Low Country Boil

Hey Y’all! << Did you like that?

As I mentioned on Tuesday, last week I cooked a really rockin’ dinner for my family and Brian while we were in Hilton Head.  From the moment we stepped off the plane in Savannah, I knew that I was in fresh fish territory and I was determined to enjoy it all week long.  After visiting a few local restaurants, I noticed that many of them offered a popular southern staple – Low Country Boil.  Even our resort at the Marriott Surfwatch hosted a Low Country Boil night next to their fire pits!  Since it seemed to be a popular staple, I decided to recreate it at our condo for my family to enjoy.  After browsing a couple different recipes online, here is what I came up with:

Low Country Boil

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients

•  1 1/2 lbs fresh (and local if possible!) jumbo shrimp
• 4 ears of corn – Halved
• 1/2 bag baby red potatoes – Halved
• 1 package of turkey kielbasa (or regular kielbasa if you aren’t watching your cholesterol)
• 1 box or bag of your favorite shrimp boil seasoning.  Old Bay or Zatarans would work perfectly.  (Note: I use the whole bag because I like my things SPICY, if spice is not your thing – opt for 1/2 a bag)
• 4 Lemons – Sliced
• Cocktail Sauce for dippin’, Old Bay for sprinklin’ and hot sauce for dashin’

Directions

This is very difficult, bear with me 😉

1. Fill a LARGE pot with water about 3/4 of the way
2. Add the lemon slices and shrimp/crab boil seasoning and bring the water to a boil
3. Add the red potatoes and turkey kielbasa and cook for 23 minutes
4. Add the halved corn and cook for another 2 minutes
5. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink – about 3 minutes DON’T YOU DARE OVER COOK THAT BEAUTIFUL SHRIMP.
6. Drain the pot and EAT! – serve with some cocktail sauce for dippin’ or squeeze fresh lemon juice over the mix.

For those of you who do not buy cocktail sauce often, it is really just a mixture of ketchup, horseradish and maybe a little hot sauce or Worcestershire for your liking!

This is a great meal to serve on a beach vacation or for a large group because it is SO easy to throw together and is very filling.  I recommend buying fresh local shrimp, but if your a Midwesterner like myself, this may mean hefty price tags.  All the other ingredients besides the shrimp are pretty dirt cheap, so go ahead and indulge a little – it’s worth it, I promise 🙂

Hilton Head Recap: Food

It’s no secret that I have a weird obsession with all things food related – I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that most bloggers do.  However, this past week at Hilton Head was awesome in part because I didn’t have to worry about cooking for myself for seven whole days.  Plus, my mom and dad made most of the reservations which meant I was in a total state of RELAXATION. Here is the recap of the week and my recommendations for some dinner/lunch hot spots.

Saturday: Uhhhh we got in at midnight sooooo I had a few bites of mom’s leftover sushi and then hit the hay.

Sunday: Skull Creek Boathouse

Skull Creek Boathouse is a great family-friendly restaurant on the island that is perfect for al fresco dining and an amazing view of the sunset.  This restaurant is one of the more popular ones on the island and there is always SUCH a long wait.  I’m not sure how it happened, but we were lucky enough to snag a tall-boy table by the bar outside without having to put our name on the waiting list.  Noteworthy – don’t wait for resos – grab a seat at the bar – it is always a good time.

For the table we ended up splitting an order of the hushpuppies which were so delicious.  For my main course, I opted for the peel n’ eat local shrimp – for obvious reasons.  It’s funny, on the menu they had peel n’ eat shrimp and then shrimp that were already peeled for like $5 more… are people that afraid of peeling shrimp.  C’mon.

Monday: Low Country Boil – The only meal I cooked all week!

This is an awesome recipe I will have to share with you later, but it was super simple.  I basically threw some fresh jumbo shrimp, corn, turkey kielbasa (for us heart healthy folk) and red potatoes in a pot of boiling water with old bay and lemons.

It was super yum and you best believe we ate the whole damn thing.

Tuesday: The Black Marlin

Another really popular restaurant on the island, however, we did not go out until 8:00 p.m. so we beat all of the family rush 😉  The Black Marlin has a really awesome patio that overlooks the bay.  My mom and I weren’t super hungry, so we just ended up ordering a bunch of appetizers: Sushi Nachos (oh, yes), Crab Cakes and my favorite… fresh oysters.

To die for.  Right from the Skull Creek Bay.

Wednesday: Sunset Grill

This restaurant is not as well known so… shhhhhh.  Don’t ruin it! 😉  It’s tucked away behind a trailer park on top of a laundry store.  Despite it’s appearances, it is THE BEST restaurant i’ve been to on the island.  The atmosphere is small and intimate with just enough glamour to make it feel like a special occasion.  PLUS, it has the best view of a sunset on the island (hence the name).

As an appetizer, Brian and I split the wild mushroom pizzette.

So fresh and delicious.

My main course, however, stole the show.

Seared Scallops with a vegetable rice succotash.  Ohhhhh Myyyyyyy Loooorrrddd.  The best meal of the week.

To top it off as my “dessert” I ordered a 1664 Blanc which is a beer that I drank all the time when I studied abroad in Paris, France.

Thursday: Dinner made by Dad.

Fresh peel n’ eat shrimp as an appetizer.

Local trout, salad and wild rice as the main course.

I’ve been raised by excellent cooks in the family, it’s not wonder my obsession with food has gotten so out of hand 😉

Friday: The last supper – Harold’s Diner  – plus copious amounts of mimosas!

For lunch, Brian and I biked to our favorite local diner that has the BEST grouper sandwich – with a side of attitude!

We order grouper sandwiches from this diner every time we are on the island and they never disappoint.  They also have phenomenal looking burgers, cheesesteaks and breakfast food galore.  Seriously, THIS is what diner food is all about.  Fresh, local and unforgettable.

As you can see, the daily activity was much needed in order to ‘balance’ out my daily eats.  The food on the island is so fresh and delicious, if you don’t like seafood… we probably can’t be friends.  KIDDING… or am I?

Welp, that’s it folks.  My Hilton Head Recap is complete which means vacation is officially over. 😦  Until we meet again.

Hilton Head Recap: Activities

Good morning, friends!

I’m back in Chicago from my week long vacation at Hilton Head Island.  It was an absolutely amazing trip and I can’t wait to share my recaps with you – Activities & Food.

There are different types of vacationers… those who like to take tours and have their days planned out for them hour-by-hour, those who just like to relax and see where the day takes them and those who are a mixture of both.  I tend to be the kind that takes the day as it comes, but one thing I do like to plan out are my weekly workouts/activities.  For me, vacation is not an excuse to skip the exercise, it is a chance to embrace it – especially when you are going somewhere with great weather!  Here was the breakdown of my week:

Sunday: Walking on the beach

Monday: 2 Mile run & strength

Tuesday: Vaca 5k (yes, this was an actual thing)

Wednesday: Yoga in the a.m. – Tennis with Dad in the p.m.

Thursday: 3.5 mile run

Friday: Tennis with Dad & Biking

As I mentioned in my last post, my family stayed at the Marriott Surf Watch resort on the island.  I am totally biased towards Marriott resorts/hotels.  The customer service is amazing, the amenities are great, the beds are to die for and they always have a ton of great activities scheduled for the week.

Each day, the staff at Surf Watch had a list of fitness related activities you could participate in as well as social activities.  The two fitness activities I participated in were the Vaca 5k with my dad and the Yoga with my mom.

Both were great and the staff that lead the events were so friendly and enthusiastic.  My mom was a big fan of all of the water aerobics and water strength classes – she took a class every morning – way to go, mom 😉

Some of the more social activities we went to were Brats, Brews and Bonfires – Craft Beer tastings and grilled brats and the daily happy hours at the Sea Salts Bar by the beach – obviously.

 

 

Besides the events Marriott had available to us, the island is full of all sorts of great activities.  There are tennis courts on every corner, lots and lots of bike and running paths, golf courses galore, paddle boarding and so much more.  Any of these activities are a great way to get in some daily exercise 🙂

For me, it is really essential that I plan these in advance so that I am more motivated to do them.  Also, if you are on vacation with family or friends, it is great to get them involved as well.  Workout buddies are the best!  Ta Ta for now!

 

HHI Life

Good Morning from Hilton Head Island!

Hilton Head Island is a special place that my family and I have been coming to for the past 10 years.  My parents bought a time share through the Marriott Surf Watch, so they get to spend up to three weeks here per year.  How lucky are they?  This year, they were kind enough to exclusively ask Brian and I along for the ride in March.  The reason I say exclusively is because their condo has three bedrooms – two bedrooms of which each have two queen sized beds and the master bedroom has a king.  If you are bad at math, that is five beds – enough for 10 people to stay!

This week off couldn’t have come at a better time.  I have been swamped/stressed at work and the Chicago winter has been so so brutal.  A little fun in the sun is all I needed.

Getting here on Saturday night was rather eventful.  Our first plane was delayed by over an hour, which caused us to have to SPRINT through the Charlotte Airport in order to make our connecting flight to Savannah.

Nevertheless, we made it 🙂  The funniest part about Saturday night was my mom and dad picked us up at the airport at 11:45 p.m. and the FIRST thing they said to us was: WE NEED TO PICK UP BEER.

uhhhhh, okay.  No contest – but, why?

“They do not sell alcohol on Sunday’s here.”

SAY WHAT?  We raced to the nearest WALMART – made it with five minutes to spare before midnight, only to find out that they stop selling liquor at 11:44 p.m.  😦

It wasn’t a deal breaker as there is a beachside bar at our resort which makes all the delicious island drinks your heart desires, but how was I supposed to get my Sunday mimosa time on?  😉

I have to say – I was quite surprised how many people were in that Walmart at midnight – what are people stocking up for so late?

Sunday morning, my dad did make up for the lack of mimosa as he remembered to bring my favorite Chicago coffee on our trip. I love you Intelligentsia.

We took full advantage of the sun and warm weather and spent the entire day at the beach.

 

With the occasional pit stop at the beach bar for blueberry mojitos.

There were SO Many dogs at the beach it made us miss Bailey so so much, but she is having fun with the other Lindsay and Brian whom I am sure are spoiling her to death.

Sunday evening, we all headed out to one of our favorite restaurants with a great view of the evening sunset.

Skull Creek Boathouse

The sunset was truly spectacular.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking white wine, eating fresh local peel and eat shrimp and enjoying our surroundings.

To all my fellow Chicagoans.  Hang in there.  Spring is coming.

Late Night Sessions

Good Morning!

I’m a little slow to wake up today as I was having way. too. much. fun. late last night.

That’s right… my indoor soccer season has begun!

Actually, it begins Thursday but a good friend of mine asked if I would play as a sub in her indoor league game that STARTED at 10:30 p.m. last night.  Talk about a late workout session.  When I got home from work, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with myself since I had all of this free time before the game started.  I’m not much of a napper, but when I do manage to get 30 minutes of sleep I tend to wake up more tired..

The game was a lot of fun!  The field house is a lot bigger than the one I play on Thursday nights and it actually has turf as opposed to a regular gym floor.

I’m always surprised how sore I get from soccer because I consider myself to be in good shape – those short sprints really get me!

Before I left for the game Brian and I whipped up a quick dinner that required zero cooking (was not in the mood).  I chopped up a bunch of fresh veggies – Lettuce, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Carrots, Avocado and tossed them together with a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to create a delicious salad.  One the “side” we had about a pound of shrimp from Trader Joe’s that we decided to eat just chilled with a little cocktail sauce.

If there is one thing you should know… it would be that Brian and I are shrimp fanatics.  We can easily go through a pound of shrimp in one sitting… maybe even more!  Exactly one year ago, we spent a week at Hilton Head Island at my parents time share.  Across the street from the Marriott Surfwatch, there is this little fish shop shack called Barnacle Bill’s (have your heard of it?) where you can buy a plethora of fresh fish.  Brian and I would walk over there almost everyday to grab fresh shrimp or a couple fillets of whitefish.  HHI is our heaven and really makes it hard for us to come back to Chicago and eat the shrimp that we buy at the grocery store.

While we were eating our store bought shrimp last night we had a little visitor who was waiting to see if anything would ‘accidentally’ drop on the floor… she’s a cutie.

Time to go to work!

Question:  Where is your favorite place to get fresh seafood?