Mexican Night
Recently we were invited to and attended a Mexican Night theme party. All the dishes were Mexican-ish and there were tasty drinks like virgin pina coladas (virgin, because everyone around me seems to be pregnant). I added rum to mine.
There was some delicious food that was brought by all the guests. One guest brought a Mexican-inspired pizza using refried beans as the ‘sauce’ and seasoned beef, cheddar, peppers and more. It was quite tasty. There were enchiladas, homemade flour tortillas to use with the chicken fajita filling, fresh tomato salsa, and two different 7-layer dips.
I made a chopped vegetable salad. I was nervous to bring it, but after eating it at the party I am glad I did. It was light and the flavors balanced out perfectly. Here’s the recipe:
4 medium, ripe avocados, cut up
3 medium roma tomatoes, cut up
1 lime, squeezed
1 medium red onion, minced finely
1 10 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tablespoon minced cilantro
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Mix all the veggies very carefully in a large bowl. Do not crush the avocado. Squeeze lime juice over top to prevent avocado from browning and for some nice zip. Drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Add cilantro. Stir carefully to combine. Taste for seasoning. If necessary add more balsamic and olive oil.
A can of corn kernels would have also been tasty in this salad.
I just love the idea of theme nights like these. We didn’t have to dress up and go all exotic but the party was still fun. I hope we do more of these nights.
delicious fresh ingredients
Potluck-a-licious
I love me a good potluck dinner. Lucky us, there’s a potluck dinner as part of a friend’s wedding tomorrow. I am bringing 2 lasagnas. My recipe is pretty top secret.
But I am not really here to talk about top secret recipes or lasagna. I wanted to talk about potlucks.
I’ve taken the liberty of compiling what I consider to be some of the best reasons to love potluck dinners:
The abundance of food. A potluck supper is a lot like a buffet. Except it isn’t Chinese food. You can take as little or as much as you want. You can go back for seconds and there will probably be more there than when you went for firsts.
The variety. You can take a bit of everything, go for the old favorites like perogies, lasagna, meatballs, etc. You can effectively eat food from almost every corner of the world if you have the right mix of potluck food-makers.
The intrigue. There’s always going to be a few dishes where you aren’t quite sure what exactly it is, or even what is in it. There is something about taking a scoopful of mystery casserole, or trying the jellied concoction layered with meat that adds to the excitement and experience of potlucking it. Maybe you’re into the mystery desserts – although rarely can you go wrong there.
The pride. This is probably going to make me sound so snobby and (gasp!) conceited but I am going to be honest here. I actually love to make outstanding, even if its difficult or complicated, dishes to bring to potlucks. I want to look impressive. I want people to be excited to eat the food I bring. There is nothing sweeter than taking home a completely cleaned out dish which was empty long before the crowd could go back for seconds.
So tell me, what is your signature potluck recipe?
