Lunch At Las Margarita’s 411 Mexican Grill With Kathy And Bev

Once again this year, my Christmas gift to friend Kathy was five lunches at the restaurants of her choice and most of the time, she just has me pick one.  The adjoining towns of Maryille and Alcoa, TN (county population of 140,000) surprisingly have nine Mexican restaurants and one combination store and restaurant.  And for this meal, we picked one of them we had never been to as it was conveniently located for all of us.  Las Margarita’s 411 Mexican Grill is located in a building that had been the go-to mom and pop 411 Restaurant since before I came to the area in 1969.

Delicious Corned Beef Hash For Breakfast

During a recent market trip, Bev picked up two packages of corned beef and I froze the smaller one and cooked the larger one.  I decided it was large enough to eat some for supper with still plenty left over for corned beef hash.  The size of the ingredients is a matter of personal preference but after eating some Neuske’s Corned Beef Hash, I think I like the smaller pieces better even though they take more time to prepare.

Delicious and Easy Vegetable Cheese Sausage Breakfast Casserole And Christmas Tree

I’ve always enjoyed breakfast casseroles and have made, and posted about, many of them over the years and lately I decided I really, really like them as they can be made then eaten on for several days.  For this one, I used the recipe for Easy Vegetable Cheese Sausage Breakfast Casserole from Serious Eats and I made it as shown below.

Happy 2026

 

Bev and I wish you the best for the coming year and we are looking forward to another year together - since 2025 was a good year for us, we will be eating black eyed peas again for good luck today. 

We did our usual New Year's Eve - Watched a little football, had a glass of champagne about 10pm then I went to bed and Bev was shortly behind me.

And here is the list of my New Year's Resolutions

1.

My First Smoked Beef Tenderloin For Christmas Dinner

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we had a nice, albeit warm, one that required opening up the house to avoid using the AC.

I love, and have made, smoked prime rib for Christmas dinner several times but Bev does not like all of the fat in the ribeye so an idea hit me.  Her favorite beef cut is tenderloin so I decided to try smoking a whole tenderloin roast for this year’s Christmas meal.

Christmas Newsletter & The Boys Are Hard At It

                                                               Have A Very Merry Christmas

I’d like to dream of a White Christmas and a toasty fire but it’s predicted to be 70F here.

Real Deal Carnitas & Delicious Charro Beans

I’ve ordered carnitas in a restaurant a couple of times and was always disappointed with the dry overcooked meat so I’ve not made them at home.  But when daughter, Wende, advised her great success making then, I had to give them a try and used the same recipe that she did.  The recipe for Reverse Carnita’s comes from famous chef Rick Bayless – not sure why they all called Reverse Carnitas but I followed the recipe as written using all of the optional flavorings.