South of the Border BBQ

p.s. still time to enter my giveaway!!

There’s always been a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at my place. It started…I’m thinking 5 years ago when I was living in Somerville with my bff Jocelyn! Brian’s birthday usually falls around then so we had a bbq/party and the tradition stuck.

Last year, it was our first big BBQ at our new House with our new patio furniture…and a little more tame than years past ;)

Recap of last years BBQ

This year was different. The Half Marathon was that weekend and the last thing I needed was to be overly stressed by hosting a party…but I still wanted a party!!

Solution = SMALL party :)

I find, at least for myself, I get the most stressed about having people over when I have multiple “groups” of friends coming. They all might know each other, but I constantly feel like I need to spend time and chat with everyone while still trying to get all the last minute food details ready.

I’m much more relaxed once everyone has eaten haha.

So in order to have a stress-free gathering I stuck to a small group of people…9, including Brian and myself.

Although, I still managed too make enough for 20…oh well! Leftovers!!

The Menu was entirely inspired by the June issue of Cooking Light!

There were SO many awesome sounding Mexican-ish dishes in there, that I decided to have a Mexican themed BBQ!

The Menu:

Drinks

Minted Lemon-Lime Watermelon Aqua Fresca (non-alcoholic, I had two lovely pregnant ladies that day)
Skinny Girl Margaritas!
Brian’s beer (he has 2 varieties on tap in the basement)

Snacks

Homemade Guac – I special requested my friend to make it since she uses our FAVORITE recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.
Mango Salsa – homemade by another guest!

Main Dishes

Flank Steak Tacos – made the recipe for the steak and had the options out for people to make tacos: tortillas, cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado
Ancho Chili Chicken – a favorite family recipe! Already on the blog!!

Sides

Cilantro Lime Rice – made by a guest
Baked Black Beans with Chorizo – LOVED this recipe, the chorizo gives it so much flavor.
Grilled Corn on the Cob – never got around to making the jalapeño butter, but I bet it’s delicious.
Pasta salad – made by a guest, minus the chicken
Fruit Salad – made by a guest

Dessert!!

Margarita Ice-Cream Sandwiches – I wasn’t in love with the sound of these at first, but they looked so cute and went perfectly with the theme!
SOOO happy I made them, they are delicious!!
Dessert Nachos! – totally came up with this one in my head and I am obsessed with how they came out! Definitely going to do a full post on these :)

The plan:

Friday:

• Shop for all ingredients and drinks. Also assess if you need any paper plates, or other disposable items. I already had enough at home.


• Clean!!


• Make cookie dough for ice cream sandwiches (it has to chill before baking)
  

Saturday:

• bake off cookies for ice cream sandwiches
  


• make marinade for chicken, rub for steak, and get all meats into large Ziploc bags to marinate overnight


• make Ancho chili sauce
  


• Make/Prepare beans to be baked the next day. Don't add cheese, tomatoes, or green onion yet.


• Make simple syrup, and prep lime juice for watermelon aqua fresca


• chop up watermelon


• Prepare tortilla chips for dessert nachos
  

Sunday:

• Run half marathon (if that’s what you’re doing that morning)


• come home, shower, and get ready


• final clean up/pick up


• husk corn


• Guests Arrive!!


• Fire up the grill and start grilling the meats, then corn


• Place toppings on beans then bake


• Make your friends a batch of Watermelon Aqua Fresca
  


• After everyone eats, sneak back to the kitchen to make the chocolate sauce and whip the cream for the desserts :)


• ENJOY!

It was a fun low-key, relaxing day. No one stayed too late, we did a quick clean up, and were able to crash at a reasonable hour considering we had got up around 6 that morning!

How do you handle the stress of being the hostess?? No matter how stressed I get, I still LOVE having people over! Usually my problem is a bite off more than I can chew…we probably didn’t need as much food, especially 2 desserts…oh well! I’ve been enjoying mini ice cream sandwiches all week!

Happy Friday!! I have my first dance performance tonight for the company I am in up in NH. This is sort of a practice performance for just one of the pieces, but still…a little nervous :) Our big show isn’t until September.

Summer Kick-Off

This was one crazy busy weekend!! 

First I want to rewind about a year ago…we bought a house.  Said house had a feature in the back yard that made the decision to make an offer that much easier…

(this picture is from last year when we bought it).

A cabana!  Plus a great patio, path, outdoor lighting, and a yard!

We knew this would be a perfect spot for parties and spending time with friends, but last summer was so crazy with moving and the wedding, that we never had a party back here…until yesterday.

We invited a bunch of our friends, some who hadn’t even seen the house yet, over for a BBQ to officially break in the cabana and put our new patio furniture to use!

Obviously there was MORE than enough food…when am I going to learn how to judge the right amount??  I mean I’d always rather have too much than too little…but that can get expensive after a while.

The Menu

Appetizers/Snacks:
*=brought by a friend

• Guacamole and chips* (she used my FAVORITE recipe)
• bean dip and chips*
• caprese skewers*
• a humus/tomato/feta layered dip with pita chips*
• fresh pineapple

Main Course + Sides:

• Salad
• Sesame Noodles
• Potato Salad*
• Baked Beans*
• Pasta Salad*
• Grilled Veggies
• Marinated Steak Tips
• BBQ Chicken
• Burgers
• Grilled Corn on the Cob

Desserts:

• Homemade Whoopie Pies*
• Cup Cakes
• Lemon Squares
• S’mores Brownies
• Raspberry Choc-Chip Oatmeal Muffins (must get recipe from my friend!!)

Drinks:

• Various beers (mostly summer brews!)
• Brian’s latest Homebrew
• Sangria
• Wine
• Soda

Yeah…a lot of food!

One of the dishes I made was my aunt’s recipe for Sesame Noodles!  I haven’t had these in many many years but I remember loving them and this was an easy thing to pre before hand.

Recipe post to come! 

The finished product came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

One of the other items I made were lemon squares from this Eating Well recipe.

When Brian wasn’t busy acting as my Sous Chef (i.e. veggie chopper), he set up the yard.

You can add the post about how we painted those black chairs and table to my growing list of things I need to blog about!!

And a canopy tent!

I picked this bad boy up for just $30 at Wal-Mart.  There was thundershowers in the forecast and I was SO worried about the rain!!!

However we totally LUCKED out!!  There was a very short shower lasting about 4 minutes, and other than that it was sunny and perfect :)

Then people started to arrive and then it was go-go-go all day and night!

How beautiful do these Caprese skewers look!  My friend Jen made these.

The BEST Guacamole…I recommend this recipe to anyone looking to make some guac!

My favorite God Daughter Riley!!  She’s the cutest :)     

Some of the girls….hey who gave Riley the beer bottle!!??!

My Sparking Sangria…this was really really good!!!

    

I was running around like a crazy person until we ate, so I didn’t get the best pictures of the food…or even all the food but I got some!!

BBQ Chicken made with a rub and then bbq sauce added at the end

Potato Salad…another Ina recipe!  I made a special request for this salad, it’s my FAVORITE potato salad.

My salad…it’s another favorite recipe that I make a lot for parties.  So simple:

• chop tomatoes and combine with chopped garlic, and let those to sit and marinade for a couple hours before.
• Combine with chopped Romaine, scallions, and grated Romano Cheese.
• Dressing is equal parts lemon juice and olive oil (I do about 1/2 cup of each for a big bowl) + 1 Tbsp of dried oregano

Grilled Veggies!

Grilled Corn…to save time I pre-steamed the corn a bit, then we just put the ears directly on the grill for a few minutes.

Burgers. This was Brian’s creation.  To the ground beef he added fresh garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and his favorite seasoning…Emeril’s Essence.

Homemade Whoopie Pies!!!  My friend made these and they were AWESOME!

Relaxing…

You can’t tell from the pic, but we had just finished an INTENSE game of Badminton and were sweating pretty bad haha!

We also had a visitor fly in…I fed him some hot dog bun :)

Lights on.

Turned out to be a beautiful day, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I’ll admit I was a bit frantic up until all the food was ready, but I relaxed after that. 

We really lucked out with weather as there was basically a mini-monsoon today!! 

Brian and I were so tired we left the mess until the morning…fine by me!  We also have SO many leftovers.

So what’s your favorite thing to eat or make for a BBQ???

A Friday List Post

I am feeling in the mood to put my thoughts and statements into a numbered list today...so without further ado (?)...

1. I am really sick of my lack of a computer...luckily Brian ordered me a new Hard drive!

2. It's sad that this new hard drive was only $40 for 80GB and god knows how much I paid for it when it was new (and only 60 GB)

3. He is installing said hard drive tomorrow! Yippie Skippie!!

4. I left my coffee on the counter this morning...so sad, I was really looking forward to it because I put yummy chocolate soy milk and a little almond syrup in it.

5. So I settled for a Soy Misto at S-bucks!

6. Speaking of Starbucks... I was invited to a media/blogger event tomorrow at a Starbucks in Boston for a Tea tasting/pairing! I'm guessing/hoping we'll be tasting the new Tea Latte's which I've been dying to try but nervous to order.

7. PLUS I believe I will be meeting some bloggers tomorrow at this Starbucks event!!!

8. Breakfast yesterday was delicious per usual. Last Slice of TJ's Multi-grain bread (cut into two thinner slices)9. 1 slice with Barney Butter, then Raspberry spread over half of the BB (banana slices added later). 1/2 slice with PB and Raspberry, and 1/2 with butter!
10. I had no lunch packed and decided to head over to Whole Foods to see what looked good!

11. The WF's near my work had a taco bar station with the other hot/cold foods!! So I proceeded to make a taco salad (with a few extras)

• lettuces, red onion, shredded carrots from the cold salad bar
• sour cream
• Guac
• shredded cheese
• salsa
• taco chicken meat!! It was like roasted shredded chicken, not ground...mmm!
  
  
• crushed a few tortilla chips on top
• Also:
• roasted veggies (summer squash, Zucchini, peppers, sweet potato)
• pasta salad (couple bites)

Filling and delicious!

12. I blew off the gym last night :( I even drove there!! I was just feeling so tired and I wanted to get to bed earlier!! I am feeling the guilt though. Plus I had to do some cooking/baking for...

13. Tonight I am going to a friend/co-workers house for dinner! She is having fajitas so I offered to make Guac and dessert.

14. First the Guacamole...honestly this is Life Changing Guacamole...the best I have EVER tasted and it's brought to you by Ina! The Barefoot Contessa
15. How did I live before I had this cookbook stand! Seriously!! No loosing your page or trying desperately to keep it open with a can of tomatoes placed in the middle for added weight...plus a shield...because maybe I tend to make a big mess when I cook ;)

16. The recipe calls for lemon juice...I used it, but I also used a little lime juice as well (because I needed it for dessert too)
17. All the ingredients in the bowl (minus tomatoes...added at the end)This is before it is mixed with two knives (mixing and simultaneously cutting the avocados)...it's really chunky!! I'll get a pic of the final product tonight!

18. Dessert...hmmm what would go good with a Mexican feast? Something Refreshing... I'll give two hints (well three if you were paying attention before)

Any guesses????

Well I just finished a late bowl of oats...actually it was up there with the best bowls ever, but I'll post about that later :)

Enjoy your Friday everyone!!!