Florida Guide > Accommodation
Self catering in your Florida Villa - Part 4
Continued from part 3
Looking for meal ideas, then why not visit the meat counter at Publix?
Alongside the regular cuts of fresh meat you will find lots of ideas for quick ready prepared, fresh meals.
You can choose from a variety of burgers, each approximately 8oz in weight made from fresh ground beef infused with cheddar or blue cheeses or made Cajun style. Of course you can always buy a regular fresh burger and top with cheese if required, but these make a very quick and tasty meal served in a bun with salad or fries ( more on these later)
Ready prepared chicken cordon bleu is stuffed with ham and cheese and coated with breadcrumbs but be warned, these are huge portions as are the chicken breasts Florentine, presented on a bed of spinach and the Cajun style chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, all come with cooking instructions. An easy alternative for smaller appetites is to buy two smaller chicken breasts from the meat counter, or even one very large one, split it open and fill with Philadelphia cheese of your choice, we like the pineapple one for this, then simply bake in the oven at 400 for approximately 35 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breast.
Pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, with or without Cajun spices is a tasty dish but again you will find it is a huge portion and usually does us two smaller meals for two or serves three. You can also find pork tenderloin with the cuts of meat and it makes nice alternative to chicken, cut into medallions and pan fried and served over pasta with your choice of a jar so sauce, very quick and easy.
Also ready prepared you will find kebabs made of both pork and beef and strung with onions and peppers, a great staple for the barbecue.
Finally, I could not leave the meat section without mentioning steak which is excellent quality and compared to home less expensive. We usually choose the New York strip which is similar to sirloin, tasty and lean. If I' m looking for a smaller piece I will hang the expense and go for fillet.
It seems that when steak, or burgers are mentioned most people like to pair them with fries and herein lies the problem. Most US ovens found in a rental home will either bake or broil (grill) which can present something of a problem when trying to cook steak and chips! If you have a barbecue on which to grill your meat then the answer is to use that whilst baking your oven chips! If not I tend to bake my fries until they are lightly done and then put them in the bottom of the oven whilst grilling my meat, not ideal but I think that' s making the best of the job. Of course it has been know for me to start grilling the steak and send my husband to the Mc drive through just for fries!
Just one final note. . . . . washing up! Whilst trying to avoid buying unnecessary foodstuffs that you will not use you cannot avoid having to wash up!
Your owners mc will probably leave you a starter pack of dishwashing powder or two or three individual tablets. It is difficult to buy small containers of dishwasher tablets of powder and for this reason you may find there are some left behind from a previous guest. You could bring a handful from home, it will only take up some of that space you are saving for your shopping, or alternatively go the old fashioned way and wash up in the sink! Small bottles of washing up liquid are easy to find.
I hope these articles have inspired you to try some quick and easy meals as an inexpensive alternative to eating out and I do apologize to those of you who are vegetarians, as a carnivore myself I would not insult you by trying to make suggestions for veggie meals at which I would probably be hopeless!
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