Serve this Mediterranean-inspired salad as light dinner or lunch. Add extra hard boiled eggs for more protein. I like to lightly sauté the drained chickpeas in olive oil before adding them to the salad. All of the components of this salad can be prepped and stored in individual glass containers or jars in your fridge in order to quickly put together a nutritious salad for lunch on the go!
This gingery puréed green soup is excellent for nourishing a depleted body and for bringing warmth to the digestive system. Serve it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Any type of bone broth or vegetable stock can be used. I use either chicken bone broth or beef bone broth when making this. Both are delicious! If you are following a low-FODMAP diet, be sure to use either a low-FODMAP beef or chicken broth.
This easy, nourishing springtime meal is simple to put together and cooks quickly! It's best to use wild coho or sockeye salmon for the recipe. King salmon is too thick and takes much longer than asparagus to cook. Serve salmon with a spring salad, and steamed potatoes or cooked quinoa for a balanced meal.
Serve these flavorful, tender chicken thighs over White Basmati Rice along with Steamed Green Beans for a balanced meal. If you are following a low-carb or low-glycemic diet, serve the chicken over Masala Roasted Cauliflower or Riced Cauliflower.
Use this banana flax cereal as a late evening snack to help you sleep, or as a simple nutritious breakfast! Sometimes I like to add a sprinkling of cinnamon and a few tablespoons of frozen wild blueberries.
Elevated cortisol levels can greatly affect the ability fall asleep and stay asleep. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It's a messenger that tells the body how to function. Cortisol is naturally highest beginning early in the morning, from around 6am to 8am. Then it slowly decreases throughout the day, getting to its lowest point around midnight. Acute stress, chronic stress, and trauma can all affect cortisol levels and cause this stress hormone to be higher late in the day when it shouldn't be.
Elevated cortisol levels can greatly affect the ability fall asleep and stay asleep. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It's a messenger that tells the body how to function. Cortisol is naturally highest beginning early in the morning, from around 6am to 8am.
This luscious vegan and grain-free pie gets its sweetness mainly from the bananas. I find that it is nutritious enough to have a slice for breakfast along with a green smoothie! To decorate the pie, melt a small amount of dark chocolate chips and drizzle over the frozen pie. Add sliced bananas and raw cacao nibs if desired!
Serve this nutrient-dense hash recipe for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! It's very easy to prepare, and the perfect meal if you are following an elimination diet. Serve it with cooked black rice or brown rice if desired.
This sheet pan salmon recipe is so easy to make! Serve it over cooked quinoa or salad greens for a balanced meal. It's very important to use wild King salmon filets in this recipe. King salmon cooks at about the same rate as the vegetables, so both will be perfectly cooked when it all comes out of the oven.
Serve these easy low-carb cauliflower grits with a green salad and a protein for a nourishing, balanced meal! You can use frozen rice cauliflower in place of using a head of cauliflower in this recipe to save time!
Serve this nutrient-dense gluten-free bread recipe with any type of Mediterranean style main dish. I like to set out small dishes of high-quality extra virgin olive oil for dipping! Add a few tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary to the bread dough before rising for even more flavor!
I like to use filet mignon for this recipe because it is so incredibly tender and doesn't need to be marinated prior to cooking, making this recipe very fast and easy to prepare! This stir-fry recipe contains more vegetables than meat! Look for pasture-raised beef to keep your meal as anti-inflammatory as possible. Serve over cooked rice or riced cauliflower if you are on a low-carb diet.
Serve these very easy-to-make elimination diet breakfast sausages over baby arugula, or with a few radishes and half an avocado for an energizing, nutrient-dense meal!
Dutch baby pancakes are a wonderful hands-off way to prepare a sweet breakfast for the whole family. They are light, fluffy, and packed with protein. Serve them right out of the pan with your favorite sliced fruit and a dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup. They are best eaten right away, as they puff up in the oven and immediately begin to deflate as they cool.
This main dish salad makes a great meal prep recipe for the weekend! You can create salad jars by layering the dressing, lentils, sweet potatoes, and salad in wide mouth quart jars. Keep them in the fridge so they're ready to take with you to school or work during the week.
These Indian-spiced chicken kebobs make a great appetizer or main dish! The chicken can be marinated in your refrigerator for a few hours or on the counter for 30 minutes. The flavorful marinade infuses into the meat and then the grilling process locks in all of the flavors! I prefer to use stainless steel skewers as they don't require any soaking.
This simple gluten-free and vegan noodle salad is perfect for school lunches! Meal prep a batch on the weekend and put it into small containers for your child's lunchbox. Add sautéed tofu or sliced chicken for extra protein.
Black cod, otherwise known as sablefish, comes straight off the boats in the harbor here in the Pacific Northwest. It is incredibly tender, with a silky-smooth texture, and is very high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Serve this Mediterranean-inspired black cod recipe with a large green salad and grilled zucchini for a balanced meal.
Serve this antioxidant-rich vegetable stew with your favorite Mediterranean-style main dish! It is delicious served with fish or chicken, or with a large green salad for a plant-based meal.
The combination of the quinoa, millet, and amaranth make this morning porridge especially nutritious and very high in protein. The nutty flavor of the three grains lends some heartiness to your morning meal. Try topping the cereal with toasted pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, or chopped macadamia nuts. Add your favorite fresh or frozen fruit and a splash of non-dairy milk for a nourishing breakfast!
Serve this delicious strawberry salad for a Memorial day or Fourth of July picnic! It pairs well with grilled fish or chicken, or vegetarian burgers! The white balsamic vinegar lends a light, fruity flavor to the salad.
This watermelon salad is incredibly quick to assemble, as all of the ingredients are simply layered together on the serving tray. If you've never tried watermelon with salt and lime, you are in for a treat. This salad is crunchy, fresh, tangy, and sweet. Serve it at your next summer gathering, and it is sure to be devoured in no time!
Functional Nutrition looks at the root causes of disease and addresses them through dietary changes and supplement protocols. What are your symptoms? How well is your digestive system functioning? What are your health goals? Are there any underlying nutritional deficiencies? Do you have a chronic disease that needs to be addressed? There is no one right diet. We take your symptoms, history, test results, and goals and factor everything into a personalized diet and supplement plan that will be manageable for you. Virtual appointments only right now.
Are you confused about what the perfect diet is? Paleo? Vegan? Mediterranean? Vegetarian? Gluten-Free? There is no perfect diet! We each have our own unique dietary needs based upon many factors. Our diets need to be fluid and flexible, and able to evolve with our changing lifestyle needs such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, environmental exposures, health conditions, and stress levels. If you have a specific health condition and need help figuring out which diet or combination of diets to implement, please set up an appointment and we can create a dietary protocol that is specific to your needs.
Do you have a group of people interested in learning how to cook several nourishing recipes for a specific diet? Utilizing Zoom, I teach classes right from my own kitchen. Participants can cook along with me and learn tips and tricks for creating nourishing, healing meals. We will go over foundational cooking techniques for the specific diet protocol you would like to cover, and give participants PDFs of several recipes. The cooking class involves brief email or phone communication prior to setting the class date to determine which recipes to demonstrate.
Cooking nourishing meals from scratch, everyday, is the most powerful way to create long-lasting positive health changes. Knowing what to do is only part of the process. It's in knowing how to do it all where the real magic happens! Cooking nourishing meals is the most foundational health tool there is. Do you have a group of people interested in learning how to cook several nourishing recipes for a specific diet? Utilizing Zoom, I teach classes right from my own kitchen. I demonstrate everything from simple, nourishing lunches with basic ingredients to more complex gluten-free baking techniques. Participants can cook along with me and learn tips and tricks for creating nourishing, healing meals.
Cooking is the foundation of functional nutrition.
I teach virtual cooking and nutrition classes to groups of 5 to 100 people using Zoom. We will coordinate the class date and how many recipes you would like me to demonstrate. Classes can last from 1 to 2.5 hours, depending on the recipes, and goals of the class. You can choose the recipes you would like me to demonstrate, or, instead, choose the diet and theme, and I will choose the recipes that would be best. We will go over foundational cooking techniques for the specific diet protocol you would like to cover, and give participants PDFs of several recipes.
The cooking class involves brief email or phone communication prior to setting the class date to determine which recipes to demonstrate. I will schedule the class and email you the Zoom class login information once we have all details finalized.
Hi. My name is Alissa Segersten, MS, CN. I have been teaching nutrition and cooking classes since 2004! I have both a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Nutrition and have been cooking and creating recipes since I was 10 years old. In 2005, I began writing about nutrition and health and publishing cookbooks to be able to share my nourishing recipes with a larger number of people.
My passion is using food as medicine and helping people upgrade their health through dietary change. When you can experience how to cook incredible, healing recipes, you have the power to create long-lasting positive change within yourself.
The power to create real change starts in your kitchen.
Please contact me for pricing and additional details. In your email, please include your estimated number of participants, specific diet you would like to focus on, specific recipe ideas if you have them, and approximate month and time frame you would like to schedule the class for.
Are you confused about what the perfect diet is? Paleo? Vegan? Mediterranean? Vegetarian? Gluten-Free? There is no perfect diet! We each have our own unique dietary needs based upon many factors. Our diets need to be fluid and flexible, and able to evolve with our changing lifestyle needs such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, environmental exposures, health conditions, stress levels, and the seasons. If you have a specific health condition and need help figuring out which diet or combination of diets to implement, please set up an appointment and we can create a diet plan that is specific to your needs.
A Nourishing Meals® membership is required to utilize our meal planning consultation services.
Health starts in your kitchen.
The fastest way to change your health is to cook from scratch everyday. Nourishing whole foods have thousands of chemicals that stimulate healthy gene expression. We rely on foods to build, repair, and replenish every single cell of our bodies.
Finding a diet that is right for you is all about removing the foods that are hurting you, and adding in the nourishing foods that bring in the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats, fibers, and phytonutrients that your body requires.
It is easy to fall back into old habits without a plan in place. If you are just starting a new diet and feeling overwhelmed, then a plan that can help you implement your diet protocol is necessary to success! Meal plans need to be doable for you!
We can help you formulate a plan using a meal planning day, leftover days, and specific cooking days to help you stay on track with your diet and succeed with your health goals. A meal planning appointment can help you get the most out of your Nourishing Meals® membership. A meal planning appointment includes one 30-minute consult plus two 1-week meal plans based on your specific dietary needs.
If you want to change who you are, you need to change what you eat.
30-minute meal planning appointment to create a 2-week meal plan based on your specific dietary needs. Meal plans will be created and emailed after the appointment. A Nourishing Meals® membership is required to utilize this service.
This simple, yet incredibly flavorful Thai-style red lentil soup is the perfect plant-based main dish to serve for dinner on busy weekday evenings! Serve with a pot of brown rice, chopped cilantro, extra coconut milk, and sliced hot chili peppers if desired.
These high-fiber, gluten-free, egg-free muffins make the perfect healthy snack. My children love spreading almond butter or sunflower seed butter over them as they come out of the oven. Pack one in your child's lunchbox or serve as part of a nutrient-dense breakfast.
This gorgeous summer salad is heavy on the kale and light on the quinoa. It makes a lovely side dish or picnic dish to share. Serve quinoa salad for lunch with leftover salmon, chicken, or cooked chickpeas!
The bright and sour flavors of the lime vinaigrette pair perfectly with the cardamom toasted pumpkin seeds, fresh raspberries, and cumin-lime grilled chicken. Whether you are wanting a nourishing recipe to impress your guests or looking to create the perfect summer meal, this salad recipe will keep everyone coming back for more!
This super easy sauce recipe uses fresh cherry tomatoes and heavy cream to create a bright and flavorful pasta dish! I use Jovial gluten-free brown rice pasta, however, any type of pasta will work. For a spicier sauce, add in a finely diced serrano chili pepper when you add the tomatoes. Serve with a large green salad for a balanced vegetarian meal.
This refreshing antioxidant-rich smoothie is easy on the digestive system, using low-FODMAP ingredients and fresh ginger. Enjoy it on a hot summer day! I like to add 2 scoops of magnesium powder to this smoothie in order to get an extra dose of this very important mineral into my children!
This paleo version of huli huli marinade can be used with chicken breasts or thighs. Huli huli chicken is a sweet and sour Hawaiian grilled chicken that typically contains quite a bit of sugar. My version uses fresh pineapple and a touch of maple syrup to create a natural sweetness. Use extra marinade to brush onto sliced zucchini (pictured here) and grill alongside the chicken during the last few minutes of cooking.
Decadent yet nutritious, this recipe will probably become a family favorite. Nobody will ever know that this cake is gluten-free! This cake is best served warm, about 20 to 30 minutes out of the oven. Any leftover cake will stay moist for days from the layer of frosting.
Today I am writing a post to share an incredible recipe with you (one of the most flavorful salad recipes I believe I have created thus far), and open up about some transformations in my life. Some of you have been part of this newsletter since I started it in 2004 and have watched as I have shared photos as our family grew and children went from babies to teenagers! In fact, my oldest daughter is now 21!
Today I am writing a post to share an incredible recipe with you (one of the most flavorful salad recipes I believe I have created thus far), and open up about some transformations in my life. Some of you have been part of this newsletter since I started it in 2004 and have watched as I have shared photos as our family grew and children went from babies to teenagers! In fact, my oldest daughter is now 21!
Serve this high-fiber, prebiotic-rich (rich in nutrients that feed beneficial gut microbes) toasted with avocado slices and broccoli sprouts for a nutrient-dense breakfast or lunch! Add a poached egg, smoked salmon, or a few spoonfuls of homemade hummus for extra protein. After the bread as completely cooled, it can be sliced and frozen in between pieces of parchment paper for longer storage.
This higher-protein, probiotic-rich "ice cream" will leave you feeling energized! Serve it as a healthy dessert after an evening meal or as a nutritious afternoon snack for your children! Mango is my favorite frozen fruit to use in this recipe, but frozen blueberries, strawberries, peaches, or bananas also work. The raw vanilla powder adds a touch of sweetness and a rich vanilla flavor. If you are following the DASH diet, be sure to use low-fat cottage cheese!
This nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory lunch is so easy to put together as long as you have hardboiled eggs and hummus prepared and ready to go in your fridge! Use any vegetables you have on hand, however, the addition of some raw cruciferous vegetables such as kohlrabi and radishes will add extra detoxification and antioxidant support.
Everyone will enjoy these incredibly flavorful nightshade-free fish tacos! They are free of hot peppers, paprika, and tomatoes, which are typically found in traditional taco recipes. Use the serving size adjuster to make a larger batch if you are serving more than 2 to 3 people.
Chia-oat pudding can be eaten for a light breakfast, nutrient-dense snack, or healthy dessert! You can also divide it into a larger number of jars and add fresh sliced fruit before you add the greek yogurt—sliced peaches, strawberries, pitted cherries, or fresh blueberries all work well! I like to use an organic fruit juice sweetened raspberry jam for the topping, but any type of fruit jam will work.
This is a great recipe to make when your garden is overflowing with zucchini! You'll need a clean tea towel to squeeze out the extra water from the zucchini. Serve frittata with a garden lettuce salad for a balanced, nutrient-dense meal!
