Fiesta Food and R. Kelly for MDW

It's Memorial Day Weekend. This used to mean insane dieting and exercise for Vegas. I had a phase. No judgement...

Now it means hanging by the pool with good friends and firing up the BBQ. This year, I decided to do Mexican. I went to the specialty Latin market down the street and bought ingredients for a fiesta feast! Here's was I made:

Rainbow salad
Homemade guacamole
Carne asada tacos
El pasto tacos

Rainbow Salad:
1/2 purple cabbage sliced very fine
2 tomatoes, diced
1/3 bunch of cilantro
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium sized jicama, diced (my absolutely favorite!)
10 radishes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
Rinsed black beans

Directions: Cut, slice and dice everything and make it together.

This salad is so incredibly filling and so full of super amazing flavor. I don't care much for dressing of any kind (except the few I make myself - saving that for another post) so I topped this giant rainbow with a scoop of homemade guacamole and lime.

I hate to give away my guacamole recipe, but I feel like I owe it to the world. It's just too good to keep from people.

Mama's Homemade Guac
5 avocados, mashed
2 tomatoes
4-5 closed of garlic, diced
2 spicy jalapeños
1/3 bunch of cilantro
1 whole shallot
3 limes, juiced
salt

Directions:
1. Cut avocados in half, slice and scoop into a bowl. Mash it until it's mostly smooth with a few chunks left throughout.
2. Diced tomatoes and shallot. Mix in.
3. Diced garlic and jalapeños. Mix in. Be careful not to touch your face after... Lesson I learned the hard way.
4. Dice cilantro. Mix it in.
5. Juices your lime and add salt. I think salt is a preference. I personally like it on the plainer side, but I know I'm the minority. So add what you'd like.

Mix all of this madness together and let it sit for a few hours. This is the key. Give all of those magical flavors an opportunity to work together. This guacamole is a huge crowd pleaser. Great for BBQ's and get togethers. Try it. Please. It's amazing.

For the tacos, we did carne and el pastor on the BBQ. I don't like pork, and I'm trying to eat less red meat, so this was not on my personal menu. I forced the boys to be healthy though and bought La Tortilla Factory Whole Wheat Low Carb Tortillas. So bomb. I usually have them with my eggs whites in the morning. 80 calories, 18g carbohydrates, 12g FIBER! and 8g protein. And they taste good. WHAT?! Yeah...

Last night I went out dancing with my friends for their birthday. I had such a blasty blast! The DJ played all the best jams! Nelly, T-Pain, R. Kelly. I was just a dancing queen! My feet are killing me. But well worth it. Happy birthday Kate and Lynds. I love you babes.

I did a class with Linda yesterday and I am very sore. It's certainly going to take me a bit to get back into my groove, but I'm feeling good about it. One day, one meal, on hour at a time.

Happy holiday weekend everyone. Be safe.

SM