Better Boudin balls!!

Ate at Tia Juanita’s today for lunch and tried their Boudin balls. WOW!! Blew away the ones from the night before. Now I’ve got to figure out how to make these for sure!! If you find yourself in Lufkin, make sure to stop here. I highly recommend the tacos…I did the Trio. They were all wonderful but I’d go with just the beef next time. https://yelp.to/otCL23aoMdb

Crawfish!!

A pound of crawfish looks like a lot but by the time you do all the work to get the meat out of the tail, you don’t make much of a dent in your hunger. My hands were a MESS by the time I was done. But they were really good! Had Boudin Balls as an appetizer…I’m going to have to learn to make these!

Ate at BB’s in Houston on White Oak street. This little street has a ton of restaurants including Christian Tailgate were I ate yesterday. I had the fish and shrimp basket…amazing!! Will try another place tomorrow, but I think I’ll hit up Washington street this time.

We bought a Cow!

Thanks to a good friend that raises cows, we have 647 lbs of beef in the freezer. I’ve never had a cow butchered before, so I had to do some research on what different meat options there are. Some things I learned…

  1. Bone in or Boneless? We decided to go boneless. I’m really looking forward to those filets!
  2. Ground beef or carne asada cuts? Since we do a lot of stir-fry and other dishes that take cut-up meat, we opted for more carne asada cuts.
  3. How big of roast? We went with 3 lbs roasts, which is supposed to have about 8 servings. Since we can have anywhere from 4 to 8 people at the dinner table each night, a larger roast was best for us.
  4. Flap Steak….Our butcher was fantastic at suggesting some cuts we had never heard of, such as the Flap steak.

I’m really looking forward to firing up the Treager and making brisket soon! Many new beef recipes will be hitting the website as we work our way through all this meat! Thanks to Castle Meats of Buhl, ID!

Mexican Rice Failure

I was making fajitas for dinner and thought Mexican rice would be the perfect companion. And it would have been, if it had come out right. It wasn’t horrible, just not what I was expecting. I followed this recipe from Allrecipes.com. The bottom of the rice ended up crispy, not burnt but not too far off. I had to add another cup of chicken stock to get the rice softened up. The flavor was muted, so I added more spices. I should have added some salsa. I was able to doctor it up so it was edible and everyone enjoyed it with their fajitas. I’ll have to try a new recipe next time!

A wine for all..

Spending time with friends and family (safely) is essential for all our mental health during a pandemic or not. Everyone needs to be able kick back, relax and have some laughs. Over the weekend we took Grandma to Holesinsky Winery in Buhl, ID for some fantastic wine. Of their 12 wine line-up its hard not to find at least 5 you want to take home. From their new Pinot Noir to the IdaPeach they are best known for, they have something for everyone. Watch out for the super friendly dog, Billy and duck. 🙂 Check them out at https://www.holesinsky.com/