Grab the freshest BREAD!

If you're like me...
when it's food shopping time---
it usually goes something like this,
make & have your list, go through the aisles as quickly as possible
and if you have a basket, go to the express lane
and if you have a cart, it's hunting down the quickest line possible.

It's seldom that I go down every aisle to check out what might be new.

Well, with bread- I spend an extra minute-
to find the freshest bread possible according to when it was baked.

Now, I might be organized and have a good eye with certain things
but no, I do not look through all the loaves of bread and check each individual date.

Here is a quick tip I'd like to share with you!

Ok, so you see the bread all lined up nicely?
From the left....

 From the right...

Can you tell which one was baked when and which loaf is the freshest?
Are they all the same?

                      

 

Now, check out their twisty ties. You see some blue ones, green, red, yellow and white.

The date is printed on the bread but you can easily tell when it was baked by the

twisty tie color. Now, are you expected to memorize colors and their respective days?

OF COURSE NOT!  haha

So, assuming our brains aren't too fried from technology just yet...
You can tell what day of the week the bread was made in alphabetical order by color.
Color order meaning, B for blue, G for green, R, W & Y.
Blue-------- Monday
Green------Tuesday
Red--------Wednesday
White------Thursday
Yellow-----Friday

And guess what!?!?  Yes, it is universal with all bread bakers!  Ta-da!
Who said you can't learn something new everyday.

Mamma Mia, Pasta Pia....

Actually I mean.... pasta PIE!
but Mamma Mia, Pasta Pia just rhymes better.

Yes, I will stick to cooking and DIY-ing rather than trying to be a poet. haha.
Pasta pie.  I love pie. Bluberry, apple, pumpkin... you name it.

Since I can't get enough of cultivating food...
and taking everyday food and changing it up-
I shall continue to cultivate dishes and make it my own.

Pasta in the shape of a pie.  Who wouldn't like this right?

This dish is very easy to make as long as you have a smaller size cake pan.
Unless you are making it for a larger group-- then just use a regular size cake pan!

Boil an entire box of rigatoni in salted water. Once it is 90% cooked in hot boiling water--

pour the pasta noodles into a strainer/collander. Do NOT rinse the cooked rigatoni.

(you want to keep the starchy part of the pasta-- this simply helps the tomato sauce

adhere to the pasta.)  (Also boil/cook the pasta to 90% because you're going to finish

it off in the oven and you don't want over-cooked pasta!)

Carefully lay the rigatoni into the cake pan. I like to use the 'spring form' ones---

the cake pans where the side comes undone... but you can also make and just

serve it from the cake pan as well. Don't feel that you have to go out and buy

this type of cake pan.   

Sprinkle a little cheese (Parmesan cheese recommended--
about 1/2 cup) on top of the rigatoni.
Lastly, pour your favorite red sauce (with or without meat) and add a handful....
nah, add 2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese on top. (2 cups)

Bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.... 

basically until the cheese melts.

Take your pasta pie out and let it sit for 10-15 minutes so that all the cheese and sauce

gets a chance to settle and get their yum-iness on!

Mamma Mia.....  Pasta Pia-Pie is delicious!   

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Produce CODES

When you buy your produce.....
do you ever look at the sticker?
More importantly - do you know what the sticker means?

I always say- knowing is half the battle.

Take a look at the image I created below to better
explain what the PLU codes really mean-----
you know, so you can be aware and get the produce that you want.

As you can easily see in the image above - 

conventionally (regularly) grown produce always start with a 3 or 4 plu code.

Organically grown produce items start with the number 9 in their code.

The ones that start with 8........... are not good at all for you.

They are genetically modified so that they are in completely controlled settings-

one might say that they look the most appealing at times... simply because

they are not grown naturally.  Please stay away from the genetically modified ones.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class

Gifting a Cooking Class !

This summer has been 'GIFT'  an In-Home Cooking Class
with a gift certificate  galore!

I do agree that it's a great gift whether it's for  a
birthday or wedding! ..... or simply any occasion.

It's a great way to spend the afternoon or evening with
family or friends or simply with your significant other--
learning, cooking and then eating of course the menu
that you have  chosen!

To GIFT an In-Home Cooking Class...

it takes a few simple steps.

1.  Click on the ----->  'To SCHEDULE'  and fill it out accordingly.
     (the box that says...  I want to GIFT a Cooking Class.)

Please type in the address of where you want the appropriately
wrapped  gift card to be mailed to.

The personalized gift certificate can be mailed directly
to the recipient or the person/group giving the gift.
(basically whichever address is given on the form)

Please  fill out the name/s of the recipient on the form as well---
for the gift certificates are personalized with names.

2.  Once the form is filled out---
      I will contact you by email to double check all the info.
   
3.  The last step is payment.
     Payment is is through 'credit card'
     The link for credit card submission is on the website
      or you can click this link --->   CC link 


If you have any questions at any given time...
please never hesitate to email me to
the email address ---> letscultivate@gmail.com
or call me  at 610-329-0199

to REFRIGERATE or not to refrigerate...

Often, people will ask me...
is it better to refrigerate this or........................... leave it out?

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Chips with plenty of salsas

Taco night is always a favored night but to put a little more fun and make it even more flavorful -- you can make it a chips and salsa night with plenty of salsas.

Who doesn't like to dip chips into something.... especially if you make
little bowls with the "scoops" corn chips.

With having several salsas --- you can have so many different combinations
that every single bite can be different from the last as well!

FUN and EASY salsas with chips!

Trays that are divided like this orange one are great to have on hand for many different things!

This super easy guacamole was made from taking a ripe avocado and dicing it up

into very small pieces while adding some chopped basil and 2 thin slices of diced tomato.

The mango salsa is great because it has that sweet flavor and if you chill it in a separate

bowl in the refrigerator until you are eat/serve it... it's even better! The mango salsa has 

one whole ripe mango diced into small pieces with a little bit of cilantro (more for garnish), 

and red bell peppers chopped very, very fine. 

I usually like to have a mild simple tomato salsa as well.  This again, super easy salsa was 

just one medium sized ripe tomato diced up with the other half of a red onion 

and a handful of diced cilantro. I also squeezed half a lime into the tomato salsa. 

(while saving and using the other half of the lime for the chips)

This ground beef was made with half a pound of 85/15 cut of ground beef. 

I used the other half of the red onion from the tomato salsa. 

I also grated in one large garlic clove, a teaspoon of A-1 sauce,

a teaspoon of hoisin sauce, salt, pepper to taste, a sprinkle of cumin, 

a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Lastly, the 'scoop' chips were used to make SOOOO many combinations of chips and salsa.  

I always like to squeeze a fresh lime on the chips to give that tart and limey flavor!

Oh, and of course a huge dollop of sour cream is always needed as well!

It was a yummy night!


Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

In Home Cooking Class Philadelphia        Birthday gift present activity cooking class

Most popular In-Home Cooking Class menu....

After doing cooking classes with over 300  different people just in the
past 5 months... the most popular menu choice has been the Thai menu.

It's officially called the 'Bangkok to Seoul' menu because it ties in the favored
Pad Thai noodles,  chicken satays with pineapple salsa and with the fusion
of kimchi in the tofu kimchi dumplings along with the delicious home-made Thai tea.

All cooking classes - classroom setting ones through Main Line School night and
through Mt. Airy Learning Tree have been wonderful. Korean BBQ,
Hand-made Noodles, Dumplings and more dumplings, Apps and Starters,
Best of Asian Fusion 1 , 2 and 3 - all have been so much fun!
I remember the first classroom cooking class years and years ago...
as if it was just yesterday.

The In-Home cooking classes have been a blast as well.
From walking down the sidewalks of south Philly in the freezing cold with my sous chef and
forgetting where we parked the car once or twice to driving to Jersey for some classes
along with people who live in shared apartments to people who are moving- to people who
have just moved to participating in silent auctions to online auctions to charity dinners to
personal chef dinners to bridal showers to wedding gift certificates to kids birthday parties.....
it has all been such a blast! Meeting different people is always cool but to meet them in
their homes for the fist time and then to cook with them is clearly something different
that most people will never get to experience.

I truly love cooking and showing someone how to do something more efficiently
so teaching how to cook food is something I truly enjoy.

The most popular menu choices have been these top 5.... out of the 20+ menus
that we have that you can choose from along with a custom option as well!

Bangkok to Seoul (Thai) menu,  Sushi menu, Wrap It Up menu,
Dumplings and more dumplings menu, Korean BBQ and Vietnamese menu (Pho).

Other menus we have can be seen by clicking this link ---->  menus

Here are just some of the people I have met recently....

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food