Chef Papa Squishy!

My husband, fabulous chef and pizza maker, treated our family and friends to a pizza feast the other night. He is inventive with toppings and we had various cheeses, grilled zucchini, even clams!

Update: More Pizza Goodness!

Update 2/15/19:

Chef Mike also makes the world's best shrimp pasta! We buy HUGE shrimp from Doris Italian Market - you cannot beat that quality!

No pasta would be complete without wine of course!

Update: 2/21/19

Pumpkin Spice Donuts! (and Whoopie Pies, oh my!)

Any excuse to break out my beloved donut pan!

I came across this fabulous pumpkin spice donut recipe on Facebook, and I knew I had to make it soon! Recipe link here.

I liked that the dough itself was not too sweet, so I didn't hesitate to go with the maple glaze and Halloween-colored sprinkles as garnish. These were a big hit at my weekend dinner party!

My fabulous fellow baker friend made these incredible Ginger Lime Whoopie Pies for dessert, and the lime flavor really packed a punch! This dessert complemented our main dish which was a lovely fall harvest chili (chicken, white bean, spicy pumpkin chili in a crockpot that I FORGOT to take pictures of!). You can find this whoopie pie recipe here!

El Camino Delray!

One of my favorite local-ish Mexican restaurants is El Camino. They have a fantastic happy hour, funky decor and great music, as well as an inventive margarita flavor list.

My first margarita was their pineapple coconut sugar rim one! It was not too sweet, and very refreshing.

I always have to get Mexican corn when I see it on the menu, and with the mounds of cojita cheese pictured below, this dish did not disapoint!

Their brisket quesadilla has been my favorite for years, but be warned, the regular (not on happy hour) size portion is humongous! I ended up taking most of this home.

My friend got the shrimp tacos plate, yum!

Sugar donuts with Mexican chocolate dipping sauce? Yes please! I love Mexican chocolate because it is not sweet at all, like dark chocolate.

Mom's Bday Dinner!

We celebrate Mom's bday in style, with a fun dinner at home in excellent company!

Caesar salad - I always add chickpeas to mine!

Corn dog muffins (sliced hot dogs baked in Jiffy's cornbread mix with cheese!)

Beautiful flowers!

My friend's amazing boozy brownies!

Too early for pumpkin?!

It's never too early to start the pumpkin train right? Well starting it in August in South Florida, where temperatures routinely top out in the 90s, just might be too early ...

But I don't care! I love baking with pumpkin. Here's two recipes I made last month.

Mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins - the perfect tasty, bite sized bite to go with coffee or tea!

Recipe link here.

My favorite, pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese swirl! Recipe link here.

Guanabanas!

We were exploring some great new places up in Juno Beach and Jupiter (Loggerhead Marine Life Center) and stumbled across this great seafood restaurant on the water, with a nice Keys feel, called Guanabanas.

We tried their crab cakes, shrimp and cornbread - and of course a mango rum cocktail! Everything was very tasty and it was so beautiful to sit by the water and relax.

DaVinci's 3

This is my third post about DaVincis, an awesome Italian restaurant located at our nearby mall. It's a family favorite of ours, and we most recently went last month to celebrate my mom's birthday! They have several memorable delicious dishes, such as the grilled octopus appetizer, and prosciutto and burrata salad, and of course, their incredible tiramisu dessert!

Update: I went for lunch with my husband recently, and my favorite dish is the octopus salad, yum!