A Taco Party of Joy

Last weekend, we gathered at our friends' house for a wonderful potluck taco party. Their house is up in the mountains with a beautiful little meadow filled with fruit trees and surrounded by redwood trees - so the setting was really wonderful. Plus, great friends, delicious food, and great weather. It was super awesome. Eventually, the mosquitos chased us inside for cake... but who would complain about that?

a totally great time.

Our charming hostess Ms. A went all out. First, she made the Life-Affirming Queso Dip from "Oh She Glows," which was pretty much irresistible. Any time I got more than 10 feet away from the picnic table, I would start to feel separation anxiety about being so far from this precious, precious queso. I'm so glad she made it, because I've had my eye on this recipe in the book!

Ms. A also made these beautiful and tasty Raw Ceviche Cups in endive leaves. They had hearts of palms and cilantro, and other yummy stuff. Also, look at the pretty red endive!

Then, there was this giant bowl of beautiful Salsa Verde. Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats has a deep love for salsa verde, so he was totally stoked. Plus, it was sooo good. Alana says the recipe is from a book called "Cooking in the Moment." It was really super.

Mr. J brought along some of his super good bourbon-soaked tofus with Mexi-seasons. They were a perfect combo of sweet and spicy, cut into pleasantly huge chunks, and overall totally great.

Grilling corn and warming tortillas on the grill - as you do.

Ms. N brought the corn and that was a GOOD IDEA. It was my first corn of the season and it was delicious and I was happy and I like corn. The end. 

As for me, I brought along a big veggie mix taco filling - made with summer squash, red onions, and mushrooms; sauteed with garlic, thyme, oregano, red chili flakes, and cumin. Yumz! I also brought a huge pot of homemade refried beans, but there is just no way to take a pretty picture of that.

Plate #1, of many

Ms. A also made some really great Jackfruit Carnitas (from Vegan Eats World), and some beautiful pink pickled onions... but I think I accidentally got over excited and started eating tacos and stopped taking pictures. 

It was fun to have so many fillings to choose from and mix and match! After a few tacos, I abandoned the tortillas all together and just starting nomming on all the different fillings... it turned out to be a really great variety of veggies, proteins, fresh, rich, chewy, crispy... A taco party is a great potluck idea!

 I couldn't decide which picture was cuter, so you get to see them both.

 Of course there was dessert! My birthday is coming up, so the most excellent Ms. N made a really pretty Tres Leches Cake - topped with vegan whipped cream and giant strawberries. YUMS. As you can see, the little guests at the party were quite excited about this whole cake situation. What you can't see, is that us grown-ups were just as jazzed! ha ha. Suffice it to say, there wasn't any cake left over!

A taco party made for a really great dinner party potluck - highly recommended for some summer fun of your own!