Where We Ate On Our Latest Trip To Florida

 Hello! I want to share our latest vacation eats from our latest vacation. We live in Lincoln, Nebraska and we drove down to Jacksonville, Florida. My son was invited to a wedding he wanted us to drive him to Florida.

We almost always start out any road trip with Breakfast at IHOP. I had the avocado toast. It was really good. I especially enjoy the roasted cherry tomatoes on top. It was the energy I needed to start out the trip. After all, I was doing all the driving on the trip. We mostly had snacks throughout the day and had a big dinner at Cracker Barrel.  in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

It was the next day and we made to Kennesaw, Georgia. We had started out our day with a free breakfast at the hotel. As with the day before, we had decided to snack during the drive and had a big dinner. We had decided to use UBER Eats to order our food and order from Miller's Ale House. I got the Zingers Salad, which was barbeque chicken on a salad. so good. My husband got French Onion Soup and my son got a burger and pot stickers. 

We arrived at our destination the next day. It started out with a free breakfast at the hotel we got there around late afternoon. My son and I got a bite at Hardee's and my husband got pizza later. At this point, my husband and I had no real plans for what to do while we were in Florida. It was more of my son hanging out with friends than attending a wedding in a few days.

Speaking of weddings, we did get a chance to meet the groom and his sons at Miller's Ale House. I got Zinger's again, but this time I indulged in macaroni and cheese instead of salad. It was delicious. I could not finish the macaroni and cheese. My son finished it for me. 

That evening my son ordered a chicken tender sub from a local grocery chain called Publix. I was still full from lunch. I am not sure where my son found to room to have a sub. He had a burger and ate the mac and cheese I mentioned earlier.

For the next day, we decided to do some sightseeing in St. Augustine. Because of my husband's mobility issues, most of the day was spent riding the sightseeing trolly. We had lunch at Auggie's Draft Room. 

I had a jalapeno and bacon quesadilla with fries.  We also drank lots of water. We were getting water everywhere we went. we spent most of the day outside and it was in the 90's. We were both exhausted from the heat by the time we were done. However, we did learn a lot of information about St. Augustine that we might not of known if we just walked around the city.

That evening we ate at 4 Rivers Smokehouse. My husband for the burn ends, found it a little spicy. However, he doesn't like his food that is spicy at all. I never had a Cuban sandwich, so I got that. I enjoyed it. I would do a Cuban sandwich again.

For our final day of sightseeing, we decided to go to the Jacksonville Zoo. They had a scooter to rent because there was no way he would be able to walk around. We ate snacks at the zoo. We had Dipping Dots and my husband had snowcones. 

That evening we ate at a Pizza and Italian place in a nearby strip mall. I go lobster mac and cheese and tiramisu. The mac and cheese was just ok. Tiramisu is always delicious.

So it was time for the long drive back home. We (or I) decided to visit our daughters in Kansas on the way back home. I kept seeing billboards for Captain D's throughout the trip and we finally decided to stop for lunch on the way back. We don't have one where we live. It was tasty. It is similar to Long John Silver's. It is a fast-food fish chain.

When we stopped for the day, we decided on Mexican food. I got fish tacos. Against our better judgment, we got deep-fried ice cream. 

We saw advertising for Toot's Restaurant during our drive and had to stop and check it out. I got the seafood salad. It was tasty.

My son and my husband got the Chocolate Brownie Monster Bash, supposedly the single serving. There is a fishbowl portion. That evening we had stopped in O'Fallon, Illinois. There was a Steak 'n Shake near the hotel and my son wanted to check it out.

For most days, we had the free breakfast at the hotel. We were not impressed with the hotel we stayed at in O'Fallon and there was an IHOP within walking distance so breakfast at IHOP it is. So I decided not to have breakfast food and decided on fish and chips for breakfast. I just wanted to have something different. Not a bad decision. 

That day we reached Lawerance, Kansas after driving across Missouri, we stopped and an Ozark Gift shop to get souvenirs and fudge. Whenever we visit my daughter in Lawrence, we have been getting Hawaiian Bros. This is a restaurant that is not near us and they have delicious Hawaiian comfort food.

For our final day on the road, we visited our other daughter in Manhattan, Kansas. We decided to meet up at Cox Bros. I got the special for the day, brisket tacos. After visiting with our daughter and her boyfriend for a couple hours. We finally headed home.

Overall, it was a good trip. Our son got to meet his long-time gaming friends for the first time in person and spent the most time with them. What vacation is next? Probably my visiting my family in Wisconsin.

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Sweet Treats Pic

 

This is just a quick pic of some of the treats my son brought home from work. He works for a local country club. Very exclusive and very expensive to get in. These tasty treats were left over from an event. If you know someone who works in the food industry, you would know it is not uncommon to bring home food. Even my son, who works as a dishwasher would occasionally bring home food.

This does look like a hot mess, but it is a tasty hot mess.

It looks like there are cakes and brownies, and the one on top is a raspberry bar. 

Which one would you like to try?

Let me know in the comments.

Check out these tasty recipes:

Just Winging It: Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Peanut Butter M&M's (jwirecipes.com)

Just Winging It: Healthy Cookies? (jwirecipes.com)

Just Winging It: Favorite Toffee Squares Recipe (jwirecipes.com)

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The Instant Pot Is My New Favorite Kitchen Tool

The Instant Pot has become my new favorite tool in the kitchen. Rice has come out perfect and meat has come out nice and tender. Dinner is done in a fraction of the time, which is great for weeknights.

My younger daughter had gifted us with her Instant Pot. She did not want it anymore because she felt intimidated by it. The instant pot is a pressure cooker, it can be dangerous if you are not careful. Just ensure the seal is in good shape and wait to open the lid until the pressure is released.

So far I have made rice, chicken, pork, and beef tips in the Instant Pot. I have found that meat has come out nice and tender in about 30 minutes. To make white rice, for every cup of rice, you add 1 1/4 cups of water. Use the rice setting on the Instant Pot. The dish pictured below is beef tips with Mac and Cheese and creamed peas.

I look forward to getting to make more dishes in the Instant Pot.
 

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Favorite Toffee Squares Recipe

 I have done many posts that include these tasty treats, but now it is time to share this tasty recipe. I am doing this as part of my YouTube Christmas in July series. This is my favorite treat at Christmas time, but I should make these more often, these cookies are delicious!

You will need:

1 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

6-8 ounces of milk or semi-sweet chocolate like chocolate bars or chocolate chips

optional chopped nuts for the topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

Cream butter and brown sugar.

Add the egg and vanilla.

Mix in the flour and the salt.

Spread the dough (which might be challenging) onto a greased baking sheet and form a rectangle that is 1/2 inch thick.

Bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes.

While the bar is still hot, add the chocolate on top and give it a minute or two for the chocolate to melt.

Evenly spread out the chocolate and top with chopped nuts (or other toppings of your choice)

let the chocolate set up and cut it into squares.

Enjoy!

Check out the Short I made {Here}

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Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

 

These are like the cream cheese cookies I have made before. These have a lemon flavor from a lemon cake mix. I like how these turned out. Nice lemony flavor. Yum!

Here is the recipe for these cookies.

1 box of lemon cake mix

1/4 cup of butter at room temperature

8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature

zest of a lemon

1 egg

1/4 t vanilla or a lemon extract or lemon juice

Cream butter & cheese
Blend egg and vanilla
Add cake mix 1/3 at a time, mix well
Chill dough for 1/2 hour
Drop scant teaspoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet. Or you can also drop the cookie dough into some sugar in a small dish to coat the cookie before baking. Slightly press down the cookie.
Bake 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Just bake it until it is done, don't let it get brown.

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My Son Made Chicken A La King

 My son is responsible for cooking one night a week. Mostly he orders out, but he does occasionally cook. He made his own version of Chicken A La King.

He made the mashed potatoes, though I think traditionally it is served on top of biscuits. In this case, he used the store-bought ones in the can. He did ask me if I wanted to make the biscuits from scratch.  Chicken A La King usually has mushrooms in it, which he does not like, so he had them on the side cooked in butter and garlic. 

I asked for a recipe, but he never gives me one.  He usually wings it (Just like this blog!) and just tells me what is in it. So here is what went into his version of Chicken A La King:

Rotisserie chicken - He was going to cook this himself, but my husband and I talked him into getting rotisserie chicken.
Carrot, celery, onion -  a mirepoix
Cream
Peas
Chicken stock -  homemade
Rosemary, thyme

Here is some other stuff he made with the dish:
Garlic mushrooms
Can biscuits
Mashed potatoes,  he used chicken stock in the potatoes

He also made Peach Cobbler. It was just canned pie filling and a crumb topping. I think he did not make enough topping to cover the pie filling and it wasn't crisp enough, but still very tasty.

Everyone loved his version of Chicken A La King. I may have to encourage him to cook more often. And when he does, make sure he gives me the recipe so I can share it with you.

Next, he plans on making fish tacos. The only thing he is going to make is the slaw for the tacos. He is using the frozen fish fillets we have on hand along with the flour tortillas. 

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Just Make Your Own Trail Mix

 One day I had bought trail mix at the grocery store, and my husband asked why when I could just make my own. It is mostly just nuts, raisins, and M&M's.

So I started making my own.

By making your trail mix, you can edit what you want in it. I added mixed nuts and cashews, along with some raisins and M&M's. There are other mix-ins I do like to add. I did add pretzels, burnt peanuts, and sesame sticks. Burnt peanuts have a tasty hard candy coating around the peanut. Sesame sticks have a slight soy sauce take to them that I like. I think I am going to stop adding pretzels. They seem not to mix in too well with the size. The last batch of pretzels I added had a garlic flavor to it and I did not like how it went with the other flavors.

So that is my trail mix. I usually eat this as a meal at lunch if I don't have anything else planned.  I do have to be careful not to go crazy with this because I am sure there are a lot of calories in this.  So next time, just make your own trail mix to suit your needs.

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Breakfast Cookies

I usually make these peanut butter bites for breakfast, but I thought I would try making breakfast cookies with this recipe. 

The changes I made to the recipe was that I substituted molasas for the honey, used cinnamon as the spice, and used all purpose flour. I could not find whole wheat flour at the store.

These cookies have:

• 1 cup (85 g) quick oats or old-fashioned whole oats
• ½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large banana, about 1/2 cup
• ½ cup (125 g) peanut butter
• ½ cup (112 g) Molasas
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (75 g) raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 
  
• Preheat the oven to 350º F (180º C). 
• 
  
• In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, Peanut butter, molasas, milk, and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the remaining ingredients. The will be dough is thick and heavy.
• I used a cookie scoop I had placed on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat ( or a greased cookie sheet). You will have to flatten each cookie to about 1 inch thick. They won't raise or spread much I had smaller cookies, so I baked them about 10 minutes, or until the ends are brown. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes.
• 
  

These are breakfast cookies, so they are going to be a little more dense than your traditional chocolate chip cookie. However, they are healthier.

Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, portion 1/4 cup mounds of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets 3 inches apart. With a small spoon dipped in water, flatten and spread each mound of dough to a 2 1/2-inch round, about 1/2-inch thick. The cookies will not spread much in the oven.Bake for 15 -18 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Food From Our Carnival Cruise

 We got back from a cruise to Mexico and I thought I would share the food we had on our vacation. We drove to our port of call, so at our first rest stop for the night, we had Italian food. The restaurant was connected to a gas station, so not a high-end place, but the food was good.

It was interesting to actually have Mexican food. One of the tours was a foodie tour along with some sightseeing.

There was an Italian restaurant aboard the ship. Food is mostly included in the cruise, but in some places it cost extra and the Italian restaurant costs extra to dine there. The food was excellent. My husband was not that impressed with the service. I have rice balls as an appetizer, which I thought was different, the gnocchi was light and delicious. Dessert was delicious, however, I love my tiramisu, which you would think would be a staple in an Italian restaurant. There wasn't any, which surprised me.

Dinners aboard the dining room are at your assigned time and you have had an assigned table. Carnival had assigned us a table with another couple. The other couple did not want to have dinner with strangers and had asked to be moved to a private table. My husband and I were thinking the same thing and glad we didn't have to be the ones asking for another table. It might have been interesting though to get to know another couple over the course of a week.

I am closing out with a picture of beer my husband had. Carnival has its own brand of beer. I don't like beer, so I could not tell you if it was any good.

So we will be back on a ship in March of 2025. This will be our third cruise and know what to expect. 

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