Hey, Welcome to Cooking for Peanuts!
Your home for simple, high-protein, longevity-focused meals. Cooking for Peanuts is a healthy recipe platform created and led by Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Nisha Melvani, MS, RDN.
👩🏽⚕️ Nisha's Credentials:
- New York State Registered Dietitian
- Master's degree in Nutrition from Columbia University
- Culinary school graduate. Completed the ACCET-accredited Chef Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City.
- Published cookbook author: Practically Vegan: More than 100 Easy, Delicious Vegan Dinners on a Budget, published by Penguin Random House. Self-published Cooking for Longevity, focused on simple, high-protein plant-based meals designed to support everyday health and healthy aging.
- Raised three girls on a plant-based diet!
Learn more about Nisha's nutrition philosophy and journey here.
The Story Behind Cooking for Peanuts
Cooking for Peanuts began as a way to make plant-based eating simple, practical, and deeply nourishing. The name came naturally - Nisha started the brand when her daughters were little "peanuts," and the playful spirit stayed. It also reflected her intention from the very beginning: to give everything away for peanuts - meaning free, accessible, and available to anyone who wanted to eat better. And yes, Nisha truly loves peanuts.
As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and trained chef, Nisha built Cooking for Peanuts to fill a real need: reliable, high-protein, whole-food recipes that support metabolic health, bone health, hormonal balance, and long-term vitality. What began in a family kitchen has grown into a trusted resource for improving healthspan and making aging better - with more strength, energy, and resilience.
She raised my three girls on this same plant-forward, whole-food approach - they've had yearly labs since childhood, and they continue to thrive.
Today, Cooking for Peanuts continues with one clear mission: help you age your best and feel your best by making nourishing, whole-food meals accessible - one recipe at a time.
🖇️ Brand Partnerships:
Cooking for Peanuts has been fortunate to collaborate with the following brands:
📧 Contact
If you're interested in collaborating with Cooking for Peanuts, feel free to drop an email!
🔗 Plant-Based Nutrition Articles
Here are several nutrition articles offering simple, evidence-based support for long-term health and well-being.
- Is Tofu Healthy? The Truth About Soy!
- How to Sprout Mung Beans & Nutritional Benefits
- Top Strong Bone Foods
- A Nutritionist's Guide to Supplements for Vegans & Vegetarians
- Protein Coffee Recipe
- Best Proteins for Vegans with Recipes
- Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs)
- Vegan Food List For Beginners
- Menopause Diet: How Food Choices Impact Symptoms
- Healthy Ideas for Meal Prep (Vegan)
- Longevity Spice Mix
- How to Make Healthy Filter Coffee Without a Machine
- Longevity Powder
- Cranberry Water Recipe
- Simple Recipes for Antioxidant-Rich Meals (15 Minutes or Less)
- Protein
- How to Get Iron on a Vegan Diet
Nutrition PDFs
Access Cooking for Peanuts' full library of simple, research-based nutrition PDFs for free here.
Featured In:
Podcasts: Plantstrong, Moms Changing the World, The Allsorts, No-Bullsh!t Vegan, Taste, Brownble, Plant-Powered People, Plant-Centered Nutrition, Heart of the Story, and more!
Media: Samsung Unpacked Nutrition Keynote Speaker Paris 2026 & New York 2025, Eating Well - 5 Surprising Foods that Raise Cholesterol, Eating Well - Best Teas to Sleep, HuffPost, Real Simple Golden Milk, Real Simple Longevity Vegetable, Bon Appétit, Martha Stewart - woks, Martha Stewart - rice cookers, mindbodygreen, Salon, The Zoe Report, Dinner a Love Story, Cup of Jo, Medium, Plant Based News, and more!