Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps at Ohana's Restaurant in Disney's Polynesian Resort

Ohana's restaurant in Disney's Polynesian Resort quickly became one of our favourite eateries when at our vacation home.  This restaurant is famous for it's grilled meats prepared over an oak fire served from long skewers, churrascaria style as well as their delicious Ohana Bread Pudding à la mode with Bananas-Caramel Sauce!  The atmosphere is simply delightful.  Reservations are a must and are six months out so we have already booked for our fall visit!
  

Ohana's has changed their menu slightly.  Grilled chicken skews are no longer available, the salad dressing has been changed from honey lime to passion fruit vinaigrette, and the stir fried vegetables have been updated to include more vegetables, less broccoli and no garlic sauce.  The atmosphere and quality of food remains above average.

The dinner began with Ohana Pineapple-Coconut Bread Mixed Greens Salad with Lilikoi Dressing (passion fruit vinaigrette with chunks of passion fruit and mandarin oranges).  Pork Dumplings tossed in Garlic-Ginger Sauce Honey and Coriander Chicken Wings appetizers are followed by skewers of Sweet-n-Sour Pork Loin served with Peanut and Sweet-n-Sour Sauces,  Szechuan Sirloin Steak served with Peanut and Sweet-n-Sour Sauces , and Spicy Grilled Peel-n-Eat Shrimp accompanied with noodles, tossed in a Teriyaki Sauce with Fresh Vegetables and Stir-fried Vegetables.   Ohana Bread Pudding à la mode with Bananas-Caramel Sauce finishes off the delicious meal.

I was intrigued with the vegetarian lettuce wraps.  This low calorie dish is a must make at home.  The spicy  filling consisted of edamame, bean sprouts, mushrooms, shredded carrot and sauce.  Unfortunately there is no mention of the wraps on the website for Ohana's dinner menu.  They may be a new menu offering in the testing stage.  According to reviews, the wraps replace the grilled chicken which may or may not be the case.  At any rate, I am going to experiment to create a similar filling for lettuce wraps.  These will be a nice change from salad!

If you go to Ohana's the Ohana Bread Pudding à la mode with Bananas-Caramel Sauce is a must!  Even if you are counting calories, factor in enough wiggle room to enjoy a bit of this absolutely heavenly dessert.  The ice cream has flecks of vanilla bean giving a decadent flavour that pairs nicely with the bread pudding.  The warm banana-caramel sauce tops this dessert nicely.  Delicious! 

Bonefish Grill in Lakeland, Florida

Eating out plays a large role in our social activities at our vacation home in sunny Florida.  We get together with our neighbours a couple of times a week to eat at the clubhouse, at the Early Revue, or at a restaurant.  Most times eating out with them involves dinner followed by entertainment and socializing with other friends we have met there as well.  Their restaurant choices tend to be chain restaurants.  Since they live there year round and eat out daily, they tend to know all of the best places to eat.  They also know where to find all the best culinary deals.  As a result, we have joined a few restaurant loyalty programs which give extra savings and like many seniors in the area, we eat dinner considerably earlier in the day than we are used to at home.

Bonefish Grill is an American chain restaurant with locations throughout thirty-fours of the lower forty-eight states.  There are fifty-four locations in Florida!  We visited the Bonefish Grill located at 225 West Pipkin Road in Lakeland, Florida.

The facade of Bonefish Grill is impressive with its modern stucco exterior and sleek lines in a neutral light taupe and off white trim set on a background of palm trees and blue skies.  It is nicely lit to soften the hard lines.  The parking lot is spacious with ample parking to accommodate the busy eatery.  Large entrance doors beckon you to enter the cozy dining area, promising an enjoyable dining experience.

The maitre d' seated our party of four at a comfortable booth near a window.  The friendly waitress took our drink order then brought us a loaf of warm bread with herbed olive oil for dipping.  The bread had a soft interior with nicely formed pores and a slightly crispy, chewy crust.  The olive oil was lightly seasoned with herbs.

Olive oil is a tasty, lower calorie alternative to butter for bread.  It is delicious plain or lightly seasoned with herbs or even sun dried tomatoes.  I often serve olive oil for dipping with my homemade breads.  Although any olive oil can be used, we prefer a light olive oil.

We ordered a bang bang shrimp appetizer to share. This delicious appetizer is made with crispy shrimp in a creamy, spicy sauce on a bed of lettuce, garnished with chopped green onions.  My husband declared the bang bang shrimp a clear winner.  He was not wrong!  Everyone enjoyed this delicious appetizer. 

This is one dish I will be working on a clone recipe!  The shrimp is so tasty that it would make for a nice meat portion of a meal or served as an appetizer.  I brought a bottle of creamy, spicy sauce home to experiment with but have opened it yet. 

Entrées are served with a choice of two sides.  Market-fresh fish (wild gulf grouper, mahi mahi and Chilean sea bass, Rainbow Trout, and Atlantic salmon)  is cooked to perfection over a wood-burning grill and then topped with your choice of one of their complementary signature sauces. 

One of our friends ordered the grilled wild gulf grouper with French green beans and potatoes au grautin.   The tender, flakey grouper was perfectly grilled with nice hash marks.  The au grautin potatoes were rich and creamy.  This delicious entrée was a real keeper!

I ordered the grilled Atlantic salmon topped with sautéed spinach, goat cheese and bacon, with baked spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli.  The perfectly grilled salmon had a buttery texture.  This was a very enjoyable entrée, filling yet low calorie.

Our dining experience at this Bonefish Grill location was delightfully pleasant.  The friendly waitstaff were attentive and efficient, much in keeping with the cozy atmosphere.  The food was perfectly cooked and  nicely presented.  The portion sizes were a good size but not too big.  All in all, we certainly will be visiting Bonefish Grill again!

Crab & Eggplant Napoleon from Harry's Seafood & Grille in Lakeland, Florida

From our home to yours we wish you a very Happy New Year.  May your pantries be overflowing and your table always filled with a wondrous assortment of healthy, delicious foods! 

Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille is our number one favourite place to enjoy a delicious meal.  This New Orlean's style restaurant that we discovered back in 2010 is sure to please so whenever we are at our vacation home we enjoy a meal or two there.  Friends of ours live in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  During our October stay, they introduced us to Crabby Bill's Seafood Co in Clearwater Beach.  During our December stay, our friends took a road trip to visit us so we took them to Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille in Lakeland, Florida.


Manuel Meza is the current General Manager of this location.  His staff are some of the most professional and friendly folk you will ever meet. The atmosphere is always welcoming, the service is five star if not better and they never make you feel rushed to leave.  Their food is delicious, nicely presented and quite reasonably priced. The only negative thing I can say about Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille is you are so full after eating there, you waddle away and really don't have to eat again for a couple of days!  Kudos to Manuel and his staff for making Harry's one of the most delightful dining experiences we have ever found.

I go to Harry's for two things so already know what I'm ordering before I even get there.  My choice is a Caesar salad followed by a bowl of She Crab soup.  Despite finding an authentic recipe for the She Crab soup I still haven't found the roe so have not made the dish at home.  My husband always orders the She Crab soup and another dish.  We usually get appetizers and drinks as well.

One of our friends ordered the Crab & Eggplant Napoleon (pictured).  This dish consisted of panko crusted eggplant stacked with layers of crab meat then topped with a Parmesan basil cream sauce ($8.99).  This dish looked very interesting and it will be one I try duplicating at home.  Eggplant is something I have very little experience with and after many failed attempts, gave up.  It is one of the very, very few vegetables we don't eat.  However, we both like crab meat, Parmesan and basil and a cream sauce is basically a Béchamel sauce (white sauce) so duplicating this dish should be rather easy.  The sauce did have a bit of a blush to it, not as dark as the She Crab soup but still a blush.  I would omit the rosemary sprig as well but other than that, it will be right on my clone recipes to tinker with in the new year.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City, Florida

We spent three weeks at our vacation home in December.  Unlike our October stay, the December visit was much more laid back and relaxing.  We had no family or friends staying with us and we weren't on the road near as much as we usually are.  We went to Cleveland Heights twice with friends for dinner and the evening entertainment (Ken Brady, and friends).  We also made a side trip to Sanibel Island to hunt for seashells then stopped to visit family in Naples, Florida.  One of our friends and their son drove their other son's car down to Tampa.  He works on the cruise lines and needed his car down there.  We met up with our friend and son for dinner at Tampa Bay Brewing Company, a restaurant and microbrewery friends had introduced us to during our October visit.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company is located in Ybor City, founded by Vicente Martinez-Ybor as a cigar-manufacturing centre.  Ybor City is one of two Floridian National Historic Landmark Districts; it is also known as Tampa's Latin Quarter.   This area is well worth visiting for the eclectic shops, museums, patio bars and nightly music!  The air is filled with tantalizing exotic aromas too tempting not to indulge.  Ybor is famous for its café con leche, a perfect drink for people watching.   you can watch hand-rolled cigars being made.  It is one of Florida's top ranting nightspots.

John G. Doble, III founded the Tampa Bay Brewing Company in 1996.  The microbrewery was originally located in a two-story brick building (former horse stable) on 15th Street in Ybor City.  The business was moved to its current location on the plaza level of Centro Ybor in 2006. The business continues to be family owned and operated.
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All the beers brewed at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company are handcrafted by brewmaster, David Doble and his assistant brewers on the premises using a 10-barrel brewing system.  The brewhouse consists of a combination of: mash/boil kettle, lauter tun, hot liquor tank, cold liquor tank, three 10bbl fermenters and a 20 bbl fermenter.  Unlike some of the microbreweries we have visited, we did not see the tanks or brewing process because we sat on outdoor patio to enjoy a bit of people watching and the absolutely delightful atmosphere in the district.  However, it does appear from their website that the tanks and brewing can be viewed from the indoor restaurant area.

Our friend ordered a sampler of beers.  They were generous sized samplers!  Now, if you are going to a microbrewery, you must taste some of their beer.  The best way to do this is via samplers.  I hope I'm getting this right, from left to right: old elephant foot IPA, red eye amber ale (American), one night stand pale (American ale) and wild warthog Hefeweizen (German).  I had a true blond ale that had a slight hop nose with a smooth, crisp and slightly citrus note.  My husband seldom drinks beer so he ordered an alternative adult beverage but he did have a sip of mine.

I was on a huge Caesar salad trend the entire trip.  Quite frankly Caesar salads seldom vary other than creamy verses oily dressing and presentation.  So, even though I took a picture, there really wasn't anything interesting show.  Don't get me wrong as it was a good salad just basically the same I've shown in previous posts.

Our friend's son ordered the personal sized  Tomato Caprese pizza made with whole milk mozzarella cheese, sliced roma tomatoes and fresh basil chiffonade.  The crust is hand tossed featuring their own dough made with their own ale.  Doesn't it look absolutely delicious?

This would be very easy to duplicate at home.  I always use beer when making pizza dough.  It really does make a huge difference.  My requirements are a microbrew beer, usually Sleemans out of Guelph, Ontario and good, fresh ingredients.  I would recommend making this pizza when tomatoes and basil are in, but with a bit of care you can keep both growing indoors over the winter.  Roma tomatoes have been so over bred they really are tasteless especially if not bought in the peak of season.  Fresh basil is a must have for the chiffonade.  Tampa Bay Brewing Company used fresh, sweet basil but really any basil (and there are so many) will work.

A chiffonade can be made with any green leafy vegetable and it works nicely for broad leaf herbs like basil as well.  Simply wash and pat dry the leaves then stack.  Carefully roll the stack then cut across the stack to form thin strips.  Sprinkle the chiffonade over the pizza or dish of choice for that wonderful punch of flavour.  It really is nice, flavourful presentation!

Revisiting Giorgio's Bakery & Bistro in Hollywood, Florida

During our first vacation house hunting trip to Florida, we stayed in Hallandale.  One of my husband's aunts highly recommended Giorgio's Bakery & Bistro.  This little bakery and bistro offers waterside dining as well as a wonderful bakery with take-out available.  We so enjoyed our visit there we simply had to take our friends there for this visit.  It was a beautiful, lazy night just the perfect location to spend a bit of time before heading to the motel for the night with visions of Aruba the following day.

We settled into the bench booths at Giorgio's to watch the boats through the waning sun.  I admit it.  My number one favourite dish when eating out is pasta!  I have had some duds, I have had some stellar dishes and I have tweaked my own sauces to get just the right results.  So, I ordered the angel hair pasta ($8.95) with fresh tomatoes, black olives and basil in a light tomato sauce.  It came with fresh baked bread.

The pasta serving was generous, well over the recommended serving size.  It was light and tasty!  This would be a very easy dish to duplicate at home.   Angel hair pasta is perfect for quick meals as it takes very little cooking time.  The sauce was quite thin, on the watery side with little seasoning allowing the tomato flavour to shine,

My husband ordered the Philly cheese steak ($7.95).  The thin sliced beef steak with onion, peppers and provolone cheese was served on a fresh baked baguette.  A side of potato chips rounded out the meal.  What really made this sandwich was the baguette.  You just can't beat fresh baked bread!

Philly cheese steak sandwiches are very easy to make at home.   I keep packets of thin sliced roast beef from left over roast beef in the freezer for use as lunch meat.  These work nicely for Philly cheese steak sandwiches.   If you don't want to make your own baguettes, buy them in the fresh baked section of the grocery store or in a bakery.

The food at Giorgio's is not fancy, it is very much home style cooking.  Sitting outside listening to the sights and sounds of the water inches away from your feet is well worth it.  The view is wonderful!   Picking up a few extras from the bakery after dining is highly recommended!  It's hard to resist with the tantalizing aroma :)

Rib City at Immokalee, Florida

We arrived at our vacation home on May 8 with our friends.  Our plans were to fly out from Fort Lauderdale to Aruba on May 12 so we decided to make a bit of a scenic trip leaving the day before to show our friends the coast.  This type of sight seeing of course involved stopping to eat.  We stopped for lunch in Immokalee, Florida were we found a Rib City located at 621 North 15th Street.  It looked inviting, and we are always in the mood for ribs!

We ordered the three cheese fries ($7.95) as an appetizer.  They were made with waffle cut fries, something just a bit different than French fries.  The toppings were Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack and cheddar cheeses with real bacon bits.  The fries were served with spicy ranch sauce for dipping.  Oh my, were they good!

Now, this is a very easy and inexpensive, home style dish that could be made at home.  McCain's waffle cut fries can be found in the freezer section of the grocery store or a less expensive alternative is to cut them yourself from fresh potatoes using your food processor.  Simply fry the waffle fries until golden brown then top with the three cheeses and homemade bacon pieces then place in a hot oven just until the cheeses are melted.

I ordered the back rib plate lunch special ($8.99) that included a half rack of tender ribs, choice of two sides and toast.  I chose coleslaw and baked beans as my sides.  This was a delicious meal, very much home style cooking.

You just can't go wrong with BBQ ribs in the summer!  The trick it to cook them long and slow.  You can use a rub for the slow cook then a mop (wet sauce) when finishing them up.  I make my baked beans from scratch to use that day or home can as well as creamy coleslaw.  This home style BBQ is one of our favourite summertime meals.  Sometimes we add in grilled local corn and/or some type of dessert like homemade ice cream. 

Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant in Cocoa Beach, Florida

We arrived at our vacation home in the later evening hours of May 8 with another couple who would be staying with us until we returned from Aruba.  It had been an uneventful flight.  We were tired and decided to cook at home the following day.  On the Thursday we headed down for a road trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida to connect up with our friend's (the other couple) son who works on the cruise ships.  After our scenic drive, we met up with their son at Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant.

Captain J's Ocean Front Restaurant is located at 211 E Cocoa Beach Cswy in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  The cozy, casual dining restaurant is on the beach so you can dine while enjoying all the sights and sounds of the beach.  We ate at the tiki bar, just off the upper deck over looking the Cocoa Beach.  The view was gorgeous and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual.  The service and food was average for this type of restaurant.  Despite a few less than stellar online ratings, we enjoyed our food.

We ordered the coconut shrimp (not pictured).  I ordered the grouper.  This was a delicious, light meal perfect for a hot day.  The meal would not score a ten on presentation but it was definitely better than some of the reviews indicated.  What I didn't like and this is a very common practice at many pub-style restaurants is the baked potato came wrapped in tin foil.  Not only does this get the diner's hands dirty while leaving the potato skin almost soggy, it is a safety issue if the potato has not been kept in the proper temperature zone prior to serving.  Potatoes in foil present a very good opportunity for food born illness including botulism.

My husband ordered the baked scallops.  They were served with a baked potato and mixed vegetable of the day.  The scallops were quite tasty!

On a scale of one to ten for pub grub food, I would rate this restaurant a six but will admit the view definitely helped tip the scale.  The food itself was very much average for Florida beach side bars.  What was nice, is most of their dishes could easily be duplicated at home.  In fact, I would almost call their food home style cooking because there was nothing pretentious about it.  The food was simply good.

When it comes to restaurants, you don't always need spectacular food, you need good food.  Captain J's did not disappoint.  This really is a nice beach front restaurant to visit.  The view is well worth it!

Back From Our Spring Vacation

For the past two years we have spent our time between our permanent home in Ontario, Canada and our vacation home in Florida, USA.  We left for our vacation home on May 8 with another couple, then flew from there to beautiful Aruba on May 12 where we stayed at the gorgeous Costa Linda Resort.  We returned to our vacation home on May 19 and our friends departed the next day leaving us to enjoy the sunny Florida weather until May 29.   I have spent the last few days getting my home kitchen back to full gear.   That means I have a lot of foodie fun to share with you!

If you have been following this blog, you will know that we also cook while at our vacation home.  The timeshare in Aruba also had cooking facilities.  At the same time, we very much enjoy exploring the local culinary opportunities when we travel.  One of the highlights of this trip was the manager of a very, very lovely restaurant in Aruba with dining on the beach took me on a tour of their kitchen!!! [more on that shortly]  Another in Florida where we have dined several times and knows I blog about them came out to great us at the table. 

Over the next couple of weeks I will share our culinary and travel adventures with you,  Mind you I'm into full gardening mode, took on a huge community project and starting the heavier canning season.  I'm hoping to still be able to get local asparagus and strawberries are just around the corner.  A lot of exciting culinary chit chat and recipes are just around the corner!

Dining on the Yacht StarShipII, Channelside Dock in Tampa, Florida

My husband and I returned home yesterday day from a wonderful two and a half week vacation to our vacation home in sunny Florida.  I'm sure some of my regular readers realized I was blogging from there.  We had a wonderful, delicious break from home flying out first to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to spend a couple of days then onto to Florida where we spent the remainder of the trip.  We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of great food.  The day of our departure, I tripped at the airport suffering a rather nasty looking shiner.  I'm not impressed especially since my husband said my fancy rocker sole trainers have to go since this is the third time they have tried to kill me.  Anyway, today I wanted to share a very special dinner my husband and I enjoyed during our vacation.

My husband and I do a lot of boating home side since we own a boat.  The last two visits to our vacation home we have made it a point to include boating of some type into our side trips.  The beauty of boating is you get to see a lot of things you would not see by land.

My husband bought tickets for a dinner cruise aboard the Yacht StarShip II docked at the Channelside Dock at 603 Channelside Drive in Tampa Bay.  Isn't she a gorgeous vessel?  Tickets included a three course dinner prepared by Executive Chef Bob Barfield with an optional fourth course.  The YachtStarShip II is America's first three diamond rated dining yacht.  The two and a half hour dinner cruise also featured dancing on the second level, ane amazing view on the promenade.  The total retail value for two was $181.90 but going through Groupon he got the tickets for $80, gratuity not included ($8 per person).  Alcoholic drinks were not included as well.  We spent a total of $150.82 but it was well worth it!

Looking back on the pictures I took, I realized I did not take a picture of the dining room, on the main level below the entertainment room (pictured).  You are assigned a table in the dining room that is tastefully decorated.  It had a warm and cosy feeling with a navy blue and white theme to accent the beautiful cherry wood. 

The entertainment room carries through the them of blue and white accenting the cherry wood.  There is ample windows to enjoy the beautiful view while relaxing after dinner.  The door on the end leads to the promenade where you can take drinks or simply enjoy gliding over the water in open air during warmer weather.  We went up to take a few pictures but didn't stay long as the air had turned cool

The dinner cruise is designed so that not everyone eats at the same time.  The wait staff take your order then bring out the courses when you want time leaving you free to enjoy the sights and dine at your leisure.  They recommend the first hour and a half for dining leaving the last hour for relaxing and dancing. 

The spacious windows and promenade offer many photo opportunities.  Pictured is the city of Tampa as seen from the cruise ship with the setting sun on the buildings.  Gliding along the water taking many, many pictures was just a wonderful way to dine!

I really apologize as I got so captivated in being on the yacht and enjoying the water I did not take as many pictures of the food as I should have.  We ordered citrus peppered calamari served with two dipping sauces as an appetizer (not pictured).  The calamari was flash fried.  The sauces consisted of a very lightly seasoned puréed tomato sauce along with a tomato based tartar sauce.  Also not pictured are the dinner salads served before the entrées.

The dinner rolls were not rolls at all but rather squares of delicious flat breads.  There was a white, whole wheat, multi grain and sourdough each topped with a suitable topping.  The rolls were served hot with a side of butter.  This would be very easy to duplicate at home by rolling out the prepared bread dough then cutting into squares before baking.

The menu selection on the Yacht StarShipII is limited.  There were four available entrées - chicken benville, fresh catch of the day, pumpkin ravoli and premium reserve pork chop.  I'm sure this varies by season.  My husband ordered the angus filet ($11.95 additional charge) medium rare with the au jour on the side.  The entée consisted of 8 oz of black angus filet of beef with porcini marsala sauce served with bleu cheese yokon gold mash and roasted broccolini.

I liked the presentation!  It was clean, sleek with nice eye appeal.  My husband said it was quite delicious, well worth the extra price. 

I ordered the fresh catch of the day which consisted of Atlantic wild salmon topped with a delectable creamy sauce.  The generous portion of salmon rested on a bed of seasoned rice and side of steamed green beans.  I did not catch the name of the sauce used but it was slightly citrus flavoured. 

The piece of salmon was absolutely delicious but far more than I could eat.  Salmon is a dense and filling fish as it is but this was quite a large serving.  After dinner we retired to the entertainment room where we enjoyed cocktails and dancing before the yacht returned to port.  Waiting for us on our table were two slices of pumpkin cheesecake in take-out containers as we had opted for no dessert with our meal.  It was rather good with coffee the next morning for breakfast!

I will leave you with one of the sunset pictures we took during the dinner cruise.  We have very fond memories and a lot of photos of our dinner cruise.  It is something I would highly recommend to anyone.  The experience was quite delightful!

Yes, it was a bit more expensive and had we paid full price it would have been about $260 for the evening but it still would have been worth it.  My husband and I don't gift each other at Christmas.  Instead we pamper ourselves  through-out the year.  You only go through life once and while most of us would not dream of paying that price for dinner on a regular basis, a one time splurge makes it worthwhile be frugal 99% of the time.  This dinner cruise was definitely well worth it!  Just look at that beautiful sunset...

Steak 'n Shake

I am on a lot of foodie lists because being a foodie I'm always looking for a new dining experience.  Foodies tend to talk.  They share the good, the bad and the nitty gritty of their dining experiences.  My husband and I are not big fast food diners by any stretch of the imagination so even though so many recommended Steak 'n Shake we viewed it as a fast food restaurant so passed it by.  During a recent road trip we finally decided to try Steak 'n Shake and was pleasantly surprised.

Steak 'n Shake is a chain restaurant famous for their steak burgers.  The first Steak 'n Shake was founded in February of 1934 in Normal, Illinois.  The founder, Gus Belt was determined to serve the finest burgers and shakes possible.  He would wheel in a barrel of steaks then grind the meat into burgers in front of his customers leading to their famous slogan In Sight It Must Be Right.  Steak 'n Shake is a diner style restaurant chain in the Midwestern and Southern United States.  While most have a drive-through and front-window service, the main attraction is the diner-style sit-down service.

We were quite impressed.  The restaurant was quite busy yet we were seated promptly.  The decor was delightful, almost retro.  The wait staff was extremely friendly and very attentive.   The prices are very reasonable, if even a bit lower than the main stream fast food restaurants.  Steak 'n Shake offers soft drinks, tea and coffee.  It is very family friendly, just an overall very pleasant dining experience.  I honestly would not put this eatery into the fast food category.

The burger patties at Steak 'n Shake are made from ground T-bone, sirloin and round steaks.  The burgers are packed full of delicious flavour.  My husband ordered the cheesy cheddar steak burger (not pictured) and the double steak 'n cheese burger meal (pictured) and a white chocolate milkshake (not pictured).  The burger meal came with seasoned fries.  You can buy the seasoning if you would like to make the seasoned fries at home.  The predominant flavour of the fry seasoning was nutmeg, something just a bit different but absolutely delicious.  Believe it or not this delicious burger meal was only $4.99!  Now that is a frugal meal if you ask me.

I ordered the guacamole steak burger meal (pictured).  This double steakburger is topped with fresh guacamole, lettuce, tomato, pepperjack cheese, red onion and chipotle sauce served with fries.  Oh my gosh, this burger defines the reason for discovering new eateries and I'm not kidding.  This burger was amazing!  I am definitely going to be duplicating the flavours of this burger at home!

I love avocados but seldom use them for much more than guacamole or in salads.  This was a wonderfully refreshing way to use avocados on the burger.  I really liked the chipotle sauce as well so will be working on a clone recipe for that as well!

Quick Spaghetti

As a newlywed my pasta sauce of choice was Ragu but then my dear MIL taught me how to make homemade spaghetti sauce so there are very, very few times I ever buy pasta sauce.  I make can cases and cases of a wide variety of tomato based sauces each year.  We bought our vacation home in March of 2010 with the first trip there in May of 2010.  The next two trips both in 2010 we drove so I had the luxury of bring down home canned foods.  Well, my husband the King of Frugality sometimes, figured out we could fly and rent a vehicle cheaper than driving down and we would be there a lot quicker.  Then he figured out that if we didn't have checked bags which really aren't necessary as we now have the vacation home well stocked, we could save more money.  The down side is...I cannot bring home canned foods in my carry-on bag.  That means none of my beautiful home canned sauces or salsas when we fly.  I am going to try shipping by USPS if possible but that means a special trip to do that before flying out as we usually fly out rather early in the morning before the post office is open.

During 2011 we made three trips to our vacation home, all via plane.  The kicker is I can't bring anything over 3 oz on the plane so can't take foods from home or bring left overs home.  I would make a batch of homemade tomato sauce at our vacation home but I'm telling you the fresh tomatoes here are about as horrid as you can get!  They have no flavour what so ever!  So I had to go to plan B.

Bertolli has an organic line of sauces that are 100% natural with no preservatives.  I bought the Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic sauce.  It was more expensive than other tomato sauces but it is certified USDA organic with no preservatives.

Of note is my little bottle of extra virgin olive oil.  It was an 8 oz bottle, the smallest I could find and the worst part is knowing I couldn't take it home or store it until the next trip, I had to toss the remainder.  That is the cost of having a vacation home where leftovers cannot be brought home.  It was worth the money though as EVOO is a must have ingredient!

I warmed the sauce then served it over angel hair pasta topped with shredded carrots, tomatoes and green onions.  I am quite impressed with the Bertolli sauce for making quick spaghetti.  The flavour was quite delightful!  I will actually be making a clone recipe for this sauce at home.  Doesn't it look yummy?  The sauce was just a bit runnier than I would like but as is would be considered a vegetarian meal.  I think stirring in browned ground beef or adding meatballs would work nicely too.

Sometimes you have to work with what is available and I am certainly learning that valuable lesson at our vacation home.  It is nice that I can find 100% natural, certified organic sauces that are in keeping with what we are used to eating at home.  I seriously need to ship food here from home or convince my husband that driving down is really a bit more frugal since I can bring home canned foods.  I doubt he will go for it as long as it is less expensive to fly so I need to adjust.  Still shipping is a viable option.  I am going to try shipping a box of home canned foods to enjoy the next time we are at our vacation home.  The worst case scenario is the food is compromised during shipping

Blade Roast (Chuck Roast)

Yesterday I wrote about the chuck 7-bone roast (pot roast) that we broiled.  According to The Cook's Thesaurus, a chuck 7-bone pot roast is a cut from the shoulder and neck of the beef.  It is a tough cut of meat so should be braised or cooked in liquid.  Well it cooked up nicely under the broiler as we found out.  Even though we used a dry heat the meat was still nice and tender,

We buy our beef on the hoof  from one of two local farmers.  While the term chuck is widely used in the US is is not a common term in our part of Ontario, Canada.  I like using a blade pot roast for making a pot roast dinner but quite frankly will use any cut, adjusting the cooking temperature and timing accordingly..  A blade pot roast is the same as a blade chuck roast.

When we visited the kids last, we offered to cook them dinner as they both had to work one of the days we were there.  We went shopping for a blade roast and other ingredients to make a pot roast dinner.  The grocery stores had nothing that looked decent so we stopped at a small specialty meat shop very similar to a butcher shop where we found a lovely blade chuck roast.  They put a light seasoning on the roast for us.  Note the nice marbling?  This gives a lovely flavour to the meat, roasting vegetables and resulting gravy.

My tradition method for making a pot roast is very simple.  I place the roast in the middle of the roaster then season with garlic pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  At home I add tomato stock for a richer gravy.  The tomato stock also acts as a meat tenderizer.  I didn't add any to this particular roast as we flew so I couldn't bring that sized jar of liquid on the plane.  I usually add a bay leaf as well.  [Not having checked bags has a few downsides! I couldn't bring them a few jars of home canned salsa either so will have to mail it to them.]  I added carrot and potato pieces, sliced onion and whole mushrooms to surround the roast.   Then I covered the roast and let it cook for about four hours at 350°F.

Once the roast was done to medium rare, I removed it to rest before cutting.  If you cut a roast or steak immediately after cooking, the juices will run out losing all that yummy flavour.  Allowing the roast to rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing keeps the juices in the roast giving tender, juicy and tasty sliced beef.

Left over roast beef cooked this way slices beautifully for hot open faced or cold sandwiches the next day.  That is one reason  I prefer to use a boneless cut of roast.  Allow the roast beef to chill though before slicing.  Slice thinly with a knife or put thought a slicer for lovely fresh roast beef slices for sandwiches the following week.

I scooped out the roasted potatoes, then set about making a thin gravy with the pan drippings using a flour slurry.  A flour slurry consists of flour, dash of salt, sprinkle of pepper and water or milk  The slurry should be the consistency of maple syrup.  In this case, there wasn't a lot of liquid left so I stirred while scraping and poured into a small saucepan to make the gravy.  I brought the liquid to a boil then while stirring slowly poured in the slurry.

Vegetables roasted in this manner take on a rich depth in flavour that you can't get from other cooking methods.  They are truly delightful!  Part of that flavour comes from caramelization of the vegetables mixed with meat juices and seasonings.  They are perfect just the way they are topped with a little gravy.

Left over roasted vegetables can be used in soups as is or using the stick blender for a smooth soup.  Simply stir them in if using as is.  If using a stick blender make the basic cream soup then add the roasted vegetables, warm the blend with the stick blender.  Add a bit of extra seasoning if desired and garnish with dried parsley.

Broiled Chuck 7-Bone Roast (Pot Roast)

Culinary terms can vary significantly from region to region, country to country.  When we are at our vacation home we love to grill.  For example, in our little corner of Ontario, Canada the term for ground beef is ground beef but in sunny Florida where our vacation home is, the term for ground beef is ground chuck.  Complicating the ground beef choice in Ontario we have regular, lean and extra lean but in Florida they use a numbering system like 80/20 for 80% beef, 20% fat and making it even more confusing if ground beef labeled as hamburg then beef fat has been added.  We stopped at Publix where my husband looked for a nice piece of meat for the grill.  He chose a chuck 7-bone roast but missed the pot roast in brackets.  Just because a cut of meat is labeled as a roast does not mean it cannot be cooked via another method.

I have cooked many a pot roast but have never come across the term chuck 7-bone roast.  It looked like an extra thick steak.  The piece of meat was about an inch and a half thick, 3.25 lb at $3.9 per pound for a total price of $11.99.  My husband fully intended cooking the roast on the outdoor grill just as a steak.

The outdoor grill at the vacation home is propane so we had the pleasant experience of running out of propane just after the roast went onto the grill.  Without flinching, he fired up the broiler then transferred the roast to a baking sheet and broiled it.  The result was a tender, juicy all be it quite thick steak.

I served the broiled chuck 7-bone roast with grilled garlic pepper potatoes and grilled carrots cooked in a foil packet.  That is Greek style 10% MF yogurt, not sour cream.  The yogurt is rich and creamy with more flavour but less calories than sour cream.  The sauce on the meat is Heinz 57 Steak Sauce made with Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.

We cut two generous portions of meat from the roast for dinner.  The remaining meat will be used for two to four meals, like a soup and a stir fry.  That should give at least one lunch and two dinners for two.  Per meal over all the meals (8 servings) it works out to $1.49 for the meat portion, which isn't bad given today's prices.

ChaCha Coconuts in St.Petersburg, Florida

During our recent stay at our vacation home we rented a boat for the day to spend a bit of time exploring the waters around St. Petersburg, Florida.  By the time we reached the St. Petersburg pier on Tampa Bay storms were threatening and we were ready for lunch so docked the boat wandering up the pier for a good place to eat.  There are five levels to the pier.  Everyone we talked to recommended ChaCha Coconuts on the fifth floor.  We nicely got settled with drinks ordered when the first storm blew through.  It was apparent we were going to be there awhile. It was a very pleasant way to wait out the storms.  We even managed to get a few great pictures of the dolphins and pelicans. The prices are very reasonable, the food is good with an ample selection and the view on the wrap around open deck is spectacular!

We ordered the seafood dip (pictured) and Bahamian conch fritters (not pictured) as appetizers.  I was particularly impressed with the seafood dip although the presentation was slightly lacking with having to unwrap the crackers but given the humidity combined with being an outdoor patio, wrapped kept the crackers fresher.  Still, I can't complain at the generous portion.

The seafood dip was light and refreshing served on a bed of shredded lettuce with lime wedges and red onion pieces served on the side.  One taste and I knew this dish was one I simply had to clone!  And I did just that the very next day so watch for tomorrow's post.

My husband ordered the Yucatan fish tacos ($10.95) consisting of two soft flour tortillas filled with grilled Merluza dusted with Cajun spices, caramelized onions, peppers, Jack & cheddar cheeses served with their homemade fresh roasted corn & black bean salsa.  The generously tacos were served with sour cream and salsa as well as black beans and yellow rice.  Lime wedges garnished each taco.

Surprisingly the idea of fish tacos never appealed to me so I've never made them.  However, my husband declared them quite tasty so I will make them in the future.  The fish used in these tacos was merluza (hake), a popular fish in Spain.  Halibut is a good substitution for merluza which tends to be a bit more expensive in North America.

I ordered the San Juan nachos consisting of tortilla chips with black bean chili, Jack and cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, onions, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.  They were served with sour cream and black bean-corn salsa on the side ($8.95).  The black bean chili was an interesting change from ground beef.  I really liked that they used actual shredded cheese rather than a processed cheese sauce.  The nachos were baked similar to the way I make mine.  The portion size was quite large suitable for sharing.  The nachos were good!

I have noticed that many restaurants here serve one or more dishes with black beans as an ingredient.   Black beans with their deep flavour are one of my favourite beans.  I cook mine from scratch as well a can them when I'm doing a bean canning session.  They are a great substitution for beef, lending themselves nicely for vegetarian chili or burger patties.

Palace Italian Restaurant in Lakeland, Florida

My husband and I have always enjoyed eating out.  By eating out I do not mean fast food restaurants but rather any restaurant from pubs, diners, drive-in, casual dining, and occasionally finer dining.  Our focus is usually on restaurants with home style cooking.   Not only is eating out a form of entertainment it is also a wonderful source of culinary inspiration.  Discovering that little pearl of a diner off-the-beaten-track -- priceless!

Palace Italian Restaurant is located at 6120 North Highway 98 in Lakeland, Florida.  There are five more locations in the Lakeland area.  The restaurant has been family owned since 1997.  This restaurant is well worth the visit.  The atmosphere is warm and welcoming with friendly staff.  The food is divinely delicious because they use only the freshest ingredients to create authentic Italian dishes.  To quote them "Mangiare bene per vivere bene! (Eat well to live well!)".  This is one restaurant were you will be eating quite well!

Prices at the Palace Italian Restaurant are more than reasonable with dinner pasta entrée $15.95 or less and a reduced price for the lunch sized portions.  They have a good selection of gourmet pizzas, of appetizers, and salads.  We spent $36.73 for two meals with drinks.

All of their classic pasta dishes are served with freshly made traditional focaccia served with a shallow bowl of dipping sauce made with sun dried tomatoes and olive oil, just light seasoned.  The sun dried tomatoes gave the dipping sauce a lovely, rich flavour.   I often serve bread this way at home so will work on a clone recipe for this one.

My husband ordered the veal parmigiana (not pictured)  while I ordered the spaghetti puttanesca.  Spaghetti puttanesca literally means whore's style spaghetti, made with ingredients typical of Southern Italian cuisine.¹  The sauce consisted of black olives, capers and garlic sauteed in marinara sauce so would be very easy to duplicate at home starting with the basics of a marinara sauce.  The sauce tops spaghetti cooked to al dente.  Although the dish is noted to be spicy by some sources, I found the spaghetti puttanesca to be quite delicious, definitely not too spicy.  The whole black olives combined with the capers gave an nice, chunkier texture that was quite pleasing.  The funny thing is I've put black or green olives on my pizzas for ages but never thought to use olives in a pasta sauce.  I can't wait to start experimenting to create a recipe for this yummy pasta dish!

Loaded Tater Tots at Hooter's

Pub grub food can seldom be considered healthy food but on occasion it can be part of an other wise healthy diet.  Pub food is usually high in sodium and fat.  It's meant to keep you in the pub/bar longer which translates into drinking more.  Pubs and sports bars usually have televisions for the same reason.  The reason for this is the real money is made on the alcoholic beverages so the longer they keep you there the more money they make.

During our last visit to Hooter's one of the guys ordered loaded tater tots as an appetizer.  This appetizer is very much pub grub food but not one that I have seen before.  The closest I've seen that resemble the loaded tater tots is the Irish fries at Murphy Inn Restaurant in Lexington, Michigan.  The only difference between the two appetizers is using tater tots in place of French fries.  This would be a very easy dish to duplicate at home and it could be made a bit healthier than the restaurant version.

I'm not a huge fan of frozen potato products (eg. French fries, hash browns) especially the pre-formed ones like hash brown patties and tater tots.  However,  kids tend to like the hash brown patties and tater tots because they look like those served at fast food restaurants.

To make a healthier version of loaded tater tots:  Check the labels when buying as some brands have less sodium and fat than others.  Choose the brand with the lowest sodium and fat content.  Bake rather than fry the tater tots on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet with no additional oil.   Drain the baked tater tots on paper toweling to remove any excess fat.  Do not sprinkle on any extra salt.  Make a béchamel sauce (white sauce) using skim or 2% milk.  Stir in low fat cheddar cheese to create the cheese sauce.  Substitute low fat or no fat sour cream to further reduce the fat content.  Use portion control as well.  The appetizer as pictured was meant for one person.  It was more than enough for two!

Chicken Marsala at Ruby's at the Avenue in Lakeland, Florida

Our final night in Florida was spent at the Early Bird Entertainment Revue and Buffet hosted by Ruby's at the Avenue in Lakeland, Florida.  Ruby's is located at 3405 South Florida Avenue in Lakeland, Florida.  Doors open at 5 AM with music starting at 5 PM.  Reservations are a must!  The food is buffet ($10.95 each) although some events are a bit higher priced.  The buffet is very much homestyle cooking with offerings varying depending on the event.  The main attraction here is not the food though.  It is the absolutely incredible music!  I blogged about our first amazing night at Ruby's during our winter vacation in December.  I am still star struck that we have had this wonderful opportunity to meet such great people!

That night the buffet menu consisted of: baked Atlantic whit fish, chicken marsala, corned beef & cabbage, Chef's choice of veggie, mashed potatoes & gravy, fresh salad bar, homemade soup, dinner rolls and dessert.  I had a side salad with herbed red potatoes, green beans and chicken marsala.  Chicken marsala, an Italian dish,  is a very easy dish to make at home.  Chicken cutlets are coated in flour and briefly sautéed.  They are removed from the pan then the dripping are used to make a Marsala wine reduction sauce to the consistence of syrup.  While reducing onions, shallots or mushrooms are added.  When the reduction sauce is finished it is poured over the chicken for serving.

It was a lovely meal followed by wonderful entertainment shared with friends.  I took a lot of pictures!  The following day we were on our way home, sad to be leaving but filled with outstanding memories.  We are already planning out next trip!

Left-over Porterhouse Steak

Our first home cooked meal at our vacation home during our recent vacation was grilled porterhouse steaks.  Steak is normally the first meal we cook there and we always buy extra.  The reason being, leftover steak is quite versatile, suitable as the meat portion for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Left-over steak gives all the wonderful flavour of the grill without having to do the grilling.  There was a fair amount of steak leftover.  We warmed some for breakfast with the kids then froze the remainder for later in the week.

We like our steaks medium rare to rare.  Re-heating not only cooks the steak a bit more but has the potential to dry it out.  I like using a quick stir fry method for warming slices of grilled beef, often adding the slices to caramelized onions.  A couple of days before our departure we were into use it up mode.  I thawed the steak then cut into strips.  I didn't have an onion so used a little olive oil.  The warmed steak was served with the last of the carrots along with a micro-waved potato.  Unfortunately we bought too many potatoes so I gave the rest to a neighbour.   I also made a small side salad.  It consisted of the last of the lettuce, tomato and cucumber sprinkle with a couple of shredded baby carrots then topped with the small packet of salad dressing I found in the deli section at Publix.  I also managed to use up most of the butter leaving just enough for a couple of sandwiches the next day (last full day in Florida). 

This was a simple, quick to prepare meal.  There was nothing fancy about it but I sure felt good knowing that food wouldn't end up being tossed out.  The cost of food just keeps going up.  My husband said we have to expect some food loss under the circumstances.  I am trying to minimize that food loss as much as possible. 

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Our cooking style at our vacation home is a simpler version of that at our main residence.  There are a few reasons for this.  First we do not have some of the kitchen equipment there that we are used to using at home.  We are slowly getting there but still haven't bought a KitchenAid stand mixer, percolator, panini press, higher quality knives so basically the higher end equipment we are used to using.  Part of this is due to needing certain equipment for our short term tenants while needing storage for items we don't want them to use.  A second problem is cooking there (central Florida) has to be adjusted somewhat to keep heat out of the house, reducing the strain on the air conditioning.  The final problem is the duration of our stays so we want to minimize leftovers that can't be brought back or stored.

We eat a lot of homemade breads.  I don't have either a stand mixer or breadmachine at the vacation home so have not made bread there yet.  We have discovered that both Wal-mart and Publix have nice, fresh bread selections from their in store bakeries.  The breads are more expensive than homemade but for now it means I don't have to worry about how to store the raw ingredients when the house is rented out.

We bought a loaf of Asiago bread.  Note the beautiful air pockets in the bread.  They are formed from the gluten in the bread dough.   The air pockets can be increased in homemade breads by using a high gluten flour or adding a dough enhancer such as gluten flour or lecithin granules.

Grilled cheese sandwiches fall into the category of comfort food but that doesn't mean they have to be boring.  It is surprising how much a different bread can accent the flavour!  The bread had a lovely Asiago flavour that melded nicely with the Swiss and Cheddar cheeses.  Again this is taking advantages of layering the flavours.  The rule of thumb when layering flavours is to use three.  In this case three cheese flavours were layered resulting in a delightful grilled cheese sandwich.  The bread really made this sandwich though with the deep air pockets capturing the wonderful flavours.  Doesn't it look scrumptious?

Porterhouse Steaks

Despite technically being on vacation when at our vacation home we very much eat the same way we do at home.  Our first stop  before reaching our vacation home is a grocery store where we buy enough food for the first couple of days.  Breakfasts and lunches are home made.  Dinners end up being a come as you go affair.  Unless we have definite plans to eat out, we cook at home as well.

We have not found an actual butcher shop where our vacation home is.  What we did find is the meat counter at Publix that will cut meat to order.  It is the next best thing to a butcher shop.  My husband is extremely picky about the way steaks are cut for the grill.  He wants them about an inch thick and nicely trimmed.

We arrived at our vacation home on May 15.  We were expecting a couple of our kids arriving the following day so one of our purchases at the grocery store was fresh cut porterhouse steaks weighing in at over 2 lb each.  Aren't they gorgeous looking?  Steak is one of the most expensive cuts of meat you can buy in the grocery store but in perspective even if you were to pay $12 for a steak, cooking the steak at home is always less expensive than going out for a steak dinner!

Steak is normally our first dinner at our vacation home.  We bought a lovely propane grill that does a wonderful job of grilling the steaks.  My husband has hash marks down to a perfection.  The hash marks really are for presentation but the method for making them is quite easy.  Steaks should be grilled partially to form well defined grill marks then turned a quarter turn to form the hash mark.  The steak is then turned and the method repeated on the other side.  The trick is to get well defined hash marks while grilling the steak to the correct level of doneness without over cooking or charring.  The key is a hot grill.  Now don't you wish you had smell-o-vision?