Fiesta Friday!

This is the big celebration weekend in which we are celebrating DS with a taco buffet. We hosted a family potluck in which other dishes were added to what I prepared. I provided what you see in the picture: taco'd lentils (see MwM entry), spicy refried beans, shredded romaine lettuce (lg bowl), corn cut into peices, grape tomatoes, green peppers, onions, black olives, sweet mustard dressing (yellow container), homemade taco sauce (red container), and corn chips. A salad I made from memory (and improvised) turned out so well I'm going to share it. My sister-in-law asked for the recipe and said that she really enjoyed it.

Here it is:
DORI'S SOUTHWESTERN BEAN AND CORN SALAD
Cut kernels off one 7-8 inch ear of corn into a bowl and combine with the remaining ingredients.
1 1/2 C black beans
1 C garbanzo beans
1 C diced sweet red peppers
1 C diced sweet green pepper
1/2 finely minced onion
Dressing:
To 3/4 C of my sweet mayo dressing add 2 Tbsp taco flavoring powder (like the kind you would add to 1 lb of meat). Mix well and stir into veggie bean mix. Allow to sit for 2 hours for the flavors to meld.

I added this salad to the top of my shredded romaine lettuce and placed guiltless gourmet chips, black olives, and a slice of corn on the side. I enjoyed sweet mustard dressing (check on the sweet mayo dressing link above for recipe) on the side. DS also got to pick the sweet treat on the Friday meal. He chose white and chocolate cupcakes with big frosting. We stuck grad hats in them. I used a Bryanna (see side bar) recipe to make these and tubed on the frosting. I also didn't get much sleep Thursday night.

It was worth it. We had a nice time visiting with DH's family. Now we will do it again tommorrow after church with my family and friends in our town. DS is getting lots of attention and presents.


One other item of note. Our cat has not returned, but I am almost postive his son was brought to us today (it has the same exact 'M' on the forehead that our cat had). A neighbor came over with the kitten and let us know that they are pretty sure our cat had been visiting their cat frequently. They also think that he may have been hit by a car. Well, here is our dog's new pal... baby Tiger.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend blogger friends!