A few of my Company Catered Lunches!

Catered lunch boxes are individually 

packaged and personalized.  

Each comes with an entree + a side 

and a drink  (often fruit or herb infused).

(Menus can be customized for special diets & allergies)

Let's face it, your employees rock! 

Treat them to the company perk that keeps them 

fueled up and ready to work! 

When your company is ready to discuss 

your company’s lunch meal plans...

Please click the tab titled "To  SCHEDULE" 

where you will fill out some basic info

(location, how many employees, etc...)

so we can get a better idea of your 

company's needs and how we can 'satisfy'.

(pictured below are just a few samples)

   

  

Individually packaged and personalized,   

Let's Cultivate Food

What can you infuse your water with?

Lemons wedges or slices are probably the most common
things people put into their water.

Throw a mint or basil leaf or 2 or 3 in there with the lemon!

Lemon is good but change it up a little with a lime,
or orange slices and lime slices.




















A lime wedge or 2 with cucumber is good also or just plain cucumber slices.
Edible flowers believe it or not are good also to infuse
your water with. Have you ever heard of rose water.
(for infusing roses... make sure you wash the petals really well
and trim the white bottom area where the petals meet the stem
for that part is bitter)




















Rosemary, Mint and Basil are only a few herbs that
are good to steep in your water also.

Almost any fruit is good to infuse your water with...
peach slices, strawberry slivers, grape slivers,
pomegranate seeds, citrus slices, pineapple slices, melon balls....




















You can also take a stem of aloe vera, wash it and peel the
skin off with a veggie peeler and cut into small pieces
before you toss it into your water.




















 Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food

Asian Supermarket TOUR

Back by popular request!
Our Asian Supermarket Tour.
by a current restaurant consultant, food blogger, 
flavor creating goddess, former co-owner of a restaurant.

LetsCultivateFood.com is doing the 
Asian Supermarket Tour
AGAIN due to popular request!


Have you ever walked into an Asian Supermarket looking
for an exotic ingredient in a recipe that you'd love to try only
to quickly realize you have no clue where to get that item or
product OR what half the products are on those shelves ?!?

Well, here is another opportunity to participate in
my Asian Supermarket TOUR.

During your tour, you will learn about 
the most common products
in Asian cooking and brand differences.
(More than 30 + products and ingredients will be discussed)

For the summer Tour dates-- 
the tours will take place at H-Mart in Upper Darby 
(20 minutes from Center City & Main Line area)

How can I participate in a tour?

1. First, you MUST register which means signing up
    for which date you'd like to participate in. 
    Why do you need to register and sign up you ask?
    Well, there will be a limited number in each
    tour group as well as needing to keep track of how
    many goodie bags I need to fill for each date.

2. After you register, you will receive an email
    with information regarding your tour.

What does it cost?"
Great question! I'm glad you asked. 
The price for my "Asian Supermarket Tour " 

is  $48.00/pp.

Includes free goodies, a 90 minute tour 
chock-full of tips and information, 
pointing out which products and ingredients are the healthiest, 
most versatile and common in Asian kitchens, as well
as what you need for the Asian inspired dishes you want to cook.


Can I invite others and if so...

how many people can I invite?

You betcha! You can invite as many people
as you'd like.  We'd be glad to accommodate
your friends/family/co-workers/neighbors
as long as each person registers and sign up.
Children are welcome as well but just remember
they must be registered as well... simply
because they are taking a spot on the tour!

What should I wear?

Whatever you have that brings out your creative cooking juices. 

We won't be walking through any rocky trails,  over bridges, etc.
so whatever you feel is comfortable when you normally shop
will be great!  You don't have to get dressed up.
(Unless you want to!?!)  Whatever floats your boat.

When and how do I pay?

Payment needs to be prior to the arrival of the tour.
Payment can be through any of the options below.
~ Credit card  (Visa / MC / Discover)
~ Venmo
~ Paypal

click to REGISTER  ----->  LINK

Fish Grilled Inside a Pineapple!

Take a fillet of any fish you prefer-
(I used haddock for this round but another
good fish would be salmon or tuna)

and sandwich it inside pineapple slices.
Take your pineapple and slice the sides up
using the whole length of the pineapple.



















Liberally season your fish on both sides with coarse salt
and black pepper. Place the fish in between the
2 slices of the pineapple and then you can either tie
some kitchen cooking twine or use 2 skewers like I did.
(I ran out of twine)

Place your pineapple sandwiched fish on the grill and grill 

it on a high flame for about 12-15 minutes. You don't need to 

flip it over for the bottom pineapple slice will char a little and 

cook the fish literally inside the pineapple slice.

As the hot flame meets the ripened pineapple- the sweet natural

juices of the pineapple will give it great flavor.

It really makes you feel summery as well! 

​











Welcoming Summer,  Let's Cultivate Food

Cooking an Asian Fusion Menu for a Birthday!

Although every. single. person has a birthday--
it is always fun to celebrate with friends and or family.

Many of our In-Home Cooking Classes are where
people spend time together with a hands-on activity
that they can relish forever.
We spend time cooking, cutting, sauteing, baking,
learning, challenging each other, eating and most importantly
having and spending quality time with loved ones.

 

​
Celebrated another Birthday,  Let's Cultivate Food

Asian Fusion Noodles class in Philadelphia

Asian Fusion Noodles class through Cheltenham Adult School.
We had a great time  learning about 7 different types of noodles.
Cooking them and then eating them of course!
From soups to salads to appetizers to entrees.

​
slurped some long noodles,  Let's Cultivate Food

Lemon rosemary chicken

I always enjoy the flavor and scent of this lemons  and rosemary .
You can use chicken wings, breast or if you're brave and have the time-
do the whole chicken.

Take some olive oil and put it all over the chicken.
Sprinkle coarse sea-salt, fresh OR dry rosemary and squeeze juice
from a lemon all over. Let it sit over night in the refrigerator
or at least 30 minutes to marinate.

Bake in the oven at about 350 degrees until it's tender.
Once it's tender I like to place the chicken right under
the heat on broil and let it get a little crispy.
(You will have to bake for about 30-40 minutes)

The scent will fill your kitchen with lemony goodness!

Bacon wrapped dduk

Dduk  is made from rice.
It comes in many different forms
sweet and plain. Dduk is a Korean word.
Sometimes you might hear it being called
Mochi which is simply Japanese.

The rolled out cylinder shapes are often
associated with a street food called Dduk-bok-gi.
Dduk / Rice cake is cooked rice that is rolled out and
then made into many different shapes.
They can be used as a protein because they are really
hearty.  You will have a hard time just eating one skewer.

Of course when you add bacon to it...
it makes it even better. Bacon. Enough said right?

These are SUPER easy to make.
Purchase some dduk (rice cake)
that is in the cylinder shape. (already cut that way)
Take the bacon strips that are not cooked and cut it into thirds.
Wrap the bacon around the rice cake and use a wooden skewer
or a toothpick and skewer 2  together.

Turn your frying pan on medium high and cook until
the bacon is crispy. (about 3-4 minutes on each side)
You don't have to add any oil because of the oils from the bacon
will be more than enough.

It's best when you drizzle a little sweetened soy sauce on top
right before eating!

Sweetened soy sauce is soy sauce with a drizzle of any sweetener.
You can also  garnish with some chopped scallions too.


Roll it,  Let's Cultivate Food

Apple Banana Fritters

I recently heard someone say that taking something that's already
good and then wrapping it up and then frying it makes it.....
EVEN BETTER!
So....  I thought why not take an apple and my-
starting to go brown banana and make a fritter-like egg roll.
The only ingredients needed is a banana, an apple egg roll wrappers
and a sprinkle of cinnamon (the cinnamon being optional)

I've found that it's a lot easier using a melon baller to take the
core out rather than using a paring knife.

You simply dice and then let the apple sweat in the pan with
a little butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I add the banana after the
apple has softened a little since the banana is already soft.

Spoon your filling on to an egg roll wrapper and then fry it in a 

deep fryer or in a pan with oil.

Once your fritter/egg roll is golden brown, take it out and lay it onto 

a paper towel to let some of the excess oil drain and then cut it in half 

on a diagonal to make it look a teeny weeny bit fancier.

An Apple Banana Fritter is a good easy dessert to make especially if
your bananas are starting to brown!


​
Chop it like it's hot,  Let's Cultivate Food

Types of Tofu

I think  many people realize there is more than one
type of tofu especially as far as texture and soft or firmness.

Here is a picture of the different types.
The firmer they are it is easier to saute or fry
for they won't fall apart on you whereas the softer
or silken/silky they are- the better they are for soups.

Everybody is TOFU-fighting,  Let's Cultivate Food

How to hard boil eggs perfectly.

How to cook hard boiled eggs perfectly every time.

Start with filling your sauce pan with cold water... 
enough water that your eggs are completely covered in water.


Turn your stove top to medium high 
with no lid on your pot and when the water 
comes to a  rapid boil,  let the eggs sit in the hot water 
for at least 10 full minutes with the lid on.
After the 10 minutes are up, take the lid off, carefully pour 
the hot water out and  run cold water over all the eggs.
You can also place the eggs in a bowl of cold water and ice cubes. 
Ice water will literally shrink the eggs away from 
their shells, making it super easy to peel.

No more ring around the yolk, Let's Cultivate Food

SUPER HERO themed Catered Company Lunches

Our company catered lunches always have a fun theme.

This week's theme is  "Superhero Lunches"

Some of the food items that go into our personalized boxes this week are:

Super strength spinach and blue cheese burgers...

If you'd like it veggie friendly - we can make it with black beans, 

spinach and blue cheese as well! 

French onions and mushrooms sauteed for  Superman's French 

onion- shroom melt 

Wonder woman's Greek yogurt with fruit topping  

Here is a picture of  'Wonder dog's pepperoni pizza bites' 

our 'Kryptonite sweet potato fries

the 'Kryptonite sweet potato fries in the sauna...

Superman's French onion shroom melt.

KEEP CALM and be a SUPERHERO,  Let's Cultivate Food

Sugar can be sneaky!

Have you noticed as the time goes on-
our food becomes more and more unhealthy?

There are so many additives and sugars and preservatives
in food these days that it's really, really not healthy!

Today, I wanted to just talk about sugar.
You should ALWAYS read the labels.
If sugar isn't listed in the ingredients section
but listed in grams... often it can be natural sugar.

BUT! There are sneaky words for "added sugars"
BE on the look out for these words below.
These are ADDED sugars.

Agave
Barley malt
Beet sugar
Black strap molasses
Brown rice syrup
Brown sugar
Cane juice
Cane  sugar
Caramel
Carob sugar
Coconut sugar
Coconut palm
Confectioner's sugar
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup
Demerara sugar
Diatase
Date sugar
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diastatic malt
Evaporated cane juice
Fructose
Fruit sugar
Galactose
Glucomalt
Glucose
Grape juice concentrate
Grape juice
Honey
Invert sugar
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Maple syrup
Palm sugar
Raw sugar
Rice syrup
Refiner's syrup
Saccharose
Sorghum syrup
HSucrose
Treacle
Turbinado sugar
Xylose



Stay naturally sweet,  Let's Cultivate Food