Tag: Plant-based Recipes

  • Experience Nutrition: The Farm at South Mountain CSA Recipe 57: Roasted Beet Hummus. Keffir Lime Leaves Pesto

    Experience Nutrition: The Farm at South Mountain CSA Recipe 57: Roasted Beet Hummus. Keffir Lime Leaves Pesto

    I am so honored to intuitively create recipes for The Farm at South Mountain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members. And, I’m happy to share this week’s Winter Arizona recipe with you, which was inspired by the beautiful beets and the incredible herbs: Thai Basil & Kaffir Lime Leaves.

    Winter CSA Week 3: 12.05.20

    • Red Beets
    • Purple Top Turnips
    • Rainbow Swiss Chard
    • Mixed Sweet & Hot Peppers
    • Calendula edible flowers
    • Thai Basil
    • Kaffir Lime Leaves

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    ROASTED BEET HUMMUS. THAI BASIL & KAFFIR LIME LEAF PESTO RECIPE

    Hope you enjoy roasting the beets and using them in my, now favorite hummus. Make a small batch of the pesto for contrast to the hummus.

    The plant-based cooking video shows you step-by-step to prepare this incredible, tasty, healthy dish.

    Steps to Prepare the Dish

    1. Soak the garbanzo beans the night before you plan to create the beet hummus.
    2. Cook the garbanzo beans for the hummus.
    3. While the beans are cooking, roast the beets.
    4. Next, toast the pine nuts.
    5. Make the pesto.
    6. Make the hummus.
    7. Mindfully plate the beet hummus and pesto with the CSA Swiss chard and sweet peppers.

    All Recipes Serve 2

    THAI BASIL & KAFFIR LEAVES PESTO

    Create a simple, delicious pesto with this week’s Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves.

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup Thai basil leaves
    • 1 tbsp Kaffir leaves, minced
    • ¼ cup pine nuts, dry toasted
    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • Pinch sea salt

    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Toast pine nuts in dry pan on stove for about 2 minutes.
    • Place all ingredients, except olive oil, into a small blender.
    • Blend for about a minute.
    • Add the olive oil to the blender and blend another minute.

    ROASTED BEETS

    Use this Quick Roasted Veggie method to easily cook roots.

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 2 beet roots, sliced
    • 2 tbsp fresh Kaffir lime leaves, minced
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • Pinch sea salt

    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
    • Cut beet roots into slices.
    • Mince Kaffir lime leaves, taking out the stem.
    • Place beets into roasting pan.
    • Drizzle with olive oil, Kaffir lime leaves, and sea salt.
    • Roast for 10 minutes.
    • Toss the beets.
    • Roast another 10-12 minutes.

    ROASTED BEET HUMMUS

    Create this simple, delicious, beautiful hummus with The Farm’s beets.

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 2 beets, roasted
    • 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
    • ¼ cup tahini
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice
    • 2 tbsp minced garlic
    • Pinch sea salt
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Place beets into food processor and process for about a minute.
    • Add all other ingredients, except olive oil.
    • Process for 2-3 minutes.
    • Stream in olive oil and process another 1-2 minutes.
    • Enjoy with CSA sweet peppers.

    Plant-based farm-to-table recipe intuitively created by Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Award-winning cookbook author, Creator of the Plant-Based Food Art Movement.

  • Experience Nutrition: Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market Summer Salads

    Experience Nutrition: Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market Summer Salads

    Thanks so much to the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market for the opportunity to share a few beautiful summer salads with our local Arizona farmers early summer produce.  Having shopped the market for 15 years and leading cooking demos at the market for 4 years, I am honored to be part of our local farmers community.

    Thanks to the farmers market and our local farmers for your continued commitment and hard work to provide beautiful, fresh produce and local products to our community during the Coronavirus Pandemic. We all appreciate you and all the farmers and vendors.

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    Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market: Summer Veggies

    Looking forward to the Fall when we can continue our “Shop the Farmers Market” Cooking Demos.

    Meanwhile, I’m honored to share two simple, refreshing salads – Tomato Gazpacho and Chopped Salads. Hope you enjoy the recipes and have fun preparing and enjoying them with your family and kids.  – Melanie Albert

    Enjoy the Summer Salad Cooking Video featuring our local Arizona farmers produce and then create your own Tomato Gazpacho and Chopped Veggie Salad with your family and kids.


    Summertime Tomato Gazpacho Recipe

    A fresh, cold tomato gazpacho is refreshing, especially on warm days. Make this quick cold tomato salad with our local farmers tomatoes and cucumbers for a tasty summer side dish. Be sure to experiment with all kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.

     Simple Ingredients

    • 4-5 medium tomatoes, rough chopped
    • 2 green bell peppers, seeded and rough chopped
    • 1 medium Armenian cucumber, rough chopped
    • ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
    • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice and lime zest
    • 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
    • Sea salt, to taste
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    Tomato Gazpacho: Farmers fresh ingredients

    Simple Steps

    • Place tomatoes in a large bowl.
    • Massage with hands to break down tomatoes.
    • Add sea salt, lime juice and zest, and garlic.
    • Mix well.
    • Add all other soup ingredients to the bowl.
    • Mix well.
    • Taste and season with sea salt.
    • Top with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, and cilantro.
    • Enjoy!
    • Refrigerate leftover gazpacho soup and enjoy the next day for an even more flavorful salad.
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    Tomato Gazpacho: Mise En Place
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    Arizona Summer Tomato Gazpacho

    Summer Chopped Salad Recipe

    Simple Ingredients

    Chopped Salad

    • 1 carrot, cubed
    • 2 cups, green beans, sliced
    • 1 green onion, sliced
    • 1 green pepper, sliced
    • 1 corn on cob
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    Summer Chopped Salad: Mise En Place

    Dill Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

    • ½ fresh lemon juice, approximate ¼ cup
    • ½ cup olive oil, twice as much as the lemon juice
    • 2-3 stems fresh herbs, such as dill
    • Pinch sea salt
    • 1 tsp honey
    • 1 tsp stone ground mustard
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    Dill Honey Mustard Salad Dressing: Mise En Place

     Salad Dressing Simple Steps

    • Pour lemon juice in a small jar.
    • Add olive oil.
    • Shake. Taste.
    • Adjust with more oil, of too much acid; adjust with more lemon, if too much oil.
    • Add sea salt.
    • Add honey and mustard.
    • Shake.
    • Taste and adjust with any ingredients to suit your taste.

     

    Summer Chopped Salad

    • Place all veggies into a bowl.
    • Pour dressing over the veggies.
    • Gently toss.
    • Enjoy your fresh salad.
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    Arizona Summer Chopped Salad

    Have fun plating your Summer Salads…A few ideas to get you started. And, take a look at the video to “see” the plating.

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    Summer Salad: Mise En Place
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    Tomato Gazpacho. Armenian Cucumber
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    Arizona Summer Chopped Salad
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    Chopped Salad: Another View
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    Chopped Salad. Classic Hummus.

    NEW: Corporate Wellness Healthy Eating Programs

    In light of the Coronvirus and safety, rather than in-person cooking experiences, we are now creating custom plant-based cooking videos with “cooking kits.” To learn more contact, Melanie Albert at 602.615.2486 or Mel@MelanieAlbert.com


    UPDATE: Sedona September Self-Care Plant-Based Cooking Retreat

    At this point, we are planning on holding our Fall 2020 culinary and self-care retreat, keeping in mind safety and limiting the number of participants. If you are interested in the September 18-21, 2020 or a custom retreat for your group of friends, let me know, Mel@MelanieAlbert.com  Click for a glimpse of our beautiful Fall 2019 Retreat


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

    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.

  • Experience Nutrition: Raw Carrot Cake. Vegan. Gluten-Free. Beautiful.

    Experience Nutrition: Raw Carrot Cake. Vegan. Gluten-Free. Beautiful.

    It is my pleasure to share with you another one of my favorite “healthy” desserts: Raw Carrot Cake. Berries. Edible Flowers.

    The Raw Carrot Cake recipe is adapted from my cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods.” Carrot cake has been a favorite of mine for decades. As much as I love the aromatherapy of cooking raisins with cinnamon and nutmeg for a baked carrot cake, I love the simplicity and freshness of a raw, plant-based version of carrot cake. – Melanie Albert

    Thanks

    • Natural Awakenings Magazine, Phoenix and Northern Arizona. Thanks so much for the opportunities to create recipe articles for your publication that supports our holistic community. I am especially honored to contribute to the May 2020 issue during the Coronavirus Pandemic to share the beauty of food to our community.
    • Blue Sky Organic Farms for the beautiful, bright orange carrots. I appreciate your hard work continuing to grow beautiful produce for us week-after-week and month-after-month, especially during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
    • Community Exchange Table at the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market, where small local Arizona farmers and growers sell their extra bounty to our community. Special thanks for the seasonal Pakistani Mulberries, which I love every year.
    • Northwest Wild Foods for the tasty, tart Gooseberries. So great to initially meet you when we filmed the segment with your Aronia (Choke) Berries for The List TV Show. So glad we’ve connected.

    If you love plant-based, gluten-free desserts, enjoy our Banana Bread Recipe.


    Enjoy the Raw Carrot Cake Cooking Video

    • The beautiful ingredients.
    • Steps to prep the ingredients.
    • Mindful Plating: Food Art.


    Raw Carrot Cake Recipe

    I hope you enjoy creating your own beautiful, tasty raw carrot cake, with the aromatherapy of hand-grinding the cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and the mindfulness of plating food art with berries and edible flowers.

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    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup dates, pitted and soaked for 1 hour in water, then rough chopped
    • 2 cups carrots, shredded
    • 1 ½ cups apple, minced
    • 1 ½ cups raw cashews, ground into a fine meal
    • ½ tsp cinnamon, freshly ground
    • ½ tsp nutmeg, freshly ground
    • ½ tsp cardamom, freshly ground
    • Pinch sea salt
    • Garnish: Goldenberries, Pakistani Mulberries, Edible Flowers.

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    Ingredients: Raw Carrot Cake. Thank you Blue Sky Organic Farms.

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    Pakistani Mulberries. Goldenberries. Thank you Northwest Wild Foods. Community Exchange Table Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market.

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    Edible Flowers. Thank you The Farm at South Mountain. Soil & Seed Garden.

    SIMPLE STEPS

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    Raw Carrot Cake: Mise en Place.
    • Gather mise en place.
    • Soak dates, if they are not soft.
    • Place all ingredients into mixing bowl and with hands, combine gently until the mixture forms a ball.
    • Press dough into a springform pan.
    • Refrigerate for an hour.

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    Raw Carrot Cake: Plating Mise en Place

    PLATING

    • Mindfully garnish with berries and edible flowers.
    • Enjoy!

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

    Please reach out to us if you’re interested in planning future Plant-Based Farm-to-Table Cooking Experiences, Team Building, Retreats, or Catering. Contact, Melanie Albert at 602.615.2486 or Mel@MelanieAlbert.com

    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.

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    The Raw Carrot Cake.

  • Experience Nutrition: Hummus 3 Ways. As seen in Natural Awakenings Magazine, Arizona

    Experience Nutrition: Hummus 3 Ways. As seen in Natural Awakenings Magazine, Arizona

    So honored to create plant-based recipe articles during the last several years for the Natural Awakenings Magazine, Phoenix and Northern Arizona. This month, May 2020, I am especially humbled to contribute to the magazine while we are all together during the Coronavirus stay-at-home. And, while so many people are experimenting more in the kitchen with families and kids.

    For this article, I decided to bring a touch of positivity to our world with “The Joy of Beautiful Food.” Experiment with the tips to add beauty to meals and have fun creating dishes with beautiful food and edible flowers. – Melanie Albert


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    Natural Awakenings, May 2020.

    Top 4 Ways to Add Beauty to Your Meals:

    1. Buy Beautiful Veggies from Our Local Farmers.
    2. Add Color and Texture to your Dishes.
    3. Add Natural Aromatherapy to Your Culinary Creations.
    4. Plate Mindfully.

    I hope you are inspired to add a little beauty and joy to life by creating some beautiful, mindful plant-based dishes. Share your creations with us on  www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenutritionaz and tag us #experiencenutrition.

    Happy to share a few of my very favorite recipes in the Natural Awakenings article. Importantly, you can easily modify the recipes with local farmers’ seasonal produce, along with the fruit and veggies in your refrigerator. Enjoy!


    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.
    • Avocado Salsa. Intuitively create with the veggies, aromatics, and herbs in your kitchen.
    • Raw Carrot Cake. Simple, beautiful, tasty, aromatic dessert.

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    Hummus Three Ways: Beet. Turmeric. Classic.

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    Simple Avocado Salsa.

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    Raw Carrot Cake. Edible Flowers.

    Hummus Video. In the cooking video, come into my kitchen and see the steps to create the Three Hummus Recipes.


    RECIPE: Hummus. Three Ways. Classic, Turmeric, Beet.

    Use these recipes as a guide to create your own hummus. Once you’ve learned how to prepare the basic classic hummus, have fun experimenting and intuitively creating your own versions of it.

    Serves 4

    Classic Hummus. Turmeric. Beet.

    I’m excited to share with you the same recipe we made for the Super Bowl XLIV VIP Tailgate Party for the Super Bowl in Miami. Now you can make it, too. In addition to the Classic Hummus, traditionally made with tahini (ground sesame seeds), we can create different versions of hummus with turmeric or beet powder. Enjoy!

     Simple Ingredients

    • 2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
    • ⅓ cup chickpea water
    • 3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste)
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • ⅛ tsp cumin seeds, hand -round
    • ⅛ tsp coriander seeds, hand-ground (seeds from cilantro)
    • Pinch sea salt
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • Turmeric Hummus: 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, pinch black pepper
    • Beet Hummus: 2 tsp beet powder

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    Simple Steps

    • Place all ingredients, except olive oil, into a food processor.
    • Blend a few minutes, until smooth.
    • Stream in the olive oil and blend until creamy.
    • After the hummus has been blended, taste and add more of any of the ingredients to suit your taste.
    • Turmeric or Beet Hummus: After creating the Classic Hummus, add either the turmeric or beet powder to the food processor. Process until well combined.

    Simple Plating

    • Mindfully plate the three versions of hummus with fresh edible flowers, fresh herbs, or chopped veggies.

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

    Will also be sharing the Avocado Salsa and Raw Carrot Cake in videos and blog posts. Stay tuned.

    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.

  • Experience Nutrition: Your Recipe Guide for a Quick & Simple Avocado Salsa With What’s in Your Refrigerator

    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
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    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
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    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

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  • Experience Nutrition: Yeast-Free Flatbread. When you don’t have yeast in your kitchen.

    Experience Nutrition: Yeast-Free Flatbread. When you don’t have yeast in your kitchen.

    While more of us are now baking bread and pizza at home during the Coronavirus social distancing and staying at home, I wanted to share with you a recipe we cooked during our Fall 2019 Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreat. This recipe will give you an option if you live in an area where you are not able to purchase yeast at this point, or if you don’t normally keep yeast in your pantry.

    For the flatbread, roast some vegetables, create a simple nut sauce, and enjoy a nice meal with your family. During our retreat we enjoyed cooking with beautiful local food grown by Whipstone Farm in Paulden, Arizona and The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix.

    Enjoy your flatbread with roasted veggies, hummus, tomatoes, salsa, or even a drizzle of olive oil. And, please share your creations with us on Instagram @plantbasedexperiences #plantbasedexperiences

    EXPERIENCE NUTRITIONTM Yeast-Free Quick Flatbread

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 ¼ cups sprouted spelt flour
    • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
    • ¼ tsp sea salt
    • 1 ½ tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil (dough)
    • ½ cup water
    • 1 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil (spread on dough prior to baking)

    Simple Steps

    • Place pizza stone into oven. Pre-heat oven to 390 degrees F. Pre-bake stone for about 5 minutes.
    • In large glass bowl, with a fork mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt.
    • Add 3/8 cup water and oil until dough forms a ball. Add additional water, as needed
    • Knead on a lightly floured surface for 3-4 minutes.
    • Flatten out the dough on floured parchment-paper.
    • With parchment paper on top of the dough, roll thinly with a rolling pin.

    • Carefully move flatbread to pre-heated pizza stone.
    • Spread 1 tbsp of olive oil onto the flatbread.
    • Bake flatbread for 5 minutes.
    • Remove stone from oven.
    • Spread hemp seed cream (recipe below) on the top of the flatbread.
    • Add roasted veggies to the top of the flatbread. (See two ways to roast veggies below.)
    • Cook flatbread for about 8 minutes.
    • Garnish with edible flowers.
    • Enjoy!

    Look at the beautiful, delicious plant-based farm-to-table flatbread intuitively created at our 2019 Sedona Retreat, and a glimpse of beautiful self care meditation at Cathedral Rock to inspire you to pause and take time for you these days.

    The Sedona Retreat flatbread features beautiful veggies grown by Whipstone Farm in Paulden, Arizona and flowers grown at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix.


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    Amazing nourishing dinner, with the Farm-to-Table Flatbread at our Fall 2019 Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreat.

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    Mediation. Breathwork. Awe….Omm…at Cathedral Rock. With Patricia Fonseca of Back to Earth Sedona Tours.

    ROASTED VEGGIES TWO WAYS

    Choose a few of your favorite veggies and one of the following two culinary techniques to roast veggies for your flatbread. For the Sedona Retreat flatbread we roasted beautiful local veggies grown by Whipstone Farm including kohlrabi, cauliflower, radishes, leeks, potatoes, and peppers.

    Simple Ingredients

    • 5-7 of your favorite veggies, sliced
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1/2 tsp sea salt

    Original Roasted Veggies Culinary Technique

    With this technique, we use a flat parchment-paper lined sheet pan. Space the veggies out, not touching. This way, the veggies are cooked from the heat of the bottom of the pan which caramelizes them a little, along with the heat in the oven circulating around them.

    To see these roasting veggie technique, click to the Spring Flatbread recipe.

    Simple Steps

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
    • Slice veggies into bite-sized pieces.
    • In a bowl, gently coat veggies with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.
    • Place veggies on parchment-lined flat sheet pan, flat side down with veggies not touching.
    • Roast for 12 minutes.
    • Flip veggies.
    • Roast for another 12 minutes.
    • Use veggies as flatbread toppings.

    Quick Roasted Veggies

    A very quick and easy way to roast veggies. Check out this Summer Flatbread and get the steps to quick roast veggies.

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
    • Place veggies in roasting pan.
    • Drizzle with olive oil.
    • Sprinkle with sea salt.
    • Roast 12 minutes.
    • Toss.
    • Roast another 12 minutes.

    HEMP SEED CREAM

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 cup hemp seeds
    • 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 tbsp fresh lemon or lime juice
    • Pinch sea salt
    • ¼ cup water, adjust for desired creaminess.

    Simple Steps

    • Pour all ingredients into a mini food processor.
    • Blend to desired smoothness.

    Hope you enjoy making flatbread in a new way, without yeast, and enjoy it with your family these days. Feel free to share your creations with us on Instagram @plantbasedexperiences #plantbasedexperiences

    If you are interested in joining us on a future retreat, please feel free to take a look at our Sedona Retreat page.

    By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC, in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, team building, and retreat leader.

     

  • Natural Awakenings AZ Recipe Article: Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking & Recipe 1

    Natural Awakenings AZ Recipe Article: Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking & Recipe 1

    by Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition, Plant-Based Culinary Expert, Award-winning Cookbook Author

    It is my honor and pleasure to write “recipe articles” for the Natural Awakenings Arizona magazine. For each recipe over the last few years, I first meet with our local Arizona farmer, primarily, Billy Anthony, Lead Grocer at The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, to determine what is growing during the season. Then, I intuitively create a few recipes to be featured in the Natural Awakenings Magazine.

    I was so exited to learn that the March 2020 issue of Natural Awakenings focus was Plant-Based and loved offering a few tips to enjoy plant-based eating in Arizona and in creating the veggie-focused recipes.

    Enjoy creating these recipes with your local farmers produce and share your creations  with us on Instagram: @nutritionauthor @plantbasedexperiences

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    Natural Awakenings Arizona. Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking, by Melanie Albert

    Top 5 Tips for Successful Local Plant-Based Cooking

    Spring in Arizona is an exciting season to enjoy cooking plant-based meals since our local farmers grow a wide range of produce this time of year. We see lots of greens, all kinds of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. If you are new to plant-based cooking and eating, visit a farmers’ market to get inspired by what our local farmers are growing and create simple, tasty, beautiful salads and veggies with different culinary techniques, including raw, steamed, and roasted.

    • Eat local. Buy produce, herbs, and edible flowers from our local Arizona farmers or grow your own for the freshest, most nutrient-rich food. Plant-based dishes start with beautiful fresh produce to create tasty, eye-catching meals. Shop at our local farms, farmers’ markets, commit to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), grow at a community garden, or grow your own.
    • Keep it Simple. With the plant-based way of eating, we focus on fresh veggies and fruit, nuts, and seeds, whole grains, and beans. With plant-based cooking, we use a few simple culinary techniques for flavor and color. The essential simple plant-based culinary techniques include raw, steaming, sauteing, and roasting. We cook the same vegetables with different culinary techniques to create different flavors, textures, and looks that add variety to our meals.
    • Cook Intuitively. Think about it: What grows together goes together. With plant-based cooking, mix and match the produce, herbs, nuts and seeds to create beautiful dishes. All veggies are different depending on the seeds, soil, weather, and geography. As a result, each dish we prepare is unique in a positive way with plant-based intuitive cooking. Be sure to taste while you are cooking and adjust your ingredients to suit your favorite personal taste preferences.
    • Mindfully Plate. We eat with our eyes first. Since plants are naturally beautiful, it makes sense to take time to mindfully plate your meals for visual beauty. Have fun experimenting with various plating styles with your version of “food art” using extras such as fresh herbs or edible flowers. Use your favorite bowls and dishes to add to the beauty of your meal.
    • Slow down and enjoy. Take a breath. Take time to enjoy the beauty of your local Arizona plant-based meal. Give gratitude to our local farmers for so passionately growing the incredible food and appreciation to yourself for taking the time to shop for and prepare your lovely plant-based meal. Enjoy mindful plant-based eating and the colors, textures, and flavors of your locally grown plant-based meal with your family and friends.

    Three Arizona Plant-Based Farm-to-Table Recipes

    These simple, beautiful plant-based recipes were intuitively inspired by and created with produce grown by our local Arizona farmers, The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, and Blue Sky Organic Farms in Litchfield Park.


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      The Farm at South Mountain Spring Produce, Herbs, and Edible Flowers


    RECIPE: Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

    Create a simple, beautiful salad with greens from our local farmers or your garden. Pair a few different light leafy greens and a simple-to-prepare light salad dressing with fresh herbs. This fresh salad, inspired by the local greens grown at the Soil & Seed Garden, also features cherry tomatoes grown at Blue Sky Organic Farms.  We start with a simple salad 3-ingredient salad dressing to toss with the fresh salad greens. And, add extra plant-based extras to create a beautiful salad.

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    Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

    Basic Salad Dressing: 3 Ingredients. That’s It

    Create your own salad dressing. The key components of a 3-ingredient salad dressing include an acid, fat, and salt. Once these elements are balanced, we can add in extras, such as garlic, fresh herbs, mustard, and honey. Acids are citrus, such as lemons, limes, grapefruit, along with vinegar. Fats are oils, such as olive oil. And, salts could be Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt.  Once you’ve learned how to prepare a dressing with this technique, you can use this method to create your own unique salad dressings for your fresh salads.

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 fresh lemon, orange, or ½ grapefruit, squeezed, approximately ¼ cup
    • Organic extra virgin olive oil, twice as much as the citrus juice, approximately ½ cup
    • ¼ tsp sea salt
    • OPTIONAL: 2-3 garlic cloves, minced; Fresh dill, fennel frond, mustard, honey

    Simple Steps

    • Squeeze a fresh citrus juice into a Mason jar.
    • Pour in twice as much olive oil as the citrus.
    • Shake the jar.
    • Taste and notice if your dressing seems too oily or acid-tasting. Add more citrus or olive oil to suit your taste.
    • Sprinkle in sea salt.
    • Shake the jar. Taste.
    • OPTIONAL: Add in minced fresh herbs and garlic.
    • Shake the jar. Taste.
    • OPTIONAL: Add honey and/or mustard. Shake and taste.
    • Taste testing salad dressing is a great way to mindfully use your cooking intuition. Add ingredients until the dressing tastes great.

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    Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

    For the base of the salad, choose a variety of Spring greens grown by our local Arizona farmers or growing in your garden. In addition to the salad greens and dressing, extra ingredients add texture, beauty, and taste to the salad. Some sweet. Some salty. Some crunchy. Choose a few of your favorite extras such as tomatoes, berries, nuts and seeds, raisins, capers, and olives.  When plating, add beauty to your salad with dehydrated Arizona citrus and edible flowers.

    Simple Ingredients

    • 4 cups Mixed Greens, such as lettuce, baby kale, arugula, spinach, mizuna, shungiku (chrysanthemum greens)
    • 1 cup tomatoes, sliced
    • ½ cup berries (eg. blackberries, raspberries)
    • ¼ cup cracked pecans, walnuts, or pumpkin seeds
    • ¼ cup golden raisins
    • ¼ cup Kalamata olives
    • 2 tbsp capers
    • Garnish: 3-5 sliced dehydrated citrus (oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit); Edible flowers, herbs (dill or fennel fronds)
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    Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad Mise en Place

    Simple Steps

    • Chop or tear Spring greens into bite-size pieces.
    • Pour dressing over the greens.
    • Lightly toss the greens to coat with the dressing.
    • Add half of the extras (tomatoes, berries, nuts or seeds, raisins, olives, capers) and gently toss.
    • Mindfully plate with the remainder of the extras, dehydrated citrus, herbs, and edible flowers.
    • Enjoy!
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    Create Your Spring Salad with your Favorite Greens and Tasty Extras

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    Farm-to-Table Spring Arizona Greens Salad

    Enjoy our local Arizona Spring veggies by cooking with a few simple plant-based culinary techniques – raw salad, steaming, and roasting . Mindfully enjoy your plant-based creations with your family and friends.


    2020 Sedona Plant-Based Cooking & Self Care Retreats

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    Getting started with our mindful chopping for our fresh Tomato Gazpacho and Avocado Tartare.

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    Beautiful Plant-Based Lunch Creation: Avocado Tartare

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    Yoga at one of my very favorite spots in the world: Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.

    2020 Authentic Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Cooking Experiences at The Farm with Lead Grower Billy Anthony and award-winning cookbook author, Melanie Albert.

    Classes held at The Farm at South Mountain, 6101 S. 32nd Street, Phoenix, Arizona

    To Purchase, click below on the class date:

     

     

     

     

     

  • Experience Nutrition: The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA Recipe: Arizona Fall Green Pesto

    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.

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

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

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    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
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    Fall Green Pesto Mise en Place. Simple. Beautiful. Fresh.

    Simple Steps

    • Gather mise en place (get all ingredients organized)
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    All ingredients are ready for the Fall Green Pesto.
    • Place lemon basil leaves, purslane, sage, almonds, lemon juice, and lemon zest into food processor.
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    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.
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    The simple, fresh Arizona Fall Green Pesto.

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

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    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

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    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 4th 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.

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    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

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  • Experience Nutrition Farm-to-Table Recipe: Quick Chopped Spring Salad featuring The Farm at South Mountain CSA

    Experience Nutrition Farm-to-Table Recipe: Quick Chopped Spring Salad featuring The Farm at South Mountain CSA

    By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author

    I am so honored and have so much fun intuitively creating dishes inspired by what’s growing seasonally by Lead Grower, Billy Anthony, at the Soil & Seed Garden at the Farm at South Mountain, a local urban farm in Phoenix, Arizona, just a few minutes from my home.

    Let’s take a look at The Farm at South Mountain this Spring and some of the beautiful flowers: Bachelor Buttons, Sunflowers, and Asters. Perfect spot to breathe in nature and enjoy a moment of self care. Yet, another reason to visit our local urban farms.

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    The Farm at South Mountain: Beautiful Bachelor Buttons

    Quick Arizona Farm-to-Table Chopped Spring Salad

    While Billy Anthony of the Soil & Seed Garden is still harvesting a few Arizona Winter root crops (beets, carrots, daikon), in early May,  Spring veggies (zucchini and celery) are also growing.  It’s a fun time to create a really simple salad combining the different colors, flavors, and textures of both seasons. Plus, so great to garnish with basil – Amethyst and Genovese from my first Elevated Edible Garden!

    Look closely…The beauty of the squash and it’s blossom…

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    The beauty of nature: Zucchini & Blossoms

    Simple Ingredients

    Chopped Salad

    • 3-4 carrots, cubed
    • 1 zucchini, cubed
    • 1 daikon radish, cubed
    • 3-5 celery stalks, rough chopped
    • 1 medium tomato or 8-10 mini-tomatoes
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    indfully set to prepare the Chopped Salad.
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    Spring Chopped Salad: Mise en Place

    Dressing

    • ½ fresh lemon juice, approximate ¼ cup
    • ½ cup olive oil, twice as much as the lemon juice
    • 2-3 stems fresh herbs, such as mint, basil, and onion chives, rough chopped
    • Pinch sea salt

     

    Simple Steps

    • Pour lemon juice, olive oil, fresh herbs, and sea salt into a small bowl.
    • Whisk until combined.
    • Adjust with lemon, olive oil, and salt to suit your taste.
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    Basil Mint Onion Chives Salad Dressing
    • Place all veggies into a bowl.
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    The Chopped Veggies are ready.
    • Pour dressing over the veggies.
    • Gently toss.
    • Garnish with fresh herbs and edible flowers, such as bachelor buttons.

    Enjoy your fresh salad.

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    Join us at our Plant-Based Cooking & Self Care Retreat in Sedona, Arizona, September 13-16, 2019.  Would love to share more with you and answer any questions. Melanie Albert

    Click here, to see the highlights.

     


     

  • SEDONA PLANT-BASED COOKING RETREAT, with Award-Winning Cookbook Author, Melanie Albert

    SEDONA PLANT-BASED COOKING RETREAT, with Award-Winning Cookbook Author, Melanie Albert

    Join us for a Memorable Plant-Based Cooking Retreat in Sedona, Arizona, September 13-16, 2019
    • Learn simple, easy plant-based cooking techniques.
    • 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.


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    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.

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    Organic, Local Arizona Farmers Produce


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    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.
    • Hands-on Cooking Experiences with Melanie Albert: 3 Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 2 Dinners.
    • Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Cooking Experience at an Arizona Organic Farm.
    • Local Sedona Plant-Based Restaurant: Enjoy delicious afternoon snack at a quaint restaurant.
    • Mindful Cooking and Eating: Practice Mise en Place, Beautiful Plating Principles and Techniques.
    • Self-Care: Relaxation at the Retreat House.
    • Hiking in the Red Rocks and Vortex Energy of Sedona. Chapel of the Holy Cross. Cathedral Rock.
    • Yoga: Hatha Yoga with the music of the Tibetan Bowl.
    • Massage: One therapeutic massage during the retreat.
    • Sedona Experiences: Crystal and Card Readings. Kiva Ceremony.
    • Explore Sedona: Uptown Shopping, Art Galleries.
    • Visit Magnificent Antelope Canyon: Add on to Retreat (additional cost).
    • Ground transportation to and from Phoenix and Sedona, Arizona.

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    Day-by-Day Itinerary: Sedona Plant-Based Cooking Retreat: September 13-16, 2019

    Our days focus on plant-based cooking, along with self-care, hiking, yoga, massage, and special Sedona experiences.

    Friday, September 13, 2019

    • By 1:00 pm Arrive in Phoenix Arizona (Fly into Sky Harbor International Airport; flight not included in retreat price)
    • 3:00-5:30pm Farm-to-Table Cooking Experience at Urban Farm
    • 5:30-8:30pm Drive from Phoenix to Sedona, Arizona
    • 8:30-9:00pm Welcome, Intentions, Journal

     Saturday, September 14, 2019

    • 8:00-8:30am Good Morning Reflections
    • 8:30-9:30am Breakfast Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 9:30-noon Chapel of the Holy Cross Hike, Massage, or Spiritual Reading
    • Noon-2:30pm Lunch Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 2:30-5:00pm Yoga, Massage, Spiritual Reading, Relax at Retreat House, or Shopping
    • 5:00-7:30pm Dinner Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 7:30-9:00pm Massage, Spiritual Reading, or Relax at Retreat House
    • 9:00-9:30pm Good Night Reflections

    Sunday, September 15, 2019

    • 8:00-8:30am Good Morning Reflections
    • 8:30-9:30am Breakfast Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 9:30-noon Cathedral Rock Vortex Hike, Massage, or Spiritual Reading
    • Noon-2:30pm Lunch Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 2:30-5:00pm Yoga, Massage, Spiritual Reading, Relax at Retreat House, or Shopping
    • 5:00-7:30pm Dinner Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 7:30-9:00pm Kiva Ceremony

    Monday, September 16, 2019

    • 8:00-8:30am Good Morning Reflections
    • 8:30-10:00am Breakfast Plant-Based Cooking Experience
    • 10:00am-noon Sedona Vortex Hike
    • 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

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    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


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    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.

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    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.

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    Welcome to our Retreat House


    Salt-water Pool. Light House features a beautiful salt-water pool and Jacuzzi to unwind.

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    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.

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    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.

    • THREE: Downstairs Asia Room with King. Outdoor hallway to room with lounging sofa, desk and glass window views.

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    • FOUR: Downstairs Bali Room with 2 Queens. Screen door access to outside lounging and garden areas.

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    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.

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    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

     



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    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.

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    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

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    Deconstructed Lasagna

    • Desserts
      • Raw Superfood Pie
      • Raw Cacao Berry Pie
      • Aromatic Apple Crisp

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    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.


    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.


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    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.


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    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.

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    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.

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    Cathedral Rock: Melanie Albert’s very favorite spot in Sedona.

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    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.

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    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.


     

  • A New View of Healthy Eating Healthy Recipe Blog by Melanie Albert: Arizona Peach Tomato Goji Salsa

    A New View of Healthy Eating Healthy Recipe Blog by Melanie Albert: Arizona Peach Tomato Goji Salsa

    Intuitive Cooking with our Local Arizona Farmers Summer Goodies: Peach Tomato Goji Berry Salsa

    by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, award-winning author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    This weekend, as usual, I shopped at our Downtown Phoenix Farmers’ Market. Honestly, my refrigerator was quite full and I didn’t really need food, but I love supporting our local farmers, the community of like-minded friends at the market, and creating unique delicious dishes with “what’s in season.”

    Let’s take a look at some of my favorites at the Market, from flowers, to friends, to prickly pear cactus, to Armenian cucumbers…

    FOOD & FLOWERS

    FRIENDS

    When I arrive home from the market I love to simply enjoy the beauty of the food I intuitively shop for at the market.  With intuitive shopping, we pay attention to the colors, the textures, even the aroma of the foods, and buy what we are attracted to from a sensory view.

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    About a month ago, I created an Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Peaches and recalled loving the combination. Again, these two summer fruits were the inspiration for my fresh dish which I intuitively created. When we create our dishes intuitively, we enjoy the process of mixing and matching flavors and colors to create beautiful, tasty meals. Have fun!

    Arizona Peach Tomato Summer Salsa Recipe

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 ripe peach, rough chopped
    • 3-4 yellow and red tomatoes, rough chopped
    • 1 Armenian cucumber, rough chopped
    • ½ red onion, minced
    • 2-3 garlic bulbs, minced
    • 1 lemon zested
    • 3 tbsp capers
    • 2 tbsp goji berries soaked in water
    • Pinch sea salt

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    Simple Steps

    Gently toss all ingredients.

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    Plate and enjoy!

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    PLATING FUN!

    In addition to intuitively shopping, and intuitively creating dishes, I love to have fun plating with different looks. Thanks to Clay Madness for my new aqua plate and my favorite green clay bowl.

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    If you’re interested in additional simple plant-based whole foods culinary techniques and recipes, please purchase my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods.”  I’m happy to mail a copy to you.

    If you’re interested in a Cooking Event, Class, Team Building for your organization, I’d love to chat and create a custom program for you. — Melanie

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