Menu Suggestions???

We just did this for my son's birthday and we had corn bread and a fresh fruit bowl with it. Went over great!

Have fun!
J.

Keep it simple. I just watched my friend try to do the taco-every fixing plus rice and beans fiasco complete with blended margaritas for her one year old's party. I just kept thinking whY??? Just keep it to tacos, maybe have some taco dip, veggies and fruit for sides or appetizers. Remember the party is for the baby.

Have you ever done Taco in a bag? You just buy the small bags of Doritos and people can pile all of the indgredients in there - this was they do not need a plate, just a fork :) It is kinda fun and helpful when people are standing and talking. I know people do this a lot for Grad parties.

Taco bar is one of my favs! We always have cilantro lime rice on the side. Blue corn chips and homeade guacamole are a given....and a new thing that we love with tacos is a Mexican coleslaw! You can get the recipe at www.allrecipes.com. You can also do baked sweet potato fries with sea salt, chili pepper and cumin. That's a big hit.
You can make really good pico de gallo this time of year too. If you don't have tomatoes in your garden you can hit up the farmers market.
Have a ton of fun!!!!
EDIT**** Don't pay any attention to people who rain on your parade by telling you that the party is just for the baby. If the party is for the baby then why don't we serve baby food at 1st birthdays? Everyone drink out of bottles? If you wanted to have filet mignon or sushi or tacos....GO FOR IT! It's YOUR party and do it how you want it! At this age the party is for everyone to celebrate your baby hitting a milestone. The baby will not even care so why tailor it to a baby? Sorry, I got carried away but I hate it when people on here criticize for NO REASON. Have a WONDERFUL party! :)

When we do taco night, we also make cheesy mexican rice and corn cake. Then you can have all the fixing for tacos and nachos. Have fun and enjoy your daughter's first birthday!

Fresh Guacamole and Tortilla chips is good, If you deep fry some bread and put your Taco fixings on it you'll make an Indian Taco! A good Veggie side is Big Bite sized Carrots, Cucumbers, Broccoli & Sliced Tomatoes tossed in Zesty Italian Dressing.
Happy Birthday to your little on!
~M.

Fruit, veggies, quesadillas, fruit salsa with cinnamon chips (a bit different), southwest or mexican rice, a green salad, broccoli salad, pasta salad, cheese/crackers, etc. Good luck and enjoy. It goes fast (we just celebrated our son's 1st birthday 3 weeks ago and what a blast).

One of my favorite summer recipes is a black bean, corn and tomato salad/salsa. It is great all-year round, but especially good with summer's fresh ingredients. It has gotten rave reviews as a salad, a salsa, as well as a topping for tacos and chicken breasts off the grill.

The ingredients are black beans, corn, tomatoes, lime juice, cumin, course salt, cilantro and a little vegetable oil. I also other ingredients depending on what I have on hand, or how much I want to spend. I will add very fine red onions or green onions and/or avocados. Canned ingrediants are ok, but I always use fresh tomatoes and corn in the summer.

I usually just eye this recipe, but would be happy to post more exact amounts if you are interested.

I would round this out with some Mexican rice, chips, salsa and always some fresh fruit (a staple at all our potlucks for the kids).

Oh, another idea that we have done several times over the years is grilled corn on the cob. We have cleaned the corn, prepared foil squares for each ear, and then added a dab of butter and maybe some cilantro or cumin for a southwestern flair. We wrap the foil around the ear and place on the grill for 15-20 minutes, rotating occasionally.

Have fun!

corn on the cob? It's perfect for this time of year and seems sort of Tex-Mexy to me.

Check out the recipe for "Mexican Corn" on allrecipes.com. I've even made it in a crockpot and it works great. I use less jalapenos (cut up five slices in very small pieces) than the recipe calls for but you can alter it to your taste for spiciness...

You could mabye do a taco dip with chips or a fruit bowl is always refreshing to. mabye even some type of rice or a cheese ball with crackers or even coleslaw or a potatoe salad or pasta sald as a side dish. i have a recipe for a really good itaian pasta salad if you would like it. good luck its tough comming up with food ideas sometimes.

Chicken mole, black bean tostadas, corn pudding, mexican rice, and sangria--all from epicurious.com

How about Corn Tomalito also known as corn pudding (did you ever eat at ChiChi's? it's the sweet corn mush). I just did a taco bar for a Tupperware party and it was a hit with fresh salsa and corn tomalito.

This recipe makes about 8 servings, so you may want to double it!

5 tbs softened margarine
1/4 cup corn flour (masa harina, or masa flour)
1/3 cup sugar
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1/2 cup water
2 cups whole-kernel corn (thawed if frozen)Divide into 2- 1 cup increments
1/2 cup cornmeal
******************************************
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp milk

8 X 8 glass bowl (larger for double/triple batches)

1. In medium bowl mix together margarine, masa flour, and sugar until light and fluffy. In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup of the corn kernels with water and cornmeal until smooth. Stir this mixture into the medium bowl with margarine mixture. Mix in the remaining corn and ingredients.
2. Pour batter into glass baking dish and cover with plastic wrap. Let one corner vent by pulling back about an inch
3. Microwave on 30% power for 7 minutes, then 100% power for 4 minutes (may take a few more minutes for each setting if batch is doubled).

Should turn out like a very mushy cakelike form. Use an icecream scoop or large spoon to dish. Better served warm. Can reheat!

Good luck! The kids will LOVE this one!

Mexican Rice & refried beans

J.,
Serve chips and salsa but also make one of those layer dips you see in the stores. I would make it because it is so much cheaper then buying it. The bottom layer is refried beans then sometimes they put some taco meat on it then lettuce sour cream cheese and of course black olives. Also some kind of bean salad would be nice with a taco bar.

Here are some menu suggestions and recipes:

Mexican Fruit Salad
4 cups (about 1-1/4 lbs) halved stemmed strawberries
2 cups mango chunks
2 cups melon chunks
1 cup pineapple chunks
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 1-1/2 tsps ancho chili powder

In large bowl, combine strawberries, mango, melon and pineapple.

Add orange juice, lime juice, sugar, salt and chili powder to taste; mix well. ENJOY!

Fresh Pico De Gallo (serve with tortilla chips)
1 1/2 cups seeded, diced tomatoes
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon diced jalapenos
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons cilantro, plus extra for garnish
Salt and pepper

In a bowl combine all ingredients.

Jicama Chili Sticks
1 1/2 lbs jicama
1 lime, to squeeze on the jicama
1 teaspoon chili powder (more if you like it hot)

Peel the jicama, cut into manageable size pieces and cut into pieces about 3"x1/2"x1/2" Arrange on a paper towel, Sprinkle with lime juice, Sprinkle with chili powder Arrange on a platter and serve ice cold.

For a great dessert/sweet treat you can make Mexican Chocolate Brownies. Just take a brownie mix, and prepare according to directions, but while mixing add 1 tsp of almond extract and 2 tsp of ground cinnamon into the mix. Bake according to directions, then sprinkle semi-sweet chocolate chips on top right after they come out of the oven, once they get shiny they are melted, so you can spread them thinly across the brownies. Cool and serve.

Traditional beverages include Horchata (a cinnamon rice-milk beverage served over ice).

1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar

Pour the rice and water into the bowl of a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let rice and water stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Aqua Fresca is also a traditional Mexican drink. Here is one that uses Strawberries (you can google for recipes if you like).

4 cups strawberries, sliced
1 cup white sugar
8 cups cold water
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges (optional)
8 fresh mint sprigs (optional)

In a medium bowl, mix together sliced strawberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Remove the strawberry mixture from the refrigerator and pour into a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Pour the blended berry mixture through a wire mesh strainer set over a large mixing bowl; discard the pulp and seeds. Add the remaining 7 cups cold water to the pureed strawberries and mix well. Place the Aqua de Fresa in the refrigerator to chill for several hours or pour over ice and serve immediately. Garnish with lime slices or mint leaves.

For something fun, if you have kids coming to the party besides the b-day girl, is a Pinata. There is a store in the Midtown Global Market (in Minneapolis) that has pinatas, party supplies, and party candies that are all traditional Mexican items. It is a fun place to go.

I hope that you and all your guests have a fABULOUS time!

hi J., my two cents for your question:
flan?

i am personally a big fan, and it's fairly easy to make.

here are some recipies:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Desserts/Custards-and-Puddi....

enjoy the party.
M.
studio sam photography

We make guacamole dip for get togethers and it usually goes over quite well. Combine 1 cup of refried beans and 1/2 cup salsa. Spread over bottom of pan (recipe recommends a baking sheet, but I've always used a pyrex pan-it's all a matter of how deep the layers get). Top with 2 cans of sliced olives and 1 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar (I think we end up using more-we like cheese). Stir 18 oz of guacamole until creamy (we use two containers of Dean's gaucamole dip). Spread evenly over the top. You can also drizzle sour cream over the top (use plastic bag with corner cut off). With anything, you can adjust the recipe to taste. Have fun!

Corn on the cob is great this time of year, and I think corn goes with tacos... You could boil it up ahead of time and then reheat/sear it on the grill. Some spanish rice would round out the meal - aside from your dessert (which, by the way, have you seen the "cupcake" cakes that SuperTarget does? All the cute with no cutting....)
T.

What about beans and rice or quesadillas? Cookinglight.com has some great recipes for beans and rice, I'm sure they have quesadillas on there too- you could also just look at Mexican recipes if that's your theme. Best of luck, I'm sure it will turn out great!

We did the taco bar for our twins' 1st birthday & it was a hit! Along with the tacos & fixings, we also had refried beans, rice, a platter of cut up peppers (all colors & varieties--it looked really beautiful), corn cake, chips & dip, and a bowl w/ grapes, canteloupe & watermelon.

J.,

We just did the "taco thing" for our daughter's graduation party. We did walking tacos. I purchased a box of lunch box sized nacho cheese Dorito's at Costco. The guests crunched the chip bag a bit, opened it and filled it with the meat and trimmmings. It was very easy and people loved it!

Here are the fillings we had:
taco meat
shredded cheese
shredded lettuce (pre-shredded, next to bag salads)
tomotoes
onions
guacamole (also bought at Costco)
sour cream
salsa

We also had a bowl of regular taco chips and a 9x13 with a layered taco dip. (refried beans, sour cream, cheese, onion, tomato, etc)

We had fruit shish-ke-babs...strawberry, 2 grapes and a hunk of pineapple on each.

We ordered some small (lunchbox size) cookies from the grocery store and also had a graduation cake.

It was very easy... and everyone seemed to enjoy.

Good Luck!

in mexico they serve carrots, celery and jicima with lime juice and chili powder...really tasty! or guacamole... fruit kabobs

I had a taco bar once and had spanish rice and refried beans. I also went with nacho chips/cheese and salsa. You could also have a variety of salads. At our birthday parties, our family members all bring a dish to pass.

Hi J.-

I'm assuming that the menu is for the adults, rather than your daughter or any of her friends... With that in mind, these are really good, and super-easy to put together:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/JICAMA-AND-C...

Hope you have a great birthday party!

M.

Hi, my daughter graduated from high school this spring and we had tacos in a bag for her open house. Along with this we did offer chips and both nacho cheese and chili cheese dip in crock pots for the chips. We bought the little trays from Sam's Club that you see at sporting events to hold the chips and cheese if people wanted that.(kids love those trays) I also had a couple of taco dip plates ready for the chips too. Blend 1 container of sour cream with a package of taco seasoning and spread on a platter. Top with shredded lettuce and cheese, black olives and tomatoes. Easy and good.I was going to have fresh fruit as a side also but decided not to. She wanted fruit pizza so we did that instead. That was a nice alternative to the fruit. Along with her grad cake and assorted cookies and bars it was great plenty for her 150 guests.