Are you as excited for the first Happy Hour post as I am???  Maybe not?  Well, I’m excited.

Like I mentioned in the last post, Saturday our friend Josh had a birthday BBQ at his place in Walnut Creek.  (Happy 26th Josh!  We had a great time on Saturday!) We had a great time catching up with friends and soaking up the sun in the backyard.  Sadly, we had to cut out early because Alexis was having a Cinco Uno de Mayo dinner party at her place in Oakland.

I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to make my first Happy Hour combo!  I decided on something to go with the theme: homemade margaritas and fiesta bites (yes, I named them myself).

Fiesta bites were inspired by one of the appetizers at the Bar Method party last weekend.  The caterer made little bites of steak and salsa with sour cream on top, which were good, but I thought were lacking a little spice.  I decided to make my own with chicken and some hot sauce.

These bites take a little preparation, but they pack a punch flavor-wise and are a real crowd pleaser.

To make these, I bought Tostitos Scoops, because they make the perfect little cup to hold all the components of this appetizer.  To each chip, I added a piece of chicken (I cooked a chicken breast in the oven — 350° for 30-35 min — in some olive oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin), some salsa (I used Trader Joe’s Salsa Authentica — it has good flavor and a little heat), some avocado which I mashed with salt, pepper, and some Sriracha hot sauce, then I topped it off with a little squeeze of Fage 2% Greek yogurt.  The yogurt I just scooped into a Ziploc bag, which I then cut the tip off of so I could squeeze the yogurt onto the chips easily.

There you have it, Fiesta Bites!

A little effort translates into some very delicious finger food.

To pair with these, I made margaritas which I adapted from one of Ina’s recipes.

These margaritas are somewhere in between a frozen margarita, and an “on-the-rocks” margarita.  You can always add more (or less) ice depending on how you like yours.

To make these, I used 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (yes, this did make me wish I had a real juicer, instead of just a reamer), the juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup of triple sec, 1 cup of white tequila, a squeeze of raw agave syrup, and about 3 cups of ice.  All this was blended in a blender, then served either straight up or over ice.

This is a tart, frothy margarita which doesn’t have that syrupy sweetness of those store-bought margarita mixes (which I really can’t stand).  It’s pretty strong, so consider adding 1/2 cup tequila to start, then adding more to taste (this is a good technique to follow with the agave as well — add a little, then add more to taste so it doesn’t get too sweet).

These can be served with or without salt.  And, if you’re craving a frozen margarita, add more ice; or, (if you want to get really fancy), throw the blended-up mix into an ice cream machine for 15-20 minutes.  Yum!

Alexis’ dinner was super yummy.  She made corn and flour chicken enchiladas from scratch (even the green sauce!):

She served the enchiladas with roasted avocado corn salsa, black beans, sour cream, and cabbage in a cilantro-lime dressing.

Clearly, I didn’t like any of it.

Clearly.

For dessert Alexis made Mexican wedding cookies (one of my all-time favorite cookies):

Oh man, deliciousness overload!

KC and I ended up staying way past dinner and dying laughing over Carey’s 3rd grade yearbook.  Good times.

I hope you guys had (or have) some fun plans for Cinco de Mayo.

Ok, off to get dinner on!  Later!