Party

Because Man is still located about 5000 miles from home, the girls and I decided to throw a wild Halloween Party. We ended up with 8 teens, 4 little girls & 3 moms and a very interesting night.

On the buffet bar:

• Tyson chicken bites
• Lil' Smokies swimming in BBQ sauce
• Hotdogs wrapped in strips of pizza dough to resemble mummies
• veggie tray: cucumbers, carrots & brocciflower with dip
• artichoke hearts & garlic/butter
• tortilla chips & salsa

For drinks, we had sodas & punch.

For sweets: candy, caramel apples (that were made at midnight!), candy-coated popcorn & cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Check out Not Just Strudel for the cinnamon roll recipe.

Haus Kitchen - the Aftermath
The food disappeared too quickly for photographs!

Haus Orange Punch

• one can of Minute Maid orange juice blend & 3 cans of water
• one can of Bacardi Piña Colada frozen mix
• several scoops of tropical rainbow sherbet
  
• 2 liters of Sprite or Ginger Ale

Haus Salsa - Definitely the Best in Europe

• one large can of whole tomatoes in the juice
• large fistful of fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed & mixed with a bit of salt to make a paste
• about 2 tablespoons of onion
• about 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• about 2 teaspoons of cumin
• one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• jarred jalepeños - to desired heat preference
• about one tablespoon of lime juice

Throw everything into the blender or food processor & thoroughly blend. Serve at room temperature.

Personally, I think I make kick-butt salsa & since the girls practically licked the bowl clean sometime during the night, I must assume that they concur. I'm glad they liked it, but my plan for taco salads the following day just went down the tubes.

Salsa Notes: I've never actually measure my ingredients, so this recipe is my very best guess as to what I threw together last night. On the peppers, I prefer to use fresh jalepeños &/or poblano - even better if they are grilled first, but my reality is that flavorful Tex-Mex peppers just aren't readily available here in Belgium. And, the Old El Paso out-of-the-jar ones work just fine and dandy.

Leftover potential: The salsa will keep in the fridge for a few days, but will taste mucho better if not cold when served. Allow to set out for a bit first or nuke for a few seconds on 1/2 power. Salsa can also be frozen & added to Tortilla soup later.