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Theme parties are still very popular. Same holds true with theme dinners (even breakfast and lunch for that matter).
What I love about using a theme is that it’s fun! Think “deli” for any meal and it congers up all kinds of homemade goodies.
For our family we think bagels, smoked fish of various kinds, cole slaw, potato salad and kosher dills and for our something sweet-halvah and macaroons.
This works even at dinner for our clan. But if we take deli a more lunch/dinner way then we head for the meat counter. Corned beef and pastrami, Jewish rye with and without caraway seeds, challah (egg bread) with mustards of all kinds, again the cole slaw and potato salad, but we always add some noodle kugel or latkes.
Of I decide on a cuisine-I love to put a twist on the usual.
If we‘re having a Tex-Mex night, I use whole wheat low carb tortillas (I just can’t help trying to cook healthy). I use ground turkey or I will put some pork shoulder in the crockpot with oregano, cumin and some salsa and then pull it for the fillings. I shred the cabbage-real tacos do not use lettuce. I put out a table of toppiings and let everyone do up their own. I serve it with black beans cooked in a bit of cumin. Because I tend to serve more healthy meals, I skip the traditional rice and serve it with a big salad and add black olives, chopped rather than sliced tomatoes, a chipolte vinegarette and a creamy cilantro dressing. Both of the dressings are available in my market.
I’ll serve it with a mango or peach salsa for a bit of a change as well. I love churros, but refuse to deep fry, so I usually serve up with some nice homemade snickerdoodles-cinnamon is a usual spice with Tex-Mex.
Crazy Italian night-since we are a non-dairy household I make our lasagna with tofu in place of the ricotta, use turkey in place of the beef and I use soy or rice based cheeses. Or, I really throw a twist into things and make a Mexican lasagna and use corn tortillas, shredded pork, salsa, skip the tofu and just shred both soy cheddar and pepperjack “cheeses“. Serve with a side salad and the appropriate dressing and dinner is set for a couple of nights-depending on how big you’ve made that lasagna!
Want to go Asian? Try a vegan “fried” rice-I’ll give the recipe on Wednesday-it’s one of my husband’s favorite vegan meals. It’s easy, versitile and heck, it’s great cold for lunch the next day!
What are your favorite cuisines or themes to use? Pirate night? Movie night? Fondue spectacular? Share with us!
See you all Wednesday.
I love themes, complete with music. We do a lot of asian influenced meals living here because the fresh fish is so good and, cheap, at Costco. I bring out the Japanese dishes, make some buckwheat noodles with fresh ginger, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions, we warm some sake, put on Japanese instrumental music, sit on the floor in the living room around the coffee table. Really fun.
But themes of any kind are great for couples, entertaining, and even bringing the family together for something fun and different.
Can’t wait for the fried rice recipe on Wednesday!
love Asian food as well Cynthia. Love the aroma of the ginger and garlic. found some body lotion, shower gel and body splash at Bath and Body Works-green tea and ginger. Very light, but very nice.
I love the tex-mex theme. I too tend to try and follow some themes, even some that i make up, like a comfort food meal. It is fun. I love decorating my table scape with the seasons, holidays too.
I use a lot of comfort food meals in the “cold” months-noodle kugel, chicken and matzo ball soup, roasted (instead of BBQ) chicken. Mashed potatoes, my kids favorite.
Carine,I have a funny matzo ball story to share. My first husband is Jewish. His mom can’t cook but she makes a really good matzo ball soup.
I had them over for dinner and served homemade matzo ball soup. They loved it. I asked my mother in law a question about the texture of the matzo balls. She said, “did you follow the directions on the package.” I responded with, “I didn’t use the package, I made them from scratch.” With daggers in her eyes she said, “I don’t know, I’ve never made them from scratch.” You should have heard the roaring laughter coming from my former father in law! I think my ex husband wanted to crawl under the table as did I!
chocolatier - That’s hysterical. I make mine from scratch as well. I also take out the vegetables after they have been in the soup for a while. I put them in the food processor and puree them before putting them back in the soup. It’s what gives the soup that beautiful yellow/orange color. No artifical powder needed!
Carine - We do many meals similar to yours. But for deli, we don’t do the dill pickles though. We like half sours, sours, or spicy pickles. mmmm.
We also do a French dinner every couple of weeks. We buy really good french bread, mustard, salamis, cheeses, really good butter, and fois gras (for me). Of course, my husband and I usually crack open some wine as well. We had taken the kids to Paris last year and had this meal several times for lunch (while on the go, in a park, whatever). It’s been a family tradition ever since.
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Chocolatier-I love the story!!! LOL! My MIL couldn’t cook her way out of a paper bag or to save her life, so you can only imagine what goes on here. My hubby, a constant joker, always says “just like my mama used to make“, everyone laughs uproariously-cuz the woman can’t do scrambled eggs or a cup of coffee!
annie123-sounds delish. We do prefer the half-sours, but most people don’t even realize there are such things, so I always say kosher dills.
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