Sunday, April 8, 2012

Tutu and Taco Party!


One of my girlfriend’s birthday is coming up, and she likes to celebrate her birthday for a WHOLE WEEK. And she has a theme (this is her sixth year running). This year, the theme is tu-tu’s and top hats. A couple of us girls decided that we must make our own tu-tu’s. So I decided to host a taco and tu-tu party. That’s right, awesome homemade tacos followed by making our own tu-tu! 

We were having about ten people over to the house for dinner, so I decided to make my lentil tacos, as it seemed to be a good way to feed a lot of people for not too much money. I bought homemade corn tortillas from HEB, and for toppings I made some guacamole, bought a jar of salsa and sour cream, shredded some jicama, and crumbled queso fresco. Ended up being less than $15 total for a wholesome and very filling meal. Below is my recipe- it was enough for everyone to have 2-3 tacos with some leftover for dinner the next day:


Lentil Tacos:

1 bag of lentils
2 jalapenos, diced small
1 onion, diced small
1 packet of low sodium taco seasoning
4 crushed garlic gloves
2 cups of broth
4 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour oil in a large stock pot. Fry the garlic, jalpenos and onion until soft. Mix in the broth, water, lentils, taco seasoning and salt and pepper. Cover and let cook for 30 minutes or until soft. Stir every five minutes or so. Warm the corn tortillas so they are soft and pliable (we used our griddle to heat lots up fast), top with yummy ingredients of your choice, and enjoy!

For our tu-tu’s, everyone bought about four yards of fabric and some elastic. Most of the girls used the technique listed here. I choose to take several different pieces and colors of tulle and ruffle them (this tutorial is pretty straight forward if you’ve never tried it) using straight stitches with my sewing machine. Since I was basically using scraps of tulle that I have been carrying around for at least four years, none of the ruffles were wide enough to wrap around my waist. So I pinned all the finished ruffles together to form one piece of ruffled fabric that would wrap around my waist. Once I finished sewing the ruffles together, I sewed a ribbon onto the waist on either side so I could tie it in a bow. The pieces were all a bit different in length, so I cut the completed tu-tu across the bottom in jagged triangles. Took me about 15 minutes to whip up, and I was pretty pleased with the result. Very fairy princess and I am happy to have de-stashed my fabric pile. Here is the finished result:

And all of us together:

 
After reading this, I hope you feel the need to invent reasons to wear a tu-tu and make one of your own! =)

2 comments: