Bang Bang Cauliflower

Ever have bang bang shrimp?

I am a self pronounced  'flexitarian'.
What the heck is a flexitarian?  It's when you're
not a fully committed vegetarian but you love
vegetables enough that you can totally go for
all veggie days but you also need other days
where all you want is BBQ  galore!

Cauliflower is great to eat in place of chicken
because it is a super hearty veggie where you can
deep fry or saute or steam or boil or bake and
it stays together without falling apart and
keeps great flavor.  yum!

Take the head of a cauliflower and cut it into a quarter (for 2)

and cut the quarter into small bite sized florets.  You can just bake it 

in the oven on 350 for 30 minutes or you can batter it just like chicken 

or shrimp.  I like to cook things on the quicker side because there are

just too many things to do and not enough time in the day!

I like to boil the cauliflower first for about 5-7 minutes so it gets

a head start in the cooking and getting a little softer.

Then, I strain the cauliflower florets in a strainer and then let it sit

on some paper towels to get the excess water off.

I mix the sauce which is Frank's hot sauce 

(to your liking of spiciness) and 2 TBSP of melted butter and 

1 heaping TBSP of mayo to thicken the sauce a little.

Then I lay the cauliflower on a baking tray and bake it until 

it gets a brown hue and charred on the tops.  

350-375 degrees for about 15 minutes.   

Even the meat lovers will enjoy this!

You can simply use ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 29 of 31 days

Tofu Tikka Masala

Tofu Tikka Masala is a great alternative to
Chicken Tikka Masala.  It's made exactly the same way
as the chicken dish is.

Chicken Tikka Masala ------->   recipe
(simply substitute the tofu with the chicken)

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 28 of 31 days

Cheese Stuffed Strawberries

An easy healthy snack I'd like to share with you today

is a cheese stuffed strawberry. These are great for a snack,

an appetizer or dessert or even a simple palate cleanser 

in between dishes during a multi-course dinner.

Take a handful of strawberries (medium to large) and cut them in half. 

Next, take a little teaspoon and scoop the center out a little. 

The center of a strawberry isn't completely solid so it's pretty effortless.

For the picture above, I trimmed the stems.  

You can stuff feta cheese crumbs in the center and add a sprinkle of coarse

sea-salt or you can add blue cheese crumbles and some peanut (or any nut)

with a drizzle of honey.  The sweetness of the honey goes well with the already

salty blue cheese while the feta feta cheese isn't as salty so the sea-salt gives

a nice contrast in flavor.  You can just leave the stems on (picture below)

instead of trimming them off as well.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 27 of 31 days

Mozzarella Egg Roll Sticks

String cheese egg rolls!  I recently took string cheese and
wrapped them in egg roll wrappers just like an egg roll.

I'd like to say...  Ah-mazing!  This was so much fun to take
an every item and cultivate it in a way that made it more
fun and  enjoyable simply because it was different but the same.

You know what I mean?  I think you do. Well, I'll just assume so.

Take you unwrapped string cheese and lay it on the egg roll wrapper 

as the wrapper is on a diagonal just like the picture above.  

Brush a little egg on the  2 sides that meet the top corner. 

(The egg is the gluing agent- water WILL come apart)

Roll the bottom corner up so that the cheese is wrapped and then 

fold the 2 sides in while rolling the rest until it is completely wrapped- 

just. like. an egg roll!

Once your veggie or canola oil is approximately 330-350 degrees 

you can deep fry your mozzarella egg roll sticks until they are a 

golden brown color.

A good dipping sauce is marinara sauce just like regular 

breaded mozzarella sticks.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 26 of 31 days

DAY 25 POST 25

It certainly hasn't been easy but I've written
a blog post every single day this month thus far.

It's August 25th and I have 25 posts so far for this month.
I will continue to write one each day for the rest of
August.    Happy Monday August 25th!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 25 of 31 days

Lays is going Asian...

Looks like Lay's  Stax is adding some
Asian flair into their potato chips.

Recently, these 2 flavors were discovered and the
they were pretty good. The flavors weren't too strong
and overpowering. It was subtle and pretty
spot on for the respective flavors.

I tried the Korean BBQ which had a lasting taste of
a teriyaki onion flavor. Very similar to a common
bulgogi marinade. It was good.

The other flavor was the Thai Sweet Chili which was not too bad but 

not that great either. It was on the duller side with a lot less flavor 

than the Korean BBQ one. Either way, they were both interesting 

and good to snack on.

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 23 of 31 days

Raw Tuna appetizer

A delicious appetizer you can make to wow your friends is a raw tuna
and cucumber appetizer.  It is extremely effortless to prepare
and assemble. All you need is one pack of raw tuna (make sure it
is sushi grade though) Do NOT buy tuna that is meant to be cooked
as a tuna filet.  The difference is that sushi grade tuna or any fish
for that matter is that the sushi grade is cut that day and is meant
to be eaten that day or  no later than 1 day after whereas the fish
that is cut into filets or steak style can be kept uncooked in the frig
for many days rather than 1 or 2 days.

You will also need 1 English cucumber (they are super long,
are individually wrapped and is often used because it has less seeds)
or you can use an American cucumber or about 2 kirby cucumbers.
(Kirbys are often associated with Korean cucumber kimchi and they
are shorter and the most crisp)

You can use sesame seeds to garnish and the only other thing besides
the little wooden skewers is mayo and wasabi.
You can skewer these with toothpicks also. Start with cutting
your cucumber in half and then in half again so that you have 4
long slices and then cut them into about 1 inch large cubes.
Mix about 3-4 tablespoons of mayo and wasbi to your liking to make
wasabi mayo.  Simply use a small spoon to add your homemade
wasabi mayo in between your cucumber and tuna as a gluing agent
and for a great sauce. You can add a drizzle of soy sauce or have
the soy sauce in a separate little bowl for extra sauce for your liking.
You can be creative and line them up in a circle or a grid almost like a
checkerboard or in 1 long line if you have a plate or tray that is long.
You can be creative and create a design if you want also.

This appetizer would not be cheap at a restaurant but can be
super affordable if you just simply made it at home.
A regular size pack of raw tuna is about $6-10 depending of the size (lbs)
obviously but you can also  get around 20 or so pieces with one pack.
Not too shabby?!





Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food.........  day 22 of 31 days