Entertaining: Mother's Day Dinner Party

            Hi Everyone! I hope you are all having a great week! I wanted to pop on and share the fun Mother's Day dinner I hosted with several of my friends last week. There were 7 of us total and we thought it would be fun to get together for Mother's Day and also do a "favorite things" party. I have never been to a favorite things party and it was so much fun! Everyone bought "2" of their favorite things they enjoy such as something to cook with, makeup, hair products, books, etc. The sky is the limit and then you draw names and each person goes home with "2" new favorite things. It was a lot of fun!

          On the menu for dinner was a Mexican spread that I put together. We had a taco bar, Mexican layer dip, and a black bean & corn dip. For dessert, I made everyone their own personal bundt cake to take home or for dessert. I hope you enjoy this post and thank you for stopping by! Here are the dip recipes from the night and a little about my Mexican menu!

Dinner Menu:

Taco Bar:  Beef tacos & shredded chicken tacos with toppings 

Chips & Queso with Salsa 

Mexican Layer Dip: Which has a refried beans layer, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa with toppings

Black Bean & Corn Dip: It's a great cold but light summer Mexican dip which is always a crowd pleaser

Dessert: 

French Vanilla Almond Mini Bundt Cakes with a chocolate buttercream 

Tablesetting: 

Pink & White theme with pops of color & flowers from our rose bush

Mexican Layer Dip Recipe:

Ingredients:

-1 can of refried beans

-1 taco seasoning packet

-1 8 oz package of cream cheese 

-1 medium size container of sour cream

-1 medium size container purchased or homemade guacamole

-1 medium size container purchase or homemade salsa

Toppings of your choice: I used black olives, shredded mild cheddar cheese,  & cilantro 

Details:

-combine the taco seasoning, cream cheese, and refried beans and place in the bottom layer of your dish or trifle dish

-next, layer on the sour cream

-then, layer on the guacamole & salsa

-then, add your toppings 

-serve with tortilla chips 

Black Bean & Corn Dip Recipe: 

Ingredients:

(I doubled this recipe for a larger mixture)

-1 can of black beans rinsed and drained 

-1 can of sweet corn drained 

-1 green pepper chopped

-1 red onion chopped

-2 roma tomatoes chopped

-1 small bunch of cilantro 

-2 tablespoons of olive oil

-salt & pepper to taste

-1 juice of a lime 

Details:

-start by adding in your beans & corn to medium size serving bowl

-chop up your red onion, green pepper, roma tomatoes, and cilantro

-add everything to serving bowl 

-then add in you olive oil, salt & pepper, and lime juice and mix well with spoon

-I placed this in the refrigerator for 2 hours for the lime juice to soak in but you can serve immediately as well either way 

-serve with tortilla chips 

Hosting a Taco Bar

               Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a great week :) I wanted to stop in to share the taco bar I hosted last weekend and give you ideas if you ever want to do this in your own home or for a party. This was such a fun night celebrating Reed's Birthday with his parents and grandmother. We enjoyed the taco bar and thought it would be fun to share. Taco bar's can be extensive or very simple; either way they are always bound to be a hit!

              I had a simple table setting with polka dot placements with white napkins and a colorful centerpiece of flowers in different colors. This is a great way to add a pop of color to any table. Then, I made one large appetizer dip which consisted of refried beans as the bottom layer, the middle layer I mixed 1/2 cup of mayo, 1 cup of sour cream, and one pack of taco seasoning for the second layer, and then I added shredded cheese,  green onions,  and tomatoes on top. You can serve this appetizer with frito chips or tortilla chips. My grandma or as we all know her as "Mam" makes this and everyone always enjoys it. It is a very simple but great recipe for any party. 

            After the appetizer, I set out several small bowls of toppings, sauces, and condiments for the tacos. This is your chance to get creative with toppings and also your choice of colors of bowls or your serving pieces. The main dish was taco meat & pork carnitas and then everyone could choose a soft or hard shell for their taco and then add whatever they wanted on top of their tacos. This is a fun way to entertain and easy as well! For a couple sides for this dish I put guacamole, cheese dip, salsa with chips and also a side of rice. As you can see, you can make it as large as you want. My taco bar was a hit I think as everyone enjoyed good conversation, company, food, and celebrating Reed. 

            For dessert, I purchased a Nothing Bundt Cake which was Reed's favorite (Red Velvet). We had a great time! I hope you all enjoyed this post and look forward to sharing more parties or events I host in the future. Thank you for stopping by :) xo Have a great week!

travel: Birmingham weekend

hi everyone! happy Monday :) i am finally getting around to sharing our Birmingham trip from last weekend! we had such a great time. it was my first time in Birmingham and I really enjoyed the areas of the city and  all of the fun shopping.

we left on a Saturday morning and headed straight to the barber vintage mtorsports mueseum as reed has been several times and always loves visiting this museum. it was really neat and we spent a few hours there and then went shopping at the summit. fabulous shopping I might add. we had dinner at Johns city diner downtown Birmingham. It was absolutely wonderful! we loved it. 

on Sunday, we had coffee and breakfast at a cute coffee shop downtown Mountainbrook and walked around the area.  on the  way home, we took the long route and went through a few small towns we had been wanting to see and enjoyed a nice Sunday drive.  it was a great relaxing weekend! here are a few fun photos of our trip. enjoy and thanks for stopping by :)