Game Night Menu

Every few months, we get together with my sister-in-law's family for game/movie night.  We almost always have "snacky dinner," which is basically just appetizer-type stuff and desserts.  I try a lot of things off of Pinterest and Allrecipes for these get-togethers, and I can rarely remember later exactly which recipes I tried.  So, I'm going to do better about writing down the menu with links.

For tonight, my sister-in-law said she was probably going to make nachos, so I came up with some things that fit the theme.  We've never made any of these before, except the fresh salsa.

We're taking:

• Beef and cheese empanadas, using this recipe for the filling and this recipe for the dough, plus I added some shredded cheddar cheese because I wasn't totally thrilled about the filling when I tasted it before we stuffed them.  We have enough filling leftover to freeze for another time. UPDATE:  These tasted great but were a little dry.  Next time I'll serve a sauce with them.

• 7-layer dip, using this recipe, except the guacamole is just avocado mashed with lime, cilantro and a pinch of salt.    UPDATE:  This recipe was DELICIOUS!  I will definitely make it again.

 

• Fresh salsa, made my my hubby, with homegrown tomatoes and peppers!
  
   

• And Caitlyn made Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies, without changing the recipe (unlike me she's perfectly capable of following a recipe as written!).  Can't wait to taste them.  She set aside a few extras to make ice cream sandwiches for a Girl Scout patch she's working on.  UPDATE:  This is an excellent recipe and is on our keeper list for sure!

Early on in the process I burned the *#(#@)! out of my hand, forgetting for a moment that the cookie sheet I was picking up had just come out of the oven.  So, while I whined and cried and rocked back and forth for a while, Caitlyn took over and made the dip, most of the empanada filling, and rolled the dough for me while I filled and sealed them.  She's so great in the kitchen and I'm so happy that I got her started cooking at an early age (she was stirring things on the stove at age two and just went from there).  She saved my tail today!  

Is it dinner time yet?  My house smells GREAT!!!