Monday, April 5, 2010

A very happy Gluten Free Birthday Party

Saturday was Ernie's Big 28th birthday.  We hosted friends at my condo for a Mexican Fiesta with lots of gluten-free treats.  Here was our menu:

Mexican Corn Bread: this bread did not taste gluten-free, though I messed up the recipe and added 1/2 cup butter instead of 1/4 cup.  It did taste rather buttery.  The corn bread took a LONG time to make - probably about two hours in total. 

Jalapeno Poppers: Jalapeno poppers were a hit!  They're healthier than the deep fried version and were pretty much gone within the first 30 mintues of the party.

Mexican Chicken Casserole: I liked this the best and felt like a solid contributor to the heartyness of the party.  Later that evening, we ate more of the chicken casserole stuffed into soft corn tortilla shells.

Pico de Gallo: this recipe first surfaced on the blog as a salsa topping for our Mahi Mahi.  It's very tasty with tortilla chips.

7 Layer Taco Dip: I think the trick to a good 7 layer taco dip is adding the taco seasoning to the refried beans and also mixing the cream cheese and sour cream. 

Bean Salad: I was skeptical of the bean salad but it was actually a good additioni to have some more veggies to the spread.  I hope this freezes well, as we had a lot left over!

Ernie's famous Guacamole: Everyone loves the guac, it's always gone in a flash. 

Fruit Salad: A mix of pineapple, grapes, apples, pears, oranges, strawberries, etc.  The left overs have become our morning smoothies.

Cookie-Brownie Bars: I love Betty Crocker's new gluten-free mixes.  These taste just like the real thing! No one really noticed that these were gluten-free!

Cupcakes (ok, these were the only treats not gluten-free):  I used Pillsbury's Easy Frost frosting from a can which tasted quite good and was very easy to apply. I highly recommend this - though I hear it's tough for cake decorations. Ernie's attept at my graduation cake was with this frosting can!  There were still about 15 cupcakes left.  I could have skipped making these, but then how would I know how fun Easy Frost is?!

Stay tuned for a video of Ernie's birthday break-dance...

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