See how Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on the morning show

From margaritas to mariachi, the festivities began early on the Bill Spadea Show Friday in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

In addition to discussing the usual topics along with news, weather and traffic, the morning crew band provided some background music. In all fairness, there wasn't much time to rehearse but the band — which included traffic reporter Bob Williams, anchor Patrick Lavery and meteorologist Dan Zarrow — managed to crank out a few tunes. In addition, some other members of the show including producer Chris Swendeman and First News anchor Eric Scott, joined in playing everything from the triangle to the blender.

But this is the Bill Spadea show, so of course, there was also food. Italian cook Cara DiFalco took Bill up on his recent challenge to create a Mexican-Italian fusion dish. What she came up with was risotto con pollo — a twist on both Italian risotto and the latin chicken and rice dish. In addition, Toniann Antonelli from the NJ 101.5 digital team served up some roasted corn and avocado salsa with blue corn tortilla chips and Capitol Restaurant in Ewing brought over some appetizers.

Toniann's Roasted Corn & Avocado Salsa

INGREDIENTS
2 cups of roasted corn (if using frozen, thaw first)
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
1tbs finely chopped cilantro (optional but recommended)
1/4 red pepper, diced
1 small tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
Juice of one small lime
2 tsp of olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Salt, pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, serve immediately. If making ahead of time, combine all ingredients except the avocado and refrigerate, then dice and add the avocado just before serving. 

Toniann Antonelli is digital managing editor for programming at NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.