It All Works Out.Several days prior to the trip to the Grand Canyon, I realized that I had doubled booked myself the night before our scheduled road trip to the canyon. I was booked with coaching clients at the same time we were planning on driving to Flagstaff the night before the Canyon Tour. I was concerned that I would not have reliable internet or phone service for my clients. My friend, Cassie, kept telling me it would work out. I trusted.
And, of course, it worked out. I changed my plans; stayed in Phoenix to do 6 hours of coaching until 10:30pm that night.
I packed my food magazines, documents to work on with my business expansion, journal, planner, and some snacks: home-made raw trail mix, local apples, and grapes. I got up at 3:30am, after sleeping for 4 hours and drove to Flagstaff.
Thanks to Grand Canyon Adventures. Happily, at 7:30am the friendly folks at Grand Canyon Adventures greeted me with a smile.
I had just begun my “unplugged” adventure.
Grand Canon Adventures drove us to the Grand Canyon, with history lessons, geological lessons, and expansive beauty through 5 different eco-systems.
7 Wonder of the World. It has been decades since I visited the Grand Canyon. When I saw my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon, I was in awe. I paused. The beauty. The magnificence. The magic. The power. Here I was with one of the 7 Wonders of the World!
Grand Canyon with a Little Yoga.During our full-day tour with 4 different stops at the canyon, all I wanted was to soak in all the beauty of the canyon. At each stop along the canyon, I paused and practiced some yoga and enjoyed “my” tree pose everywhere. Thanks, Cassie for the beautiful photos.
Pause at the Canyon. I even found a beautiful quiet spot to reflect. Enjoy the Grand Canyon video.
Cassie with the Grand Canyon. And, Cassie enjoyed her hiking and being grounded with our Earth.
More Self-Care. For the last 3 miles of our day at the Canyon, Cassie and I quietly walked the South Rim capturing photos of us enjoying even more self-care with the beauty of the Grand Canyon. One final tree pose.
Thanks, Root Public House. When we arrived back in Flagstaff, we found a great place to eat, Root Public House, with a lovely outdoor patio breeze. I enjoyed a tasty creamy pea vegan risotto, made especially for me. And, I was feeling as though I was on vacation for days.
Sedona Airport Sunset. After dinner, Cassie headed back to Phoenix. I drove south to Sedona, where I just caught the end of the sunset at the Airport Vortex.
My Favorite Place in the World.The next day, I spent the whole day at Oak Creek Crossing, at the base of Cathedral Rock, one of my very favorite places in the world.
A video peek…
I hiked, walked in Oak Creek, sat, listened to water, listened to birds. That was it.
Pause and enjoy Oak Creek.
Unplugged. Being “unplugged” was sinking in. I had no desire to look at the food magazines. No desire to “work” on my business. Only a little bit of journaling. This was huge for me.
I was “Unplugged” from electronics and importantly “Unplugged” from working. I was away from business strategy and responsibilities, writing blogs, cooking, creating recipes, teaching classes, and hosting events.
After a full day of being unplugged, I drove home to Phoenix.
Unplug Ah-Ha. I know this may sound obvious. What I realized was that I (we) need time to really unplug from the phones, computer, work, magazines. Yes, we can do this with yoga or meditation. For me, it was extra special and powerful to unplug in the beauty of my beloved Arizona.
For my few days at the Grand Canyon and Sedona I found that after being totally unplugged, I came back with even more creativity, energy, and passion.
Unplug in Arizona Retreats. I really do believe that it’s incredibly important for our own life and joy to “unplug.” I’ve been planning Cooking and Self-Care Retreats in Sedona for 2019. My time at the Grand Canyon and Sedona made me realize how valuable these retreats will be for our guests to get away and “Unplug.”
With the insights from my personal “Unplugged” experience, I have now added a Grand Canyon Adventure to the retreats, along with the Phoenix Urban Farm Cooking Experience and the intuitive cooking, hiking, yoga, and extreme self-care in Sedona.
If you are interested in attending Unplug in Arizona Cooking & Self-Care Retreats or interested in creating a custom retreat for your organization, please let me know and I’ll keep in touch. Warmly, Melanie
Interested in my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods,” I’m happy to autograph and gift-wrap and ship to you.
