Experience Nutrition

Tag: Avocado

Experience Nutrition Simple Plant-Based Dessert: Chocolate Avocado Pudding
Based on a request for a chocolate dessert that is actually healthy, I’m happy to share this simple-to-prepare, delicious, healthy Avocado Chocolate Pudding. This dessert features a few superfoods as toppings for the pudding: Goji berries, raw cacao nibs, and hemp seeds.
Simple Recipe from “A New View of Healthy Eating” by Melanie Albert

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Incredible, rich, and creamy vegan chocolate pudding will delight everyone. Make it for dessert or an after-work or after-school snack. Once you’ve made this avocado pudding, experiment by adding some extras, such as bananas, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, homemade nut milk, and freshly ground spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 2 ripe avocados
- 4 Medjool dates, pitted and sliced
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
- 1 cups water
Avocado Pudding Mise en Place

SIMPLE STEPS
1. Place all ingredients in food processor or high-speed blender.
2. Blend on high for about 2 minutes.
3. Stop and scrape down sides of food processor or blender, if needed.
4. Blend for another 2 minutes or until completely pureed and smooth.
5. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
6. Enjoy topped with goji berries, cacao nibs, hemp seeds,citrus, raw cacao powder.
Avocado Pudding: Ingredients into Food Processor

Avocado Chocolate Pudding. Superfoods.

Add Edible Flowers & Raw Cacao Powder to your Plate.

Excited to share with you the new Plant-Based Food Art Mastermind. Click to register today!
October 24, 2020
Experience Nutrition: Simple Avocado Salsa, as Featured in Natural Awakenings Magazine, Arizona
It is again such an honor to create recipe articles for the Natural Awakenings Magazine, Phoenix and Northern Arizona during the last few years. And, I am humbled to contribute to the important May 2020 issue during the Coronavirus Pandemic, to bring a little joy to our lives, with beautiful food. – Melanie Albert
Recipes in the Natural Awakenings, May 2020 article include: Three Beautiful, Simple Plant-Based Recipes

Enjoy mindfully and intuitively creating these simple dishes. Take time to appreciate the beauty of the food, the mindfulness of the cooking process, and the final food art of your culinary creations.
- Hummus. Three Ways. Classic. Turmeric. Beet.
- Raw Carrot Cake. Simple, beautiful, tasty, aromatic dessert.
- Simple Avocado Salsa. Intuitively create with the veggies, aromatics, and herbs in your kitchen. (Today’s recipe.)
Simple Avocado Salsa

I hope you are inspired by this simple to-prepare, tasty avocado salsa, along with “food art.”

Enjoy the video with the steps to prepare and plate your own avocado salsa.

Serves 1

Have fun intuitively creating your own avocado salsa with the veggies grown by our local farmers and available right in your own refrigerator. With the avocado as a base, add in your choice of aromatics (onion, garlic), citrus (lemon or lime), favorite veggies, such as carrots, green or red peppers, radishes, cauliflower, tomatoes), and a fresh herb (basil, cilantro, marjoram).

Thanks to my Arizona farmer friends for the beautiful produce in this Avocado Salsa.
- Blue Sky Organic Farms, Litchfield Park: Grafitti (purple) Cauliflower, Green Onions
- Pinnacle Farms Phoenix: Mini-Carrots, Spring Garlic
- Melanie’s Edible Garden: Fresh Basil, Mini-Tomatoes
Simple Ingredients
- 1 soft, ripe avocado
- 4-5 mini carrots, chopped
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 3-4 clove raw garlic, minced
- 4-5 cauliflower florets, chopped
- ½ lemon, juiced and zested
- 4-5 basil leaves, chiffonade
- Pinch sea salt
- Garnish: Basil leaves and flowers, mini-tomatoes
- Pinch sea salt
Simple Avocado Salsa: Beautiful Arizona farmers ingredients.

Simple Steps
- Chop all ingredients.
- Place avocado in a bowl and mix with a fork.
- Add all other ingredients to the bowl and gently mix all ingredients.
Simple Avocado Salsa: Mise en Place

Simple Plating
- Place ring mold onto plate or bowl.
- Scoop avocado salsa into the ring mold.
- OPTION: If you do not have a ring mold, place a mound of the avocado salsa onto the plate.
- Garnish with basil leaves and mini-tomatoes.
- Enjoy!
Stay in touch with us on www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenturitionaz and tag us #experiencenutrition on your plant-based culinary creations.

I’m feeling that very soon we will ease out of our Coronavirus Stay-at-Home, so if you or your organization is looking for a live in-person hands-on interactive plant-based cooking experience, I’m happy to chat with you to explore opportunities. Feel free to call (602.615.2486) or e-mail (Mel@MelanieAlbert.com) – Melanie

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Culinary Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.
May 7, 2020
Experience Nutrition: Your Recipe Guide for a Quick & Simple Avocado Salsa With What’s in Your Refrigerator
During our coronavirus stay-at-home, a simple to prepare lunch, breakfast or snack, is an “avocado tartare.” You might call it avocado salsa with a few extra veggies. I hope this avocado recipe guide inspires you to create your own beautiful, delicious avocado tartare with whatever vegetables are in your kitchen. – Melanie Albert

Avocado Tartare Key Ingredients

The 5 base ingredients for avocado tartare are:
1. A ripe avocado
2. Citrus: lemon, lime, grapefruit, Meyer lemon
3. Sea salt
4. Aromatic: onion, garlic, shallot
5. Fresh herb: parsley, basil, cilantro, marjoram, lemon balm
Avocado Tartare: The Add-in Veggies

To these base ingredients, add in a few veggies – any kind – available at your local farmers’ markets, local farmers, or grocery stores. Some ideas: Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives.

The plant-based cooking video guides you through the simple step-by-step process to prepare the avocado salsa. And, for reference, you can printout the recipe.

Avocado Salsa Recipe Guide

Use this recipe as a guide for Avocado Salsa with whatever veggies are in your refrigerator. This is a great recipe to experiment with intuitive cooking, where we choose a few vegetables, herbs, and aromatics we are attracted to and enjoy our creation.

Serves 1

Simple Ingredients
- 1 avocado
- 2 tbsp green onions
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tsp Meyer lemon juice
- Pinch sea salt
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 3-4 cauliflower florets
- Optional garnish: few broccoli stems
Avocado Tartare: Simple Ingredients

Simple Steps
- Chop all ingredients
- Toss all ingredients into a bowl.
- Mix avocado with a fork.
- Add Meyer lemon juice and sea salt to the avocado.
- Mix all ingredients with a fork.
- Mindfully plate.
- Enjoy
Aocado Tartare: Plating Mise en Place

Since I love Avocado Tartare’s so much, I’ll continue to share some of my intuitively created dishes with you, to give you more ideas on how you an mix-and-match veggies, herbs, aromatics, and citrus.

Stay in touch with us on www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenturitionaz and tag us #experiencenutrition on your 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.

www.ExperienceNutrition.com
April 21, 2020
A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Super Bowl Recipe: Avocado Tartare

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
I’m always a little reflective during Super Bowl week, and realized it was 10 years ago that my company was first involved with the Super Bowl. That first year, we created three healthy lifestyle products with the Super Bowl XLII logo: a zen clock, soy candle collection, and matcha tea kit. For the next two Super Bowls, we catered at the Super Bowl VIP Tailgate Party with Tropical Trail Mix in Tampa, and then Hummus and Cold Soup in Miami.

Over the years, we learned about the serious health issues of the former NFL players when they retire, taught former players how to cook healthy meals, created a healthy eating program, and in 2011, my company became the Official Health & Wellness Partner of the NFL Alumni Association.

Avocado Tartare Recipe for Super Bowl

Anyway, enough reminiscing…

Today, the eve of the Super Bowl game many people were out shopping for the perfect avocados for guacamole, so I decided to create a little more fancy version of guacamole.

Avocado Tartare Mis en Place: So simple…avocado, tomatoes, lemon, and sea salt.

Avocado Tartare Plating

Enjoy your Super Bowl Day and your Avocado Guacamole and Avocado Tartare!

Share your Super Bowl snacks with us over on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

February 3, 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: Get Creative with Avocado Salsa
by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
This week, I had the opportunity to lead a cooking class with Gregory’s Fresh Market in Phoenix, with the theme of good fats for heart health. One of my favorite ‘good fat’ dishes is a very simple avocado salsa. It’s so versatile. With a simple avocado, fresh lemon juice, and sea salt base, we can add all kinds of veggies and make a quick healthy lunch or snack.

Excerpt from Melanie’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating.”

EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Signature Avocado Salsa

Honestly, I had never eaten fresh avocados until a few years ago, and thought I didn’t like them. One of my brothers made a simple, fresh avocado salsa with his home-grown yellow pear tomatoes and fresh garlic. Since that day when I first experienced the deliciousness of creamy avocados, I loved them and have taught the simple avocado salsa recipe to hundreds of people, including kids, MDs, former NFL players, and holistic students at speaking engagements, workshops, and cooking classes.

Teaching my then 6-year old niece, Meredith how to massage the avocado salsa. She’s now 12 years old and still making avocado salsa for a snack.

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.
“Keep an avocado in your kitchen all the time so you’re always ready to make a quick avocado salsa to enjoy as a salad or in a wrap.” – Melanie Albert

Create Your Own Avocado Salsa

Using the Basic Avocado Salsa Recipe as a guide, create your own with your favorite farmers’ market fresh vegetables. Experiment with carrots (orange, yellow, or purple), peppers (red, green, yellow, or purple), cucumbers (green, lemon cucumbers, or Armenian), olives, garbanzo beans, and dehydrated tomatoes.

7 Simple Ways to Enjoy Avocados
1. Homemade avocado salsa
2. Fresh avocado wrap
3. In sandwiches instead of butter or mayonnaise
4. Sliced and added to salad
5. With steamed vegetables
6. In raw vegan desserts
7. With fresh lemon or lime juice, a little sea salt, and minced garlic as a simple snack
ACTION: I invite you to buy a few avocados and have fun adding different veggies to your ‘avocado salsa”.

Amazing. Take a look a the avocado tree In Cocoa Beach that my parents grew from seed…
January 9, 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