Experience Nutrition

Tag: vegan

  • 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

    Getting started with our mindful chopping for our fresh Tomato Gazpacho and Avocado Tartare.
    WOW! Yoga at Cathedral Rock. Dreams come true!

    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 Farm-to-Table Recipes with The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA: Roast Radishes & Turnips

    Experience Nutrition Farm-to-Table Recipes with The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA: Roast Radishes & Turnips

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

    This Fall season in Phoenix, Arizona, I’ve been intuitively creating dishes with the beautiful veggies grown at The Farm at South Mountain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  Thanks so much to Billy Anthony for his hard work and passion to grow such incredible, tasty food at the Soil & Seed Garden.

    I was inspired by the freshly harvested radishes (Spanish Black, French Breakfast) and the stunning Scarlet Turnip. With a few additional veggies, I created a simple roasted veggie dish, perfect for Fall and Thanksgiving.

    Let’s take a look at this week’s Fall CSA

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    The Vibrant Scarlet Turnips

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    The Beautiful Black Spanish & French Breakfast Radishes

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    SIMPLE ROASTED VEGGIES: Black Spanish & French Breakfast Radishes  & Scarlet Turnips

    Use this simple culinary roasting veggies technique to roast all kinds of vegetables. When we roast radishes, they become very sweet, and turnips become smoothy and buttery.

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 black Spanish Radish, cut into circles
    • 3 French Breakfast radishes, sliced
    • 1 purple daikon radish, sliced into circles
    • 3-4 Scarlet turnips with greens, sliced
    • Handful chives
    • 1 purple bell pepper, sliced
    • 1 sweet potato, roughly cubed
    • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 3-4 tbsp seasoning, blend of dried herbs and sea salt.  (Used Penzey’s Fox Point Seasoning)

    Simple Steps

    • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
    • Slice all veggies.
    • In small bowl, thoroughly coat each vegetable with olive oil and seasoning.
    • Place vegetables on parchment-lined sheet pan, without touching.
    • Roast 15 minutes.
    • Remove cooked vegetables,  such as chives and turnips.
    • Flip remaining vegetables.
    • Cook another 12 minutes.
    • Plate and enjoy.

    Veggies, ready for the oven.

    The roasted veggies, ready for plating.

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    Time to enjoy the roasted veggies…

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    One more plate…quite rustic…

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    Join our Simple Daily Plant-Based Eating Tips Facebook Page

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

    Purchase Tickets for the Plant-Based Thanksgiving Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, November 18, 2018, 11am-1pm

    Purchase Tickets for Holiday Plant-Based Desserts Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, December 9, 2018, 11am-1pm

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  • Experience Nutrition: Simple Vegan Herb Cashew Dip. Purple Daikon & Bok Choy with The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA

    Experience Nutrition: Simple Vegan Herb Cashew Dip. Purple Daikon & Bok Choy with The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA

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

    I am so honored to create recipes for The Farm at South Mountain Fall CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This week, the CSA, grown by Billy Anthony at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm, features lots of fresh aromatic herbs – basil, onion chives, lemon verbena – and beautiful purple veggies including daikon radish, turnips, and purple bok choy.

    With these fresh ingredients I was inspired to intuitively create a simple vegan raw cashew dip. Enjoyed with the vibrant purple daikon radish and bok choy.

    Let’s take a look at this week’s Fall 2018 CSA.

    The beautiful lush basil growing at the Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain.

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    Beauty of the Purple Bok Choy

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    BASIL, ONION CHIVES, LEMON VERBENA DIP

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 2-4 hours
    • ¼ cup fresh basil
    • 3 tbsp onion chives
    • 1 spring lemon verbena
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 2 tbsp fresh key lime or lemon juice
    • Pinch sea salt
    • 2-3 tbsp water
    • 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 daikon radish
    • 3-4 bok choy leaves

    SIMPLE STEPS

    • Pre-soak cashews for 2-4 hours in water
    • Place basil, onion chives, lemon verbena, nutritional yeast, key lime (or lemon juice), sea salt, and water into food processor.
    • Pulse to desired smoothness.
    • Stream in olive oil, to desired taste.
    • Thinly slice daikon radish with mandoline.
    • Plate dip, daikon radish on bok choy leaves.
    • Enjoy!

    Food Process the herbs, cashews, nutritional yeast, key lime, salt, and water. Stream in olive oil.

    Mandoline the Purple Daikon

    The Herb Cashew Dip Plating with Purple Daikon & Bok Choy

     

    Join our Simple Daily Plant-Based Eating Tips Facebook Page

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

    Purchase Tickets for the Plant-Based Thanksgiving Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, November 18, 2018, 11am-1pm

    Purchase Tickets for Holiday Plant-Based Desserts Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, December 9, 2018, 11am-1pm

     

    A final look at the Vegan Herb Cashew Dip with Purple Daikon & Bok Choy.

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  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: 4 Great Ways to Cook 20 Pounds of Organic Tomatoes: Part 1: Dehydrate Tomatoes

    by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    Several times a year I have the great opportunity to purchase a flat – 20 pounds – of organic Campari tomatoes from McClendon Select Farms in Phoenix. This week I shared a few pounds of the tomatoes in a Wise Choices Meet-up with the Valley of the Sun United Way. After that I started creating a few different batches of tomatoes with the other beautiful produce from this week’s Uptown Farmers Market.

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    4 Different Ways to Cook Tomatoes

    I invite you to use these 4 ways to cook the tomatoes as a guide to cook tomatoes from your local farmers’ markets. During the next few days I’ll be blogging the cooking process with photos and videos for all of these ways to cook tomatoes.

    • Roasted Tomatoes. Orange Carrots. Red Peppers. Green Onions.
    • Stove Top Tomato Sauté. Arizona Lemons.
    • Dehydrated Tomatoes.
    • Roasted Tomatoes. Leeks. Green Garlic.

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    Dehydrated Tomatoes

    Dehydrating tomatoes is a really simple way to prepare tomatoes. When we dehydrate, the flavor of the tomatoes becomes very concentrated and sweet.

    Simple Steps

    • Slice tomatoes in rounds: half or in thirds.
    • Place on dehydrator screens, with skin side down.

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    • Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 10-12 hours. Enjoy the tomato aromatherapy while dehydrating.

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    • Store in air-tight glass jars.

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    The dehydrated tomatoes were so delicious,  I  sliced a few more pounds, which are in the dehydrator right now.

    5 Great Ways to Enjoy Dehydrated Tomatoes

    1. Enjoy as a snack.
    2. Add to a veggie sauté.
    3. Use as a pizza or flatbread topping.
    4. Process in a raw marinara sauce for a deep flavor.
    5. Add to a nut pate for a fresh taste.

    Stay in touch, as I’ll be sharing the other four ways to cook 20 pound of tomatoes. If you dehydrate tomatoes, please share your experience with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

    For some additional ideas to cook tomatoes, Melanie’s book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” is available.

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  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Hummus & Avocado Salsa Combo

    A New View of Healthy Eating: Daily Healthy Recipes by Melanie Albert: Hummus & Avocado Salsa Combo

    by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    I love hummus and have been making home-made hummus for years. I always come back to a basic hummus recipe that my company served at the VIP Tailgate Party at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. Today, I paired the hummus with a quick avocado salsa prepared with a tomato, celery, lemon, and sea salt.

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    Make Your Own Hummus: EXPERIENCE NUTRITIONTM Super Simple Organic Hummus

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    • 2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
    • ⅓ cup chickpea water
    • 3 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste or sesame seeds)
    • 3 cloves garlic
    • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • ¼ tsp black pepper
    • ⅛ tsp cumin seeds, ground
    • ⅛ tsp coriander seeds, ground (seeds from cilantro)
    • 2-3 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

    SIMPLE STEPS

    1. Place all ingredients into high-speed blender (such as Vitamix) or food processor.
    2. Blend until smooth.
    3. Stream in organic extra virgin olive oil, to taste.
    4. After the hummus has been blended, taste and add more of any of the ingredients to suit your taste.

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    New Culinary with Matthew Kenney Culinary & Plantlab Culinary

    In 2017 I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in several culinary courses with Matthew Kenney Culinary and Plantlab Culinary and learned how to plate food more beautifully. One way to take a simple dish to the next level is to use a ring mold. In the hummus and avocado salsa dish, I layered the avocado salsa with hummus in the ring mold to create this simple lunchtime meal.

     

    If you’re interested in purchasing my latest book, “A New View of Healthy Eating” I’m happy to mail a copy to you.

     

     

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  • 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Raw Veggie Pasta with Cashew Basil Pesto

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Author and Speaker, Certified Health Coach

    WOW! If you’ve been afraid of the “raw way of eating”, try this simple, beautiful, colorful, fun-to-prepare side dish. Enjoy fresh, local organic veggies with a creamy nutty pesto.

    9 Ways 90 Days Veggie Pasta with Cashew Basil Pesto

    Ingredients: Veggies
    • 2-3 golden beets
    • 2-3 carrots
    • 2-3 zucchini
    • 1 sweet potato

    Ingredients: Cashew Basil Pesto
    • ½ cup fresh basil leaves
    • 4 oz raw cashews, soaked
    • 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
    • 1 tbsp garlic, minced
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt
    • ½ cup organic extra virgin olive oil

    Simple Steps
    • Cut the veggies with a spiral slicer or mandolin.
    • Place all ingredients for the cashew basil pesto, except olive oil in the food processor.
    • Puree.
    • Add the olive oil until smooth.
    • Toss the veggies with about ½ cup of the pesto and serve.
    • Enjoy the taste, the textures and the colors!

    SHARE
    Come on over to our Facebook page, and post your raw veggie pasta creations: www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days

  • 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Author and Speaker, Certified Health Coach

    Kale is the rage with raw salads, kale chips and smoothies. But, what about collard greens? I’m taking a Professional Plant-based Culinary Certification Course with Rouxbe, where we experimented with different ways to prepare kale. As an option, I decided to use some of the same techniques with collard greens.

    On top of that, Reed avocados were available at Whole Foods Market this week, so I decided to try one. About 90% of the avocados are grown in California and about 90% of those are Hass avocados. The Reed avocado variety generally grows later in the season, are larger and rounder than Hass avocados, have a thick skin, and contain more monounsaturated fat and thus are creamier than Hass avocados.

    Scroll down for the 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens, Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers
    9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens, Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers Recipe
    This recipe was inspired by the lemon cucumbers from this week’s farmers market in Ahwatukee Arizona, the Reed avocado and collard greens.

    Ingredients
    • 3-4 large collard greens leaves, chopped
    • 1 Reed avocado
    • 1 lemon cucumber
    • 4 small heirloom tomatoes
    • ½ red pepper
    • 3-4 green onions
    • 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
    • Fresh lemon basil, to taste
    • Fresh lemon thyme, to taste
    • Sea salt

    Simple Steps
    • Chop all the vegetables
    • Squeeze the avocado into a bowl
    • Add collard greens, lemon juice and sea salt to the avocado
    • Massage the collard greens for about 3 minutes
    • Add the fresh garlic, lemon cucumber, red pepper, green onions and gently toss
    • Add the fresh lemon basil and lemon thyme and gently toss
    • Enjoy this delicious & refreshing salad

    Come on over to our Facebook page, and post your avocado & collard greens creations: www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days

  • 9 Ways 90 Days: Quick Simple Organic Collard Stir-fry with Hemp Seeds Recipe

    by Melanie Albert, Nutrition and Wellness Expert, Author and Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition

    Excerpt from new book, “Enjoy Food & Life: 9 Ways 90 Days Step-by-step action plan for healthy eating and living.”  PRE-SALE Available NOW

    If you only know collard greens cooked in lots of pork all day, this is a new way of cooking delicious collards in a few minutes. Learn how to cook stir-fry collards and you can cook any type of greens.

    Greens are missing from the SAD. Greens are one of the most absent foods from the Standard American Diet (SAD). We typically eat plain iceberg lettuce which has no nutritional value. Many people only know greens as the décor around a salad bar. I started eating greens 6 years ago while a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Little did I know that the green stuff I remember seeing around salad bars would become one of my favorite foods. Or, that I’d be eating weeds (dandelion greens).

    Greens are important to add to your diet as they are mineral-rich with calcium, iron, vitamin-rich with A, C, and K, and have a lot of fiber.

    Other Reasons Why You Should Eat Greens:

    • Cleanse and detoxify
    • Strengthen bones
    • Cancer-protective
    • Boost immune system
    • Energetically uplifting, since they grow upward
    • Easy to cook
    • Taste great

    Organic Collard Stir-Fry with Hemp Seeds Recipe

    9 Ways 90 Days Collard Stir-fry with Hemp Seeds
    9 Ways 90 Days Collard Stir-fry with Hemp Seeds
    • Chop about 5-6 large collard greens or kale and mince a few fresh garlic cloves and green onions
    • Pre-heat saute pan on low or wok on medium-high. Thanks to Chantal Cookware for the beautiful Copper Fusion Saute Pan; The veggies cook perfectly, with bright vibrancy
    • Turn saute pan heat to medium-high
    • Add organic extra virgin olive oil and then garlic and onions, and stir-fry a little
    • Add collards and about ¼ cup water
    • Stir and steam
    • Enjoy with pizza, wild Alaskan salmon, goat cheese or nuts and seeds, like hemp seeds

     Action. Make your simple, quick stir-fry with collard greens, garlic and onions. Take note of all the wonderful flavors and post your photos on our Facebook page.