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Menu advice/critique?
Hello, I'm planning a (vegetarian) Mexican/Latin American inspired dinner for 10 people on Saturday, and I think I've got too much planned, but I'm being indecisive about which dish to eliminate. Here's my menu plan:
Appetizers: Cheese & Chili Empanadas with salsa
Entree: Bean/Cheese/Veg Enchiladas with Mole sauce
Sides: Mexican rice; Grilled Veggies with Cilantro-Lime marinade; Cheesy Creamed Corn; Lime-Scented Strawberry-Mango Salad
Dessert: Chocolate Kahula cupcakes
I want to eliminate one or two of the side dishes... I can either add more veggies to the enchilada filling and skip the grilled veggies, or I could add more corn to the enchilada filling and skip the creamed corn. Or I could cut out the fruit salad, since both the grilled veggies and the fruit salad have a lime dressing (there's a LOT of lime going on in this meal!).
Any suggestions? I have a serious case of indecision this week.
Thanks!
Re: Menu advice/critique?
If anything I'd say the creamed corn, but I think you have a good balance of items for 10 people.
Why do you feel the need/want to elminiate?
Keep the corn!!! I'm biased because I just made it, and it's awesome!!!
I think what you have sounds great, actually. If you have to do away with something, I guess I'd skip the grilled veggies since you already have veggies in the enchiladas.
I seriously want to come to your dinner!
I'm just trying to protect my sanity... I'm a super busy grad student, and I always tend to overdo it when I take on fun projects like this... I'm making the empanadas and the mole sauce from scratch, so there's a lot of prep work (most of which can be done well ahead of time).
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm still mulling it over... I was almost tempted to cut the corn out, but I just had my husband taste-test a sample batch, and he was like "mmmm... this is really good!", so now I'm inclined to keep it again. And I agree that cutting out the grilled veggies seems reasonable, but I LOVE grilled veggies (plus my husband can do the grilling while I'm making the corn dish).
Eh--maybe I'll just go ahead and plan on making everything, and if things get too crazy, I'll just cut a dish as needed.
Thanks again!
Alright, needed to know where your head was at, and I am the same way, so I totally understand. Can you make the enchiladas and empanadas tomorrow and then bake them on Saturday?
I'll definitely make the empanadas ahead, and the enchilada filling. But I don't want to assemble the enchiladas until the day-of, because I don't want the tortillas to get too soggy.
My planned cooking schedule is:
Tonight: assemble and freeze empanadas (I made the dough yesterday); make mole sauce
Friday night: bake cupcakes; make enchilada filling; maybe start some chopping/prep work
Saturday morning: frost cupcakes; chopping/prep work; make veggie marinade; make fruit salad and chill
Sat. afternoon: haul everything to my friend's house (they host; I cook); assemble enchiladas; marinade veggies for grilling
Sat. evening: while people are eating empanadas and mingling, I'll make the Mexican rice; while enchiladas and rice are in the oven (it's a baked rice recipe), I'll make the corn and my husband will grill the veggies.
That's the plan anyway... we'll see how it goes!
I would keep it all, but do margarita cupcakes instead.
I def think you need to keep the veggies - the rest sounds really heavy.
74 books read in 2011
I agree, which is why I think I'd drop the creamed corn, if anything.
And I seriously considered margarita cupcakes! I actually wanted to half margarita and half kahlua chocolate, but the kahlua cupcake recipe makes 24 (and has an odd number of eggs, so not easily halved). ...and the friend who's hosting doesn't like fruit, so I decided on the kahlua...
Out of curiosity, do you have a favorite margarita cupcake recipe... you know, just in case I change my mind?
No, no, no on the corn. Seriously, people will LOVE it and be so surprised on how good it is. If anything, don't worry about pureeing it. That's how I did it for DH, and it was so, so good.
These are the margarita cupcakes I'm making next week: http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/?p=1261
Mmm.... those look fantastic. Darnit! This is only ADDING to my indecision!
Ok, off to fill the last of the empanadas...
Good luck and have a great time!
74 books read in 2011
I'm a bit late to this but wanted to tell you that your menu sounds yummy! If I were going to cut anything, I would cut the creamed corn but keep the grilled veggies!
The cupcakes sound delicious! Good luck!
Thanks! I just spent the whole night making mole sauce (I'm already behind on my prep schedule), and... I don't like it. I keep fussing with it trying to make it taste "right", and it's just kinda "meh".
I might just toss it and go buy some jars of the premade stuff. Boo.
The empanadas were fantastic--a huge hit! And the fruit salad was amazingly good--so simple and fresh and yum. The grilled veggies and Mexican rice were great, and the enchiladas were fantastic too! I was able to rescue the "failed" mole sauce by adding 6 times as much chocolate as the recipe called for and letting it simmer for an extra 4 hours...
The chocolate kahlua cupcakes were a huge dud. The cupcakes were sticky and really bland, and I couldn't get them to release from the silcone cups. The frosting was decent, but only after I added a ton of extra chocolate, coffee and kahlua to it. We ended up buying a cake mix last-minute and using the kahlua frosting on that (and dumping the gross cupcakes).
Sadly, I did run out of time for the corn dish. Things were just too nuts, and it's not a great time of year for fresh corn here anyway. So I'll save that dish to wow people another time.
ok here is what I would do. if you want to get rid of something get rid of the corn. and to make it alot easier on your sanity and prep schedule you can always make the enchilada into an enchilada casserole. It's what I do for a large group. (I have vegetarian, gluten free peeps) it does make it a lot easier to assemble and serve. its taste great too. good luck and have fun