semi- Home made sun-dried tomato spread

If you have a super market that sells already sun dried tomatoes,
you can simply add olive oil to it and a dash of salt and simply create
your own sun-dried tomato spread.

Sometimes gourmet sun-dried tomato spread can be over $15
just for a little jar.

What's nice is that you can freeze the plain sun-dried tomatoes
and make little by little rather than using it all and it spoiling.

You can cultivate it by adding garlic to sometimes and sometimes
adding other herbs to change it up. All you have to do is take
the dried tomatoes and mince them up and after you add
the olive oil-- it will soften more and be a little softer than the
dried up tomato that you started with.

You can use sun-dried tomato paste for pasta sauces, especially
chilled pasta salads, on good crusty bread or any bread for
that matter, and in sandwiches as a spread.

The best sandwich is a sandwich with some turkey or chicken
with some basil leaves, mozzarella cheese and sun-dried
tomato spread.  YUM-ME!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 17 of 31 days

Sometimes Bird Food tastes really good!

Vietnamese summer rolls are super healthy, gluten free and
delicious.  For dinner last night, we had salad in a roll basically.

What's great about summer rolls is that you can cultivate it
to your liking and put whatever you and your family enjoys.

My go-to ingredients are shredded or cut julienne of
carrots, red bell peppers (you can use any color but red is vibrant),
cucumbers for the crunch, a little romaine, avocado for the
creaminess and mint leaves for the refreshing taste.

As far as the sauce... you can use peanut sauce or a another sauce.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 16 of 31 days

Shall we JUST. 86 it?

Have you ever heard the term '86 - it'?  Eighty six it.
It's a term that restaurants often use
when something is out of stock so a common phrase
might be the manager informing the servers
that they are out of  'that' for the night.

"eighty-six the flounder or we are eighty-six-ing the filets)

Where or where did the term come from though?
Why the number 86?  What's so significant about that number?
Is it a certain year?  hmmm.... any guesses?

There are actually more than one explanations.

Here are a few I will share with you today~!

The Delmonico origin.  Delmonico's  was known for their
ribeye steaks.  The ribeye steak was # 86 on their menu.
On 1 or 2... or many occasions that they ran out of menu item #86
it became shorthand for running out of the ribeye and quickly
caught on for other items when they were out of it.

Another possible origin people say it that it came about
from the street car line on the East side of Manhattan.
The line ran from 14th Street to 86th Street.
The motorman or conductor would yell out,
"Eighty-six! End of the line! Everyone out!"


Some say it came from:
a British merchant shipping term
where.... the standard crew was 85 men
so that the 86th man would be left behind.


Some even believe it came the the dimensions
of a grave! What!  8 feet long and 6 feet deep
and therefore the item (or person in this case) yikes!
 was dead or..... 86'd.

To me, the Delmonico origin sounds most
realistic especially since it directly relates to running
out of food!?     To me, it's a no brain-er!




Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 14 of 31 days

Strawberry Basil Crostini

Do you ever have friends or family over or have to take something
to someones house and you JUST.DON"T. have the time?

Here is a little something that could look a little  'fant-cee'
AND it's in season AND it's easy to prepare, travel with, assemble etc...

Strawberry basil crostinis.   All you need is love... nope, that's a song not
the ingredients to this recipe.  You will need a pint of strawberries,
a few basil leaves, balsamic vinegar, bread of your choice and either
goat cheese or even cream cheese if that's what floats your boat.

Slice your bread, line them up on a baking sheet to make them warm 

and toasty  (you don't have to) 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes if that.  

While your bread slices are toasting... you can wash and cut 

your strawberries into slices or dices  (whichever you want to do)  

Add a TBSP of balsamic vinegar and 

1 teaspoon of sugar or honey (optional)  Chiffonade  (cut thin long strips) 

your fresh basil leaves and add to your strawberries.

Take your toasted bread out of the oven and slather some 

goat cheese onto your bread. Lastly use an ice cream scoop and 

scoop a spoonful of your strawberry basil onto each piece of bread 

that now has melted  goat cheese.

(when I say melted- it's because the goat cheese was smeared 

on when the bread was JUST taken out of the oven and still is warm)

Ta-Da!   super easy right!?!

Even though it's super easy - your friends and family will be impressed!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 13 of 31 days

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Although it's summer and we want to enjoy chilled foods...
sometimes a hearty hot soup is good for our insides.

Have you ever made cheddar broccoli soup at home?
Here's a super easy way to make some.

You will need broccoli, an onion, celery, red bell peppers
and some cheddar cheese. (I like to just use already shredded)

Dice an onion (this recipe is good for 2-3 people as a side soup) 

and throw that into the pot so that it gets cooking first. 

Add a coffee mugs worth of water with that onion. 

When the onion starts to get translucent- 

add our celery (diced up) and broccoli (bite size) 

(red bell pepper diced up is optional)

Once the veggies have cooked down and are soft, 

add a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and 1/2 a cup of milk 

along with another full cup of water.

Let them have a good time in the  'hot tub' as they 

socialize and  get acquainted with each other. 

Once everything is smooth and mixed together....

Your super easy cheddar broccoli soup is done.  

You can add salt at the table to right into the soup

(1-2 teaspoons of salt or soy sauce)

Having some crusty bread to dip into your soup will be good also!



Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 12 of 31 days

Celebrate each day!

Celebrate each day... like it's ...... your birthday!

Why?   Because you deserve it.
Almost all of the time, we bring upon ourselves
the drama in our lives and the headaches and such.

If you have a positive outlook and try your best in
being productive and taking care of the people
around you even if it's simply by words... THEN
your day, each day will significantly become better!

Today I celebrate the fact that it's a Monday!
I have officially been blogging away for 40 months...
aka 3 years and 4 months.

I currently have over 50,000 world-wide followers and visitors of my blog.
This is also my 401st blog post.  WHAT!?!!

It certainly has been a fun venture so far. I can't complain.
As I have lost count with how many cooking classes (over 150 at this point)
and creating menus and menus and menus and .... wait for it....
MENUS. for Personal Chef lunches and dinners --
I am grateful. I am grateful that I have brought a smile to people
(often strangers- people I have met for the first time) with food.



Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 11 of 31 days

Why do Koreans slurp seaweed soup on birthdays?

Seaweed soup in Korean is called Mi-yeok Guk - 

'Mi-yeok'  meaning seaweed and 'Guk'  meaning soup.  

Seaweed soup is made from a sea vegetable known as 'wakame'  

or sometimes called sea mustard.  Seaweed contains a super

high concentration of iodine and calcium which are super important

especially to nursing mothers. Many Korean women consume

seaweed soup during pregnancy so that their newborn receives

the nutrition through breastfeeding.... 

AND that's why Koreans prepare and eat seaweed soup

on birthdays. It's a reminder of the first food they consumed

through their mothers, thus bringing good fortune for the rest

of the year.  

It's not too difficult to make either. (As long as you can get to 

an Asian supermarket) Seaweed is sold dried so you will have to 

soak it in water first so it bloats up. 

Make sure you rinse it several times because it does 

come from the sea and even though it's dried- often times 

it's actually dried by the sand area.

You can use anchovies for the broth or I actually prefer beef. 

Any cut of beef is ok to use in making the broth. 

I often dice up or give the beef a rough chop

so it's a little tender and in smaller pieces.

I take a TBSP of sesame oil and 3 TBSP of soy sauce and saute the beef first. 

Then I add one whole onion (medium size) sliced up to give it more flavor. 

Once the onion has cooked a little (5-7 minutes) I add water and fill the pot. 

I then add the bloated and already wet seaweed into the pot.

Let it come to a boil and then turn it to a medium low and let it simmer

for a bit. (minimum 30 minutes) The broth will turn into a yellowy-greenish

hue from the seaweed. That's when you know it's ready and it will 

taste good. You can add a little more salt & pepper at the table. 

Seaweed soup is more often than not eaten with a small bowl of rice.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 10 of 31 days