Recipe – Grilled Peaches

  • peaches, cut in half and pitted
  • 1 tbsp. Splenda brown sugar per peach
  • butter
  • vegetable oil

Heat grill to medium heat (300 degrees F). Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Rub the cut edges with a very thin layer of vegetable oil (helps prevent sticking to the grill). Place peaches on grill, cut-side down for 6-8 minutes until hot and beginning to caramelize. You do not need to flip or move peaches around. Remove from grill and spread thin layer of butter on cut side and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. of Splenda brown sugar per peach half. Serve hot.

Pizza Sloppy Joes

  • 2 lbs. ground beef
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 2 jars pizza sauce (14 ounce)
  • 1 pkg sliced pepperoni (3.5 ounce), chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 8 sandwich buns
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef in skillet, and mix in chopped onions. Drain. Combine beef, pizza sauce, pepperoni, and bell pepper in slow cooker. Mix well. Cook covered on low for 3 to 4 hours. Serve on sandwich buns and sprinkle generously with cheese.

Cajun Shrimp Penne

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon whipped butter
  • 1 lb. penne pasta
  • 1 package (50-60 count) cooked deveined tail off cocktail shrimp

Boil water and stir in penne. Allow to cook until almost soft. Place whipped butter in skillet and cook shrimp for 1 minute, then add Cajun seasoning and stir. Cook for 1 additional minute. Remove shrimp from heat. Drain penne and place in large bowl. Mix in olive oil and pepper, stirring well. Drain excess butter from shrimp and stir shrimp into penne. Serve hot.

Citrus Cooler

  • 4 oz real lemonade
  • 4 oz real limeade
  • 4 oz pink grapefruit juice

Chill all ingredients. Pour in cup and mix well.

Taco-Seasoned Chex Mix

  • 6 cups Corn Chex cereal
  • 2 cups Cheez-It crackers
  • 2 cups pretzel twists
  • 1 cup salted peanuts
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 package (1.25 oz) Old El Paso taco seasoning mix

In a large bowl, mix cereal, crackers, pretzels, and peanuts.

In small bowl or cup, mix vegetable oil, water, and taco seasoning and stir well. Slowly pour taco mixture into large bowl and stir into cereal mix. Stir until everything is well coated with taco mixture.

Pour into large baking dish (11 x 13 works well) and bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, taking it out to stir well every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

Variations: You may use any combination of Corn Chex, Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, or Crispex to reach six total cups of cereal. Experiment for your favorite combination.

Restaurants in Panama City Beach

I recently returned from another trip to Panama City and Panama City Beach. I ate at a number of restaurants there, and here are some of my thoughts on them.

  • Bishop’s Family Buffet – We ate at Bishop’s toward the end of our trip. The buffet is very well stocked with a good variety, including steak, spaghetti, fish, crab legs, shrimp, and chicken. I really enjoyed the food, but be prepared to pay dearly for it. The evening buffet is upwards of $23 a person. Part of this is the all-you-can-eat crab legs; since I don’t like crab legs, this is not a selling point for me. Overall a good experience, but the price keeps it from being on my “must return” list.
  • IHOP – We don’t have an IHOP around here, so we try to eat at them when we find them. There is a new one at the end of 23rd street at the junction with U.S. 231, on the left past Panama City Mall. It is your typical IHOP, but I include it here because most people wouldn’t go this far out and stumble upon it.
  • McDonald’s – We went once to the McDonald’s at 16990 Front Beach Road. They don’t have the Dollar Menu, so don’t ever bother going there.
  • Pizza Hut – We called the Pizza Hut at 16726 Front Beach Road at around 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday or Monday evening. They had a two-hour wait. We ordered Domino’s and got it in 30 minutes (just like the commercial).
  • Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-BQ – I ate at the Sonny’s on the corner of Back Beach Road and Beckrich Road. This is becoming one of my favorite restaurants in the area. The food is excellent and prices very reasonable. I was disappointed to find they changed the menu this year and no longer offer the build-your-own combinations that allow you to try several different things at once. However, we ended up eating here twice, and I had the pulled pork one night and pulled chicken another. Both were excellent. If you get cornbread, you get less than if you get garlic bread. The baked beans are very good as well. Overall, I was very pleased with Sonny’s and will certainly eat there again in the future.
  • Treasure Ship – My wife and I love to go to the Treasure Ship on Thomas Drive. The food is really good, and the atmosphere very pleasant. It is not an inexpensive meal, but I’ve always found it worth it. Get the Treasure Ship Trio appetizer; it is cheese sticks, chicken fingers, and fried shrimp. Delicious! This year, for the main meal I got mahi-mahi and really liked it. Their salads, sadly, have a lot to be desired though. Me, my wife, and my two-year-old ate for around $70.
  • Whataburger – We don’t have a Whataburger locally, and I really like the food. We stopped at the one on highway 331 in Defuniak Springs, FL. The food is good, but it is way overpriced. It was $17 for the three of us to eat, and we got nothin’ fancy. I like a good burger, but for this much, you can keep it. I have an idea to save some costs and lower those prices; I don’t need a flat screen TV over the urinal.

Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili

In the last couple years, Doritos has introduced tons of new flavors, many of which are nothing short of disgusting. I remember back in the day when Cool Ranch Doritos was the new “in” thing. I’ve become numb to the barrage of Doritos flavors that I sail by in the grocery isle; however, a new flavor actually caught my eye—Spicy Sweet Chili. I couldn’t resist giving it a try. Wow! These are pretty good. I don’t think they are as good as chili Fritos, but they are still very tasty. Give them a try sometime.

Recipe – Spanish Spaghetti

  • 1 to 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 large potato
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 to 3 gloves of garlic
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 pkg spaghetti noodles
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 5 dashes Texas Pete hot sauce
  • 1 dash red pepper

Meatballs

Roll the ground beef into balls; season to taste with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Brown until done in a large cast iron skillet.

Sauce

Dice up the potato, onion, and garlic cloves and boil in 2 cups of water. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, hot sauce, and red pepper. Reduce heat and allow to simmer at least 30 minutes for the potato to cook. The sauce tends to bubble and splatter, so cover with a splatter screen. When the meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and simmer.

Spaghetti Noodles

Boil in water until tender, drain, and rinse.

Once noodles, sauce, and meatballs are done and meatballs have simmered in the sauce, serve sauce and meatballs over plate of noodles.

Recipe – Cornbread Dressing

  • 1 1/2 cup self-rising white cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup self-rising flour
  • 2 tbsp Crisco
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Mix ingredients and pour into a greased small cast iron skillet. Bake at 450 degrees until done, approximately 20 minutes.

Cool completely, then crumble cornbread in a large bowl. Add the following ingredients:

  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp rubbed sage
  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp poultry seasoning
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 can (14 oz) chicken broth*

Mix crumbled cornbread and ingredients. Press into a greased 6 x 10 x 1 1/2 inch metal bake pan. Mixture should be moist throughout but not soggy; if not completely moist, add some additional broth. Bake at 350 to 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool ten minutes before cutting for best results.

* If available, turkey broth is even better.

Recipe – Cornbread

  • 1 1/2 cup self-rising white cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup self-rising flour
  • 2 tbsp Crisco
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Mix ingredients and pour into a greased small cast iron skillet. Bake at 450 degrees until done, approximately 20 minutes.