It’s hard to believe that tomorrow I will have my alarm set bright and early for the start of another exciting school year!
And although this summer has been BUSY, to say the least, there were some fun moments sprinkled in between trainings, leadership retreats and back to school planning meetings.
There was that little getaway my gentleman and I took back in June.
Birthday and 3rd anniversary adventures.
Lots of trips to the beach and the pool.
And just last week, we drove down to the Florida Keys for our annual Key West lobstering trip!
A big group of us rounded up all of our families to share a house on Stock Island (the last Key before Key West) for a week at the end of July.
And it’s a good thing we all get along, because with 20 of us in the house (+ baby Addy!), it was tight quarters!
In fact, you might just call it “air mattress city.” 😉
We even had air mattresses tucked above the entrance landing in what my uncle Marty dubbed “the Penthouse”.
Our week was filled with fun times out on the boat, TONS of lobsters, adventures out on Duval street, IV drips of strong cafe con leche, Key Lime EVERYTHING, Scrabble until the wee hours of the morning, and other crazy moments that I won’t disclose here on the blog.
What happens in Key West, stays in Key West, right? 😉
We had SUCH a good time and cannot wait to return to paradise!
On the way home we made some stops at a few road side markets and picked up some beautiful produce. I’ve been using up some of the most delicious Key limes, mangos, young coconuts and and avocados all week long.
I made a scrumptious Key lime tart using this recipe.
A delicious mango pico de gallo (think regular pico with added mango chunks and lots of fresh Key lime juice!)
Lots of chicken/fish/lobster marinades and salad dressings with fresh Key lime and garlic.
And two more recipes that I’m about to share with you!
The first one is a simple hot sauce/marinade using some habanero peppers my cousin gave me over the weekend and the remaining mangos and Key limes from our trip.
The second is a grain-free jam dot cookie with shredded coconut, pecans and Key lime zest in the dough, filled with a blackberry jam!
Enjoy!
-Steph 🙂
