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.