Foodie Friday - Beach Vacation

We are back from our vacation to Destin. Back to reality. Back to the grind and all that goes with it.

On the up-side, we still have today off work and a few days to recover and just hang out before the madness of work and all starts up again. Also, it's 9:15 am and I still haven't heard a peep from my little ones. They're exhausted.

We had a great time and it really was relaxing to just sit under a beach umbrella and watch the kiddos play in the sand. Sarah and I built a sandcastle and we all smushed it together. Nathan got physically ill from all the salt water he ingested... not to mention the sand he was literally licking off his fingers. No kidding. Good times.

But this is a Foodie Friday post.

So let's talk food. Beach vacation food.

I'm all about using the kitchen in the condo and not eating out a lot while we're there. For one thing, to eat out, you have to get cleaned up, drive or walk to wherever you're going, wait for a table, wait for your food, blahbedy blah blah blah. That takes serious time away from your beach enjoyment in my oh-so-humble opinion.

However, it's a double edged sword. Because eating in takes some serious time as well. Even for one who enjoys cooking like me... when I'm at the beach, I'd rather be there and not in the kitchen.

So what's a person to do? Because ya gotta eat.

I worked my hind-parts off the week and a half or so before we left and it really paid off. I pre-made a lasagna and froze it. I also set aside some brisket that I made around July 4th, froze it and we took that as well. I mixed up some tuna salad to take for lunches. I baked cookies, brownies, and banana bread. We were ready. We ate well. And it kept me from spending tons of time in the kitchen while we were there.

I did cook a meal from scratch one evening. I was dying to buy some fresh gulf shrimp and cook them... so that's what I did. We enjoyed it, too. Pasta, shrimp, tomatoes and broccoli. We had planned to and did go out to eat one evening and really enjoyed it as well. Because you gotta eat some of the local fare.

I'll tell you one way that I misjudged, though. Our family loves breakfast. Eggs, bacon... all that. So, when we went to the store, naturally I bought all that stuff. Total waste. We ate a quick bowl of cereal (yes, Apple Jacks, if you have to know), before heading down to the beach each morning.

So, my advice is this: do not plan on a big breakfast if you're at the beach, make dinners ahead of time and freeze them to take with you, bake like crazy ahead of time so that you have some desserts, and plan on eating out at least once, because heck, you're on holiday.