Happy Cinco de Mayo, friends!

In preparation for Cinco de Mayo I decided that the time had come to try my hand at making a serious spread of killer mexican food.

We all know I LOVE mexican food. I cook it all the time and none of the menu items were exactly new to my kitchen. But this time I wanted to make ALL of my favorites at one time. And of course post the pics and recipes.

So I sat down a wrote a list of my favorite mexican treats and it ended up looking something like this:

Tamales

Enchiladas

Flautas

Rice

Refried Beans

Guacamole

Tomatillo Salsa

Warm Taqueria Salsa

Pico de Gallo Salsa

Mango Salsa

Sangria (since my amazing neighbor Toni makes a kick as sangria. She didn't disappoint)

Then I looked at this list and thought, "Crap, thats a lot of food to cook at once." And it was. But I did it anyway because I wanted it all and couldn't bring myself to nix someone off that list. The results were delicious, and pretty darn nice to look at too.

Here is a little look at our fiesta. First the main dishes:

Yes folks, that is all vegan. Crazy, no? Thats enchiladas with 'beefy' crumbles and my favorite red sauce. I also made  Vegan  Slow Cooker Carnitas and used it to fill both the Flautas and the Tamales. These carnitas look so much like pork it's almost spooky and they taste simply devine! They are made by slow cooking canned jackfruit (in brine, not syrup!) and they did not disappoint. Recipes coming very soon.

Then there were the sides. I kept it classic here and made my usual Spanish Rice and Easy Slow Cooked Refried Beans. We also grilled corn and served it with cilantro, lime and chili powder. Why is grilled corn always so good?!

Also on the side were 5 salsas. Yup. That's right 5 (if you count the guac as a salsa). Perhaps I got a little salsa happy, but there is no such thing as too many salsas so never mind. Here is a look at them.

Again with the salsa I wanted to keep them all pretty classic, just have a nice spread of traditional mexican and tex-mex flavors in an all vegan style. The top left is Warm Taqueria Salsa with it's savory fire roasted tomatoes slow simmered to soften there usual acid into a mellow, smooth flavored salsa. But don't be fooled into thinking this one is tame. It's got one serious heat kick. The top right is Tomatillo Salsa featuring roasted tomatillos, jalapeños and lime. Tangy, bright and one of my favs. Then in the middle is the tried and true good-on-anything Pico de Gallo. Mashed Avocados + Pico = Guacamole, and diced mangos + pico = Mango Salsa. That rounds out the salsa selections.

To top off the perfect Cinco de Mayo feast my talented neighbor, Toni, made sangria.... SWOON! See it here with all that lovely boozy fruit sweetening up the wine just enough to holds its own against a table full of spicy. It was perfect!

Our dog, Henery, enjoyed the festivities as well, and managed to get in a couple of good naps even during the photos and feasting. After a few sangrias the guest looked as relaxed as Henery. Full bellies, and lazy eye lids were had by all!

Hope you enjoyed the glimpse into our Cinco de Mayo festivities! I cannot wait to get all of the individual recipes posted. You get a sneak peak of the salsa and tamale recipes above. See that Carnitas filling? Amazing!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!