Coastal Dining

A big thank you to all of you who have popped in on my Life's a Beach post with a warm welcome back. It's no wonder I've missed blogging so much with great friends like all of you! It's so nice to be back and getting into the swing of things again.

Earlier today I was doing my menu plans for the week, taking my ideas from my Coastal Dining board over at Pinterest. Now that things have finally heated up here in Florida I've been in the mood for good summertime coastal kind of food - seafood, salads, fresh fruits, savory sandwiches, and of course just about anything fresh off the grill. Sounds good don't you think?

Grab an ice cold drink and claim a beach chair while I take you along on a little coastal dining adventure! Be sure to click the link below all photos to go directly to the recipes.

Summer Entertaining

On the menu for this evening is grilled snow crab and corn on the cob. I pinned this from one of my long time blogging buddies, Chris from Nibble Me This. I'll tell you, Chris is like a grilling god! Head on over for his step by step process to make this simple, super delicious meal.

Grilled Crab Legs and Corn

Monday - Mini Muffulettas from Southern Living via My Recipes, served with chips and lemonade. Perfect for a pool side Monday evening "I'm too tired to cook" kind of meal.

Muffulettas

Tuesday - This yummy corn salad is from Better Homes and Gardens. This recipe will be made even easier if I happen to have extra grilled corn leftover from Sunday evening. Grilled chicken breasts will accompany this beautiful dish. Speaking of leftovers, I will be making a double batch of the chicken to use the extra for an easy meal on Thursday evening.

Grilled Corn Salad

Wednesday - Quick and easy salmon burgers. I've linked to a simple recipe from Coastal Living for you, but to be honest I buy my fresh salmon patties made up already from the seafood department of my local grocery store. Easy is the way to go on weeknights.

Salmon Burgers

Thursday - Take a look at this bowl of deliciousness from Iowa Girl Eats. Kristin calls this wonderful greens, greens, and more greens salad a Green Juice Salad. This is the dish the leftover grilled chicken from Tuesday will be used for. I will be grilling it using the marinade suggest in this recipe when I make the chicken for Tuesday evening, it sounds delicious!

Green Juice Salad

Friday - When Friday rolls around the last thing I feel like doing after work is cooking. I've recently discovered this amazing little restaurant smack in between work and home where I can stop in to get wonderful take out seafood. My very favorite choice would be the lobster rolls - just like in New England! Since I have yet to snap a photo of the lobster rolls at my new favorite spot, I thought I'd share a photo from Che Che's Blog for you to oooh, ahhh, and drool over.

Lobster Roll

Saturday - These days Saturdays are usually cook free days around here. I like to have an assortment of deli meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, and assorted breads and crackers on hand. Everyone can make themselves sandwiches, or as I am more likely to do is to make up a nice little platter to snack on. Just add a nice glass of wine - heavenly. This gorgeous photo is from Gareth Morgans Photography. Be sure to stop over to see more of his wonderful work.

Prosciutto Plate

That wraps up today's coastal dining adventure. For more excellent coastal summer meals be sure to follow my Coastal Dining board over at Pinterest. There is a widget available on my sidebar for you to link over.

Now I'm off to make our dinner and get myself ready for another long hard week at work - with any luck that will all be over soon. Wishing you a wonderful week!

Life's a Beach

Hello friends - I sure have missed you!

I guess I'll start with a little catch up. I'm sorry I just up and left without much explanation. I know lots of bloggers just disappear without any warning at all, but I'm not one of them. You are my friends, I would never just stop posting without at least telling you I'm taking a break.

I have had a lot going on. It has been my job more than anything that has come between me and blogging. In fact, it got in the way and disrupted just about everything in my life. I won't get into too many details since posting negatively on any social media about a job you are still in is obviously a big no-no.

I will say that I was so very happy for many years at my workplace. It was my own decision to take a higher paying position which is what brought about the majority of my dissatisfaction. I knew in my heart I was making a poor choice, but I did it anyway. I won't call it a mistake. I was doing what I thought was best for my family but it certainly turned out to be the opposite.

I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Some of those reasons are already apparent, hopefully more clarity is yet to come by my most recent decision - I plan to step down this summer into a much lower paying position in exchange for working 10 months a year instead of 12, going from a full time day during those working months to a part time position. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to use the extra time in more enjoyable ways to make up the difference in income.

I dream of living a very simple coastal lifestyle. I'm lucky enough to live in Florida and even luckier to live in a little beach town. I'm halfway there. Changes are coming - I'm so excited!

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Meanwhile, I'm going to try to get back to blogging on at least a somewhat regular basis. I miss it so much. Blogging has been a very relaxing and enjoyable part of my life for many years. I miss writing, I miss sharing, and I miss all of my blogging buddies.

Now fill me in on how things have been in your world!

Break Time

It looks I am going to have to take an extended, unexpected blog break. I've also had to withdraw from the A-Z Blogging Challenge for this year. There is just too much going on to get into right now. I hope to be back soon!