Experience Nutrition

Tag: raw culinary

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.
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…
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
indfully set to prepare the Chopped Salad.
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.
Basil Mint Onion Chives Salad Dressing
- Place all veggies into a bowl.
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.
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.
May 23, 2019
Experience Nutrition: Farm-to-Table Spring Avocado Tartare
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
I love avocados, and often when I buy several at a time I love making Avocado Tartare with the avocados and local Arizona farmers’ produce and fresh herbs. As part of my mindfulness in cooking, I love having fun creativity plating the dishes differently every time I make Avocado Tartare.

I invite you to use the ingredients in the recipe as a guide and then have fun creating your own Avocado Tartare with your local farmers produce.

A few key base ingredients include: a ripe avocado, citrus such as lemon or lime, a few fresh herbs like basil or oregano, a pinch of sea salt to balance the acid of the citrus and fat of the avocado.

Avocado Tartare Recipe

Serves 1

Simple Ingredients
- 1 ripe avocado
- 6-8 Romanesco florets (Blue Sky Organic Farm)
- 6-8 Purple cauliflower florets (Blue Sky Organic Farm)
- 3-4 Carrots, rough chopped (Blue Sky Organic Farm, Steadfast Farm)
- 3 orange lunchbox sweet peppers, rough chopped
- 5-6 chrysanthemum leaves (Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain)
- 3-5 stems fresh oregano (Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain)
- 1 fresh lime, juiced
- ¼ tsp capers
- 2 tbsp Kalamata olives
- Pinch sea salt
- Day 2: 6-8 Purple Snap Peas (Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain)
- Garnish: 1 small bunch baby spinach, edible flowers, fresh oregano, dehydrated tomatoes (Day 2)
Avocado Tartare: Farm-to-Table Ingredients

Simple Steps
- Chop all veggies.
Avocado Tartare: Veggies Chopped
- Place all ingredients, except garnish, in a bowl.
Avocado Tartare: Ready to Gently Mix all the Veggies
- Gently mix with a fork.
- Add additional sea salt or lime, to suit your taste.
- Plate, using a ring mold, if desired.
- Garnish with edible flowers, fresh herbs, dehydrated tomatoes, fresh baby spinach.
Avocado Tartare: Plating Mise en Place

Let’s take a look a the plating video…

Now, the final Spring Avocado Tartare, featuring baby spinach.

Simple Beauty: Arizona Spring Avocado Tartare

Another look at the Spring Avocado Tartare…in my 1-week old Elevated Edible Garden.

Farm-to-Table Avocado Tartare, enjoying the Edible Garden.

Spring Avocado Tartare Day 2: Simple Farm-to-Table Ingredients

Avocado Tartare Day 2: Farm-to-Table Fresh Ingredients.

Simple Steps
- Chop all veggies.
Mindfully chop all veggies.
- Place all ingredients, except garnish, in a bowl.
For Avocado Tartare, place veggies in bowl to gently mix.
- Gently mix with a fork.
- Add additional sea salt or lime, to suit your taste.
- Plate and garnish.
All set: Plating Mise en Place

Avocado Tartare Day 2: Plating Mise en Place. Always mindful.

Enjoy the Day 2 plating…different every time.

Food Art: A look at the Day 2 Avocado Tartare elegant plate…

Food Art. Avocado Tartare.

Pause and enjoy your plating. Another beautiful view of the Day 2 Avocado Tartare.

Farm-to-Table Avocado Tartare Day 2: Pause and enjoy the beauty.

Fun. Taking the Avocado Tartare to the tropics…

Avocado Tartare Tropics, for my friends in Barbados.

Interested in learning simple, easy plant-based cooking techniques and enjoy self-care in Fall 2019 (September 13-16, 2019) in the beauty of Sedona? Click to learn more.

To learn more, feel free to call 602.615.2486 or e-mail Mel@MelanieAlbert.com
April 3, 2019
Experience Nutrition: Farm-to-Table Recipe: More than Kale Chips. 5 New Leafy Green Chips!
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
More than kale chips. We can dehydrate all kinds of leafy greens to make chips.

This week I experimented with 5 different beautiful greens from this week’s CSA at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix, grown by urban farm Billy Anthony at the Soil & Seed Garden.

When leafy greens are in season, I invite you to experiment with dehyrating them and notice which you prefer. I absolutely love shungiku (chrysanthemum) and loved this floral green dehydrated.

Simple Recipe: Leafy Green Chips: More Than Kale Chips

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

Leafy Greens
- ½ bunch mizuna
- ½ bunch shungiku (chrysanthemum)
- ½ bunch roquette arugula
- ½ bunch spigarello
- ½ bunch cauliflower greens
Leafy Greens: Mizuna, Shungiku, Arugula, Spigarello, Cauliflower

Cashew Cream
- 1 cup raw cashews, pre-soaked in water for 2-4 hours
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp roasted garlic powder
- ½ tsp dry basil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Pinch sea salt
- 2-4 tbsp water, for desired creaminess
Cashew Cream: Mise en Place

SIMPLE STEPS

Cashew Cream
- Blend all ingredients in blender or processor.
- Add water, as needed for desired creaminess.
Dehydrated Leafy Greens
- Tear out any large stems in the leafy greens.
- One variety of greens at a time, place leaves into a large bowl.
- Add a few tablespoons of cashew cream to the greens.
Place greens and cashew cream into a small bowl.
- Gently massage cashew cream into the leafy greens.
Lightly massage the cashew cream into the greens.
- Spread greens onto dehydrator screen.
Mindfully spread greens onto dehydrator screens.
- Dehydrate at 125 degrees F for about 3 hours.
Dehydrate greens at 125 degrees F for about 3 hours.
- Test for desired crunchiness.
- Dehydrate longer to suit your taste.
- Enjoy as a snack.
More than Kale Chips. Enjoy all kinds of leafy green chips.

The Five Winter Greens
- Shungiku, often known as edible chrysanthemum, is one of my favorite flavorful greens. These greens, popular in Japan, are aromatic and floral tasting. Shungiku are generally eaten raw or gently cooked to enjoy their crunchy texture and flavor.
Shungiku: The Soil & Seed Garden, The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona.
- Mizuna, another Japanese green is a member of the mustard family, a little peppery, yet milder than arugula. These are growing in the Learning Garden at The Farm.
Mizuna: The Soil & Seed Garden, The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona.
- Roquette Arugula, one of my favorite greens, a little spicy, nutty, and sweet, adds exciting flavor to all dishes. Arugula is enjoyed both as salad greens, as an herb, and now as a dehydrated chip.
- Spigarello, technically in the broccoli family, looks like a spiral kale. Enjoy spigarello gently sauted or massaged with a simple acid-fat-salt dressing in a salad.
- Cauliflower greens. Yes, there are the edible greens that grow on cauliflower. Enjoy!
Cauliflower Greens: The Soil & Seed Garden, The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona.

Purchase Melanie Albert’s award-winning cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”

COOKING CLASSES AT THE FARM AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Click to Purchase Tickets for Whole Foods for Addiction Recovery with New York “Spiritual Adrenaline” Author Tom Shanahan and Phoenix cookbook author Melanie Albert. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, February 17, 2019, 11am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Spring Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking with Melanie Albert and Soil & Seed Garden Farmer Billy Anthony. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, March 3, 2019, 10:30am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Raw Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking with Melanie Albert and Soil & Seed Garden Farmer Billy Anthony. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, April 7, 2019, 10:30am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Farm-to-Table Kids Food Art Cooking at The Farm at South Mountain with Melanie Albert, Sunday, February 10, 2019, 11am-noon

Click to Purchase Tickets for Farm-to-Table Kids Food Art Cooking at The Farm at South Mountain with Melanie Albert, Sunday, March 24, 2019, 11am-noon

Thanks to Natural Awakenings AZ magazine for featuring my Plant-Based Chocolate Pie on the cover and Plant-Based Dessert recipes in the January 2019 issue.

Natural Awakenings Arizona, January 2019

Natural Awakenings Arizona, January 2019. Start the New Year Off Right

Join our Simple Daily Plant-Based Eating Tips Facebook Page
January 28, 2019
Experience Nutrition: Farm-to-Table Recipe: Arizona Winter Three Greens & Citrus Salad Recipe
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
This week’s intuitive culinary creation was inspired by the fresh, vibrant Winter Greens & Citrus from The Farm at South Mountain Soil & Seed Garden CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), grown passionately by urban farmer, Billy Anthony.

So often we sauté greens with a little olive oil, garlic, and sea salt for a nice side dish. Since The Soil & Seed Garden greens were so fresh and vibrant I decided to experiment with eating several different greens in a simple raw salad. And, I’m so glad I did. This salad is one of my very favorites. The textures and combination of citrus and mint are outstanding. Hope you try it.

The salad features Shungiku, Minutina, and Mizuna greens, Arizona navel orange, ruby grapefruit, and an Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, imported to Arizona by Chef Chris Bianco.

The Three Winter Greens
- Shungiku, often known as edible chrysanthemum, is one of my favorite flavorful greens. These greens, popular in Japan, are aromatic and floral tasting. Shungiku are generally eaten raw or gently cooked to enjoy their crunchy texture and flavor.
- Mizuna, another Japanese green is a member of the mustard family, a little peppery, yet milder than arugula. These are growing in the Learning Garden at The Farm.
- Minutina are long, slender, spiked leaves with forking antler-like horns. When harvested young, the crunchy leaves of minutina taste a little like a mix of parsley and spinach.
The Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In addition to the greens, I’ve been experimenting with an organic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil that local Phoenix Chef Chris Bianco has recently imported from Italy. The oil, from the Pugila region, is a single variety pressed from Peranzana olives. Chef Bianco has mentioned that some of the olive trees are 400 years or more years old.

Arizona Winter Greens & Citrus Salad

This salad is perfect for the fresh Soil & Seed Garden vibrant mild tasting greens and citrus.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 large handful shungiku (chrysanthemum)
- 1 large handful minutina
- 1 large handful mizuna
- 1 navel orange, sliced, juiced, and zested
- 1 ruby grapefruit, sliced, juiced and zested
- 1/4 cup snap peas, sliced on diagonal
- 3-4 sprigs fresh mint
- 2 tbsp kalamata olives
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1/4 cup pecans
- ¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
SIMPLE STEPS

SALAD DRESSING
- Squeeze ½ of juiced orange and ½ of juiced grapefruit into mason jar. Approximately ¼ cup juice total.
- Pour in twice as much organic extra virgin olive oil as juice.
- Shake the jar.
- Notice if the dressing needs more acid (grapefruit / orange) or fat (olive oil) to suit your taste.
- Add pinch of sea salt.
- Add few mint leaves.
- Shake jar.
PLATE THE SALAD
- Place greens, snap peas, olives, capers, pecans, and mint leaves in a large bowl.
- Gently pour the dressing onto the greens.
- Hand toss to coat the greens with the dressing.
- Plate the salad with slices of orange and grapefruit.
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Let’s take a look at the final salad..

Purchase Melanie Albert’s award-winning cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”

COOKING CLASSES AT THE FARM AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Click to Purchase Tickets for Whole Foods for Addiction Recovery with New York “Spiritual Adrenaline” Author Tom Shanahan and Phoenix cookbook author Melanie Albert. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, February 17, 2019, 11am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Spring Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking with Melanie Albert and Soil & Seed Garden Farmer Billy Anthony. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, March 3, 2019, 10:30am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Raw Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking with Melanie Albert and Soil & Seed Garden Farmer Billy Anthony. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, April 7, 2019, 10:30am-1pm

Click to Purchase Tickets for Farm-to-Table Kids Food Art Cooking at The Farm at South Mountain with Melanie Albert, Sunday, February 10, 2019, 11am-noon

Click to Purchase Tickets for Farm-to-Table Kids Food Art Cooking at The Farm at South Mountain with Melanie Albert, Sunday, March 24, 2019, 11am-noon

Thanks to Natural Awakenings AZ magazine for featuring my Plant-Based Chocolate Pie on the cover and Plant-Based Dessert recipes in the January 2019 issue.

Natural Awakenings Arizona, January 2019

Natural Awakenings Arizona, January 2019. Start the New Year Off Right

Join our Simple Daily Plant-Based Eating Tips Facebook Page
January 18, 2019