What better reason to celebrate the last football game of the year with lots of food!  I lucked out – my store had jumbo shrimp for $9 for a 2 pound bag!

So it was only appropriate to make the best shrimp cocktail ever! What??  You still haven’t made it yet??  It’s no fail, that’s why I love it so much!

One tradition we’ve had for the last several years is steak tartare.  Gross!  But the boys love it!  First thing you need to know about eating raw meat is that you have to get it at a butcher shop – ask for ground sirloin.  We got a pound and a half of meat and it cost just under $9.  Now some people might be grossed out my adding raw egg yolk, but in the years I’ve made it, no one has ever gotten sick!

Biz’s Steak Tartare

  • 1.5 pounds good quality ground sirloin
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • generous pinches of salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp. anchovy paste

Mix well.  Serve with good rye bread.

the salt/pepper mixture is 4 parts salt, 1 part pepper

The boys loved it!  I still think its gross though 😀  And what’s a party without dip?  Guacamole and homemade queso!

score - my store had avocados on sale 2 for $1 😀

I stumbled across this blog a while back and somehow completely forgot about it!  The Homesick Texan.   I used some of her ideas and came up with my version – thank you for inspiring this recipe!

Biz’s Queso adapted from The Homesick Texan

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 1/2 seeded Serrano pepper
  • 1/4 of a large jalapeno
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups skim milk
  • 6 cups mixture of jack cheese/Wisconsin American cheese and sharp cheddar
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder (thanks for this idea Tony!)
  • 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
  • pinch of salt

Melt butter and saute peppers for about 5 minutes.  Add flour, stir for a couple minutes.  Add milk – at this point is when I used my stick blender to puree the peppers.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Add chili powder, taco seasoning and salt.

My step-son loves queso.   I know he doesn’t like chunks of veggies, so I knew I would puree them.  While The Homesick Texan only had 1 cup of milk, I needed  to add another cup so that I could use my stick blender – so my version is a bit thinner, but delicious!

Mmmmmmmm.........Cheese!

And the deep fryer made an appearance!  Frozen taquitos and home made bacon cheese fries.

I am definitely in a food coma this morning!  Not even going to think about getting on the scale this week – I definitely need to get back on track – too many licks and tastes are not getting photographed!

Happy Monday! 😀