Safari Dinner

As all know, we are in a global pandemic and life is a bit upside down for everybody. That being said, yesterday was day two of quarantine from work, but not for my husband. Kevin works for a local hospital and has been setting up triage and testing sites day and night with the help of the national guard. He will literally leave at 9 PM get home around 1 AM and head back to work by 8 AM. The kids and I really wanted to do something special for him so we planned a Safari dinner, as seen in the movie No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta Jones.

My kids faces were lit up the entire night. To sit on the floor, as a family and eat dinner under a tent, with string lights... it was the perfect evening. I chose an easy menu, one that could be made ahead.

Chicken taquitos are clean to grab and eat - no utensils needed! I sauteed two chicken breasts and then cut into bite size pieces. Next, added a 1/2 cup of corn chipotle salsa, 1/2 cup of Mexican four cheese, and 2 tbs of taco seasoning. It is important to warm the tortillas to prevent them from ripping - a minute and 20 seconds usually does the trick. We normally use corn tortillas, but the flour ones worked amazing this time! Once you spoon a few spoonfuls of the mixture onto the warm tortilla, you simply roll it up and place the open side face down on a baking sheet to prevent it from opening. Bake at 400 degrees, for 18 minutes.

Rice and beans - I am working on getting a recipe up for this one. The beans use my mom's homemade sofrito, which she makes for me, freezes it into cubes and I use a few cubes per can of beans. Sofrito can be store bought but it is incomparable to the real thing!

Steamed broccoli drizzled with garlic olive oil. I heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a small pot with thinly sliced garlic cloves. Heating low and slow until the garlic just begins to turn golden in color. . Once the broccoli is steamed and drained, I drizzle the garlic oil right on top.

Lastly, the chili taco cheese dip in the middle, which is one of my most popular pins on pinterest! Find the recipe here.

What are some other themed dinner ideas you’ve done, or would like to do?