Blogiversary with Chocolate Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo, Beautiful People! It coincided with my blogiversary – a year since I clicked on wordpresss.com and jumped into the blogosphere without the slightest notion as to what to do and what to expect.  I thank all of you, awesome bloggers, for letting me learn from you and supporting me on this exciting journey! Let’s have some beautiful Mariachi music and party!

When I ran a school and a summer camp, I conducted weekly International Food Festivals, with a different theme every week.  One of the themes was a Mexican Fiesta. Kids were divided into four teams: Sombrero factory, Serape factory, Maracas factory, and Taco Bar.

Each team decorated their “products” to the extent of their imagination. As you see, sombreros were printed on construction paper, colored with crayons, with ribbons glued to both sides. Serapes were cut out of large brown paper bags donated by a nearby supermarket. Marakas were made of paper plates folded in half, filled with dry beans and stapled at the rim. All very simple, basic, and quick, the sooner to get to the Taco Bar.

The Taco Bar featured three toppings: chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows, and jelly beans, and each topping cost a sticker. You earned a sticker by exchanging a product of your factory for a product of another factory. For example, if you are making sombreros, take one to the Serape factory whose workers need sombreros, exchange your sombrero for a serape, and in addition to that serape, you get a sticker. You repeat the same operation at the Marakas factory. If you want a double or triple topping, all you have to do is make more things to do more exchanges. As you see, the camper on the photo is happily shaking marakas with three stickers on it!

The line to the Taco Bar is growing, campers are grabbing plates and cups. We are using large taco shells, smeared inside with a choice of chocolate or marshmallow spread – or both! A teaspoon of the spread is enough to hold the toppings without spilling over. Then a scoop of each topping is “sold” for each sticker, and twenty five excited chocolate-smeared kids line up to compete for the privilege of breaking the pinata. Have you ever seen Mexican jumping beans? That’s what these guys look up, jumping up and down, waiting for their turns to throw the ring on a giant inflated sombrero.

The winner gets to break the pinata, under adult supervision, and candy pours out for all to enjoy! Viva Mexico!

Next time you are organizing your kids’ birthday party, you might want to have this low cost, but high fun fiesta!

INGREDIENTS (for 25 kids)

• 50 – 60 ready-made large tacos
• 3 16 oz jars of pareve chocolate spread
• 2 16 oz jars of marshmallow spread
• 2 16 oz bags of chocolate chips
• 2 16 oz bags of mini-marshmallows
• 1 16 oz bag of jelly beans

PROCEDURE

Smear a teaspoon of chocolate or marshmallow spread, of a combination of both inside each taco, add toppings of choice, a scoop (tablespoon) each.

Enjoy!