Pin-It Tuesday: Cinco de Mayo

I'm recapping my Cinco de Mayo cookout that I had this past weekend with a few friends. Finally I had great weather for a party at my house. In October for my birthday, it was 35 degrees and we couldn't sit close enough to the firepit. And for 4th of July, it was 105 and we were all melting.

Sunday was a beautiful, light-breezy 70 degree Wisconsin Spring day. My friend Tiffany brought over her bean bag games and we were ready to have some fun.

I, of course, followed a Mexican theme with the food and marinated chicken for Tequila lime kabobs. I apologize for the lack of photos of the food, but I was rushing around and didn't want to contaminate my phone. But here is the recipe.

I bought 5 lbs of frozen chicken breasts and chopped them into 1 - 2 inch cubes (for skewers). I then started guestimating my ingredients to marinade it. I never follow quantities for a marinade and just do what I think is right.

Tequila
Lime juice
Purple Onion pieces
Sprite
Cumin
Adobo Spice (from Penzey's)
Onion powder
Rice Wine Vinegar

After it marinated for close to 12 hours, I skewered up the chicken putting 4-5 pieces per kabob stick (skewers soaked in water for hours to prevent burning). Then I heated up some of the extra marinade to then brush over the kabobs on the grill.

I had about 20 kabobs to navigate on the grill and unfortunately a few were a little dry, but with only 2 kabobs left, there weren't many complaints.

We also made veggie kabobs that I sprinkled with a little Mural of Flavor (from Penzey's). Those were a huge hit.

But what was even a bigger hit was the cucumber salsa that I found on Facebook first and then Pinterest, which led me to this blog and the recipe. I made about 1.5 times the recipe and here are my alterations. I used dried parsley as I forgot to buy fresh, Greek yogurt in place of sour cream and diced chilis instead of a jalepeno. It was fun to make and it was gone fast at the party.

And then the fun part - cervezaritas (beer margaritas). I have had this recipe pinned on Pinterest for a long time and decided to have a little fun with it and make some different flavored cervezaritas.  Unfortunately the original website is now spam that my pin goes too, but the recipe is written right on the picture :)

I made Pear and Mango cervezaritas. The water and 7Up are replaced with a 12 oz can of Pear Nectar or Mango Nectar. I found these at the local Mexican grocery store in Waukesha called Panos. They had a lot of flavors but I just tried those two. I will definitely be making these more often. They are very refreshing and will be great for summer and so easy to make. I didn't even use the limeade for the second batch. 

Other treats at the party included, taco dip, cheesy black bean dip, spicy Mexican rice, guacamole and tortilla chips, Ruffle chips and french onion dip, fresh fruit, cheese and sausage, oreo gooey balls and brownies with ice cream!

Of course, because it is Wisconsin, we all overdosed on the sun and got a little burnt. But then we had a fire to help keep us warm into the night. I hear we are in for a wicked summer of mosquitoes and such so we have to enjoy it while we can! 

From the Books: Chicken Enchilada Dip

My aunt and her family had my parents and I over for our own little Christmas with my grandparents from that side of the family just before New Year's. My dad is from a family of 11 and it's really hard to get everyone together in one house on one day anymore. So we were invited over to her house because my dad is their daughter's godfather.

We whipped together an olive dip from a mix I bought from a Tastefully Simple and added extra olives and veggie cheese spread to it to make more of it. My aunt too had cheese, sausage, spreadable cheese so we are definitely from Wisconsin :) and then this amazing chicken Enchilada Dip. One bite and I was hooked.

I asked her for the recipe right away and knew I had to make it for my friends soon. The rest of the party food consisted of salad, amazing lasagna, rolls, buttered carrots and cocktails. It was a merry time had by all. After dinner we munched on Oreo cake, cookies and dodged remote control helicopters that my cousins received from my grandparents. Many laughs were had that night and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

I was invited to a Super Bowl party this past weekend and instantly knew what I was going to bring, but I couldn't find the recipe. Luckily my dad met his brother (my uncle) for breakfast this week and I was able to get another copy of the recipe. Aunt Marianne to save the day!!!! (I didn't realize it until the second copy that it was from TasteofHome, so I could have found it online, but I wanted to make sure that I made the right one as it was soooooo good!

I boiled up a few chicken breasts and then spent a long time shredding up the chicken to the consistency that I liked.

I decided instead of using a package of pre-mixed taco seasoning to make one of my own that is a go-to from AllRecipes.com. Being that my mom and I just organized her spice cabinets, I knew that we had everything in the house. I paid my weekly ode to Penzey's and made the mix myself.

 

As for the dip, mix everything together minus the chips, nuke it for a few minutes and you are ready to serve with chips on the side.

 

 

I took a taste test bite and Kablammy!!!!! My tastebuds were on fire!!! The chili powder that I used was Hot, not mild and I couldn't handle it. I didn't even add the entire can of green chilies either! But I do have more sensitive buds than most. Some people at the party might have liked it like that, but I knew there were other buffalo chicken dishes and wanted to lower the amount of spice at the party a bit.

I opened the fridge and saw cream cheese, more cheddar cheese and then brought along sour cream. It was the perfect spice then.

The dip was a huge hit at the party as well as the BBQ pulled chicken, chili, bacon wrapped lil' smokies and taco dip. There was also buffalo pulled chicken but everyone said that one was too spicy. Chris (co-host) was a joker and chopped extra jalapenos and ghost peppers for toppings if anyone wanted it.

While we munched, we also played commercial Bingo for the Super Bowl. It was a fun game to liven up the game seeing as the Packers weren't playing. However the lights going out definitely added to the excitement and the surge of the 49ers in the second half.

PS - Once Upon a Vine wines are pretty spectacular for an easy drinking red wine. The Big Bad Red and Charming Pinot are both very delicious. I didn't try the Chardonnay (The Fairest) or Sauvignon Blanc (Glass Slipper) and I'm having a hard time finding them in the area besides one store in Big Bend. These just increase my obsession with the show Once Upon A Time on Sunday nights on ABC. See our Halloween party themed after the show -- I was the Evil Queen all in black in the back.