Well, it's Memorial Day weekend and I'm hosting Bunco at my house tonight. Because of everything going on this weekend I'm not cooking Sunday dinner. However, I will have Mom and Dad over for dinner Saturday evening and we'll probably have leftovers from Bunco (assuming there will be a few leftovers; if not, then I'll put together something easy and quick). So, I figure I'll share what's on the menu for our game tonight.
I made dessert first. Cake balls! Easy-peasy but a bit time consuming; I followed the directions in the book
Cake Pops by Bakerella. My dear husband, Michael, baked a red velvet cake for me while I was at work. The cake is a box mix and you just follow the directions on the box. Last night I crumbled the cake into a large mixing bowl. The next step is to mix in 3/4 of a 16 oz container of prepared frosting - I used cream cheese frosting. When those two are well mixed (hint: use the back of a metal spoon and just keep pushing the two together, eventually it will all mix together and
kind of look like a dough). I then used a Pampered Chef scoop to scoop out the same amount of "dough" to roll into balls. The recipe states there will be 48 balls; well, I must of used a larger scoop because I only came up with 36 balls. I put the balls on a cookie sheet with wax paper and when all the balls were formed I put everything in the freezer for about 20 minutes. I then transferred them to the refrigerator - no frozen balls. I used Baker's premium white chocolate baking squares to coat the balls - I just followed the directions for melting the chocolate that are on the box. I needed to use 3 boxes of the white chocolate. Michael tasted one of the balls this morning and announced them "mmmm, good!"
I also made a black bean, cucumber, jalapeno, red onion, and tomato salad. I made this very easy salad last weekend also. Here's how I made it. Open a can of black beans, rinse and drain them and put them in a bowl. Peel, seed, and chop a cucumber into bite-size pieces; add them to the bowl with the beans. Seed and finely chop about 1/2 of a medium-size jalapeno; add it to the bowl (be sure to wash your hands really well after handling the jalapeno - you don't want to get any of the pepper oil in your eyes or elsewhere). Chop about 1/2 of a red onion and add it to the bowl. I used Cherub grape tomatoes by slicing about one and one-half containers of tomatoes and adding them to the bowl. For the tomatoes I actually slice the larger tomatoes into 3 or 4 slices. Salt and pepper the ingredients to taste. Mix together 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil with 2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar (or any flavored vinegar that you like) and pour over the salad. Gently fold all ingredients together to coat all with the oil and vinegar. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least one to two hours before serving.
I am getting ready to make
Slow Cooker Shredded Mexican Chicken to use instead of ground beef in
Taco Cupcakes. I'm switching out the black beans in the taco cupcakes for corn since I used beans in the salad.
I also am going to make Green Rice (Arroz Verde). For the rice I am mashing up a few recipes: from the
May 31, 2010 New York Times, from
Rachel Ray, from
Oprah, and from
Bobby Flay. The only ingredient I am omitting (because I really, really don't like the taste of it) is cilantro. I'll use brown rice, spinach, garlic, onion, jalapeno, vegetable broth, and pine nuts.
Michael is making guacamole for us. He uses a recipe from the
Joy of Cooking. We've used this recipe for years and love it! We have Tostito scoops for the guac, I made Lipton French onion soup dip, and we have Wavy Lays for that dip. I picked up a bunch of fresh blackberries that are tantalizingly sweet as well as some green grapes and a fresh pineapple - so we'll have some fruit too.
Oh - and I can't forget the
Margarita Shots in a Lime! Sounds like a fine bunco night with the girls. I'll be sure to come back and let you know how it all really turns out.
HOLY COW!!! These dishes were all winners. Everyone raved about how much they liked the food. Especially the cake balls.
For Saturday dinner (see first paragraph about Sunday dinner) we did have leftovers. We used the chicken for taco salad. Because there wasn't much Green Rice left, I made another batch. And, there were just enough cake balls for everyone to enjoy. Mom said she thinks the green rice will become a staple at my sister's house - she and they liked it that much (me too). Looks like Michael and I will be eating this for a few days - we still have leftovers. It's a good thing everything tastes good.
If you can, take a moment to remember and honor those who have died in service to the United States at 3:00 Monday afternoon. 3:00 your time - wherever you are - one minute of silence in their honor.
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