New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
PREPPED AND READY By Christine DeRosa
East Haven woman opens new meal prep business in Guilford
GUILFORD — Amanda Cesare knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur and pursue something she was truly passionate about — then she found cooking.
Cesare recently opened Amanda’s Healthy Cooking, a meal prep and grab-and-go eatery at 33 Water St. in Guilford, after working as a medical assistant at a gastroenterology center for 12 years.
She also worked as a diet tech for adolescents with eating disorders in Southport. One day a week, Cesare would cook dinner for the patients, which she
said they always looked forward to.
Cesare's career in food began with plans to write a cookbook filled with healthy recipes.
“I did the whole yo-yo dieting thing, eating bland food, just to eat unhealthy again, and I was like, there has to be easier ways to make food taste good but still be healthy for you,” Cesare said.
At the time, Cesare said she was getting her bachelor's degree in health science and nutrition and became interested in benefits foods provide, for example whole milk versus skim milk.
She decided to write the book about what she called nutrition 101 and explain that having a tablespoon of whole milk does not make a recipe unhealthy.
“I finished that and then I was going to do a second book, ‘how to meal prep under two hours on a Sunday for the week,' then I kind of stopped up on the first page,” Cesare said. “Nobody wants to cook in their busy lives. They just would rather pick up something healthy and go on about their busy lifestyle.”
Cesare began meal prepping for her friends, and word began to spread until she got so busy she began looking for a deli storefront.
She was working her medical assisting job during the day and cooking at night, but opening her own business became her goal.
“I knew I didn't want to be a medical assistant the rest of my life,” she said. “I've wanted to be an entrepreneur and pursue something that I truly enjoy doing, which I found in cooking, and it just fell into place.”
Cesare, who lives in East Haven, wanted to open her shop about 15 to 20 minutes from her home and looked for locations along the shoreline, including in North Branford, before landing on her current location near the Guilford Green. A few items from her repertoire have gained immediate popularity, she said, including her Korean beef, grilled chicken nuggets and big mac casserole.
The casserole includes a homemade thousand island dressing drizzled on top of everything that goes on a big mac, but with diced potatoes instead of the bun.
Cesare's Korean beef, which she said she cannot keep in stock as it sells out so fast, is lean ground beef in a house blend Korean spice mix tossed in sugarfree barbecue sauce before cooking. The meat is then placed on a bed of rice and topped with sauce.
Cesare has not gone to culinary school but credits the Food Network and her natural cooking talent for the skills that led her to opening her meal prep business.
“While I was meal prepping, the Food Network channel was on in the background, probably from 6 a.m. to 6 at night,” she said.
Culinary school isn't in the cards for Cesare, at least right right now, but she said she has mentors to rely on who own restaurants and are chefs.
Apart from meals, Amanda's Healthy Cooking offers what Cesare calls “adultables” — a healthy snack tray inspired by lunchables. Instead of processed cold cuts and other items, adultables include vegetables and homemade hummus.
Future business goals for the shop include expanding to local delivery. Right now, the shop offers pick-up only. Cesare stressed that for now, she is the shop's only employee and the business is still primarily a meal prepping business, which requires ordering ahead.
Right now, she cannot take orders in shop and cook them to order like a cafe would, but she is definitely interested in considering that as a next step once she is expanding with more employees.
Meals are also made in individual portions currently, but a future plan is to make enough to feed a family, she said.
“In the future, I do want to expand, maybe have one location of just strictly cooking and then the food being distributed to other locations,” she said.
Amanda's Healthy Cooking is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The menu and more information is available at amandashealthy cooking.com.