Once you are at your vacation location, the biggest decisions should be who gets the shower first, where's the extra roll of toilet paper and paper towels, and what are we gonna eat tonight? The first part is easy. The last item, food, can bring on that stress you left at home. There are easy fixes to the food issue.
First: plan ahead. Decide before the trip what will be the breakfast fare. Some of this items can be stocked up ahead of time. Pick them up when they are on special at the store weeks ahead of the trip. If you are an "all dayer", plan to take sandwiches and light snacks to the beach with you. Small fruit cups are wonderful when you pull them out of your cooler ice cold! Remember, quart size bags full of water frozen overnight make excellent and cheap ice for the beach. Personally I've moved on to Ziparitas (margaritas in a Ziploc bag). Cooler drinks like Capri Suns also make great ice substitutes, and when they become a little slushy, cut open the bottom for a frozen treat.
For dinner dining, planning is the absolute key. During the busy summer season, plan on restaurant dining either early, or late. If you hit the restaurants at prime time, you will be sitting for quite a while with that buzzer pager thing in your hand. Remember, you left all that stress at home.
Look at Yelp.com and Traveladvisor.com for restaurant recommendations. Of course, the best recommendations always come from friends and family. Look up your choices on their website, taking note of the address and phone number, and days and hours of operation. This makes locating the restaurant much easier on your smart phone and you can call them to find out how long the wait will be, and some will go ahead and put you on their waiting list.
Second: Once you have narrowed your restaurant list down, have the members of your crew tell you what they would like to eat or where. With older children and adults, let them pick, taking the choice stress off of you. If you are bringing along a teenage quest, give everyone a dollar limit on what they can order. This keeps those high dollar menu items off your bill. I learned the hard way a time or two. If large group seating is an issue, break your party into several groups. If you tip less than 18% this will save you on the check. For me, its their loss because I usually do more.
you
Third: If you are budget conscious this one is for you. If your trip is a seven day vacation, you only have to plan for five. Day one is of course your arrival day, and day seven is your day of departure. With adults in your party, take turns preparing the meals. On arrival day, check-in is usually after 3 or 4 p.m. Once checked in, make your grocery store run. Remember, you can pack frozen items the morning of your departure, and most will still be fairly frozen when you arrive. Things like chicken spaghetti casserole, ribs, chicken wings, boston butts, hamburger patties, etc....
Here are twelve easy to do, informal beaching recipes or ideas:
Chicken spaghetti casserole: Make this ahead at home and freeze it. When you reach your destination, warm it up for an easy suppertime meal. Throw in a salad and French bread from the local grocer, and you have yourself an easy meal. (From Vicki L)
Shrimp Creole: Pick up a pound or so of shrimp at the local grocer. Thaw and peel the shrimp if frozen. Leaving the tail on is optional. In a skillet, add one or two jars of spaghetti sauce and begin to simmer. Add raw shrimp, allowing them to simmer in the sauce until done. Prepare one or two bags of "boil in the bag" rice. Serve shrimp and sauce on top of a bed of rice. Add salad and bread and there you go!
Jambalaya: Purchase a rotisserie chicken, a package of smoked sausage, two cans of chicken broth, and two boxes of Zatarian's Jambalaya mix. Debone and cut up the chicken meat. Slice sausage into small pieces. Follow the instructions on the Zatarian's box. Quick meal in 30 minutes.
Boston Butt: Line oven broiler pan with foil. Season the outside of the port butt with port butt rub. (I use Tony C's.) Put butt on broiler pan top, bake on 225-250 degrees overnight, 8 to 12 hours, depending on the size of the butt. Once it is done, allow it to cool to the touch. Pull apart the meat, placing a handful of meat on hamburger buns. Add sauce and an optional spoon of cole slaw.
Rotel Dip: Cube up a large block of Velveeta cheese and put into microwaveable bowl. add two cans of Rotel tomatoes to the bowl. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Stir. Repeat microwaving for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted. Optional: brown a pound of hot sausage, cooking it into crumbles. Drain excess grease on paper towels. Add cooked sausage to cheese and tomatoes and stir. Microwave more as needed. Serve with your favorite chips.
Burger: You can buy burger patties already made up, usually with cheeses like cheddar, pepperjack, bleu cheese, and even gouda cheese. Plain cheese-less burgers are fine, but, OMG! these cheesy ones are the bomb! If no gas grill is available, purchase charcoal in the "just light it bag" that requires no lighter fliud. You may need to add more charcoal, depending on how many burgers you are preparing.
Roasted Corn on the Cob: Grew up in the Mississippi Delta eating veggies all summer, especially cob on the cob, usually boiled. Not anymore. Light your fire. add your corn, sucks and all, to the grill. Cook until the first layer of sucks are almost burned off. Corn will be hot to the touch and will stay warm for a good while in the shucks. Peel back the shucks and silk, add your butter and bite in. I don't cook fresh corn any other way anymore!
Baby Back Ribs: Remove ribs from the package. using a butterknife, remove the membrane from the backside of the slab of ribs. Apply a good coating of pork rub to both sides of the slab. Place ribs on grill, 5-10 minutes on each side. Remove ribs, placing them on sheet of aluminum foil, adding more pork rub. add optional wet barbeque sauce. foil up foil around ribs. place ribs back on grill, medium to low heat. cook 1/5 to 2 hours. Open up, add more sauce if desired. Place wet ribs, in foil, back on grill for a few minutes to allow the sauce to heat up. Remove from gill, cut into serving portions and eat! This can also be done in the oven. (from Pat P.)
Chicken Wings: If wing joints are still connected, cut into three pieces, discarding the wing tip. Season the wing pieces with dry rub liberally. Cook on low to medium heat, rotating wings for even cooking. Cooking time: 45 minutes to an hour, or longer, depending on heat source.
Mexican Meat: Cook one pound of ground beef, add one can of Rotel tomatoes and a package of taco seasoning. Stir well and add one medium sized block of Velveeta (regular, not Mexican). cut into pieces and stir until melted. On your plate, put a layer of lettuce, a layer of Fritos or Tortilla chips and spoon the mixture over it. (from Cindy B.)
Bone in Porkchop: Have the butcher cut you some pork chops with bone, about 1 inch thick. season with pork rub, grilling on hot temperature, approximately 10 minutes on each side. Make sure meat is fully cooked before serving. (from Sharon E.)
Jim Buck Ross Barbeque Sauce (chicken)
Mix up the sauce and freeze for the trip to the beach. (don't forget a dipping mop!)
2 cups cider vinegar, 1 cup oil, 1 teaspoon Tobasco, 1/2 Jar onion powder, 1/2 box black papper
1 teaspoon red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic juice, 8 teaspoons salt, and juice of 4 lemons. Bring ingredients to a boil, including lemon rind.
At the beach: warm up sauce on stove. Cook chicken(I prefer halves) on grill for an hour, remember to flip chick parts as needed, trying not to burn. Begin basting chicken with sauce until chicken is done. Baste done chicken with remaining sauce before serving.
No comments:
Post a Comment