hand me down honeymoon part one: getting there

For our honeymoon, Zack and I flew ourselves to the Bahamas and back, by way of Georgia and Florida. My parents also flew themselves on a similar tour of the southeast and the Bahamas. That's why I call it a hand me down honeymoon. Photos I posted on Instagram are tagged #handmedownhoneymoon.

 But first, doughnuts.

Zack's cousin works at Peace Love and Little Donuts. She brought us a variety in five boxes, including two whole boxes of maple bacon, to our wedding. Torri made sure they got in our car after the wedding, and I was SO happy when I got to eat them later. 

We started our journey to the Bahamas the day after our wedding. The first stop we'd planned was St. Simons Island, Georgia. 

We diverted to Savannah to wait out some weather. We got to see F-18s and other military aircraft, and we took the crew car to enjoy the river front. 

We switched seats for the hop from Savannah to SSI.

We finally ate our wedding food! I packed up a cooler, and we took it on our trip. We got to eat it in St. Simons Island. It was delicious! Unforgettable Food Affairs catered our wedding. It was perfect for a late night meal, before a walk on the beach. 

Up early the next morning, we headed down to the Bahamas. This is on final at Marsh Harbour airport. 

Only three more vehicles to get to our house! The woman who rented us the house coordinated a taxi for us, the taxi took us to meet the boat rental company on the water, and we rode with them back to the boat rental place, then took this boat to our house . . . almost. 

Once we parked in the cove, we unloaded all of our stuff. So the benefit of taking your own airplane (or your parents' ;) ) is that you can pack as many random bags, not real suitcases, as you want to, as long as you do a weight and balance, of course. It seems like an okay plan until you realize you have vague walking directions that take you an unknown distance, and you're not really sure you can carry all of it. I had been wearing my wedding shoes since our wedding, but I decided it was time to put on tennis shoes for this hike. Fortunately, as soon as I got them on, a man walked up and offered us a ride on his golf cart. He said that he had a family of five, but the rest of them took another way home. 

We were very thankful for the ride! Between our taxi from the hotel to the airport in SSI, the twin comanche, taxi from Marsh Harbour airport to the dock, boat to the cove, and golf cart to the house, we took five vehicles to get there just on Monday.

Britt's doughnuts

As much as I love doughnuts, I had heard about but never visited Britt's until this week. Between Lake Waccamaw and Topsail, Lindsay and I stayed with my friend Lauren for a day. Lauren indulged me and led us to Britt's first thing Monday morning. The doughnuts were well worth the sugar!

I had heard about the lines, but we only waited for about ten minutes for our doughnuts. 

The doughnuts were slightly more dense and less iced than Krispy Kreme. I loved them and am so glad we made the trip to Britt's!

We took a couple dozen doughnuts back to Lauren's family, including her grandmother who is in the lifetime doughnut club. 

Have y'all ever been to Britt's? What is your favorite place to get doughnuts? 

cookout with the Kirks

I had a great lazy afternoon/evening at a cookout hosted by friends this weekend. LH carried out a picnic theme, using borrowed supplies from her mom. What a creative way to serve watermelon! It's a bug! 

They decorated with tissue flowers, which I didn't get a good picture of, jars, and pretty paper straws. 

Two of the guests brought three flavors of sangria they had made with homemade liqueurs. I didn't taste them, but they were beautiful! 

I didn't try the lawn games, either, though there was cornhole and a frisbee game. I tried for an action shot, instead. 

LH eats gluten free, which made for a fun baking challenge for those of us who decided to take desserts. I have been trying to eat healthier, especially cutting carbohydrates, so I was happy to have an event for which to give paleo cookies a go. 

By the way, could someone tell me what exactly paleo means? Between my best efforts to eat low carb and natural and having friends who don't tolerate gluten, I find myself making a lot of "paleo" recipes, but when my SIL asked me to define paleo, I couldn't. However, I do know what gluten is. (Thanks, LH, for this reference.)

LH's brother in law made these doughnuts using leftover coconut flour passed from Lindsay to LH to him. They passed on the flour because after using it to make gluten free foods, they decided they didn't like it. Well, he made doughnuts with it, and they were FABULOUS. I wanted the recipe but was scared to ask for fear that there's cups and cups of sugar. 

Lindsay made gluten free candy shaped cookies above and these Eiffel tower cookies. I sure do miss Paris! 

LH made pretty, pretty Pinterest-y dipped strawberries. 

Can you tell that sweet treats were the most photogenic aspects of the party? Isn't that always the case? The company was great, and the other food (hot dogs, pulled pork, salads, fruit) were delicious, too. I wish I had taken pictures of people and the gorgeous house! 

Thank you for including me, Kirks!

pumpkin doughnuts

As my friend Wesley found out, when you request a flavor of doughnut, I may just bake it and deliver it to your door that very evening.  

I had signed up to bring a sweet snack to my small group, and I asked Wesley which type of doughnut I should make next. Even though it's spring, I was happy to make these pumpkin doughnuts. I like pumpkin flavors any time of year, and it's been plenty of time since the takeover of pumpkin flavors around Thanksgiving. These are great to try now or keep in mind for fall.

How do you feel about pumpkin? Is it a fall-only flavor for you? 

banana chocolate chip doughnuts

Just when I was feeling the urge to make doughnuts again, my sister in law requested these banana chocolate chip baked doughnuts.

Fortunately, all of the doughnuts I've made so far have turned out edible. I have learned, however, that they are all best FRESH and warm and that their quality quickly declines. 

So bake these and eat them right away. Maybe invite over a handful of friends to help you.

strawberry doughnuts

Last weekend, I made strawberry doughnuts. I love strawberries and can't wait to do more with them this spring!

These doughnuts were especially tasty when they were fresh. I also enjoyed them with iced coffee the next morning.

So far, I've used my doughnut pan to make chocolate doughnuts with blood orange glaze, double chocolate doughnuts, banana doughnuts with chocolate glaze, and these strawberry doughnuts. What should I try next?!

double chocolate doughnuts

I mentioned that I was craving chocolate blood orange glazed doughnuts again, but I decided to try a different recipe for my second experiment in baking doughnuts. 

My mom gave me a doughnut pan for my birthday, so expect many more experiments. 

I used a doughnut recipe from Joy the Baker's post on double chocolate cake doughnuts and Heather Christo's recipe for chocolate glaze from her post on banana doughnuts with chocolate glaze. 

I made small changes: I substituted a small amount of vinegar + almond milk for the buttermilk. 

I used semisweet chocolate chips instead of chopped dark chocolate in the glaze. It was rich and delicious. 

Since the second recipe made more, I had extra glaze, some of which I spooned right into my mouth. It also would have been delicious on strawberries, marshmallows, etc. as chocolate fondue. 

How could you go wrong with cream + chocolate?! I'm not embarrassed. 

This was also my second try at taking photos of my doughnuts. I think they look better than my first. The glaze was so shiny and photogenic. I have much to learn about photography, but I'm having fun practicing. 

blood orange glazed chocolate doughnuts

A few weeks ago, I made these doughnuts--dark chocolate with a blood orange glaze. They were perfect for Valentine's week, and I'm already craving them again.

I used a mini bundt pan and a doughnut pan. Both worked great. 

This glaze was the best part! It had such a unique flavor and a beautiful pink color. 

My family wasn't crazy about them, but if you have a more adventurous palate, I definitely recommend making these doughnuts!