Fiesta

Hosted a jewelry party last night. It was fun to plan; I decided on a Mexican theme - i had the BEST SALSA EVER at a friend's bday party a few weekends ago, so I came up with the menu surrounding that. Not as many people came as I wanted/hoped for, but we still had a good time!

This was the menu:

• Texas Caviar (that YUMMY salsa which was the inspiration for the theme. I'll share the recipe below since you will want to make it)
  
• Chips and Salsa
  
• Cinnamon Crisps (easy flour tortillas covered in butter and cinnamon sugar and baked for 10 min)
  
• Cream Cheese Rolls (with LOTS of olives - YUM)
  
• Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies (I honestly didn't know what to make for something sweet-ish to fit with the theme, so I googled Mexican treats and this recipe came up and it looked easy. Turns out they are Russian Tea Cakes - which I love - so that was a pleasant surprise)
  
• Lime Punch

So here is the recipe for Texas Caviar:

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 can black eyed peas

1 can shoe peg corn

1 small jar pimentos

1 cup celery (chopped)

1 cup diced yellow/red/orange peppers

1 cup diced red onion

1 1/2 cup cilantro

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Rinse and drain pinto beans, black beans, black eyed peas, shoe peg corn, pimentos. Combine pinto beans, black beans, black eyed peas, shoe peg corn, pimentos, celery, peppers, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl. In a sauce pan, combine olive oil, canola oil, sugar, cider vinegar, and salt. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Add the liquid to the bean mix and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Drain oil and serve.

And here is a picture of the finished (leftover) product:

I will say that mine didn't turn out as "pretty" as my friend's because I used a food chopper instead of doing it by hand - so my chunks are a bit smaller and that makes it look less colorful. FYI.

Anyway, that's it. I'm headed to the kitchen to finish off the Mexican Wedding Cake. MMMM