Experience Nutrition

Tag: eat local

Experience Nutrition: “Stay-at-Home” Quick Roots & Greens Sauté. Featuring The Farm at South Mountain Spring CSA
Since October 2018, I have had the honor to create weekly recipes for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) at The Farm at South Mountain, an urban farm less than a mile from my home. To date, I’ve intuitively created 47 recipes for the members of the CSA. Each Friday, I pick up the incredible just-harvested CSA produce and herbs at The Farm from lead farmer Billy Anthony, and then come home and create a recipe for the Saturday morning CSA bags.
Cooking at Home. Right now, while more and more people are cooking at home with the Coronavirus “stay-at-home” I’m finding it even more important to share my recipes to more and more people, beyond the CSA members.

For those of you who are cooking at home, I invite you to use this recipe as a guide to sauté a simple, tasty roots and greens dish. Use whatever roots (radishes, turnips, beets, carrots) and greens (kale, collards, dandelion greens) your local farmers are growing. And, for citrus, feel free to use a lemon, orange, or grapefruit.

For the CSA members, I hope you enjoy creating this recipe with the beautiful local Arizona produce in your CSA.
- Citrus: Grapefruit, lemons
- Roots: Beets, Turnips, Mixed Radishes
- Greens: Sugar Snap Peas, Braising Greens, Gem Head Lettuce
- Farm Salad Bag with Glacier Lettuce
- Mint
- Eggs
Please share your culinary creations with us on Instagram @nutritionauthor @thefarmatsouthmountain.

Honestly, it was a little emotional picking up my CSA at The Farm on Friday, March 27, 2020. Here’s a glimpse.

Roots & Greens Sauté Recipe

Thanks to Lead Farmer Billy Anthony of the Soil & Seed Garden for growing such beautiful, tasty produce for our community. We appreciate your dedication, especially while we are Coronavirus social distancing.

Make this simple sauté with roots, greens, and the lemon from your CSA, along with an onion.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium purple daikon or another radish
- 1 medium turnip
- 3-4 stems kale
- ½ cup sugar snap peas
- 5-7 stems dandelion greens (from Farm Salad Bag)
- ½ white or red onion, or 2 green onions, sliced (not in CSA)
- 1 lemon, ½ juiced and zested
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch sea salt
- Garnish: Few mint leaves
SIMPLE STEPS

Mise en Place (Everything into place)
- Thinly slice radish and turnip with mandoline or knife.
- Pull center stems out of kale and tear leaves into bite-size pieces.
- Slice onions into moon-shapes.
- Zest the lemon.
Cook
- Pre-heat sauté pan on medium heat on stovetop.
- Once the pan is warm, place onions in pan, sauté until soft, for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add sliced radish and turnip to the pan.
- Drizzle sea salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest onto the radish and turnip.
- Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Move radishes and turnips to the middle of the pan.
- Add snap peas, kale, and dandelion greens to the edges of the pan to cook with the olive oil.
- Drizzle a pinch of sea salt onto the green veggies.
- Cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Plate
- Plate the roots, greens, and sugar snap peas onto the plate.
- Garnish with mint.
More Plant-Based Cooking Recipes. I look forward to sharing additional recipes and ideas with you, while we area all “at home” during the Coronavirus. Please check back, as I’m also shooting some simple cooking videos for my Experience Nutrition YouTube Channel.

Sedona Cooking Retreats. A few people have been asking about the 2020 Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreats. We have not yet cancelled the June 12-15, 2020 retreat, and at this point I’m pretty sure we will hold the September 18-21, 2020 retreat. Let me know (Mel@MelanieAlbert.com) if you are interested in either retreat, and I will keep in touch with you. Just fyi, link to the retreat information.

By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, LLC in Phoenix, Arizona. Plant-Based Farm-to-Table Leader, award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building and retreat leader.
March 28, 2020
Experience Nutrition: The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA Recipe: Arizona Fall Green Pesto
by Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking Expert, Award-winning Cookbook Author, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition
I’m honored to intuitively create recipes from the produce in The Farm at South Mountain CSA grown at the Soil & Seed Garden.

Farm-to-Table Intuitive Cooking. Each week, right after Lead Grower Billy Anthony and Grower Michael Schultz, have their ideas for the crops that they’ll be harvesting, they text the list to me and my creativity begins. With farm-to-table and intuitive cooking, we really do first see what’s available from our local farmers, then taking into account simple cooking techniques, begin to develop a recipe direction for the CSA.

Creativity Flows. After picking up the CSA at The Farm (less than a mile from my home) the creativity begins. First, I look at all the goodies. Then, I begin to organize the food to create the dish. this is when my creativity begins. Sometimes, or I should say, many times, there are produce which I have not previously prepared, and I get really excited.

Pesto Inspiration. This week, when I saw the green herbs and greens, I immediately decided to create a simple pesto. I was inspired by the combination of the aromatherapy of the lemon basil, the “good for us” omega-3 rich purslane (a weed that grows naturally here in Phoenix), and the sage (which I have never used in a pesto) as the base of the pesto.With the addition of a nut (almonds) for crunch, and an “acid, fat, salt” dressing, the pesto came to life in my mind.

Soil & Seed Garden, Fall Week 2 CSA. October 26, 2019

Enjoying our beautiful Phoenix evening at The Farm at South Mountain, while picking up the second week of the Fall CSA…

Now, the beauty of our Fall Week 2 CSA.

The Farm at South Mountain: Soil & Seed Garden: Fall 2019 Week 2 CSA: 10.26.19

The Greens and Herbs: Chard, Lavender, Lemon Basil, Purslane, Eggplant, Radishes.

The Soil & Seed Salad Box.

Fall CSA Week 2: 10.26.19
- Farm eggs
- French breakfast radish
- Soil & Seed Salad Box
- Ichiban eggplant
- Lemon basil
- Northern lights chard
- Autumn sage
- Goldbergs purslane
- Spanish eyes lavender
- Decorative pumpkin / gourd
Soil & Seed Garden Fall Green Pesto

A pesto is a quick, delicious dish to create with the Soil & Seed Garden fresh herbs and greens. This week’s pesto inspired by the lemon basil is perfect in a Chard Wrap. I’ll also use is as my “green sauce” in a Raw Deconstructed Lasagna.

Simple Ingredients
- 1 cup lemon basil leaves
- 1 cup purslane leaves, chopped
- 5-6 sage leaves
- ¼ cup almonds, rough chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch sea salt
- Garnish: Radishes, Chard
Fall Green Pesto Mise en Place. Simple. Beautiful. Fresh.

Simple Steps
- Gather mise en place (get all ingredients organized)
All ingredients are ready for the Fall Green Pesto.
- Place lemon basil leaves, purslane, sage, almonds, lemon juice, and lemon zest into food processor.
All ingredients, except olive oil, into the food processor. Pulse 8-10 times.
- Pulse 8-10 times, until desired level of chunkiness
- Stream in olive oil and pulse a few more times.
- Enjoy on a raw cracker, wrapped in chard leaves, or with other dishes, such as a Raw Deconstructed Lasagna.
The simple, fresh Arizona Fall Green Pesto.

Enjoy the Fall Green Pesto as a wrap with the Northern Lights Chard.

Enjoy the Fall Green Pesto as a snack on a Raw Cracker (this one Pumpkin Seed Turmeric) with French Breakfast Radish.

Click here, if you missed the Soil & Seed Garden Fall CSA Week 1 Recipe

The Radish inspired salad with the radishes at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain.

FARM-TO-TABLE PLANT-BASED COOKING CLASSES AT THE FARM with Melanie Albert and Farm Operations Manager/ Lead Grower Billy Anthony

I am so honored to be leading hands-on intuitive cooking classes at The Farm at South Mountain for the 4^th year. For the classes this season, Lead Grower Billy and I will be walking the Soil & Seed Garden the week prior to each class to develop the food strategy for the classes. Billy will harvest the morning of the classes, and you’ll have the opportunity to intuitively prepare dishes, guided by Melanie.

November 3, 2019, 11am-1pm. Click to purchase tickets.

December 8, 2019, 11am-1pm. Click to purchase tickets.

SEDONA PLANT-BASED COOKING RETREAT: November 15-18, 2019

In September 2019, I hosted the first Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreat. Based on the life-changing retreat with incredible cooking, hiking in Sedona, and friendships, I decided to host the next retreat in November. Learn more on www.ExperienceNutrition.com/sedona-retreats/

Or, to answer your questions about the retreats, please feel free to contact me (Melanie Albert): 602.615.2486 or Mel@MelanieAlbert.com
October 25, 2019
Experience Nutrition: Arizona Farm-to-Table Summer Salad: Get the “Food Art” Steps

By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
During the summer in Arizona, our local farmers work very hard to grow beautiful produce for us in our 100+ degree weather, so I love to create beautiful dishes with it.

Earlier this week while I was chatting with a friend who reminded me that there are often “behind-the-scenes” steps in creating a beautifully plated dish. So with this Summer dish, I’m sharing with you the full steps from the vision of the dish to the final plate.

I hope you enjoy this “food art” lesson.

Step 1: Stop by the farm and farmers markets to see what’s in season. This was especially important to me the last few weeks, as I was traveling in the Boston area, Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Barbados, so I lost track of what would be growing seasonally in Arizona.

My first stop was The Farm at South Mountain, where Farm Operations Manager, Billy Anthony is growing hundreds of pounds of beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

The Farm at South Mountain: Beautiful Heirloom Tomatoes

My next stop was the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, where I often shop and lead cooking demos. I was happy to see that the farmers were growing some of my summer favorites. Thanks Blue Sky Organic Farms for the collard greens and leeks; and thanks to Maya’s Farm for the rainbow carrots.

Step 2: Pause and enjoy the beautiful produce from our farmers. Begin to visualize the creation of a beautiful dish. With intuitive cooking, once we learn cooking techniques and practice with recipes, we can intuitively create beautiful, tasty meals.

Step 3: Pause again and choose a few different types of produce with different colors and textures.

Step 4: Cut the veggies and fruit in different shapes.

Step 5: Pause, yet again, and intuitively notice if any of the produce “fits” together. Today, for me, it was a simple avocado salsa (or guacamole) with the tomatoes, avocado, colorful carrots, lemon, and sea salt. And, the fresh peaches and butterscotch melon with a squeeze of lemon seemed to go together nicely.

Avocado Salsa

Peaches & Melon

Step 6: Arrange all of the ingredients and components (the Avocado Salsa, Peaches & Melon) in a plating “mise en place.” That is, all ingredients mindfully organized to be ready for plating.

Step 7: Looking at the plating “mise en place” begin to visualize how the plate will look. Then, sketch out the plating of the dish, using colored pencils or markers. In the sketch include where the different foods will go onto the plate and the order to plate them.

I’ve been mindfully plating for a few years now, and this process does take practice. Once we get into our own rhythm of sketching our dishes and plating, it becomes fluid and fun. Key is to practice, practice, practice.

Step 8: Mindfully plate the food, following your plating sketch. Know that this phase is also part of the food art process, so if your plate does not look exactly like your sketch, no worries at all. Enjoy it!

All set to plate.

Step 9: Finally, mindfully enjoy eating your plate.

Of course, first pause and enjoy your “food art”.

Enjoy…

We are only two months away from our Plant-Based Cooking & Self-Care Retreat in Sedona, Arizona September 13-16, 2019. Along with plant-based culinary skills we will also focus on mindfully plating and creating our own style of “food art”.

Please feel free to call (602.615.2486) or e-mail if you’d like to chat about the retreat and take a look at the information about the retreat on ExperienceNutrition.com/sedona-retreats

July 12, 2019