This Sunday started out like all Sundays seem to when we have guests in town.
We took a trip to Tas-T-O’s Donuts!
This was the third Sunday in a row that we’ve visited Tas-T-O’s. We have to show our visitors the best of Ocala, and Tas-T-O’s doughnuts are legit.
I opted for an apple fritter, as did Ryan’s mom and her boyfriend after hearing our rave reviews.
The apple fritters are soft enough to pull apart and are simply doughnut perfection.
Rather than sit on the curb to eat our doughnuts like we did with my family last week, we headed to Starbucks for some coffee and Frappuccinos and ate our doughnuts while chatting away.
Chai crème Frappuccino. Get in mah belly!
Grill Time
After overloading on morning sugar, we headed to Lowe’s to pick out a grill. Ryan’s mom bought the grill for Ryan as a birthday present and we’re so excited to fire it up soon!
(Superman shirt = Dwight Howard/Orlando Magic reference. Ryan is not a closet comic book guy… though he does love the word jumbles in the newspaper.)
Would you like some make-believe grilled chicken from our new grill? Or perhaps my wallet since clearly I’m begging someone to steal from my purse?
Lunch
When we came home, it was time to put the finishing touches on Les’ secret sauce.
We now have enough tomato meat sauce to fill an army!
Aside from those containers that are now filling our freezer, we have another huge Tupperware container full of the sauce in our fridge and used a bunch at lunchtime for some delicious pasta with homemade meatballs and Italian sausage.
That sauce is seriously delicious enough to put in a bowl and eat on its own. (I did it for a snack again this afternoon.)
I apologize in advance if you see tomato sauce on 99 percent of my meals in the upcoming future.
I wish I could share the recipe but it’s a family secret and I don’t want the Italians to come hunt me down and turn me into a meatball.
Team Meatball! I love those two. Blast in a glass.
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Wow that sauce looks amazing! My husband wants a grill so bad but we just don’t have the room for it, but whenever we are in a Lowe’s or somewhere liked it we have to stop by and browse for our “wish list”
Yum! Your breakfast and lunch look so good! 🙂
Apple fritters and a chai frappucino? I don’t think breakfast could get any better than that! I’m so jellybeans!
Oh and that sauce looks delicious! Gosh, I love all the combinations you can use tomato meat sauce for..meatball subs, pizza, spaghetti, dipping sauce, you name it!
Have a great Sunday!
feel free to continue listing uses for meat sauce b/c i’m going to be eating it for the rest of my life.
You sure will be eating that sauce for a good long time… maybe try a flatbread pizza with the saucy parts as the base sauce, some cheese, and then some meatballs on top? I love meatballs and tomato sauce… very jealous that you have such a huge supply of the real deal!
I need a vegetarian Secret Sauce recipe! 😀
That is too funny. I woke up craving some doughnuts and was wondering if you and your guests were gonna get some today!
That sauce looks delish. it reminds me of my moms homemade gravy (the way italians say it!)
The sprinkled donut looks so teeny in comparison!! yum 🙂
ha! i know… and that one was ryan’s!
That sauce is making me crave spaghetti right now! And that apple fritter looks out of this world. I love soft, light doughnuts that melt in your mouth!
Bahah, I would love some pasta sauce!
I could think of so many ways to use that delicious-looking sauce! I think I might have to try to make my own secret recipe. Being that I’m Irish and not Italian, I have a feeling that it might not end the same way 🙂
Every time you post about these doughnuts, I start craving doughnuts. And that never happens. It’s so bizarre!
I TOTALLY had an apple fritter last night, but I noticed my tummy was NOT happy this morning on my run. I’m really trying not to point fingers at the doughy, sugary deliciousness…. but it’s looking like the culprit. Does that ever happen to you?!
no, but i eat mine in the morning and haven’t worked out at all on the days i’ve had one. i prefer to lay around in apple fritter glory and do nothing with my life. 🙂
I’m not even the biggest donut fan, but This is the third Sunday in a row I have almost taken a spontaneous roadtrip to ocala to try a fritter! 😉
Those donuts look insanely good! They remind me of Fray’s Donuts in St. Pete. Next time you’re in town and craving donuts, check them out!
I am making a beeline for Tas-T-O’s as soon as I get back to Florida! That fritter looks uhh-mazing!
Yum! That sauce looks great 🙂
Wow you’re gonna have a grill like this? It’s just awesome! Imagine all the good grilled meat and fish and all you’ll be able to make, you’ll become a pro!
Who are those two funny girls in the last pic? I like the outfit ^^
they’re snooki and deena… two ridiculous(ly fantastic) girls from the jersey shore. 🙂
Omg those donuts look amazing! It’s so nice to see a healthy living blogger treating themselves to donuts and frapps!
Hilarious at the end with the Jersey Shore reference.
Love your mention of Jersey Shore 🙂 too funny!
Looks very tasty! I wish we had a nice donut store around where I live here in London 🙂
Donuts have never been on my list of favorite sweets, but those things look seriously amazing. Who got the odd donut out? Rainbow sprinkles make everything delicious…
that was actually ryan’s. he loves the pink frosted doughnuts. 🙂
Those Taste-T-O’s look like they’d be hard to pass up!
Whoa! That IS a lot of sauce! I probably wouldn’t even mind if I had to eat that on everything for the next month. Homemade sauce is the BEST! 🙂
Taste-T-O’s needs to thank you for 3 weeks of free advertising! lol. A donut sounds SO good right now but all of the places in town are so not worth it. lol. Another idea for using up some of that sauce is putting it on a bed of spaghetti squash! Sounds like perfection to me! 🙂
YUM, that sauce looks absolutely amazing. As do the doughnuts 😛
I got to travel to Italy with my mom and sister a few summers ago – we took a cooking class one day in Florence where we made our own noodles (fettucini noodles, tagliatelle, and ravioli!), and the bolognese we made for the fettuccini noodles was OUT of this world – I think it was a combo of beef, sausage, and veal.
and now i’m hungry. Wish I had a freezer full of sauce! 🙂
I always forget to reloop my arm into the strap of my purse and it ends up open like that. I’ve been so lucky that no one has ever taken anything out if. Doh!
That grill looks awesome! I love how you can do it year round. Grilled food is the best.
I would kill for one of those apple fritters right now! God they look amazing.
Hi Julie!
I’ve been a semi-long time follower (6ish months) and not really a commenter… as I was just enjoying my daily stalking of about 3 or 4 of my all-time favorite blogs! I’ve been meaning to write you for awhile and hopefully will get around to writing you a gracious e-mail soon…. but because of you and a few of my other favorite blog-reads I finally mustered up the strength to leave my fiance about 3 months ago. I just want to say that I saw the love you share with Ryan and how he treats you and respects you and thinks the WORLD of you… and it seriously was one of the driving factors in eventualy leaving… among many other things. What’s funny is that when I read your post not to fall into “the comparison trap” i was like omg is that what I’m doing comparing my relationship to hers?!?! So of course I felt awful… but over time I realized all the signs were there… and I just wanted to thank you (and Sadie) for making me smile time and time again… your love for your dog reminds me of my own for my dog, Pancake! I will continue to be an avid follower 🙂
Melissa*
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you have a dog named Pancake!! That was the name of my golden retriver! 🙂 best name ever.
melissa, thank you for such a heart-felt comment. i am sure these past three months have been seriously emotional, but i truly admire your courage. i am sure ending an engagement was unbelievably difficult, but i’m so glad that you knew in your heart that you deserve someone who adores you and loves you unconditionally. wishing you LOTS of love and happiness in the future!! and i agree with holly – i love the name pancake for a dog. too cute!
Or perhaps my wallet since clearly I’m begging someone to steal from my purse? <—hahaha! 😀 totally something I would do too!
My Mom always yells at me because I put my purse in the front of the cart (where babies are supposed to sit) & I just walk around the store with it like that…and sometimes I walk away from it. She is like 'Holly, WHAT are you doing?? Do you want your purse stolen?!' I think I have too much faith in the human race. 🙂
Yum to everything in this post! Well except team meatball! Lol. Although I do enjoy Snooki and Deena’s shenanigans. Heh.
First I saw that apple fritter and about died, it looks so good! But THEN I saw that spaghetti and sauce! That used to be my favorite food until I freaked myself out about carbs! Now all I can think about is spaghetti with marinara sauce and meatballs! I’ll have to make it happen in the near future
Sounds like a good day! Where did you get your apron, it’s so cute!
Yum those apple fritters look amazing! And now I’m going to have to try a chai creme frap. I’ve never even thought of a chai latte in a frap!
I myself had a very delicious apple fritter this AM too! It didn’t look quite as yummy as the one you had 😉
Looks like you had a yummy weekend!
Ryan’s doughnut looks so small in comparison; those apple fritters must be huge! I am very jealous of your over-abundance of homemade sauce….yum yum!
Mmmm that pasta dish had com-fort written all over it!
I just want to make sure I am understanding correctly – did you really eat just a bowl of red sauce for a snack?
Mmm those apple fritters look great! I too had my doughnut fix this weekend. We had some people over yesterday and one of them brought a dozen doughnuts from Dunkin. I had a strawberry with those cute fall leaves sprinkles- I couldn’t resist!
Turn ya into a meatball. HAHA. It looks delicious!
Have fun with that grill, that is a sweet present 🙂
LOL @ the Snooki drive-by 🙂 Yes, the “Shore” is not a force to be reckoned with, GTL and all…hilarious.
Now you’ve got me craving pasta haha! Oh the power of photography~~
Okay, can I come visit so that I can try those donuts??? 🙂 They look SO good!
I am glad I don’t have a donut place like that near me. But they did just add a Dunkin Donuts Express at our local gas station.
The Kidless Kronicles
I love apple fritters!!
I also love that you felt the need to explain Ryan’s shirt. I probably would have done the same thing.
That grill is a hot little item! Corey and I just got the same one a few weeks ago, and I noticed Gina and the Pilot got that one, too! It does a fabulous job, in case you were wondering 🙂
that sauce is such a great freezer staple. so many different ways to use it in the upcoming weeks! pasta, lasagna, stuffed shells — you could even top some pizza dough with sauce and cheese. YUM!
love the ‘team meatball’ reference! before i scrolled down on the post, i had that exact same thought while looking at those delicious photos of the sauce. mmm…
Those donuts always look fantastic! Yum! I love donuts.
I used to hate apple fritters, but in the past few years, I have become addicted. Warm them up a bit and heaven! I make have to eat five tomorrow morning now, thanks.
bahaha <3 team meatball!
I've never had an apple fritter! They look yummy though!