Darden Foods - Bahama Breeze in Orlando

While we were in Florida, I took a tour of a popular timeshare and was rewarded with $100 worth of Darden Food Gift Cards.  We normally visit Olive Garden when we have gift cards but being in Orlando we felt adventurous and decided to try Bahama Breeze instead.  Having fourteen in our party we called ahead to let them know what time we would be arriving.  The restaurant staff was very accommodating and were ready for our arrival.

So off we went in two cars.  Since there were four families each driver made two trips to take us from the timeshare to Bahama Breeze.  There is a driveway but the handicapped entrance is off to the side nearer the rear parking lot.

Once inside we waited in the lobby for the second car to arrive with the rest of our family with the son in the wheelchair floating back and forth to the porch area where he could smoke.  Once everyone was at the restaurant we were seated in a double booth area with the tables pushed together so that all fourteen of us could sit together in family style.  Even with us throwing off their arrangement with a wheelchair in the party and the need for a high chair, the staff made every effort to make our meal pleasant.

The menu boasted everything from a Cheeseburger that my son, Bill, ate and declared on Facebook to be the best cheeseburger he had ever eaten.  This is quite a boast since he is so particular about foods and places I shop for them.

Being a seafood restaurant my daughter and I selected the shrimp linguini with a side salad which I had no problem polishing off.  I'm not fond of alfredo sauce but there was just right blend of garlic in the sauce that it was just what the doctor ordered for me.

The rest of the family enjoyed a multitude of selections from the children's menu to a miriad of fish and chicken dishes.  Even with all fourteen of us eating the final bill only came to a little over $250.  To me that is affordable dining.

Meatloaf Burgers - Half the time of Meatloaf

Meatloaf is the most popular way to make and eat ground beef because of the goodies that make it a cut above an ordinary hamburger.  My son, Bill, who hated to wait for anything came up with this originally and I have to admit it takes nothing away from my meatloaf recipe especially since I love my meatloaf on a bun or slices of bread.

Using the same recipe as you would for my no frills meatloaf, you can cut your prep to table time in half.


This tasty form of the popular favorite only takes half the time to bake in the oven and can be eaten plain for dinner or as a meatloaf burger.

Tool used to form the ground meat patty

It just takes a handful of your meatloaf mixture to form your patty.  I use the egg tool to measure the patty.


Be sure to press down in the middle so that your burgers cook evenly and then put them onto a foil lined pan to cook at 350° oven for about 30 to 45 minutes.  Once the top is browned you can be remove from the oven.  I use the tool that is used to keep an egg in one spot in the skillet to form my burgers.



Now that you have the recipe and the instructions, it up to you if you want to wait the time it takes to make a full meatloaf or not.  Happy eating.

Flower Explosion

The growing season for flowers was slower than in past years.  During a similar winter a few years back, I was disappointed when I found the bulbs from the previous year's lilies unearthed in my little side garden by my entrance stone.  It seems my neighbors were not so nice when they were walking their dogs because they dug them up for me.  I took them out and dried in my basement to replant them in the Fall.  The bulbs took nicely and I now have a profusion of Lilies in front of my new Madonna that is a replacement for the one that was stolen.

I wanted to add some new plants this summer but had not made up my mind what to plant.  I love lilies of the valley but they only bloom once each year and then you have greens the rest of the year.  I may do those and then I wont have so many weeds showing in the garden.  My neighbor gave me some from her garden but when my other neighbor was weeding for me last year he pulled them out.  This year yet another neighbor gave me some from her garden when she was thinning them out.  Hopefully, these will take hold and I wont have to do anything there in years to come.



I'm not a good gardener.   My grandfather had a green thumb and could grow anything.  Each year he went to the greenhouse to pick out something new for his garden.  I just want to get something growing that will come up year after year and look nice.

This year I bought some annuals that were left at the garden center too long and I planted them between the Asian Lilies and the front of the garden.  I got some delphiniums and lantas.  They are just starting to come up and will fill the void for the rest of this growing year.

If you have any suggestions on what to put in such a small planting area, please comment so I can consider your suggestions.

Doughnuts The Old Fashioned Way

As a child I remember my father would bring home a package of cake doughnuts, just plain old cake doughnuts with no powdered sugar, no chocolate, no cinnamon on them.  It was just a package of a dozen plain cake doughnuts.

You can still buy the packaged brands of these doughnuts or you can go to the supermarket and buy some from the bakery section.

There is Bella Christi Bakery in Aspinwall where they make a smaller version of these doughnuts right in their sales room as patrons are coming in to purchase baked goods.

It is very easy to make these simple doughnuts.  I prefer to use my deep fryer to make these but you can do it in a cast iron frying pan filled with 2-4 inches of oil with the flame set on high.

Mix 1-1/2 cups of flour with 1 c. sugar, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 2 tbsp. soft shortening, 2 eggs and 3/4 c. milk.  Blend on slow speed in your mixer and then stir in 2 additional cups of flour.

Put dough on well floured surface. Roll around lightly to coat with flour. Roll dough 3/8 inch thick. Cut with floured doughnut cutter.

Slide doughnuts into hot oil using a slotted spoon, turning them when they rise to the surface with a slotted spoon.  Don't use a fork to turn the doughnuts so that they don't get saturated with oil. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Remove carefully from oil with your slotted spoon. Drain the doughnuts on brown paper.  I use the paper bags from the grocery store for this.  Paper towels work just as well but are more expensive to use.

Serve plain, sugared, or frosted. When you are done with your doughnuts, you can make a batch of doughnut holes to use up all of your batter.

The best way to eat cake donuts is using them in a Hot Fudge Sundae such as the ones we used to get at Sweet William Restaurant.  Cake donut on the  bottom with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Enjoy our version of old fashioned doughnuts.