The basics of soy sauce...

Do you know that most soy sauces made in the USA are NOT
soy sauce?  Well then, what is it?  Is it safe? Are there just chemicals
inside these so called soy sauce bottles?
Is there dye in there?  Is it something completely weird?
Is it safe to consume?  OH MY GOODNESS! What is it!?!

More often than not soy sauce made in the USA is wheat and not soy.

A few will have both wheat and 'soy protein' but most often it just 

contains wheat.  So wheat sauce is more of an ideal name.  

Real authentic soy sauce is made from fermenting soy beans in salt. 

It gets pressed and the first batches are often the darkest and the 

strongest and best in taste. It gets pressed many more times after the 

1st pressing and therefore the lighter hue and it's cheaper.  

Premium soy sauce bottles are sometime over $10 for a small

bottle.  It's sort of similar to extra virgin olive oil and plain olive oil. 

The extra virgin olive oil that gets pressed first is the purest and 

most expensive. If you see olive oil that is ridiculously cheap... 

it's probably because it's the pressing of the excess of other pressings 

and the leaves and branches. 

What's super ironic is that many stores sell what they call
'gluten-free' soy sauce which is REAL soy sauce because it is made
from soy beans  rather than wheat. So.......... in the US,
we have to pay more for ACTUAL  soy sauce (the gluten-free) one
which is often almost considered a gourmet or  specialized soy sauce.
Go figure!  Lastly, you know the soy sauce packets you get
when you order Chinese take-out?  9 times out of then- those
'soy sauce' packets don't even have the wheat in them.
Not all soy sauce packets BUT many of them are just caramel coloring
and corn syrup. Many don't even have salt in them either.
Always look at the labels prior to eating things so you know
what you are consuming!



Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 20 of 31 days

Bell peppers with hummus

Have you ever had hummus?
You know, the paste made from chick peas.


You can buy hummus that is already made but
you can simply make it yourself as well.

Just take a can of chick peas and blend it until the texture
is smooth.  Add a heavy drizzle of olive oil after you have
blended it. Make sure you rinse the chick peas or anything inside
a can for that matter except soup of course.
Could you imagine if someone tried to rinse soup!?!

What's great about making your own hummus is that
it's fresher, you can add whatever herbs or seasonings
you desire and it doesn't have preservatives or other chemicals
in it so it's much healthier!

You can add all sorts of things to hummus.  Here are a few examples-

garlic, dried onion pieces, nutmeg and thyme,  sun dried tomatoes, 

a little bit of pepper flakes to spice it up or even a few drops of sriracha sauce...

you really can add whatever you would like to season it up, especially

since plain hummus is as dull and boring as it can get!?!

You can dip all kinds of veggies and crackers and chips into hummus

or you can pipe it through a small zip lock bag onto veggies just like 

these green and orange bell peppers above.  It can be a SUPER easy dish

at a bridal shower or a healthy backyard bbq item!  

The combinations of color and patterns just in bell peppers are endless

but imagine what you could create with other veggies and crackers as well!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 19 of 31 days

Mint ice cream sandwich CAKE

This one is a.....  shall I say, no- brain-er?

Long story .....    super short, I'm not allowed to bake cakes
for family get togethers-  maybe,
just MAYBE  I'll explain another time why I'm not allowed to.

So the next best thing other than cupcakes for the summer
especially would be-  not just ice cream sandwiches and not just
ice cream sandwich cakes  BUT ice cream sandwich cakes
with a sneaky layer of mint chocolate chip ice cream!

The easiest way to make this is to layer everything in a bread pan.

The rectangle baking pans that you would bake a bread in.

Line everything up the best way you can and make sure everything

is as even as you can get it.  Almost think of it as a craft project where

you want everything to nicely fit in that rectangle pan.

Once everything is in there and pretty flat and smooth-

wrap the top with clear wrap. Put it in the freezer and wait 

at least 30 minutes just so everything is frozen together.

It will be easy when you cut/slice it.

When you get ready to cut it, run your large cake knife

through hot water under the sink- it will make for a clean

and easy cut.  I'll have to find a way to create this in a way

that the diabetics in my family can have this...

I WILL find a way to have cakes at family gatherings AGAIN!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 18 of 31 days

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