Pleased to Meat your BBQ needs (southwestern style)

I can already tell that the "Southwest" section of this cookbook is going to be my favorite. Mexican food is by far my favorite type and there are so many wonderful "tex-mex" choices to choose from in this part of the book. This week, I made a brisket with southwestern sides. 
​

BBQ Beef Brisket

So this recipe wasn't too difficult to make. It does have quite the list of ingredients, but hey, I made BBQ sauce from scratch and it was actually pretty delicious. One thing I did differently than the recipe is that I baked it in the oven - this is because 1. it's freezing outside and I wasn't about to grill it and 2. I don't know how my electric grill would have worked on this 2lb brisket. So, I baked it at 350 in the oven for 2 hours, and it came out perfect. I even set aside the extra sauce to pour over the top afterwards. I would definitely make this again - I don't think

I have ever had or made a brisket before - because it was easy and delicious. I just wish it could have been done quicker, smelling it for 2+ hours was difficult! 

​Thumbs up!

Southwest - Beef

Click here for the Taste of Home recipe
​

Arizona Cornbread

The recipe itself was designed to make two loaves of corn bread. Because I didn't need that much, and because I only have one bread pan, I halved this recipe. Nonetheless, I did not like making this one. One of the steps says "add flour until firm." Well, being me and not knowing how to make bread, I ended up kneading bread that was super sticky. I really wish they could have put a note in there with some kind of idea of how much was needed. I may have freaked out a little bit with all the dough that was stuck to my fingers. Finally though, there was enough flour 

to where I could knead it properly and it didn't stick to my fingers. After I got past this part and allowed it to rise and then eventually bake, the outcome was delicious! I'm not a fan of jalapenos, but this bread wasn't too bad. It was nice and soft, and it was even better with some butter on top. 

Thumbs Up! (just need to make sure you put enough flour on the dough)

Southwest - Side - Bread

Click here for the Taste of Home recipe

Re-fried Beans

Let me tell you - it is extremely difficult to find a potato masher on Thanksgiving weekend. I had to go to like four different stores before I found one! 

This recipe was super simple, and quite fun when the mashing of the beans occurs. I may not be a pro at mashing beans (or maybe it was my cheapo masher that I bought), but still the end result was pretty good. You can see in the picture above they aren't completely smashed. The spices and onions used made it taste great and went well with the corn bread and the brisket. 

​Thumbs Up!

Southwest - Side - Beans

Click here for the Taste of Home recipe

​Tequila Sunrise

I think cocktails are going to be my favorite things to make during this cooking challenge. Tequila Sunrise's were always my go-to drink back when I was 21 and not yet a beer drinker. These were fun to make, orange juice and tequila in a shaker, shake it up (so much fun), and then pour some grenadine in there (recipe says over a spoon and that actually worked great!) Yum Yum! ​Thumbs Up!

Southwest - Drink

Click here for the Taste of Home recipe

[Recipes 7-10]