This is one of those times when I can’t manage to get a photo of a fabulous meal before everyone digs in and starts dishing out the compliments.  Do you have boys in your house?  Well, mine go on and on about how wonderful the food is so I make it again…and more of it, of course.

This is one of our new favorites…Fast Fajitas & Southwestern Salad! It will make you look like you know what you’re doing in the kitchen, that’s for sure.  I took the liberty of kicking it up a notch from the original recipe and I love the way it turned out.

Fast Fajitas

• 1 pound of beef strips
• 1 pound of chicken strips
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 large sweet onions, sliced
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 envelope fajita seasoning mix, divided
• 3 small tomatoes, cut into thin wedges
• 12 {6-inch} fajita-size flour tortillas, warmed

Slice and cook the onions and peppers with vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until the peppers are soft and the onions are clear.  Sprinkle with a tsp. of the seasoning mix and remove them from the heat.

I cooked the beef and chicken strips together in the same pan with the rest of the fajita seasoning and a dash of salt and pepper.  Once the meat is all cooked, just add the tomato wedges and cook for 3-5 minutes .

Toss the peppers and onions back in the pan and toss it all together…yum!  Serve with warm tortillas.

Southwestern Salad

• 2 packages sweet butter lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican four-cheese blend
• 1 can Mexican-style corn, drained
• 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup Ranch dressing
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 4 cups blue corn tortilla chips, coarsely crushed

Here’s the easy part…combine everything but the chips together and toss.  Gently stir in the chips just before serving to keep them nice and crunchy.

Tim likes to add this salad in his fajita and I just make one big salad for myself.  It’s flexible to keep everyone in the house happy!

I found this great recipe in this awesome book and I have to say it is my new favorite cookbook!  There are lots of easy and yummy recipes that work great for entertaining.  We’ve made Fast Fajitas & Southwestern Salad twice and I plan to make it for guests someday soon.

Stop by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday recipes!

Try it and let me know what you think!

Travel has been an integral part of the fabric of our family since day one. Even before Kim and I were married, her parents used to let me come along on family vacations with them. I think they figured that if I wasn’t going, neither was Kim! So they let me come.

Great Trips Always Have Great Food!

One of our favorite family conversation starters always brings one of those trips with Kim and her folks to mind. Here is the question:

What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?

We qualify the question be suggesting that the food itself can’t be the only criteria. The real “best meal” has to take into account the overall scene. Where were you? Who were you with? What was the weather, the surroundings, the sounds and smells. All of that goes into the answer.

It’s no easy task, and after twenty years of playing, we still love this game and then answers still change.

Stir Fried Fresh Fish and Conch – Stingray City Style

Stingray City is a dive site (scuba diving) just off the leeward coast of Grand Cayman, in the Cayman Islands. It is beautiful, it is tropical, and it is way fun! Snorkelers and divers are in for an adrenaline pumping treat as they enter the water surrounded by hundreds of huge stingrays.

We sailed out on a catamaran. About a dozen people, with our group being four of those. I still remember the thrill of laying on the net stretched between the front of the hulls and looking down into the crystal clear water. The ride out was worth the trip!

As we played in the water, the captain (and owner of the small boat) did a little bit of snorkeling of his own, but he had a spear. He speared plenty of fresh fish, and collected some conch shells, which anyone who’s been to Key West knows are great food! Then he stir-fried it all up on the deck of the little sailboat and served it fresh.

Swimming in the ocean one minute, on our plates a few minutes later. That’s fresh.

Of course I was highly enamored with the beautiful young girl who was my date for the trip, which didn’t hurt!

That meal, on the bow net of a catamaran, as the sun dropped low in the sky over the clear waters of Grand Cayman, was…

one of the best meals I’ve ever had!

Easy Pretzel Turtles

Do you need a yummy treat that only takes a few minutes to make? Who doesn’t! These Pretzel Turtles are perfect for a party or a last minute gift. I’ll show you how quick and easy you can make these sweet treats!

Gather the stuff…

I gathered more than I needed! I had an idea to make them with mint candies and maybe some with candy cane sprinkles…but time has a way of slipping away!

All you really need is a bag of Rolo candy, pretzels, white chocolate, and pecans.

Top off a pretzel with a Rolo…over and over again! I use parchment paper, but you can place them directly on your cookie sheet.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake them for 3-5 minutes…that’s all!

Smush a pecan half onto each one. See, baking can be fun! It’s starting to look pretty good, isn’t it? You could stop right here, or you could add a little something extra to them…like more chocolate!

I

I slowly melt white chocolate chips in the microwave and spoon the melted chocolate into a plastic bag. Then I cut a tiny, tiny hole in the corner. Just squeeze to decorate.

I could have been a little neater, but it was fun to see how fast I could make them. Hey…Tim stole one before I took my photo!

You can use cashews, candy, or whatever else you can think of to top them off. They look like you spent awhile making them, and they taste like it too!

If you don’t get a chance to make them for Christmas, there’s always Valentine’s Day!

I found this wonderful recipe on Our Best Bites.  You should see how cute Sara wrapped her turtles up!

I’ll be making these again. I’ve already shared the recipe with everyone I’ve talked to this week.

Y’all have a great Christmas!

We’ve been busy, but we still have time to cook around here, and this is one of our new favorites.

Tim found this recipe. How, you might wonder? He was in Publix {our local grocery store} trying one of the many samples. He always stops to see what they’re cooking {so often that I’m sure they recognize him by now}, and most of the time it’s alright, but this one was fantastic. So, we grabbed the recipe and bought everything we needed.

First, we started with the salad…

Classic Spinach Salad

• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 1/2 cup Caesar salad dressing
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 bag baby spinach leaves (4-6 oz.)
• 2 or 3 plum tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons cooked bacon pieces
• 1 cup garlic croutons

Chop one egg finely, place in salad bowl; stir in salad dressing and pepper. Add spinach: toss until evenly coated. Chop remaining two eggs coarsely. Slice tomatoes thinly. Top salad with eggs, tomatoes, bacon, and croutons.

Chicken With Creamy Bruschetta Pasta

Ingredients

• 2-3 sprigs of basil
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 {8oz} package garlic/herb flavored spreadable cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 oz tomato trinity mix {fresh diced tomatoes, onions, bell peppers}
• 3 chicken fillets {about 1 1/2 lb}
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 8 oz dry linguini pasta

1. Fill a large saucepan half full of water. Cover and bring to a boil on high for pasta.
2. Chop basil leaves coarsely. Cut tomatoes in small pieces. Place cheese in medium bowl; whisk in milk until smooth. Stir in tomatoes, basil, and tomato trinity mix; set aside.
3. Preheat large saute pan on medium-high 2-3 minutes. Season both sides of chicken with salt. Place oil in pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken; cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden. Meanwhile, stir pasta into boiling water. Boil 10 minutes, cook until tender.
4. Reduce heat on chicken to medium; cover and cook 5 more minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
5. Drain pasta. Remove chicken from heat; cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange chicken over pasta and top with cheese mixture.

I don’t think you can skip the spreadable cheese. It gave it the extra zing, and I just cut up my own peppers and onion. Then we had some fresh basil from our garden for the top. It’s not as hard as the recipe makes it sound.

Even the kids liked it, so it’s a keeper! It’s the kind of recipe that makes you feel like you went out for a nice dinner. Can’t beat that! I’m so glad I took a photo of it before it was put on the plates. Once something is served around here, Tim says the prayer, and it is gone in a flash…there’s no time for photos then.

I’ve been passing the recipe around, and now it’s your turn to try it. Let me know what you think!

Hop over to Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for Tasty Tuesday. You’ll find so many great recipes there every week.

Down by the sea where the Sea Grapes grow…

The grapes are turning purple! Is that a sign that fall is here…or at least, near?

I’ve been reading about cooler nights and changing leaves on everyone’s blogs. Well, thing are a little different in Florida, we don’t have changing leaves, just changing grapes. We are dying for some cooler weather. It’s been so hot and humid that we haven’t spent as much time outside because of it. I love seeing everyone’s decorations for fall. I’ve put up a few, but I’m sure once we get a cool night or two I’ll be going all out with the pumpkins and leaves all over the house.

At least we have Sea Grapes to enjoy right now. Sea Grape trees are all over our yard and some must be 20 feet tall! The view of these hanging grapes from the windows gives a nice tropical feel to everything…love that!

We’ve heard of southern folks making jelly out of these grapes, but we’ve always been too lazy to give it a try. They have a slightly bitter taste with a seed in the middle. I used to eat them when I was a kid, but they aren’t really that good right off the tree. Even though they aren’t the sweetest grapes around, it does kinda feel like we’re wasting food by not using them for something.

My parents were here and as we were sweeping fallen grapes off the deck {yuck}, my mom decided to take some home and whip up some jelly…from the tree, not the ground. She found a recipe and made tons of it! Lots of Sea Grape Jelly for me, without a mess in my kitchen! That makes it taste even better, doesn’t it?

The Sea Grape Jelly gets two thumbs up from my family, and the color of it is just so pretty! For my southern friends, here’s the recipe:

Sea Grape Jelly

Ingredients

• 1 quart sea grape juice
• 1 package of powdered pectin
• 5 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 5 cups of sugar

Preparing the juice: Wash sea grapes and measure. Put in fairly large, wide pot with half as much water (1 cup water to 2 cups sea grapes). Bring to a boil. Mash often with a potato masher and continue boiling until fruit is reduced to a soft pulp (about 25 to 30 minutes). Drain through a jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. Do not squeeze.

Place one quart juice in a wide kettle. Turn heat high and add lemon juice and pectin. Bring mixture to a rolling boil. Stir in sugar and return to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Pour hot into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 5 minutes in boiling water bath.

There you go! And if you don’t have Sea Grapes growing in your yard, come and get them! We’ve got plenty to go around.

I’m joining Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for Tasty Tuesday today…go check out her dirt cake!!!

Do you know what these are? Yes, I know they’re shrimp and that’s not that hard to figure, but these are special! Very special indeed!

Key West Pinks, that’s what they are! These are not your everyday shrimp by any means.

See how big they are?

On our recent trip to the Keys we treated ourselves to some of the local cuisine. “When in Rome…”, ya know what I mean.

We spent the morning snorkeling and relaxing by the water.

Then A.J. came up and said there was a man there selling “fresh from the boat” shrimp. Well, Tim knew right away what that meant. He was off to talk to this man about some shrimp for me. I say “me” because I am the biggest shrimp fan around! I think I could live on shrimp alone!

He came back with a ton of fresh shrimp for me to cook. I’d like to say that the recipe for this specialty was a little more complex, but it’s not.

Here goes…

• Throw the shrimp in a pot
• Add one beer
• Add enough water to cover the shrimp
• Add salt, pepper, and maybe a little something extra
• Boil for about 10 minutes until they’re bright pink

Even if you can’t stand beer, you need to add it to the shrimp. Trust me on this! I don’t know why, but shrimp like beer. Is that why they live in The Keys?

They are ready to eat! Being extra sharing and caring, I served it with a ton of fresh rolls that my children love. They don’t need to fill up on shrimp! I suggest shrimp sandwiches for the kids. 

This is a simple, simple meal that anyone can make! I’m sure you can add a little of this and that, but we worked with what we had with us. And it’s really not the kind of food that needs all that much added. Can you tell that I love shrimp?

Here are a few more Key West Pink Recipes!

After lunch we did more relaxing, fishing, and snorkeling. This crazy Pelican kept attacking the kid’s fish as they caught them.

Here’s just the fish we needed for dinner…

A Snapper of some kind.

The kids caught a ton of fish and kept Tim cleaning fish for a long time. But, it was worth all the work!

This is just the Snapper. We had three or four times as much fish for dinner. We could hardly eat it all. And that’s really saying something with this crew!

It was a great day with fresh catches, full bellies, and fish tales! 

Can you tell we take eating seriously around here?

Do you ever catch fish to eat?

Stop by Jen’s at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for Tasty Tuesday!  You don’t want to miss all the great recipes over there!

Spring is in the air!  I find myself searching for pretty decorations and fun things to do more than usual. Well, I ran across some really interesting things to share with all of ya’ll!

Peeps have always been a part of Easter baskets and Spring. You can find them in so many shapes and colors now. {I love the new green.}  They even have them out around Halloween…that’s not for me. No, I’m a Spring Peep kinda person. I need yellow chicks and pink bunnies!

I never knew there were so many fans of these marshmallow creations until today.

I found out that Lenox China has a line with Peeps! Peeps! We’re talking marshmallows here!

Look at how cute this one is…

This is a personalized Peeps Bunny Sculpture!

I was really surprised at how cute it was! What a wonderful gift for someone sweet!

What about Peeps Salt and Pepper Shakers? These would be great for Spring!

Who knew they could make a Peep look pretty enough for a holiday dinner?  

Here’s a few things that would be fun for the kids!  How about Spring crafts with Peeps?

Peeps has a website with a Peeps Club with tons of activities.  These little baskets looks easy!  

I couldn’t believe there’s a book just for Peeps!

This is loaded with fun recipes and crafts. What a fun book to have around!

Here’s a link to a free printable for a Peeps party favor holder.  It’s simple and sweet!

If you have kids that like to play online games, I found this fun little site with a Marshmallow Peeps in Outer Space. I’m sure Peep Invaders will entertain them for awhile during Spring Break.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking about Peeps more on Tasty Tuesday! I’ll give you some ideas for edible Peep treats!

I hope you can join us for our weekly blog party.  We usually post Mr. Linky a little early so more people have a chance to link up. It should be up around 10 PM tonight. Bring your food post…any recipe or food post will do!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

There’s something about a reuben that makes me feel like I’m eating something special, not just “a sandwich.” This is the first time I’ve made them at home, and I thought it tasted even better because I could adjust the ingredients to make it just right! What a great lunch!

You don’t have to be Irish to want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I have a couple traditional Irish recipes for you today. They’re easy and yummy! {My favorite kind}

Reuben Sandwich

Ingredients

• Rye bread – I used Marble bread {Yum!}
• Sliced corned beef – I used Boar’s Head from the deli
• Sliced Swiss Cheese – I used Boar’s Head Baby Swiss
• Sauerkraut, drained – I used Boar’s Head with a little sugar added
• Thousand Island dressing
• Butter

Prehead a large skillet on medium heat. Lightly butter one side of the bread slices. Spread non-buttered sides with Thousand Island dressing. Put one buttered side down in the skillet to grill. Add corned beef, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, another slice of Swiss cheese, and then the top piece of bread with the butter side up. Grill slightly and flip. Press down a bit to make it stick together just right. When both sides are golden brown, remove and serve.

Tips: Well, I love sauces, so I add a little more Thousand Island in the middle. I also use quite a bit of corned beef. Experiment with the amount of each ingredient to make it the perfect sandwich for you!

Now, here’s what we’re having for dinner…

I love when a recipe is so easy and it turns out to be a wonderful meal! Check out this simple recipe…

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients

• 3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice { You can find it packaged with spices in most grocery stores.}
• 10 small red potatoes
• 5 carrots, peeled and cut to small chunks {I’m so precise, I know!}
• 1 large head of cabbage, cut into small wedges

Place corned beef in a large Dutch oven and cover with water. Add the spice packet that came with the corned beef. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender. Add whole potatoes and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the corned beef and slice it on a plate. Serve with vegetables. That’s it!

Last week Once Upon a Dream shared a great post for the perfect little sweet treat to make with the kids on St. Patrick’s Day!

Irish Soda Bread would be a great addition, but I’ll have to try that next year!

Whether you’ll be drinking a Guinness {very traditional Irish beer} or green punch on this fun holiday, here’s a toast for you…

May you always have walls for the wind, a roof for the rain, and drinks beside the fire.

Thanks for joining us for Tasty Tuesday! Ya’ll are such great cooks!

A couple quick reminders…remember to link directly to your post, and please don’t forget to place a link back here to Tasty Tuesday!  Enjoy the great food!

We’ve been trying ot get into the Twitter thing, but haven’t mastered it yet. For one thing, it lacks pictures. We like pictures!

So, in a Twitter like, but pictorial blog post, here is what we’re doing:

And here is what we’re looking at:

Hooray Spring!

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday!

Well, I don’t know about the “Tasty” part, but it is Tuesday.

This week I wanted to go on and on about my love of strawberries and share some recipes with you. I did run into a little problem as I started making my pound cake. I’ll tell you a little more about that later.

Growing up in Florida and going strawberry picking almost every year of my life, I’ve learned a thing or two about these wonderful treats.  We always end up filling the whole trunk of the car with quarts of strawberries fresh from the fields.

We have a hard time knowing when to stop ourselves from the fun of finding the biggest (they get really big) and best strawberry out there. Having a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, right? Even though you really shouldn’t…you have to test a few to make sure they’re alright. Just wipe them on your shirt a little and quickly pop it in your mouth!

Visiting the Florida Strawberry Festival and making the biggest possible Strawberry Shortcake you can fit in the bowl would have to be a highlight of Strawberry Season. If you’re in Florida, theFlorida Strawberry Festival is coming up!

Making fresh Strawberry Jam and feeling like you are “Ms. Homemaker” or something is part of the fun.

Strawberry Jam

• 2 quarts fully ripe strawberries
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 7 cups sugar
• 3 ounces liquid fruit pectin

1. Wash and hull the strawberries, and place them in a medium bowl. Using a potato masher, crush the berries. You should have 4 cups of crushed berries.

2. In a heavy saucepan combine the crushed berries, lemon juice, and sugar. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly; boil, stirring, for 1 minute.

3. Add the liquid pectin; boil and stir for 1 minute longer. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, skim off and discard any foam that rises to the surface.

4. Spoon the hot jam into 8 widemouthed, warm sterilized 1/2 pint jars, leaving a 1/4 inch space between the top of the jam and the rim of the jar. Wipe the rims, cover, and process for 10 minutes in boiling water. You might want to look up canning instructions for this part. I don’t feel qualified to tell you. This is usually where I call my mom asking if I’m doing it right or not!

What NOT to do!

Now, back to the story about the “What-Not-To-Do” photo at the top of the post…

It all started when I thought I would like to make pound cake to use for my Strawberry Shortcake instead of buying those cute little round ones at the grocery store. Let me just say that I’ve never, ever, ever made a pound cake before.

I found a recipe in a great cookbook labeled “NEVER-FAIL POUND CAKE!” This seemed like the obvious choice for someone like me. But, maybe it should be a warning sign when something starts out with “NEVER-FAIL!”

I had a few setbacks on my road to a wonderful Strawberry Shortcake! I’ll quickly list them so we can move on and you can appreciate all that I went through to give you an interesting Tasty Tuesday Post!

• I decided to “SOFTEN” the butter a little faster (I could have a patience problem.) by setting the stick of butter in the microwave for “just a few seconds” while talking on the phone. It melted all over the freshly cleaned microwave, and I had to scrape it out.
• I pulled my favorite, antique mixing bowl out of the cabinet to find it cracked. I threw it away after trying to decide if a giant crack caused a problem for a mixing bowl or not.
• Then Jacob, my youngest son, sweetly helped me mix everything together. It was all happy, happy in the kitchen for a few minutes.
• I popped the cake pan in the oven and began the baking. I decided to peek through the window after 30 or 40 minutes to find the first photo. It was overflowing everywhere!
• I pretty calmly cleaned out the oven and threw everything else in the sink to deal with later. Then I decided to start over.
• I had all my ingredients on the table and I decided to tweet about my fun in the kitchen. (Follow me on Twitter for exciting tweets – Ha!) I turned back around to only four eggs. Where’s number five? On the floor. It rolled off the counter.
• I was still being very calm (as usual) and started putting some stuff up in the kitchen and when I turned around with paper towel in hand, the dog was licking up the egg. She was done. It grossed me out!
• The second attempt went fine, but my sink is still full of dishes and an oven rack!

Here’s the recipe you’ve been waiting for…

From Uncle Bubba’s Savannah Seafood Cookbook (Paula Dean’s brother)

Never-Fail Pound Cake

Serves 10 to 12

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract

Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

In a large bowl, using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the lemon extract. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Place in oven and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Increase the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more. Do not open the oven door while baking. After 30 minutes, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake to see if it comes out clean. If it doesn’t, continue baking at 350 degrees until the toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

While this was baking I sliced up about two pounds of fresh strawberries and mixed them with about one cup of sugar. Covered it and put it in the refrigerator for at least an hour. It makes a wonderful topping!

Tip:  Do not accidentally grab “self-rising” flour out of your cabinet.  Only use “all purpose” flour.  Trust me!

Ta-Da, I give you Strawberry Shortcake!!!

Enjoy, and thanks for joining us for Tasty Tuesday this week!

Please remember to include a link in your post back here to Tasty Tuesday. Also, be sure to link directly to your post rather than your homepage. Thanks!