Taco Night!

This past Wednesday, the Sun and the Wolf encountered their first and now ongoing challenge: vegetarian friends.  Recently, two of our regular guests decided to go vegetarian (We recognize that this is much easier of a challenge for us than if they had gone vegan... thank you, friends).  So from now on we must try and cater to these friends (as well as those with nut allergies, fish hatred, and the like).  Taco night it is.

We decided on options for both kinds:  chicken and chick peas.
This was again one of our cheapest meals.  11 people, $5 a head.  $55 and we broke even.  This may have been because we had a lot of the ingredients already in our possession, but hey. 

The fillings:  shredded chicken, veggie option, rice, black beans, refried beans, tomatoes, Florida avocados (the big ones), black olives, radishes, cucumbers (weird and not much of a success but seemed like a good idea at the time), salsa verde, pico de gallo, green peppers, limes, shredded cheddar and shredded Mexican blend, limes, jalapenos, sour cream, and cilanch.

The chicken:  The Wolf prepared the 8 drum sticks that we had hanging out in my freezer with Adobo and salt.  He cooked them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.  The picture doesn't do them justice at all but the skins were pretty delicious.

After this, he, his lovely fiancee the Witch, and I pulled the meat off the bones and shredded the chicken.  He then covered them in taco seasoning and heated them up when it was time to serve.  They were delicious.

The rice:  The Witch has some sort of magical secret that cooks the rice in about 5-10 minutes (or so it seems).  I think that the trick is she puts the rice in first and then pours in the water.  The effect is slightly crispier rice that cooks way faster.  She used Sazon (Goya brand) for color.

For the vegetarian filling:  I (we) chopped up green peppers, a yellow onion,  one celery stalk, and garlic.  I sauteed that picture with a tablespoon of olive oil until soft but not browned. We mixed that with a can of chick peas and half a can of pink beans.  I mixed in two teaspoons of Sofrito (a garlic, onion, and tomato paste) and about half a jar of mild salsa.  I added a healthy helping of ground cumin and coriander.  It took about 8 minutes and then we let it sit until it was time to eat.  The cumin, coriander, and celery are key.

                                         It doesn't look like much but it was pretty damn good.

                                                                       The Spread

Different taco combinations:

Another successful meal.  Two of our regular guests told us it was their favorite so far. 
Next time: even more vegetarian options.