Experience Nutrition

Tag: Eat real food

  • A New View of Healthy Eating 12-Week Arizona Winter CSA: Part 3: Week 2: Edible Flowers

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC.

    During Week 2 of 12 weeks with my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from Maya’s Farm at The Farm at South Mountain, I was so excited about the beautiful, colorful edible flowers in the salad. All my life I wanted to enjoy edible flowers in my home, and this was the week! Just like fresh farmers’ market produce the edible flowers create a rainbow of beauty and color in our salads.

    B-salad-flowers-IMG_4388

    When I stopped by The Farm at South Mountain on my way to teach a cooking class at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, Maya Daily, the farmer, who has been urban farming for 10 years was getting her market ready for the morning customers.

    Week 2 CSA. Full of greens, roots and citrus: green curly kale, red Swiss chard, baby bok choy, salad mix with edible flowers, mini golden beets, red radishes, Arizona oranges, green garlic, and a fresh flowers.

    Veggie Stir-fry. This week I prepared another veggie stir-fry, which is a simple way to cook all kinds of roots and greens. This time it was inspired by the mini golden beets (about the size of my thumb) and mini bok choy, with fresh garlic and Arizona oranges. Click on CSA Week 1 to learn the steps to create your own intuitive stir-fry.

     

     

    Hand-toss Salad Greens. I was so excited about the salad greens with edible flowers and created a very quick and simple salad dressing with freshly squeezed orange, organic extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic and sea salt. Unlike kale salads, where we massage the kale to marinate and soften its fiber, the key to dressing light salad greens is to gently hand-toss the greens, coating every leaf, right before serving. I enjoyed this very simple salad with farmers’ market tomatoes and cucumber.

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    Salad mix with edible flowers and orange garlic dressing.

    Hummus with Edible Flowers. This week in a whole food cooking class that I teach at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona, we held a hummus cooking off, which motivated me to make a hummus. Of course, the hummus I created featured the edible flowers and simple green salad. This hummus was so beautiful. It was actually a little hard to stop looking at its beauty and eat it. I totally enjoyed it, along with a second serving and left-overs.

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    Click for simple hummus recipe, which is the same recipe we used for catering at the VIP Tailgate Party at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.

    ORDER NOW! Our “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” with motivational food, eating, culinary, and self care tips is available.

    Come on over to Facebook www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating and share your food creations with local farmers produce.

    To read all of the blogs for my 12 Week Commitment to the Arizona Winter CSA.

    Week 1:Part 1: Learn about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture

    Week 1: Part 2: Veggie Stir-fry

  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Try a New Food

    by Melanie Albert, Author, Nutrition & food expert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    Now that my new “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” is in my hands, I will be sharing a few cards with you each week. It is my intention to motivate you to take action around food in a positive way, with new ways to shop, new culinary skills, trying a new recipe, eating mindfully, or adding a little self care in your life.

    Today, our card is:  Try a New Food. Not all radishes are red.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Try a New Food

    In November, while shopping at a local Phoenix farmers market for a catering event for the non-profit, Mankind USA, there were many different colored radishes available, so I actually purchased all of them, from bright red, to white, to purple, to watermelon radish. I knew we would be roasting roots for the event, so I bought the rainbow of radishes. We also used the radishes raw for dipping in the amazing hummus. When eaten raw, radishes are often a little spicy and when roasted they become naturally sweet.

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    Not all Radishes are Red

    A farmers’ market is the perfect place to experiment with new foods, you have never tried before. Look for a food you do not recognize, ask the farmer about it, and they may also give you ideas on how to prepare it.

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    Look at the beautiful purple radish!

    I invite you to visit a farmers’ market or natural market, and buy one, just one, new-to-you fresh veggie. Come over to Facebook (www.Facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating) and share a photo of your new veggie with us and how you prepare it. We can give you suggestions on how to prepare it.

    Most important, have fun and enjoy new, interesting food this week.

    The first printing of the new “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” is now available to purchase on our website: www.EXPNutrition.com

  • 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
    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

  • Experience Nutrition: Inspired by Alice Waters & The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California

    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.

    This week during our Whole Food S.O.U.L. (Seasonal Organic Unprocessed Local) Cooking Class at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona, I shared one of my favorite quotes which is totally in-sync with way I cook and teach intuitive cooking with real whole foods.

    Enjoy the quote from Alice Waters, organic food activist and writer and founder of the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California, which is the model of edible education for youth gardening and cooking programs across the USA. Click here to learn more about The Edible Schoolyard Project.

    Inspired by Alice Waters
    Inspired by Alice Waters

    I am also very inspired by Alice Waters overall philosophy, which is showcased at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley.

    Alice Waters Philosophies
    Alice Waters Philosophies

    Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a few months in Berkeley and enjoyed peaceful quiet time at the Edible Schoolyard at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.

    If you have ever visited the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, or in other cities across the country, we invite you to post photos on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now

    Edible Schoolyard Berkeley
    Edible Schoolyard Berkeley

    Enjoy Food & Life!