Happy Cinco de Mayo! Entertaining Tips and Recipes for Your Party [Video]
Happy Cinco de Mayo Latin Business Today viewers!
It’s an absolutely gorgeous day and I’m ready to give my party guests the perfect fiesta!
Cinco de Mayo is all about the traditional Mexican takes on décor and food so watch my video for some extra tips on perfect guest take-aways to remember your fiesta!
I’ve had some great food inspiration this week— I attended the grand opening of the brand new state of the art distribution facility of Goya brands in Jersey City, NJ on Wednesday and was reminded of the broad array of products that they manufacture catering to a wide breadth of Latino cultures. There are so many new things they are adding in to their product assortment so keep up with all of their updates on www.goya.com
A mock up aisle of Goya products that goes on forever at the grand opening-ribbon cutting ceremony this past Tuesday.
They are the largest Hispanic owned business in the US. They truly understand the nuances of providing a wide breadth of Latino products that appeal to the diverse assortment of cultures that get included in the “Hispanic checkbox”. Being Latino is not so easily defined as this one little “x” would imply.
Every one of these cultures has its own identity and familiar comfort foods that speak to its people and are a part of their heritage. They know that one culture’s version of beans and rice is not the same as every other. The Goya company speaks to “La Gran Familia” when it speaks to each of its customers, employees, and partners in manufacturing—although Goya is a big business, it maintains a very down to earth family oriented culture and has many philanthropic causes that it strongly supports.
A spectacular event hilighting the history of the Goya brand, and showcasing many of its products at the very tasty luncheon.
Who doesn’t know their slogan: “If it’s Goya, it has to be good!”
This foodie lover event couldn’t have been timed any better to get me and my taste buds in the mood to create a fun fiesta menu for Cinco de Mayo….
I always enjoy adding in new recipes for all of my parties, but I do have plenty of go to “tried and true” recipes that my guests consistently expect to see at the table, many of them being Latin inspired. I actually had some very disappointed guests one year when I decided to substitute a new dip other than my super spicy 7 layer bean dip so I’m always careful to keep some old favorites as my regular party staples.
One of the places I like to start when I prepare my party menu is to go to my trusty family book of recipes. My mom gave a copy of this book to my sister, my brother, and myself a few years ago after much begging to her to write these recipes down. There were some traditional Mexican dishes that we just didn’t know how to make like fresh flour tortillas, menudo, tamales, barbacoa, pan de polvo–and we wanted to make sure that we had these treasured recipes in our hands to practice and share with our new families and friends.
She surprised us by not only including some of the more complicated dishes, but also filling in with many of our childhood favorites like chorizo and eggs, tostadas, empanadas, bunuelos, pan de levadura—and including little notes about how she learned these from her mother, or a sister-in-law, etc. It truly is a treasured book.
My brother, sister and I making pan de polvo cookies in the early 1980’s
And now that my sister, brother and I are adults and have been hosting our own parties and get-togethers, we have our own additions to the recipe book from our own food experiments together at each other’s houses or at our annual beach week in the summer.
My family recipe book—Sabores del Pasado y Favoritas de mi Vida.
Some favorites dishes of mine—tamales, guacamole, posole, frijoles and don’t forget the cocktails—sangria and fresh mango margaritas!
My sister and I host a winter holiday party every year and some of my favorite Latin infused dishes include Scallop Ceviche and that 7 Layer Bean Dip that I mentioned. For winter I love posolé and for summer I love fish tacos with lime cole slaw topping. My brother and I try to eat a very gluten free diet so I like incorporating corn tortillas and quinoa in my new recipes. And when it comes to cocktails, we love our fresh margaritas, sangria and bellini punch!
I’m excited to share a few of my favorite Latin infused party dishes with you. These are great recipes that will kick off the beginning of the summer party season and keep your guests happy all summer long!
Next- The recipes! Starting with Scallop Cerviche…