Wednesday 1 October 2014

Thanks to Santa Maria for our Mexican family night in !


Santa Maria (formerly known as Discovery) sent us through a fabulous box of goodies for a Mexican-themed family night in.


It contained everything we needed for a Mexican feast - soft tortillas, fajita seasoning, guacamole style topping, salsa, red jalapeños, onion & garlic dip and some nacho rolls. If you're nodding your head but saying "ah yes, but my kids don't like spicy food", rest assured - Santa Maria sent us both a hot and a mild fajita seasoning mix so even the kids could tuck in without complaining about it being too spicy. I also cook the chicken/vegetables then reserve some before adding the seasoning, so that anyone prefering totally unspiced chicken is also catered for.


The nacho rolls were something we'd never tried before and they're lovely - they have a light crunchy texture and the kids preferred them to the usual tortilla chips. They have a delicious sweet chilli flavour which isn't very spicy at all so everyone loved them. The onion and garlic dip was great with the nacho rolls but also with carrot sticks - the kids loved them so much, in fact, that I had to go and cut up some more mid meal, which got absolutely no complaints from me !


I usually make my own guacamole and salsa but I have to say, the Santa Maria squeezy bottles were not bad at all - everyone loved them and they were certainly a time saver. I usually put sweetcorn and salad out too but there was no sweetcorn in the cupboard and the salad had touched the back of the fridge and frozen solid - oops ! We also like to sprinkle grated cheese on the top of our chicken before rolling it all up.


The kids always love fajitas because they get to choose exactly what they want to put inside their wrap (you'd be surprised how much veg they pack in without me even suggesting it  - cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn and grated carrot are always popular, plus the red/green peppers, mushrooms and onions that I put in with the chicken). They also love the fact that they can eat with their hands !


Sadly, frozen margaritas weren't on the menu, unlike in my favourite Mexican restaurant, but we did have a lovely Frozen DVD to watch which was great too, and definitely more popular with the kids ! We'd never seen the film before and, to be honest, I wasn't sure the grown-ups would enjoy it much but I was won over by the fairy-tale storyline, the humour (my favourite character was the cheeky snowman !) and the songs.

If you don't know the story, it focuses around two sisters, Anna, an eternal optimist, and Elsa, who has the magical ability to turn things into ice and snow. When Elsa accidentally hurts her little sister, Elsa's powers are hushed up and the girls are kept apart until she learns to control her powers. Following the death of their parents in a sea storm, Elsa prepares to take the throne, but things go wrong when Anna declares her sudden desire to marry Hans, a prince that she has only just met. Elsa refuses to give her blessing and the emotional outburst accidentally reveals her powers so she flees the castle, leaving the kingdom in an eternal winter.


 Anna chases after her sister, enlisting the help of mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven, along with a very funny snowman named Olaf. They find her, entrenched in an ice palace, and the girls are reunited but tragedy strikes (again) and Anna's heart is frozen. The only thing that can save her from becoming a block of ice is an act of true love. Luckily, there's plenty of love waiting in the wings, just not where you may have expected to find it.

It's a really nice, family-friendly, feel-good movie and was the perfect way to finish off our evening.

Disclosure : We received a "family fajita and film challenge" box of goodies.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Bye bye Discovery, hello Santa Maria canapé challenge

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