Veggie Soup…. Yummy Madness!!

Posted on September 5, 2011 by

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything here on the blog. We’ve just not been able to reach any new places lately, but will be very soon. But, since my last post, I’ve decided to start eating a lot more healthier, i.e. no more fried foods, reduce the amount of meat (cut out red meat as much as possible), eat a lot more veggies and fruits, and because I love desserts so much, just go easy on them, but let myself enjoy a cupcake or piece of pie every now and then.

To that end, for dinner tonight, I made us some home-made vegetable soup with a new product we found at the store, Ronzoni Garden Delights Pasta. We have been craving vegetable soup for a while so this weekend was the time. Now, the recipe below makes a TON of soup, so make sure you cut the portions to how much you want to make. I made a lot so I can take it to work for lunch and we can freeze it as well. You can also substitute in the veggies you want or like compared to what I used and where I used canned veggies (there was a great sale on them!), you can also use frozen. So, here you go:

Ingredients:

2 Cans Green Beans (Low Sodium Cut Style)

2 Cans Whole Kernal Corn (Low Sodium)

2 Cans Green Peas (Low Sodium)

2 Cans Light Red Kidney Beans (Dark Red are good too!)

2 Cans Cannelloni Beans

2 Cans Carrots

1 lb Red Skin Potatoes (Washed and cut into small pieces)

1 package of Baby Bella Mushrooms (You can also use button mushrooms or leave them out if you don’t like them)

2 stalks of Celery

8 cups of Swanson Organic Vegetable Broth

2 Vegetable Bouillon Cubes

3 Bay leaves

2 tablespoons of ground black pepper

8 cups of Water

1 Box of Ronzoni Garden Delights Rotini Pasta

 

Steps:

Pour Vegetable Broth and Water into large stock pot. Drop in bouillon cubes. Open and drain all vegetables and pour into pot. Drop in the potatoes and mushrooms. Add Bay Leaves and Pepper. Stir. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 2 hours 45 minutes, stir occasionally. With about 15-20 minutes left in the cooking time, add the Garden Delights Pasta. Continue cooking until pasta is tender. Pour it into your favorite bowl and Enjoy!! Yes, it’s that simple!!

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Red Velvet Cake with Mascarpone Cheese Frosting

Posted on July 12, 2011 by

Ok-here it is! I’ve received several requests for my Christmas Eve Red Velvet Cake recipe.

The cake and the frosting were made from scratch and both were a huge hit!

Everyone loved the frosting especially, which was made with cream cheese and Italian mascarpone cheese. The mascarpone helped create a lighter spin on the heavy all cream cheese frosting traditionally topping a red velvet cake. I found the cake recipe in bon appétit magazine and the frosting recipe online, but I don’t remember the site name.

CAKE RECIPE:

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)

2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp taking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 TBSP red food coloring

1 tsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides.  Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl.  Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend.  Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.  Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.  Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 27 minutes.  Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes.  Turn cakes out onto racks; cool completely.  Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic & place in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight…I left mine in the fridge overnight).  This is done to make frosting the cakes easier.

 FROSTING RECIPE:

1 – 8 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

1 – 8 ounce tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup confectioners’ (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Berries to garnish your frosted cake (raspberries & blueberries make a pretty presentation)

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth.  Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.  Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread.  Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

HAPPY BAKING!

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Carnivorous Madness… Texas de Brazil!!

Posted on July 10, 2011 by

Sometimes you get to eat a dinner that’s just so good, you can’t stop thinking about it. Last night, my wife and I had one of those dinners. We had heard of this Brazilian Steakhouse from a couple of people and they kept bragging about how good it was. Now, I’m usually a bit skeptical when people go on and on about how good a place is, but after this dinner… Texas de Brazil lives up to every ounce of the hype. It truly is a carnivores dream!!

Texas de Brazil is a Churrascaria, Portuguese for Steakhouse. It a bit of brazilian tradition, this place does steak different. Well, it’s actually way more than just steak. First off, when you arrive at your table, you’re greeted by the wonderful wait staff. Our waiter, Raphael, started off by introducing us to the restaurant and giving us great insight into how things were going to go. First off, you can go create your own salad from a huge, incredibly diverse, salad bar. They make their own house dressings each day and they change every few days. Along with your typical salad fixings, they have several kinds of cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted portobello mushrooms, and lots of other options. But here’s a clue, DON’T fill up on the salad. Enjoy it because it’s all great, but what’s about to come next will blow you away and you’ll want room for the main course. Once back at our seats, the wait staff brought over sides of garlic mashed potatoes and fried cinnamon bananas. The potatoes were great and I’ll just say this about the bananas… OMG!!!! They were amazing!!

Once you’re ready, you turn over a red/green card on your table and then let the meat showers begin!! The gauchos, the meat servers, then descend upon your table with absolutely the most incredible array of offerings at one sitting you might ever get. We started with the house sirloin cut right in front of us, then came the flank steak and bacon wrapped chicken. You get just enough of a serving to really get a good taste of it without leaving you feeling like “what was that?” Then the servers brough us the garlic sirloin, bacon wrapped filet mignon, and parmesan pork. And they also brought around a house specialty cut of beef called Picanha. It was a little fatty and salty for me, but very tasty. I also chose to get the lamb chops. Wow!! They were perfectly pink and the taste was right on point! In addition to what we were able to eat, the servers also had Brazilian sausage, leg of lamb, and probably other meats that we just didn’t see because our eyes were bulging out! This was absolutely an incredible dinner!! Then, to top it off, my wife asked Raphael to bring over the desert tray. Holy Cow!! We decided we couldn’t eat it in the moment, so we got two slices of their banana’s foster cheesecake to go.  When we got home, after a few hours, we tried the cheesecake. It was to die for!!

This was, in my humble opinion, one of the best dinner’s we’ve ever had and I would have to recommend everyone go and try it. Sign up on their website (www.texasdebrazil.com) for their e-club and you’ll get lots of great discounts. This place is a bit pricey, but so worth it!! We are over the top MAD about Texas de Brazil!!

Texas de Brazil Churrascaria on Urbanspoon

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Black Forest Cheesecake

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

Here is the Black Forest Cheesecake recipe that I found at tasteofhome.com.  I made it for Father’s Day and I have to say I was a little disappointed.  It didn’t taste bad…just a little too rich.  It was one of those cheesecakes that you could only take a couple bites & then have to push away because it was just too much.  Now, I have to tell you the recipe instructs you to chill the cheesecake for 4 hours & then serve.  I believe this was the problem.  Keith & I both tasted the leftover cheesecake the following day & OMG what a difference!  We were amazed at how much better it was.  The texture had improved & the flavor was so much more enjoyable…not as rich.  So, if you are interested in giving this recipe a try I would recommend chilling it overnight instead of the 4 hours instructed in the recipe.

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 chocolate crumb crust (8 inches) … I made my own crust, see recipe below.

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 TBSP confectioners sugar

1 can (21 ounce) cherry pie filling

Directions:

- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Beat in sour cream and vanilla.  Fold in whipped topping.  Spread half of the mixture evenly into the crust.  Fold cocoa and confectioners’ sugar into remaining whipped topping mixture; carefully spread over cream cheese layer.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  (I’d recommend refrigerating overnight)

- Cut into slices; top each slice with cherry pie filling.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Yield: 6-8 servings

Chocoate Crumb Crust Recipe from TLC Cooking

1 – 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (best achieved using a food processor)

2 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (I used regular cocoa powder)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine, melted (I used butter)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar & cocoa in a bowl then add your melted margarine.  Combine until mixture is moistened.  Press into a 9 inch springfoam pan (1 inch up the side of the pan)

2.  Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on wire rack.

I made sure the crust was cooled by placing it in the freezer for 5 minutes and then I added my cheesecake mixture.

Happy Baking!!!

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Mimi’s Cafe… A not so Mad breakfast experience

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

When taking a look around for our next breakfast adventure, I found that there was a Mimi’s Cafe pretty close to us. I had heard that Mimi’s was very good and so we decided to go there this morning. Now, it was Father’s Day, so we knew it would be busy. But, our experience didn’t meet our expectations and we were a bit disappointed. I hate to write somewhat negative reviews, but when the circumstances warrant, I certainly will. This, however is a tale of two things… the experience and the food. The first was not good, the latter uneven at best.

First off, when you enter a restaurant, your overall experience is going to leave you with an impression about whether or not you’ll come back. Even if the food is superb, if the overall way we experience a restaurant doesn’t feel right, we won’t be back. Unfortunately, I think that’s what happened today. We arrived at Mimi’s knowing it would be crowded, and it was, and knew there would be a wait. So, when we checked in and were told it would be 40 minutes, no big deal. We sat in the lobby waiting, however, for over an hour before being seated. Several folks that came in well after us were seated ahead of us because they apparently had reservations. Now, the last time I checked, if you know how many reservations you have, you should be able to give a pretty good idea of a wait time, but that wasn’t the case this time. Several other patrons were in the same boat we were and were getting as impatient as I felt. Once we were seated, we couldn’t help but notice a lot of tables empty in our section. There was no reason for anyone to be waiting in the lobby. It’s a holiday, the management should have planned much better to have the place fully staffed so no one would be waiting as long as we did. Ok, so that was disappointment #1.

Disappointment #2 was the food and service. When we were sat, we didn’t have silverware, which our waitress failed to notice, which meant we had to ask for it when our meals came. The food was just ok and left me wondering what was going on with this place. I chose to order the Belgian Waffle breakfast (it came with 2 eggs and I chose turkey sausage as well) and my wife ordered the two egg breakfast with bacon and Rye toast. Our meals came out very fast for a place that had an hour wait, but my wife didn’t get her toast. After about 5 minutes or so, our waitress came by to check on us and my wife told her that she didn’t get her toast, she said she’d be right back. Another 5 minutes when by when a manager came by to see how we liked our breakfast and my wife also told him about her toast. Finally, after a couple more minutes, our waitress brought my wife her “toast.” The word “Toast” implies something, that the bread is TOASTED! This was just two slices of Rye bread and some butter, not toasted at all. My wife commented that her eggs weren’t all that good and I had to agree with her. They were what I call “Banquet Eggs”, the kind you get from a buffet, not the kind when you get when they’re made to order. Otherwise, our meals were pretty good. Her bacon and breakfast potatoes were very good and she loved the tomato juice she got with the meal. My turkey sausage was very good and the waffle was excellent, very light and fluffy, just the way I like it. The meal just left us trying to figure out if this is the kind of place we want to come back to, very inconsistent.

Bottom line for us… not so Mad about Mimi’s. Maybe we’ll go back for lunch or dinner just to see if it gets better, but I’m not all that encouraged from this experience. If you go and have a better experience, let us know!  Here is their website – www.mimiscafe.com

Mimi's Café on Urbanspoon

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Sweet Madness… Sweet Tomatoe’s

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

When I first moved down here to Orlando last year, I found this place near Disney that serves up a soup and salad buffet that was much fresher and better than just about any other I’ve ever tried. That place is Sweet Tomatoe’s! This is a chain place that is much, much better than other chains. First off, it’s all fresh and they have several types of  salads, such as their own Caesar, and you can also make your own with a huge selection of fresh ingredients. In addition to the fresh salads, they have a number of varieties of soups available each day, freshly made, not canned! On top of the soup and salads, Sweet Tomato’s has freshly made focaccia’s, a baked potato bar, freshly made breads and muffins, and three or four pasta dishes, including a great mac’n cheese.

On this trip, my wife made her own salad with romaine lettuce, onions, tomatoes, beets, cheese, pasta, egg, and their Catalina french dressing. I had the pre-made Caesar, which I love. We both chose to add grilled chicken (which does add $2.99). Once we were seated, I chose to get a baked potato (which are pleasantly medium-sized, not too small, not too large), and a few pieces of foccacia. My wife we straight for the mac’n cheese, which she ended up saying was really good! What I really appreciate about Sweet Tomatoes is that you make your meal as you see fit, it’s not predetermined for you. With lots of options, there really is something for everyone. To top off our lunch, we both went to the desert bar, which has several freshly baked options and soft-serve ice cream and toppings. We both chose to get their chocolate brownie, which was really rich and gooey, as well as some vanilla ice cream. I had my brownie on the side and if I had thought it through, I would have opened up the brownie and put the ice cream over top of it. It’s a great way to top off a great lunch.

Bottom line… we’re MAD about Sweet Tomatoes! They have locations in several states, so go check out their website… www.souplantation.com. Hopefully there is one near you. If you’re visiting Disney, the Sweet Tomato’s for Lake Buena Visa is in the Crossroads Shopping Center, behind TGI Fridays off Rt. 535 and across from the Hotel Blvd. entrance to Disney.

Sweet Tomatoes on Urbanspoon

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New Italian in Davenport, D’Oro Palazzo

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

Down at Posner Park on Rt. 27 near Davenport, my wife and I noticed a few months ago a new italian place going in near the PetsMart. So, we were looking forward to trying this new place once they opened. I usually don’t want to try a new place like this in the first week or two so they can get the kinks worked out for a new restaurant. But the other night, since we were on our way to PetsMart, we decided to try D’Oro Palazzo.

Walking in, we were greeted quickly and shown to our booth. It’s in a strip mall and, well, the ambiance, at least for now, is a little sterile and doesn’t have a whole lot of character (wooden booths and italian saying pictures on the walls they could have bought at Target), but we were there for the food, not the atmosphere. Looking through the menu, they had a number of very tasty looking dishes, as well as some classics such as lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs (which is what my wife got) and chicken parmesan (which is what I chose). They had a very appealing looking chicken pesto dish, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted pesto and it comes with walnuts on top, not pine nuts, so that was a little curious to me. Any way, we also chose to add a couple of salads (most items are additional to your main course.) The waiter also brought out some fresh made foccacia that was excellent! They also make their own herb infused olive oil for the bread that was really wonderful. The salads were both very, very good. The dressings on both salads were home-made and not overpowering on either salad. Both had a nice mix of greens and cheeses as well.

Now, here is where our dinner became a little uneven. My wife’s spaghetti and meatballs was good, but nothing to write home about. The sauce was tasty and the noodles cooked very well, but the meatballs didn’t taste hand-made at all. In fact, they almost tasted as if they were from a microwave dinner. I tried one and it had that hard crusty taste when you’ve over cooked something in a microwave. My dish, however, was excellent. The chicken parm doesn’t come all smothered in cheese, they cook a very lean chicken breast and then melt fresh parmesan on top. My linguini came with a ragu that was perfectly done and really flavorful. I enjoyed my dish very much. So, needless to say, we had one dish that was good, but lacked a little something, and one that was outstanding. We’d recommend giving them a few more weeks to work things out, but D’Oro Palazzo has a lot of potential. We’ll be going back.

They don’t have a website and aren’t even listed in Urbanspoon yet, but if you’re down a little west of Disney and exit I-4 at Rt. 27, Posner Park is about 1 mile on the left side and D’Oro Palazzo is right beside PetsMart. Check it out and check out our pictures of our dinner on our facebook page!

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New Orleans Madness in Orlando… Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

Several friends had suggested my wife and I check out this newer place in Winter Park called Tibby’s. Now, I had no idea at first what a Tibby’s is, but I can tell you now, it’s a great, unique, place to get a flavor of New Orleans right here in Orlando. We went there today for lunch and I was very impressed. Walking in the place, on Sundays, they have a live band playing Jazz inspired numbers, the walls are Mardi Gras inspired, and the staff are very friendly.

Walking in, I knew I was going to go for a Po Boy sandwich. I haven’t had one in a while and if this place is truly New Orleans, then the Po Boy should be very good. We sit down and I start to look through the menu and was pretty impressed. They have, as you might expect, Gumbo, Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee, Red Beans and Rice, and perhaps the second best type of New Orleans sandwich, a Mufuletta. Happy Hour starts at 12:30 on Sunday’s so they have tons of drink specials as well. My wife had a little difficulty chosing from the menu, but she settled on their Chicken Parmesan Po Boy and fries for a side. Sides do cost extra, but they have more than just fries, they have sweet potato fries, hush puppies, dirty rice, as well as two Cajun specialties - New Orleans Potato Salad (Mixture of potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, olives, pickles & onions) and Andoulle Sausage & Cheddar Grits. I chose to get the Tibby’s Style Po Boy with half shrimp and half oysters. The Tibby’s style comes with the shrimp and oysters tossed in a homemade remoulade. I asked our waitress how spicy the remoulade would be and she explained that most of the dishes weren’t very spicy so that customers could add their own spice from the sauces on the table. So, if you’re looking for real heat, then you’ll need to add the hot sauce on the table.

It didn’t take very long for our sandwiches to come out, only about 15 minutes. Man were these huge sandwiches! The french bread was really fresh and piled with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. My wife’s Po Boy came with a creole sauce (sort of a tomato based red sauce flavored with onion and green peppers and some cajun spices). She dug into her sandwich and said it was very good, but not anything special. But then again, she didn’t choose one of the real New Orleans specials. My Po Boy was awesome!! The remoulade was perfect, and combined with the mayo, lettuce, tomato, and the wonderful bread, that was a great sandwich. I dove first into the half of my sandwich that was the oysters. They were juicy, plump and really well done. The shrimp half was excellent as well, but to tell you the truth, I will probably get the entire sandwich as oysters next time. They were just that good. This was the best Po Boy I’ve ever had and probably one of the best outside of New Orleans you can get.

Needless to say, we’ll be going back to Tibby’s. Our advice is to go on Sundays and have a great time with the jazz band playing. If you’ve visiting Orlando, you’ll want to travel I-4 east to Fairbanks Ave. and then take Fairbanks towards Winter Park and keep going straight as it turns into Aloma Ave. Tibby’s is on Aloma, just pass the Mellow Mushroom (which we will be reviewing soon) in the same plaza as Publix. It’s worth the drive!

Bottom line… we’re MAD about Tibby’s!! Here is their website – www.tibbysneworleanskitchen.com.

Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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Cuban Madness… Padrino’s Cuban Bistro

Posted on June 5, 2011 by

Tonight we decided to go somewhere a little different for us and try some cuban food. I’ve had cuban before, but my wife hadn’t, so she was a little hesitant at first. I assured her it would be good. I started doing a little research to see what cuban restaurants folks were recommending and settled on one not too far from us called Padrino’s Cuban Bistro. Padrino’s is a small chain here in Florida and is family owned. The location we visited is just off the 417 toll road at John Young Parkway, about 15 minutes from Disney.

We were a little early, so the place wasn’t very busy. Looking through the menu, there were several dishes that looked really good. They have Beef, Chicken, and Seafood selections marinated in savory herbs and they all come with a rice dish (white, brown, or yellow), black beans, and fried sweet plantains. They also have many good-looking sandwich selections, but we were going for more of a dinner feel, so my wife chose the Chicken Pinchos. a Marinated grilled chicken breast skewered with peppers and onions served on a bed of yellow rice with sweet plantains. I chose to get Rosa’s Chicken Steak – Mom’s specialty. Marinated grilled chicken breast covered with sautéed onions. Served with white rice, black beans and sweet plantains. There were so many selections that looked good, this was a harder decision than I expected.

After we ordered, out came a basket of fried plantains. Yummy! They came with an onion sauce that was sweet and complimented the salty sweetness of the plantains perfectly. My wife loved them! She was starting to believe this would be good. Our waitress, Diva, was very attentive and continued to bring us tea, we didn’t even have to ask, which is a nice change from many restaurants. After about 20 minutes our food arrived very warm. My wife’s plate was huge, with tons of yellow rice and huge chunks of chicken, bell peppers, and onions. She dove right in and commented about how perfect the chicken was cooked and how great the rice was, so I tried some and she was right! The yellow rice had a sweet taste too it, so she really didn’t want to eat much of the plantains because of how sweet they were. Me, on the other hand, I loved the plantains! My chicken steak was cooked perfectly as well and the seasonings were really savory. The beans and rice were awesome! All in all, this was a great cuban dinner! And I think my wife is also now MAD about cuban food! You have to drop by this place and have some great food!!

Here is their website – www.padrinosbistro.com

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Kickin it at Keke’s for Breakfast

Posted on June 5, 2011 by

There are here in Orlando, many places to go for breakfast. We’ve reviewed Crave, First Watch, Peach Valley Cafe, and now we’ve had the chance to drop by Keke’s Breakfast Cafe. Keke’s is a lot like First Watch and Peach Valley in that they specialize in Breakfast and Lunch only. Keke’s has three locations in the Orlando area and we chose to go by the one next to the Mall of Millenia on Millenia Drive. It’s only about 10 minutes from either Disney or Universal, so it’s convenient for anyone visiting.

Keke’s is a very pleasant place with a bit of a Starbucks or even Panera Bread feel to it. The staff is friendly and we were seated fairly quickly. Here’s a tip – on a Sunday, get there before 11:00 am and you’ll beat the rush, the place was packed and lines out the door after 11:00 am. Once seated, we perused the menu and found lots of waffle, pancake, french toast options in addition to the typical omelette and egg options most places have. It was actually difficult to choose because everything looked very appetizing. In the end, my wife chose a vegetarian omelette (tomatoes, green peppers, and mushrooms) and I chose a waffle combination with eggs and turkey sausage.

The wait was about 20 minutes, but he place was packed, so I wasn’t surprised. When our orders came out, we couldn’t help but notice just how huge my wife’s omelette was! And it came with redskin breakfast potatoes and toast. It ended up being way more than she could eat, but she said it was really good. I tried her breakfast potatoes and thought they were very tasty, just enough seasoning to not overpower them. My waffle combination was just ok. It wasn’t as good as First Watch’s waffle and my eggs were runnier than I normally like. The turkey sausage was good and they do give you four links, so it was quite a bit. The waffle wasn’t bad, but just not quite as good as I had hoped.

We have a couple more places down here I want to check out for breakfast or brunch, but so far, I would have to say that the best breakfasts we’ve had so far are 1) Crave, 2) First Watch, 3) Peach Valley, and now 4) Keke’s. Crave is tops just because the hash browns were so awesome and the variety of food was outstanding. First Watch is consistently good and has great prices. Peach Valley is about the same as First Watch and Keke’s follows. It would be just little nit-picks that separate them though, so you really can’t go wrong at any of these places. So, if you’re up by the Mall of Millennia and want a good breakfast, then check out Keke’s! Here is their website – www.kekesbreakfastcafe.com

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