Guacamole

EASY Guacamole

I love guacamole. I still think about when I was in Cancun about 15 years ago, and for dinner one night it was a buffet of Mexican food. And on that line of food was a tub full of about 20 gallons of guacamole. Heaven....

I've read lots of guacamole recipes and thought they seemed too difficult, and didn't contain one of my favorite ingredients that I consider a MUST for Guac...fresh garlic.

So here is a very easy recipe for an awesome tasting guacamole. Get lots of chips, because this stuff rocks!

Here are the ingredients...

We'll just make a small bowl today, so we'll need:

2 avocados

1/2 cup of salsa

5 cloves of garlic

A couple shakes of Cumin

A couple shakes of salt

Some Lime juice

Start by de-pitting the avocados...

Then peel the skin off the avocado....

Put the avocado in the bowl and spray on some lime juice for flavor AND to keep it from turning brown

(Probably about a Tablespoon or so)

Mash up those avocados with a big fork. It doesn't have to be real creamy...some chunks are fine.

Now, those beautiful cloves of garlic. I always cut the stem end off...don't want stems in my food!

Time for a frosty beverage break! Today, it's a Blue Hawaiian. Tasty!

Chop up the garlic with the handy chopper for a nice dice.

Add the garlic to the smashed up avocado. Get every last bit out of the chopper!

Next in is the 1/2 cup of salsa. Any kind is fine.

Now, just a couple shakes of cumin...

And a couple pinches of salt...

Now, mix & mash it all together.

Have a chip handy so you can dig in and give it a try.

Season with a little more salt or cumin or lime, if needed. Otherwise, just get some chips on a plate and get yourself a heaping pile of guacamole.  Enjoy!

Salsa: Not The Dance!

About ten years ago there was a potluck at my job.  Someone brought a bowl of salsa.  It was really more like a pico de gallo, but he called it salsa and that is what I call it. 

It was so good that I kept going back for more.  Finally I asked for the recipe and stopped on the way home for the ingredients.  John came home to find me making food. After he fell over and I revived him, he tried it.

He liked it, too. A new favorite was born. 

We decided to blog about it after we started, so there isn't an ingredient stack picture.  But you will see the parts.  There isn't really a recipe, but you know when it is right.

You start with tomatoes.  I like the Roma for this.  They are meaty without too much juice.  Once you get things mixing, there is a lot of juice.

I strain the chopped tomatoes to cut down on the liquid. 

The first time I made this I used a food processor. That is what the recipe told me to do!  I am a recipe girl.  That is why I enjoy baking.  You add the ingredients in the right order and the correct measurements and you have success.  John likes to experiment.  We later got the Vidalia Onion Chopper and it saved us.  It chops them just right.  We love a gadget!

We add peppers.  A couple of green ones and a yellow one.  It makes a colorful salsa. 

Then we add a red onion.  I don't know why they call it a red onion.  It is really more purple.

Then John minces up the garlic. We buy garlic in bulk.  No vampires coming to our house.

Then there are olives.  I don't like olives.  I really don't like olives.  Not black ones.  Not green ones.  When I got the recipe and saw olives, I was shocked.  I tried to make it without them and something critical was missing.  So I added them and it was right.  It is the only thing I like olives in.  John chops them up super small so I can't see them.  Isn't he nice?

We add cilantro  It gives it a really fresh flavor.  I actually prefer the dried cilantro for this.  I have used fresh and it really changed the taste.

Lots of lime juice.  We use about half of one of those little fake limes. 

Then we add salt and pepper.  With all the tomatoes, it takes a lot.  We haven't been eating much salt lately so I thought I'd added too much at first, but it was better after adding another tomato. 

The last thing you add is the avocado.  You need to mix all the other ingredients and get it all tasting right before you add the avocado, so it doesn't get all smooshed up.  Dice up the avocado and fold it in.

It does take some testing to make sure it is right.  At a point all of it magically comes together.  The flavors are so fresh.  It is summertime in a bowl.

We have to taste it to make sure it is perfect.  Scoops were made for this salsa.

We also got new mixing bowls...perfect for holding fresh salsa. This stuff is so good it will always all get eaten at potlucks or big dinners, so make sure you save a little so you can have some for yourself!

Homemade Granola

I always thought granola was something that only hippies and hikers ate. I discovered it's actually pretty good if you don't put stuff like raisins in it! Here's what Jo & I do to make homemade granola. It's very healthy and lasts quite a while. And for us older folks, it packs a good supply of fiber! :)
Our ingredients...

Our dog, Stevie, is anxious for anything that might fall on the floor. Gotta keep it clean!

We start by whisking up about half a cup of egg whites. This will help mix everything up, and put a nice crispy, brown coating on the finished granola. We also add about 1/2 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of applesauce.

Continue whisking and add about 1/4 cup of Splenda and some cinnamon (about 1-2 Tablespoons).

We also like the extra crunch and fiber provided by about 1/2 cup of rinsed quinoa.

Flax seed is another thing we like to add to the granola.  About 1/2 a cup.

For the quick oats, we add enough to get them evenly coated...probably 7 cups.

And almonds. Not the roasted, salted kind. The whole, raw almonds found with the baking products. I love raw almonds, and they are at their most healthy state when raw. They always remind me of Christmas at my Grandma's house, because she always had raw almonds in the shell in the mixed nut bowl. You had to use nutcrackers to get them open.

We like adding some raw coconut as well. Then spread it all out in a large pan (spray it with Pam non-stick spray...we use a deep-dish pizza pan). It may take 2 pans. Spread it thin enough so it will brown all the way thru.

Bake at 400 degrees until it starts browning on the bottom. Then...

Cut into sections so it's easy to flip. Flip them over and return to the oven for a few minutes to finish browning. Take out of the oven and let cool. Then break it up and store in ziploc bags. It stays well for a couple weeks.

No Sugar Added Apple Crisp

So yesterday I was writing about cravings.  I had been thinking about apple crisp for a couple of weeks.  I really wanted some warm crisp topped with ice cream.   But alas, this is pretty high calorie stuff.  

I decided to experiment with a no sugar added apple crisp.  We had most of the things we needed already.  I have been eating the weight control oatmeal for breakfast.  We had apples already so we started it up.

I pulled out the apple corer/slicer from my Pampered Chef days. I sold the products just long enough to earn the gadgets.  That is how much I love gadgets.

I did forget how it worked, so there was a little more peel in the first apple than I intended.  This resulted in one of John and I's kitchen tiffs.  I kept turning, he wanted me to stop.  We worked it out.

The second apple went better.  I used one Red Delicious and one Granny Smith.   I liked mixing it up a bit.

We sprinkled it with about a teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg and two teaspoons of Splenda. 

I had this idea before we started.  I know myself and wondered how I would control myself with a batch of apple crisp.  So we put them in single serve ramekins!  We intended to make two but ended up with enough for four.  John added a little extra cinnamon at this point.

 

 

Then we sprinkled each with the oatmeal. 

 

 

 

 

Then we melted a couple tablespoons of butter. 

 

 

We drizzled this over the oats.  Next time we will probably toss the oats with the butter to crisp it up.  At this point, John and I talked about how to cook them.  John thought we should cover them, I didn't think so.  So we decided to test it out. 

We covered two and left two uncovered.

We also picked up some frozen Greek yogurt.  Well I got Greek, John got just regular frozen yogurt.  They were right next to each other.   We saw on Dr. Oz that it is way lower in calories than regular ice cream.  

After about twenty minutes we pulled the foil off of John's crisps and put them back in for a few more minute.  Then we pulled them out and let them cool for ten excruciating minutes.

We added a scoop of frozen yogurt and dug in.  They were awesome.   It was exactly what I'd been craving.  I can imagine them for a dinner party dessert.  I could have them all ready to go and just throw them in the oven during dinner. 

Delicious. 

Editor's note:  With the frozen yogurt, this dessert is only 185 calories.  That is awesome!