Weekend of entertaining

I usually do not entertain the entire weekend, but I may start to do so more often. On Friday, I hosted a women's party, so the friends were at the house for a demonstration and shopping. My menu included:
Marmalade Meatballs (recipe linked)
Taco Dip (recipe below)
Black Bean Salsa (recipe below)
Pizza (store bought)
Vegetable Crudites
Assorted Cheese and Crackers
Buttermilk Breakfast Cake (recipe linked)

Saturday was football day at my house. Some of the women from Friday were coming along with husbands and kids. I had the salsa, vegetables, meatballs, and cheese and crackers do double duty. New for Saturday's menu:
Hot dogs with fresh corn relish
Pizza dip and Black bean dip, provided by a friend
Hoagies, provided by another friend

Seems like a lot to host, but the advantage was that my house was already set up with a table in the kitchen for the beverage area, dining room table for serving food, dining chairs scattered where needed and an exra table for the demonstration on Friday and eating on Saturday! A little vacum in between days, and one major cleanup. Worked very well!

Black Bean Dip

1/2 cup each red onion, red pepper, and green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes with jalapenos, drained
1/2 large tomato, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon Adobo with pepper
1/2 cup frozen corn

Combine all ingredients and chill- preferable overnight. Serve with tortilla chips.


Taco Dip

Layer #1

8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup each sour cream and mayonnaise
Adobo powder with pepper to taste

Beat cream cheese, sour cream and maoynnaise until smooth. Spread onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with adobo powder. Refrigerate.

Layer #2

1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce

Brown the ground beef; drain excess fat. Add taco seasoning mix and tomato sauce to the pan and cook until heated through. Cool.

Toppings

Spread the ground beef mixture on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with shredded Cheddar cheese. Top with: shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, sliced jalapeno peppers, green and/or red peppers, olives, or anything else you like.

Serve with tortilla chips.

I often make this dip for tailgating. I use 2 small aluminum pans spread with the cream cheese, ground beef, and cheese. I pack the toppings in separate plastic bags and add the toppings when ready to serve. The smaller pans fit into coolers easily and it allows to have two servings served at safe temperatures in warm weather.