I'm back from Key West and am totally on a diet

We had such a good time these last 12 days.

If you want a place to veg out and just relax, this is the vacation destination for you.

I came back with all kinds of ideas for dishes and ones I want to replicate.

We ate at every gourmet restaurant on the island but my favorite dish of the week has to be the roasted mussels in a spicy/sweet tomato sauce. I cleaned my plate with too many slices of bread, it was that good.

I have to try to make that sauce, it was perfect for seafood. Sadly, the day I ordered it, I did not have my camera with me to snap a pic. I will be making it this week, for sure. I have never roasted mussels before and am dying to try it.

All week as I go through my pics, I will post a few to let you see the whole island through our eyes.

This first pic is of the back of The Reach resort from our floor. Imagine waking up to this every morning.

The Nudge was only too happy to jump right into the pool as soon as we unpacked and checked out the layout of the land.

Our first day we laid low and sat by the pool until it was time for dinner.

We had made reservations for the Strip House in the resort and I treated The Nudge to a steak. I knew we would be eating tons of seafood so I wanted him to get the meat craving out of the way.
I had one of many different versions of a Caprese salad that I ate almost every night and the roasted grouper for dinner. This salad used grape tomatoes that spilled out over a half a small ball of fresh mozzarella with a mound of pea shoots, some fresh peas, fresh basil and spring greens placed on top with a light vinaigrette. Very basic but very good.

The grouper was wonderful. First time I ate the skin and was surprised to find it crunchy and tasty.

This was the Strip steak with roasted garlic. The Nudge started his meal with 6 oysters on a half shell.

I have to say that the Best Vegetable of the Week was the Truffled Creamed Spinach. Over the Top great!!

I have truffle butter in my freezer and I now know what to use it for, besides mac 'n cheese.

Unfortunately I need to get back to reality and back to cooking my own meals once again.

I pulled a package of chicken breasts from the freezer and will grill them all.

I made a marinade using fresh oregano, chives, parsley, basil and mint with EVOO, soy sauce, garlic asian chili sauce, half a beer, garlic and balsamic glaze.


We were served a corn salad with some Key Lime roasted oysters (later on those) so I made a corn salad to serve with the chicken.

Couldn't have been easier. Frozen corn, minced onions, peppers, basil, garlic, oil and balsamic glaze.

A nice simple, healthy and good for you, finally, meal.