Day: December 14, 2012

The Mission Inn Festival of Lights

The holidays are in full swing and during this special time of the year, I love making memories with my kiddos. The best kind of memories are the ones that don’t cost much money and usually involve hot chocolate.

This year like last year, we plan on heading to the Mission Inn for their annual festival of lights.

The Mission Inn and Spa in Riverside is home to the Festival of Lights. More than 3.6 million (Yes Million!) lights transform this beautiful hotel into a holiday wonderland. The festival features nightly live entertainment, “fresh snow”, and even appearances by Santa and his reindeer. You can even ride around a horse drawn carriage.

The Festival of Lights at The Mission Inn Hotel is now in full swing and will continue until January 5th, 2012.

The Festival of Lights begins every night at sunset and is Free to the public. For additional information head here.

A Posada Dish: Tostadas de Langostino #iloveavocados

I mentioned in my earlier post a little bit  about Posadas and the 9 day procession/Mexican Christmas tradition.  Growing up, I attended a few Posadas during December, and they were always something that I looked forward to. We would sing, be part of the procession and at the end of the night, head over to a neighbor or friend’s house and we would have a big dinner celebration. A different family hosted each night, and let me tell you, I can still remember that food. Homemade Mexican food from little abuelitas (grandmothers), is the absolute best, and the food was plentiful during Las Posadas.

This year, I’m hosting Noche Buena(Christmas Eve) at my house and I’m planning on making tamales with my mom and also  a mix of Mexican and American food. My family loves seafood and this year, I’ve decided to make tostadas de langostino as an appetizer/grazing food, while we get ready for the main course, tamales.

I tried making the tostadas this evening, and they turned out sooooooo good!  Here’s my recipe.

 

Tostadas de Langostino, easy to make and so good!

For this recipe you will need:

  • 1 to 2 pounds of langostino (I bought mine at Costco and it was pretty reasonable)
  • 1 16 0z bottle of clamato juice
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 3 Haas Avocados from Mexico
  • 1 fresh Jalapenos
  • 2 small cucumbers
  • 1 small onion
  • 3 lemons
  • 1 package of tostadas
  • sour cream for spreading (optional)

Use a Large side bowl and add the langostino to bowl. Set aside. Chop tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, onions, cucumbers  and avocados into very fine pieces and add to the bowl. Mix well. Now add clamato juice. Mix well. Squeeze limes and mix well again. Serve on Tostadas. I like spreading a little bit of sour cream on my tostadas to give it a little extra flavor. You can skip this step, if you’re not that fond of sour cream or don’t want the extra calories. Garnish with avocados. It is so easy to prepare and absolutely delicious! It will be a hit at your holiday party!

 

The ingredients. Took me less than 15 minutes to prepare!

This dish could work as a main course or an appetizer. I’m going to serve this as an appetizer. Tamales take a while to be made and my family loves to munch on goodies and this is going to be the perfect appetizer.

 

Just mix up the ingredients in the bowl and season to taste.

I know that my family will absolutely go bonkers over this recipe because it has two of their favorite ingredients, langostino and Avocados de Mexico. If you’re looking for delicious holiday recipes, check out Avocados de Mexico’s Posada page. Chef Pepin shares authentic and new recipes featuring Avocados de Mexico.Click Here to Visit the other blogs in the Blog Hop! Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Avocados de Mexico