Dinner in Texas has a new look!

Become a follower of Dinner in Texas at the right of your screen!  I will be posting some of my family's favorite holiday recipes soon!

Cheesy Beef Empanadas with Avocado Cream Sauce

I love when I find a recipe and think, "I can do that, but maybe different," and it actually works out.  I found a recipe like this that was for broccoli and cheese stuffers.  I changed it and created some yummy empanadas that are baked instead of fried and I put together an avocado cream sauce to go with them.  Really easy and my family really liked them!


Baked Cheesy Beef Empanadas
1 egg with 1 tbsp. water for egg wash
2 cans french bread dough (I used Pillsbury dough in a can.)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup jarred cheese, like Cheese Wiz
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
1 tsp. cumin
1 packet Fiesta Ranch Hidden Valley dip/dressing mix


Preheat oven to 425.  Cook onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.  Add meat and brown until done.  Sprinkle packet of Ranch mix and cumin over meat.  Stir to coat the meat in the spices.  Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted.


Flour a surface and rolling pin and roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 inch thick.  Cut the dough into 4" circles.  


Spoon approximately 2 tbsp. into the middle of the dough.  Fold the dough over and crease it with a fork. 


Place the empanadas on a greased cookie sheet and brush with the egg wash.


Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.


Avocado Cream Sauce


2 avocados
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup cilantro
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tsp. Kosher salt
3-5 tbsp. water


Mix the ingredients in the blender, starting with 3 tbsp. of water and adding in small amounts of water until sauce is to the thickness of your liking.  It was delicious for dipping the empanadas in!

Garlic and Parmesan Bread Knots

Every so often, my husband and I feed the kids dinner, give them their baths, put them to bed, and then we cook together and eat with not even one bite being interrupted.  We usually make something we know the kids won't eat, but that we love, and then we sit in the living room to eat - something we try to never do with the kids.  Last night, we grilled steaks, roasted some asparagus, and made a new potato recipe that turned out great.  (I'll post the asparagus and potato recipes later.)  I also made these Garlic and Parmesan Bread Knots.  They were awesome.  I found the recipe on www.realmomkitchen.com, but changed it just a little for what I already had on hand.  I will definitely be making these again.  I'm thinking they would be great at Thanksgiving!

Garlic and Parmesan Bread Knots

1 can of 8 biscuits (I used Grands, Jr! Butter Flake)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

3 tbsp. Parmesan cheese (I used the kind from the green can.)

Roll each biscuit into a rope (I just used my hands) then tie into a knot and tuck the ends under.  Place 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  In a bowl, combine oil, seasonings and cheese.  Spoon mixture (or brush it) over the knots while they're still warm.  I made them ahead and then stuck them back in the oven for just a couple of minutes to warm back up.  They were so good!

Denise's Poppy Seed Cake

Carrying on with recipes from my friend Lauren's family, I'm sharing her mom Denise's Poppy Seed Cake recipe.  Lauren and I met during our first week as freshman at Texas A&M University and we've pretty much never been apart since, building what is now a wonderful friendship with lots of stories to tell - many of which I can't tell my mother.  Over the past 13 years that I've known Lauren and her family, I've never had anything Denise made that I didn't love.  My very favorite thing she makes is her potato salad.  But, this cake comes in a close second and is good pretty much anytime of day - including for breakfast!

Denise's Poppy Seed Cake

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden Cake mix
1/2 cup sugar (baking Splenda works also)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 8oz. container sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 tbsp. poppy seeds

Mix well the cake mix, sugar, oil, sour cream, and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until batter is smooth.  Fold in poppy seeds.  Pour into a well greased (Crisco) and sugared Bundt pan.  (The sugared Bundt pan makes all the difference.)  Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.  Allow to cool a few minutes before removing from the pan.  You can sprinkle powdered sugar on the top for fun.

Howie's Jalapeno Dip

Some of our very best friends, Lauren and Josh, are also our daughters' Godparents.  We try to get together with them often and that sometimes includes Lauren's family as well, who we consider our family.  We love spending time with them because they are true friends...friends that you can really be yourself around.  We love getting together to cook and hang out at Lauren and Josh's pool.  Last weekend, we enjoyed some Aggie football and fajitas together.  Lauren's dad, Howard, made a dip that was so good, a second batch had to be made because the first one was gone so fast.  It's super easy and so good with Fritos Scoops!

Howie's Jalapeno Dip

Two to Three days ahead of time - drain the juice off a glass jar of jalapenos.  Layer the jalapenos back into the jar with sugar.  Put a layer of jalapenos, a sprinkling of sugar to coat them, and repeat until the jar is full.  For two days, leave the jar on the counter and turn it back and forth until the sugar is completely dissolved.

To make the dip -
Let 2 blocks of cream cheese come to room temperature.  Whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer.  Add approximately 1/8 cup of the sugared jalapenos, chopped and mix well.  Howard likes to chop his in the food processor.  Add some juice from the jar until you get to the taste and texture that you want.  Put back in the fridge until ready to serve. 

MiMi's Famous Cheeseball

The fall brings a lot of things back to my house that are missing in the summer...back to school, back to routines, and back to a little bit of chaos.  For my husband, it means the return of football.  One of his favorite ways to spend a fall day is to watch a great game and have his favorite snacks.  I've been making this cheeseball for him since we met and it's probably his very favorite thing to eat while watching football.  My MiMi passed this recipe onto me and it has become one of my go-to party recipes.  The ingredients seem a little strange together when you see the recipe, but I promise it is so yummy that people will ask you what's in it.  Then they look at you with a strange face when you tell them.  The key to everything working is chopping the bell pepper and onion as finely as you can, and also draining the pineapple as much as possible.  (I put the pineapple in a strainer and I also squeeze more juice out with my hands.)  My MiMi had quite a gift for hosting our large family for holidays and gatherings and this was one of her staples.  I'm proud to have some of her recipes and be able to pass them on. 

MiMi's Famous Cheeseball
2 blocks of cream cheese (16 oz.)
8 oz. can crushed pineapple (drained very well)
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 tbsp. finely chopped onion (I usually add a little more than this.)
1 tbsp. of Lawry's Season Salt

Let the cream cheese come to room temperature.  Beat it with an electric mixer until smooth.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Put the mixture back in the fridge until somewhat firm again.  Then, roll into a ball, or divide into 2 balls.  (I've made them into mini cheese balls too.)  Then, roll into more chopped pecans and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place back in the fridge until firm.  Serve with crackers.  We like it best with Wheat Thins. 

My Southern Grandma

Me and MiMi in her kitchen (probably in about 1988)

In the South, we rarely call our grandparents "Grandma" and "Grandpa".  My girls call their grandparents MiMi & PaPa and MeeMaw&PawPaw.  My grandma has been known as MiMi for the past thirty years, plus some.  This week we lost my MiMi to cancer.  It has been very sad for our family, but I have found myself coming to peace with it much faster than I expected to.  For one, she was very sick and no one wanted her to suffer or be in pain.  And secondly, because I have such a connection to her because of how much time I spent with her as a kid.  Because of all that time I got to spend with her cooking, I feel like some of the best parts of her live on in me.  I had a unique advantage of getting extra time with MiMi because we lived just a few minutes from her until I was 9.  During that time, my mom taught piano lessons after school and I got to spend that time learning how to cook things like homemade chicken and dumplins (not "dumplings" - MiMi said "dumplins") while MiMi prepared dinner.  She always found a way for me to help.  I find myself not being great about that with my own kids, but my mom has the same gift of always being able to find a way for my girls to be included in meal preparation - must be a grandma thing.   In the evenings, my dad would come by to pick me up on his way home and sometimes we would get to stay for dinner.  I would set the table and fill the glasses with ice for the iced tea and we would all sit down to dinner together.  My very favorite thing she made was fried chicken.  As an adult, I made a trip to see her just so she could show me how to take apart a whole fryer, bread it (always in a brown paper grocery sack), and fry it to crispy, juicy perfection. 
And so, as we all move on without her, I'm thankful that so many wonderful things about her are found in my mother and my aunt.  They too are incredibly strong Southern women who set such a wonderful example for the next generation of mothers in our family.  Watch for more postings about MiMi's recipes and stories of her cooking and entertaining like a true Southern Lady.

Fish Tacos with Mexican ColeSlaw

The meals we serve in our house are definitely a product of the heavy Mexican influence in Texas.  One of my two year old daughter's first words was "quesadilla" - no lie.  Because of how much I love Mexican food, my favorite spice to cook with is cumin.  I love when it gets warmed up and makes the whole house smell like something good is going on in the kitchen.  These two recipes both incorporate cumin. Fish tacos are so easy to make and are always impressive to serve.  This time, we used trout that my husband caught on a fishing trip, but you can use just about any white fish with a sturdy texture.  Even my 8 year old loved them!  It was a great way to have a grown up dinner that included fish that kids would happy to eat as well.

Grilled Fish Tacos:

Put 1 lb. white meat boned fish fillets into a Ziploc with the following marinade and let sit for 15-20 minutes:
Whisk 1/4 cup Canola oil, the juice of one lime, a couple of teaspoons of cumin, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves, one teaspoon of Kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. 

Grill the fish until done and flaky, about 5-6 minutes.  Let it sit for a few minutes and then flake with a fork.  Tip: Grill the fish on aluminum foil and the smaller pieces won't fall through the grates.

Mexican Cole Slaw:

Use one bag ready mix cole slaw with the dressing included.  Pour 3/4 of the dressing packet in the bottom of a mixing bowl.  To the ready made dressing, add a scoop of your favorite fresh salsa, juice from 1/2 lime, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. Kosher salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/8 cup chopped green onions, and chili powder to taste (I just used a pinch).  Whisk the dressing and add in the cabbage slaw mixture.  Stir together and let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.  *If you love spice, you could add chopped fresh jalapeno to this.  I didn't because I was serving my kids.

To assemble the tacos:

Warm tortillas and on top of each place grilled fish, Mexican Cole Slaw, sliced avocado, and thinly sliced purple onion.  My kids also like a small amount of shredded cheese on their fish tacos.  Really they like cheese on just about everything.

The grilled fish marinade comes from Bobby Flay on www.foodnetwork.com and I just changed it a little.  The Mexican Cole Slaw is my invention :o)

Birthday Dinner

Our TV typically finds its way to Food Network on most days.  My older daughter loves it and plays "TV chef" in her Little Tykes kitchen pretty often.  I can almost always count on Bobby Flay to deliver recipes that are yummy.  Recently, he did a show on what he likes to eat for his birthday dinner and with my husband's birthday the same week, I thought if something is good enough for Bobby Flay's birthday, it has to be good enough for my husband's birthday.  So I made plans to cook something I had never cooked before - a beef tenderloin.  Large cuts of meat are sometimes intimidating to me.  First because I don't want to spend that much money for it to turn out bad and second because I sometimes just don't know what to do.  But this recipe seemed so easy that there was no way I could mess it up.  That turned out to be true.  This was probably one of the best things I've ever made and my husband said it was the best birthday dinner he's ever had.  I made roasted asparagus and baked sweet potatoes to go with the tenderloin and a frozen chocolate mousse pie for dessert.  The links for both the tenderloin recipe and the pie recipe are below.  We will definitely be making this dinner again for another special occasion!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/boy-meets-grill/kathy-bakers-beef-tender-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/frozen-chocolate-mousse-pie-recipe/index.html


**PS - I used the left overs to make these steak sandwiches.  Again, a Bobby Flay recipe that was very good.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/black-pepper-crusted-steak-sandwiches-with-aged-cheddar-horseradish-mayonnaise-and-watercress-recipe/index.html

Father's Day BBQ

My husband loves me.  I know he does.  But he has come to be a true Texan since his move here as a kid and he may love traditional smoked BBQ just as much as he loves me.  He loves so many things about it.  The methods, the tricks of the trade, the secrets, and the historical aspects of BBQ, especially Texas BBQ, all draw his attention.  So, in honor of Father's Day, he smoked himself (and us I guess) a brisket.  To Peter, a BBQ addict, that means a large untrimmed piece of meat that looks like something off of The Flintstones and will feed us for a week.  Granted, we did have company over for this meal, but we will be eating brisket for the next few days Forrest Gump style....brisket sandwiches, brisket tacos, brisket baked potatoes...you get the idea.  He keeps his rub and preparation methods a secret, (hint: He soaks it in Dr. Pepper overnight.) and I love it with the typical Texas sides - cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, pickles, onions, and a slice of white bread.  My contribution was the sides and dessert - peach cobbler.  When my husband and I were getting married, some family and friends gave me a kitchen shower and each guest brought a recipe.  My dad's contribution was his peach cobbler and so I thought it was fitting to make that for him for Father's Day.  And a little secret....left over cold peach cobbler makes for a yummy breakfast the next day! 


Peach Cobbler:
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
3/4 cup milk (I've used skim - it works just fine.)
3 cups peaches, sliced (It's your choice if you leave the peels on.  I take them off and if it's not peach season, you can use canned peaches or canned peach pie filling.)
1/2 cup brown sugar

Melt butter on the stove top and wait for that nutty smell and light brown color.  (But, don't let the butter burn.)  Pour the butter into an ungreased 8 in. square baking dish.  Then, in a separate bowl, mix the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and milk.  Pour that mixture over the butter as evenly as you can and DO NOT STIR!  It's really important that you not stir it.  It will look like it's not mixed in and that's okay.  STILL DON'T MIX IT and arrange the peaches on top.  Sprinkle the peaches with brown sugar.  Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes and magically the batter will rise to the top and cover the peaches.  You can serve this warm, at room temp, or like I said before, cold the next morning for breakfast.  It's awesome with a scoop of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream, made right here in Texas.

Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of those things that is universal.  Everybody has some form of it no matter where you go and most people think their version is the best.  Personally, I love just about anything with potatoes in it and my very favorite potato salad is one that comes from a family friend.  I have no idea where she got the recipe, but once I had it as a kid I've never loved another potato salad like I love this one.  I made it this week to go along side grilled chicken sandwiches.  It made for an easy summer dinner that was quick and tasty.

Ranch Potato Salad:

1 lb. baby red potatoes
6 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
Ranch Dressing
       (I like Marzetti's Simply Dressed Ranch...usually in the produce refrigerated section.)
salt to taste

Clean and halve potatoes.  (I like to leave the skins on.)  Cover them with water in a large pot and boil until tender, then drain.  Mix approximately 1/2 cup of Ranch Dressing with green onions and bacon in the bottom of a mixing bowl, pour hot potatoes over dressing and mix gently so as not to break up the potatoes too much.  Add salt to taste.  You can serve it warm, but I like it cold and it tastes even better the next day!

Corn Salad

My tomato plants are producing like crazy right now, so I've been making plenty of cool summer time dishes that involve tomatoes.  This salad can have as many or as few tomatoes as you like.  Whenever I have to take a large quantity of something to a potluck, I always turn to this salad because the recipe doubles or triples easily.  It's perfect for outdoor events and it pairs well with just about anything off the grill from burgers to fajitas.  Because corn is the main ingredient, you want high quality taste and crispness.  Make sure to buy Del Monte Summer Crisp corn in the canned foods sections for the best results. 

Also, this is a great one for kids to help with!

Corn Salad:
2 cans Del Monte Summer Crisp corn
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup purple onion, chopped
juice of 2-3 limes
Salt to taste

Drain the corn and toss with cilantro, tomatoes, onion, and lime juice.  I add plenty of salt.  This salad tastes best if it can sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Chop and add in the avocado right before serving.

Summer in Texas

Summer in Texas means heat.  And I don't mean a little bit hot, I mean heat that you can barely stand to be in for longer than about 5 minutes.  Where we live, about an hour north of  the Gulf Coast, it's hot, it's humid, and it's miserable to do anything outside between about noon and 7 PM.  My husband, who owns a concrete placement company, is outside all day.  So, when he comes home from a day of working outside during the hot Texas summer, he doesn't want a hot meal.  He wants something cool and refreshing.  This pasta salad is just that and is great as a side or as a meal by itself.  Plus, my kids love it!

Stay tuned this week for more summer salad ideas.

BLT Pasta Salad:

2 1/2 cups of whole grain rotini pasta, cooked

1 cucumber chopped

1/4 cup of chopped sweet onion or purple onion (we left this out of the portion for the kids)

1 cup of grape tomatoes

3/4 cup of Miracle Whip

2 Tablespoons of Milk

8-10 slices of bacon cooked very crisp and crumbled

1 avocado chopped and 1/2 lemon squeezed over i

Salt and Pepper to taste

Lettuce to serve it on

Boil pasta and drain.  Chop Cucumber and onion.  Make dressing by thinning the Miracle Whip with the milk. Chop Avocado and squeeze lemon over it.  Put all ingredients in a bowl and toss.  Serve over a bed of your favorite lettuce.  I like to buy shredded iceberg lettuce.

Mom's Salsa

We visit our parents as often as we can.  It works out well that they only live about 45 minutes apart in the Texas Hill Country.  We typically stay with my parents and my in-laws drive over for wonderful Southern meals and time together.  My husband jokes with my mom that she runs a pretty good B&B and gives her a hard time when the meals aren't to her "full potential".  We truly enjoy time at their ranch and our girls are in heaven running in and out of the house at their will, playing on the tree swing, riding the four wheeler, cooking with their MeeMaw and checking on the cows with their PawPaw.  One of our very favorite things that my mom makes is probably one of the simplest things, and she always has it on hand when we come to visit.  It's her homemade salsa and it's my very favorite salsa of all time.  In Texas, a state that was once ruled by Spain and then Mexico, there is a lot of Spanish and Mexican influence in our foods.  Salsa is a staple on our tables like ketchup.  And, my favorite way to eat it is on scrambled eggs.

Mom's Salsa

1 can of Rotel with Lime and Cilantro

1 large can of chopped tomatoes

1 med. Sweet onion cut in big chunks

½ bunch of cilantro

2 tsp. Of sugar

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of pepper

Juice of 1 large or 2 small limes (or lemons)

1 tsp. of chili powder

1 tsp. of cumin

1 large jalapeno, seeded

6 small baby carrots

Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till the consistency you like for salsa.  

Best if made the day before!!!

Southwestern Cobb Salad

At our house growing up, nothing went to waste.  Left-overs were always saved and sometimes turned into something new the next night.  This helped the grocery bill go farther and still allowed my mom to feed us nutritional, satisfying meals.  I work to continue this effort to show my girls how to be frugal, to stretch a dollar, and to still feed a family, as they will most likely need to do the same one day.  It's important to my husband and I to feed our girls as much organic produce as possible and because of the added cost to do that, we have to be creative with using organic fruits and vegetables that are in season.  The latest creation was from some left over roasted corn.  (See the Roasted Corn recipe on a previous post by searching at the left.)  My husband loved it and we ate it, along with some left over ham, on top of southwestern cobb salads.

Southwestern Cobb Salad:
1 bunch of romaine hearts chopped
2 boiled eggs
1 cup chopped ham
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese (You can substitue any reduced fat shredded cheese.)
4 slices of turkey bacon, fried crisp
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1 cup hot skillet corn
Split the ingredients between two large salad bowls and top with dressing of your choice!  In Texas, that means Ranch dressing. 

**Try 1 cup Ranch dressing mixed with 3/4 cup salsa.  It makes a great dressing for taco salads.**

Skillet Corn:
Heat skillet to high and put in 1 tbsp of Olive Oil with 1 tbsp. butter or margarine.  I like to cook with Smart Balance spread.

Put a few tablespoons of chopped onion into the skillet and let them cook for about two minutes.  I keep some in the freezer to add into dishes like this that only need a little bit of onion.

Add 1 cup of roasted corn, taken off the cob, and season as it cooks with 1/2 to 1 tbsp. cumin, depending on your taste, 1 tsp. of garlic salt, and a little black pepper.

Add 2 tbsp. of your favorite salsa to the skillet and stir until the corn is heated through.  Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Easter at Tres Palomas Ranch

Seems like the cattle at my parents' ranch always needs attention during holidays...or maybe my mom and dad are just taking advantage of us being there to help.  This year, we're spending Easter working cows and enjoying time together.  We had our Easter dinner as a late lunch.  The menu was baked ham, potato salad, and baked beans.  I know that doesn't sound like too fancy of a holiday dinner, but these are things that can be made ahead of time, or put in the oven and left alone, while ranch chores get taken care of and Easter eggs get hunted.  The potato salad is a new recipe and is so good that I could eat the dressing with a spoon.  I'm not sure how much will actually get onto the potatoes.  Mom found the recipe at HEB in the Cooking Connection and we modified it a little. 


Lemon Dill Yogurt Potato Salad:
1/2 jar Roberts Reserve Lemon Dill Caper Dip
6 Med. golden potatoes
6 oz. Plain Greek Yogurt (original recipe calls for 12 oz.  We thought that was too much.)
2 Tblsp. Agave Sweetner (original recipe calls for 3-5 Tblsp.  Again, thought that was too much.)
3 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 bunch green onions chopped
We added four strips of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled.

In a large pot, boil the potatoes until a fork easily enters in 1/2 in.  We peeled and cut ours before we boiled them.  Drain and cool the potatoes and set aside.  In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients and place in fridge.  Lightly toss the potatoes and the dressing.  You can serve it warm or chilled.  We liked it better warm.

calves waiting for their turn

BLT

Dinner tonight is something that I love to cook on school nights - BLTs.  They're great because I almost always have the ingredients on hand.  Paired with my homemade guacamole, it's a quick and easy meal for a weeknight. 

For BLTs -
Toast slices of whole wheat bread and spread them with mayo.
Pile on lettuce, tomatoes, and a couple of slices of crisp cooked bacon.
You can add all sorts of things to this basic sandwich - I put a thin slice of Swiss on them tonight.

For Guacamole -
Mash a large avocado into a bowl w/ juice of one lime, tablespoon of your favorite salsa, and a teaspoon each of garlic powder, cumin, and dried minced onion.  Add in a few dashes of salt.

**Our favorite dipper into guacamole is thick sliced radishes.  We first had it on a trip to San Diego and it's almost better than chips!

Redfish

The Grill Master

Redfish on the Half Shell

Dinner tonight:

Redfish on the Half Shell

Fresh Green Beans

Roasted Corn

Shiner Bock Ruby Redbird Beer

My husband is an outdoorsman so we eat plenty of game and fish at our house, as I did growing up.  My mom is the queen of using what my dad brings home from hunting and fishing trips.  While I attempt to come close to what she can do with game, I'm far from her level. 

Tonight we're having redfish that my husband caught while on a fishing trip in Louisiana.  Green beans were always a staple at my MiMi's house growing up.  I would go with her to the farmer's market (or as she called it "the fruit stand") to get fresh produce and green beans were always on the list.  Roasted corn is one of my favorites and when it comes in season I can't wait to get some on the grill.  And the beer tonight is awesome.  It's a summer brew from the Shiner Brewery in Shiner, TX.  It's ginger and grapefuit, and is so summery with a lime.

Recipes:

Redfish on the Half Shell:
Fillet the redfish so that it still has the scales on one side.
Pat fillets dry and score them in three to four places.  Place fish on foil brushed with olive oil scale side down.
Pour 1/4 cup Worchestershire over fillets.
In a small bowl mix 1 tsp. Tony's, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder. (cut back on the Tony's for kids)
Season fillets with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Put seasoning mix from bowl over fish.
Melt 1/2 stick butter and add 1 chopped green onion, 1 tsp. chopped thyme, 1 tbsp. fresh cilantro, and 2 chopped garlic cloves to butter.  Pour butter mixture over fish.  Put thinly sliced lemons and sweet onion over fish.
Transfer fish, leaving it on the foil, to preheated low to medium hot grill.
Grill it for 20-25 minutes and don't flip it.  Grill until fish is white and flakes easily.

Green Beans:
Pull ends off 1 lb. green beans and break the long ones in half (this is a great job for kids).
Cover the green beans in a large pot with water and add at least 8 oz. chicken stock.
Put in two to three pieces of bacon - I like thick cut.
Add plenty of salt, garlic powder, dried minced onions.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover.
I cooked mine today for about 5 hours.  That may seem like a long time, but I like them nice and soft and absorbed with the flavors from the seasonings and bacon.  I don't like crispy green beans.

Roasted Corn:
Pull outer husks off of corn, leaving bright green husks that are close to corn intact. 
Pull down inner husks without tearing them all the way off and remove silk from inside husk.
Put remaining husks back over corn and soak corn in water for about 10 minutes.
Grill, husks on, for 20-25 minutes on medium hot grill.
When you pull corn off, pull husks off and brush corn with butter and sprinkle with salt.

Great tool tip - Pampered Chef makes a corn remover that makes it a breeze to remove corn from the husk.

Welcome to Dinner in Texas!

Welcome to my new blog all about feeding my family and continuing the traditions of Southern cooking and eating.  Between my husband and I, we have lived in 8 different Texas towns from the Gulf Coast to the Hill Country to West Texas, and all of those places have influenced what we feed our family for dinner each night.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are nights that I just don't have it in me to cook dinner after a long day at work.  But, when I do cook for my family, I love it, they love it, and we come together to enjoy what a Southern dinner is all about - time together.  So stay tuned for recipes, reviews, and all that my family has to offer at Dinner in Texas.