The Well Dressed Table

The Holidays are already flying by that I haven’t had a chance to share this lovely little get together with you. This month I hosted our book club meeting which varies in size of participants depending on everyone’s schedules, offering a simple meal with a Mexican style rice bowl bar that had very little cooking making it great for a week night.

This month there was eight of us to talk about the book The Longest Night by Andria Williams. The book is about a young military family moving to a remote town for one of the country’s first nuclear reactors at the end of the 1950’s. I thought the book was fluid and well written but focused more on the relationships and personal struggles of the military families where I would have liked to read more on after the nuclear accident.

My sister and I also encouraged donations for families affected by domestic violence with an organization called Safe Futures of Southern CT. We had a few people donate to them directly through Amazon and others brought items to book club. Please take a look at their website if you would like to donate items or to their Amazon wishlist. Nothing gets you in Christmas spirit quite like giving to others and donating time or needed items.

Since I was hosting I wanted to get my holiday decor out. I tend to not go crazy in decorating for the holidays but like to add some small touches to brighten up these chilly and short days. Some are as simple as adding a few greens and touches to all year decor. I decorated our entry table in the photos shown earlier with my rose gold reindeer and garland. The garland was inexpensive bought half off the end of last year, but it didn’t seem quite full enough so adding holiday ribbons added a different texture and color while filing in the gaps. The table had this wonderfully long gold and grey runner from Homegoods that can be used almost any time of year, placing a small red rose flower arrangement with evergreens from my yard to make it more festive. I also took out my geometric lanterns that can be purchased on Amazon HOMEIDEAS Modern Clear Glass Pyramid Tabletop Geometric Polyhedron Terrarium Box,Decorative Succulent Plants Holder 4.3 x 4.3 x 8.3 Inches(Golden) with clippings from my Christmas tree and berries to turn them from everyday to holiday,  just be sure to add an electric candle or place it in a smaller votive like I have here to prevent any of the greens getting in the candle. Then I simply placed various bells from the dollar tree and pine cones that I once baked and painted with gold glitter.

THE MENU: MEXICAN RICE BOWL BAR

This super simple Mexican Rice Bowl Bar was very minimal cooking and easy to prep for a weeknight that suits many tastes by allowing guests to customize with their favorite toppings. All I actually cooked was a large pot of rice and some chicken breast in my crockpot but you could also shred a rotisserie chicken in advance. Rice generally is  about 1/4 c of dry rice per serving, if its a bigger portion of the meal like this I would do a little more. For the crockpot, chicken was butterflied and placed in the slow cooker with about a cup of chicken stock and a packet of fajita seasoning and let cook for 4-6 hours on low depending on the amount of chicken you have and how fast your crockpot tends to cook. Once cooked through shred chicken and set your crockpot to warm until serving. Lastly is the toppings and sides, this is where you can be creative and set your own tastes. None of the sides were cooked and mostly store bought to save time, here are the toppings I used:

Fresh salsa

Rinsed black beans

Shredded Mexican blend cheese

Guacamole

Lime wedges

Scallions

Serve this with a side of salad and you have a complete meal. Make your own simple salad or keep in the theme and simplicity with a Chipotle Cheddar Dole Salad Kit. Hope this little get together inspired you to do some charitable giving along with some holiday decor ideas and an out of the box simple menu to host your holiday get together.

-Ashley