Category: recipes

Lots of Love and Lobsters

Posted on by Amy
Miss has been overflowing with love these past few days. She’s always a pretty loving girl, but these past few days she has been extra affectionate. Example: A couple of days ago we spent 10-15 minutes sitting on her bed, during which time she said over and over again, “Momma, I wub you Momma!” and “I wub you so much Momma” and “Momma, I so pwoud of you!” and “Awww, I wub my Mommy!” She gave hugs and kisses and patted my back and snuggled up to me. I was soaking it up.
These days she’s giving extra love to me, to her baby doll “Big Baby,” and all her other special toys that she sleeps with (Elmo, Bear, and Teddy Bear). She does this funny little wiggle and scrunches her face up when she is saying how much she “wubs” something or someone. It is enough to make me turn to mush.

Of course Miss doles out the love to her sister too. “I wub my Lass” (she uses Lass’s real name though), “Weew (we’re) best fweinds.”

Sometimes she gives love to her sister a little too much. . .

She’s also giving extra love to our dogs. “I wub my Tessa,” she says. We recently found out our older dog has liver cancer and I have explained to Miss that she’s sick. Yesterday Miss took one of her play pots and put some toy food in it and kept trying to give it to the poor dog. I asked her what she had made for Tessa and she said “I made chicken soup for Tessa to feew betteh!”
I don’t know what has prompted this outpouring of extra love from my big girl, but I’ll take it. I am trying to burn into my brain the feel of her little squeezes and the sound of her voice saying, “I wub you Momma.” I never want to forget her little wiggle as she nestles up to me and coos “Ooo-hoo-hoo, you so pwetty Momma.” The love from my girls. It’s like a drug and I can’t get enough of it. It’s a salve for the moments when I am tired and crabby and snap at Miss more than I’d like to admit. Today has been a day with too many of those not-so-lovely moments, which is probably why I’ve chosen to write about these, my little loving girls. This is the stuff I need to think about when I’m feeling frayed, worn out, frazzled, from the stuff of being stay-at-home Mommy. I need to think about it because it lifts my spirits instantly, but also because I need to remind myself that if I wasn’t stay-at-home Mommy, I might not get these moments, or maybe not as many of them. And I wouldn’t miss them for anything.
And now on to my “Chopped” adventure and recipes for the week. This was my third week of our home version of Chopped. The ingredient this week was lobster. I have never cooked lobster before, and only rarely ever eaten it, so yesterday I splurged at the grocery store and bought five lobster tails. My idea was to use the lobster in two ways. I wanted to make it into a salad and use it as a kind of stuffing for an open-face halved avocado, and then make a stuffing to put into a split lobster tail. I used mostly the same flavors in the two stuffings. It went very well and the finished meal was delicious, if I do say so myself.
Here’s the recipe:
I used 5 lobster tails (though you could probably use 6, or even 7; see below). Three of them I boiled for 8 minutes, as instructed, and the other two I took out after about 6 minutes, since I was going to use them as the stuffed lobsters and didn’t want them to get overcooked when putting them into the oven with the stuffing. However, in retrospect, I would cook all of the lobster tails for the full 8 minutes. See my comments at the end of the recipe for how and why I would do this part differently.
Lobster Salad
3 boiled lobster tails, broken into small pieces (I’m sure you could also use lump crab meat)
1 stick melted butter
1 Tbsp minced capers (rinse capers before chopping them)
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients together and put in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes, just to let it thicken up a little. Don’t chill too long or the butter will solidify and the salad with be very thick and dense (if it does get too cold, you can just mix it well to break it up again and it will be fine). Cut 3 avocados in half (I used 2, but there was enough salad to do 3, I think), remove the pit, and spoon the lobster salad on top. You could also serve this salad on a bed of spinach, or maybe in a wrap or sandwich or with crackers.
Stuffed Lobster Tail
3 Lobster tails, cooked and split down middle (I used 2, but there was enough stuffing for 3, maybe even 4)
3 pieces white bread
2 scallions, minced
1/2 Tbsp minced capers
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 stick melted butter
1/2 tsp dried dill
Combine all ingredients but lobster to make stuffing. When I made this, I took two lobster tails out of the boiling water a little early for this part of the meal. As mentioned above, in retrospect, I would do this differently and go ahead and cook all the lobster tails for the full 8 minutes. I took the two tails out early to try to prevent over cooking the lobster, since I planned to stuff the tails and then put them in the oven. However, one of the tails I took out early was not cooked enough to even be able to get it out of the shell (it was still mushy). So I put it in the microwave to finish cooking the meat and used it as one of the three lobster tails in the lobster salad. I used the other tail that I took out early (not sure why this one wasn’t as undercooked and came out of the shell easily) and one that I cooked the full 8 minutes to do the stuffed lobster tails, and they both ended up being a little bit overcooked after baking them with the stuffing inside. So, bake the stuffing separately at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Then stuff it in the split lobster tails, as shown below.

While you’re stuffing the tails, preheat the broiler. Put the stuffed lobster tails under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the top of the stuffing and warm the lobster a bit. Plate it with a stuffed avocado and serve. I probably should have prepared another vegetable to complete the meal a bit better, and I know the way I served it makes it look kind of like a goofy face. I couldn’t resist.

I’m really proud of how these recipes turned out. I got a little bit of inspiration for the stuffed avocados from a novel I was reading (the main characters ate crab-stuffed avocados that were steamed), but other than the beginnings of an idea, I came up with these recipes on my own, using an ingredient that I was not familiar with cooking at all. And other than changing the process of cooking a little, I would not change the recipe at all. This week was really fun, as my husband was very impressed. I think pretty soon we’ll be switching to two ingredients each week (to be used in the same meal). Happy eating!

Grits with a Twist

Posted on by Amy

Yes. Today’s ingredient for our home version of “Chopped” was grits. I hate grits. In trying to figure out what the heck to do with them, I remembered that there was actually one time when I had grits and liked them. It was in Charleston when my husband ordered Shrimp and Grits. For once they weren’t, well, gritty. So, I set out to do something similar, but different, so it would be my own creation, rather than just trying to copy another dish.

With this in mind, I thought about the jambalaya recipe I sometimes make, and decided to make a southwestern version of jambalaya, with grits. Weird? Yep. Stay with me.
I planned to brown some sliced chorizo sausage, then saute some onions in the drippings from the sausage, add some garlic, coat the grits with the fat, then add the liquid to cook the grits and some other stuff to make it flavorful, and voila! Super yummy and ingenious dinner, hopefully not too gritty. Didn’t quite work out that way, but close. Here’s what I did:
Southwestern Grits

Canola Oil (about 2 tsp)
8 oz chorizo sausage, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
salt
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup quick grits (I couldn’t find regular grits up here in Yankee land)
1/2 roasted poblano pepper, chopped
1 tsp minced chipotle pepper from a can of “chipotle peppers in adobo sauce” (I squeeze the excess sauce off the pepper before mincing it and make sure I don’t include any seeds to minimize the heat)
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup sour cream
Things started out the way I had planned. I got my pan hot over medium high heat, added about a teaspoon of the canola oil, threw in the chorizo, browned it up, then removed the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate. Added about another teaspoon of oil, threw in onions and bell peppers with about a half teaspoon of salt to get them softened and browned up a little bit (I hadn’t initially planned on using bell pepper, but decided to throw it in when I grabbed one while grocery shopping).
Everything was going according to plan up until this point. Then I became indecisive. I had planned to use a little bit of wine to deglaze the pan. But I also had planned to put the grits in with the onions and fat to get them coated with fat before adding in their cooking liquid. I couldn’t really do both of these things properly, so I made a quick decision to go ahead with the wine and deglaze the pan, then reduce it quite a bit and add in the grits at that point. In the confusion about this step, I forgot to add in my garlic before the wine, which isn’t a huge problem, but I usually like to add it before I put the liquid in. Anyway, I put the wine in, deglazed the pan, remembered to throw in my garlic, and reduced the wine about half. Then, like a dummy, I forgot that I wanted to put in the grits first, and I poured in the can of tomatoes and the chicken broth before stirring in the grits. Oh well. I stirred, brought it to a boil, lowered the heat to medium, and put the cover on the pot to cook the grits for about 5 minutes (as indicated on the package). I’ll add here that the package also said to use 3 cups of water (though I wanted to use chicken broth instead) with 3/4 cups grits, and I’m not sure why I just used 2. Maybe because I thought the little bit of wine left and the sauce from the tomatoes would make up for that last cup?? Whatever, I probably should have added a bit more broth.
Anyway, after the grits cooked for about 5 minutes and started to thicken, I took the pan off the heat, added the lime juice and cilantro and tasted it. The grits were still a bit gritty. I didn’t love the consistency of the dish, and it needed more salt. So, I added salt and threw in a half cup of sour cream to improve the consistency. What I ended up with was a good, though not great, dish for dinner. It was kind of spicy, but not too much. It had good flavor, if not wonderful texture. It still needed more salt, but I tend towards under-salting everything since Miss eats what we eat and we can always add more salt at the table.
What I would do differently:
I would probably skip the wine altogether and put the grits straight in with the onions and peppers and fat. I am so curious if that would have helped get rid of some of the grittiness.
I would also skip the bell pepper. It added a little bit of sweetness and some interesting texture, but it seemed out of place and just didn’t really work.
I would remember to put my garlic in before adding the grits. Oil, sausage, oil, onion, garlic, grits, then liquid.
I would use more chicken broth. I think too little liquid is the other contributing factor to the grits still being a little gritty. I think I’d use 2.5 cups. I’d also make it regular rather than low-sodium broth, to help with the need for more salt.
I’d wait longer before serving to let the grits absorb the liquid better. Though this wasn’t an ideal dish, my husband and I both had seconds, and I think they were less gritty after sitting a little longer.
Overall, the dish was a success I’d say. It was edible. It was even tasty. Like I said, my husband and I both had seconds, though Miss took one bite and said, “I want a beenah (banana) pweese.” It could have been better, but I’m pleased with my first attempt at cooking something that I don’t even like. I initially told my husband that I would not make the dish again, just because I don’t like grits. But I have a nearly full container of quick grits in my pantry, so I might as well try it at least one more time. I’m curious if it will be better if I do it with the changes I mentioned.
I don’t know my next ingredient yet. My husband mentioned maybe flank steak. But we’re traveling next week to the Farm and I told him I was not ready to take this show on the road yet, so he has some time to decide.

“Chopped” at Home

Posted on by Amy

My very favorite TV show is “Chopped” on The Food Network. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a show with 4 chefs as “contestants.” They have to cook three courses for the judges: appetizer, entree, and dessert, and they have to use each of the 4 ingredients provided in the “mystery basket” for each course. They mystery ingredients are usually pretty kooky and they don’t know what they’ll be until they open the basket, right before they have a limited time to cook their dish (20 minutes for an appetizer and 30 minutes each for the entree and dessert rounds). Fruit Loops in an entree. Miso paste in a dessert. Gummi bears, rice cakes, powdered strawberry milk, and on and on. It’s not uncommon for there to be ingredients I’ve never heard of in the baskets. After the chefs cook their dishes, they are tasted by the judges and the chef with the worst dish gets “chopped.” You get the picture. If you’ve never watched it, I highly recommend it for great entertainment without all the trash that is so often found in prime time TV shows (it’s on Tuesday nights at 10 EST).

Anyway, my husband and I love the show. It’s so fun to see what the chefs will come up with at the spur of the moment using the most insane ingredients. So, we decided to do our own little Chopped adventure at home. Except it isn’t a competition. I’m the only contestant. And no one gets chopped. I hope.
We are currently working on a list of ingredients. Mostly I’m leaving this task up to my husband, and he’s having some fun with it. Fortunately for me (and for him I guess since he has to eat what I cook), our Chopped Challenge is a lot easier. I have only one “mystery ingredient” each week. And it’s not really a “mystery” in that I get to know about it in advance and plan what I want to do with it. This is obvious since I do all the grocery shopping. The tricky part of it is that I am not allowed to look up someone else’s recipe that uses the ingredient. I have to come up with the recipe for whatever I make on my own. I do lots of cooking and have made some delicious dishes, but I have done very little recipe creation to this point in my culinary maturation. So I’m a little nervous, but also very excited.
Last week, my husband gave me my first assigned ingredient. We have already had some confusion in this process, as he told me “grits” but I heard “Ritz” (as in crackers), so I was planning a recipe using the latter and when I started talking to him about it he looked at me like I was nuts. We managed to figure out the disconnect, and decided that I could use Ritz this week and next week will be grits. Yikes. I don’t even like grits. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it I suppose. For today it was Ritz crackers.
I started out thinking I would use the Ritz with some ground venison to make meatballs, and then just went from there. I scrounged in the pantry and refrigerator and used what I had on hand for this entire recipe. I was pleased with the outcome, though there are some things I would do differently next time. I will give you the recipe as I prepared it, and then tell you what I didn’t like about it and what I would do differently at the bottom. So without further ado, here’s my new recipe for the dish I made today.
Not So Swedish Meatballs
1 lb ground venison or beef (probably could use pork or turkey too)
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
1/4 cup soy sauce
25-30 Ritz crackers, crushed (Miss had a blast crushing these for me in a Ziploc bag)
8 oz Egg noodles
Canola oil (or olive oil, or vegetable oil)
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves minced or pressed through garlic press
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup white wine
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
Prepare egg noodles as indicated on package.
Combine first 7 ingredients (through Ritz crackers) thoroughly. Roll into about 1.5-inch meatballs. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add about a teaspoon of the canola oil. Once the oil is hot, put 5-6 meatballs into the oil. Sear the meatballs, but don’t worry about getting them cooked all the way through (about a minute or two on each side). Remove to a plate, add another tsp of oil, and repeat with 5-6 more meatballs. Repeat these steps until all your meatballs are nicely seared. Add about another teaspoon to the pan and add the onion and half-teaspoon salt. Stir until the onion softens and starts to brown. Add garlic and stir until fragrant (30-60 seconds). Pour in the wine and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by about half, then add in the soy and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then add the meatballs back into the pan. You may need to add a bit more chicken broth, as you want the liquid to cover the meatballs at least halfway. Cover the pan to let the meatballs finish cooking, 7-8 minutes. Put some egg noodles on a plate and top with some meatballs and sauce. Serves about 4.
The outcome of this recipe was very good. It had a very rich and full flavor. Browning the meatballs and onions and then deglazing the pan to make the sauce and putting the meatballs back into the sauce to finish really gave a nice flavor to both the sauce and the meatballs. But, it was just a bit too salty and a little bit heavy for me. I was a little afraid of this, since the crackers have salt on them, and obviously soy sauce is super salty. And the trick with meatballs is that you can’t taste them before cooking them, so I just had to hope I didn’t have too much soy. Unfortunately I think it did have just a bit too much. My husband raved over it, but he tends to like things more salty than me. Also the sauce was too thin. I knew this when I served it, but it had taken me so long to make the dish, I just said, “screw it” and served it as it was instead of thickening the sauce. Otherwise, I think the dish was great.
What I would do differently:
Less soy sauce in the meatballs. I would reduce the amount of soy sauce to about 1/8 cup and increase the lemon juice to 2 Tbsp. That would really brighten the flavors and decrease the saltiness a bit, while keeping the richness of flavor. I might also add more thyme. Honestly the reason there was so little was that I just got sick of picking the leaves off and was trying to hurry.
I would add some sort of thickening agent (a rue, cornstarch slurry, or even just a little butter or cream added off the heat) to the sauce, and also probably add more of the low sodium chicken broth to make just a bit more sauce than what I ended up with.
Next week (deep breath) grits!! I actually already have a plan forming in my head, so here’s hoping it will come together!!

The Best Cookbook Ever.

Posted on by Amy
I am having serious technical difficulties. I still can’t get my iPhoto to work properly. In fact, right now I can’t even access any of my photos in iPhoto. I was going to do a post with lots of pics from our visit to my parent’s house, but now I can’t even pull photos from iPhoto to upload them here. So, Plan B.
I have been meaning to write about this cookbook. I know I have written about it’s larger predecessor, “The New Best Recipe” from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated. I’ll call that the Mother Book. It really is the Mother of all cookbooks. I still love the Mother Book. However, though the recipes in it are some of the most delicious I have ever tasted, they take forever to cook. You can read about my adventure in making Coq au Vin (and find the reference for the Mother Book) in my post “The Next Iron Chef?” (I guess I thought I was hot stuff after that particular cooking feat!). It was awesome, but recall it took me about 3 hours. I made it when Miss was barely mobile, and it was doable then, but now that she is all over the place and Lass is on the verge of motating (is that a word? My spell check tells me it is not, but I like it and am going to use it anyway. . . Okay, I had to check. It is in the Urban Dictionary – “To move from one location to another with slickness and style.” I’m going with it). Where was I? Oh yes, I no longer have time to take 3-hours to make dinner, no matter how delicious it is. Enter “The Best 30-Minute Recipe” by the same authors.
Oh, how I love this book. It is the first, and often the only, cookbook I reach for when I’m planning meals for the week. The recipes are fast, and most of them can be made in only one skillet. And they are tasty. Seriously, just as good as the longer recipes I’ve made from the Mother Book. The authors don’t use what they call “second-rate convenience products” (and I call over-processed crap) in the recipes to make them quicker either. They use high quality, whole-food ingredients, sometimes in very clever ways that make them work fast. The book includes tips to make the recipes come together more quickly as well as some options for some additional things to make the recipes even more flavorful if you have a little more time (I’ve never tried these and the recipes are amazingly flavorful without them). I will say that, though the book swears they timed every recipe and included prep time in their 30 minutes, many of the recipes are just not doable for me in 30 minutes with the prep time. Perhaps if I were a professional chef who could wield a chef’s knife with super speed, I could do it in 30 minutes. But alas, I am merely a housewife. And though my knife skills are improving, they aren’t really all that great yet. So, some of the recipes, especially the ones with lots of fresh veggies needing to be chopped or otherwise prepped, take longer than 30 minutes, but still never more than 45 or so.
Some of the things I have made from this cookbook include Curry in a Hurry, Skillet Paella (yes, paella in about 30 minutes!!), Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Artichokes and Cherry Tomatoes, Skillet Vermicelli with Chorizo Sausage and Black Beans, and Stir-Fried Shrimp and Snow Peas with Coconut-Curry Sauce. All of these dishes are fabulous. On the menu for this week are Pan-Roasted Chicken Parts with Lemon-Thyme Jus, Un-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto, Sage, and Porcini, and Pan-Seared Shrimp with Parsley-Lemon Butter. Yum. The book has recipes for calzones, meatloaf (I know!!), baked ziti, and on and on. Some that I am particularly intrigued by include Saltimbocca, Lamb Patties with Yogurt Sauce, Risotto with Seared Scallops and Tomatoes (they use orzo), and lots of Asian-style dishes like Lo Mein and Pad Thai.
Here is one of our favorites. Miss loves Mac and Cheese. Okay. My husband and I love Mac and Cheese. This is the most delish Mac and Cheese ever. No need for draining pasta. Real cheese. Super flavor. All done in one skillet. And this one has almost no prep work, so it really does cook in 30 minutes. Give it a try.
Skillet Macaroni and Cheese (From The Best 30-Minute Cookbook*)
3 1/2 cups water (plus more as needed)
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
12 ounces elbow macaroni (3 cups)
Salt and ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (this is the key ingredient, I think!)
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1. Simmer macaroni: Bring 3 1/2 cups water, 1 cup of evaporated milk, macaroni, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to simmer in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, stirring often, until macaroni is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Thicken and flavor sauce: Whisk remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk, cornstarch, mustard, and Tabasco together, then stir into skillet. Continue to simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
3. Add cheese: Off heat, stir in cheeses, one handful at a time, adding additional water as needed to adjust sauce consistency. Stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.
I love cooking. It brings me great satisfaction to put something healthy and home cooked on my table for my family. And it’s even better when that something tastes awesome. The end.
*Editors of Cooks Illustrated. (2006). The best 30-minute recipe. America’s Test Kitchen, Brookline, MA.
And now, since I did manage to upload a few photos for the post I originally planned to do, here are some pics of the girls having fun with their Grandma and Grandpa. Hopefully there will be more to come when I can get my photo situation figured out.





This chair was my Dad’s when he was little.



Taco Seasoning Recipe

Posted on by Amy

In my efforts over the past few years to eat more whole foods, buy more locally and avoid packaged/processed foods, I started a while ago seasoning my taco/burrito meat with spices from my spice rack rather than buying taco seasoning packets from the store. This not only allows me to know and be able to pronounce exactly what’s in the seasoning, but it’s much cheaper than the packets and has better flavor too! I typically don’t measure what I put in the mix and it never comes out quite the same. But in an effort to come up with a recipe for the seasoning, even if I never use this exact amount and combination again, I decided to try measuring what I put into the mix to come up with perfectly seasoned meat. It took a couple of tries, but here’s what I mixed up yesterday that my hubby and I thought was especially yummy:

Start with one pound of ground meat (we use venison, but beef would be fine of course) and add the following:
1.5 Tbsp Ground cumin
1 Tbsp Chile powder
1-2 tsp Garlic salt
Just a bit of Cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy hot)
Add in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water, stir and let simmer for a few minutes. Serve with tortillas and your favorite fixins. Mine are cheddar cheese, sour cream, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro, and guacamole (recipe here). Voila!

Happy Home

Posted on by Amy
You can always tell when we’ve spent the day at home.


Miss got out tons of toys to make sure her sister had enough to play with.

We didn’t leave the house today. Staying in for more than one day starts to make me a bit crazy, but for today it was nice. We read lots of books and played games. Legwarmers were the stay-at-home style for today. Miss insisted on wearing some when she saw me put them on Lass.


Now that Lass is sitting up so well, she and Miss play together more and more. They spent lots of time working on sharing today. The big toys of the day were a ball, a chain of plastic beads and a squeaking giraffe. Miss liked to do a quick swap with Lass when she wanted something Lass had in her hand. Lass loved the big blue ball, so Miss would roll it up to her and then stealthily grab the beads and/or giraffe in exchange. Lass really enjoyed the ball, so she didn’t seem to care. Miss was very into the sharing/swap idea, as when I once handed her the giraffe, she said “Fanks. You wanna chew this?” and held out the slobbery beads to me (I think she’s getting more molars, as she is often chewing toys at the back of her mouth).









During Lass’s morning nap Miss and I got some quality time in the kitchen. Instead of our usual cookies or another baking project, we tried a no-bake St. Patrick’s Day treat today. We started with yogurt-covered pretzels. Naturally we had to try out a few of these before getting started.

We got all our stuff together
and then melted some white chocolate chips in the microwave (of course we sampled these too).
Miss got a shamrock sticker so she would know what we were making. We shaped the pretzels into shamrocks and used the white chocolate to “glue” the pieces together.

Once they dried we used green frosting and white frosting with green sprinkles to really make them shamrocks (this idea came from the March issue of Family Fun magazine).
Miss dug in and enjoyed the sprinkles.

It was a happy day at home.

Guacamole Recipe

Posted on by Amy
Day two of avocado went better than day one (these photos are still from day 1 though)

No shuddering.
No grimacing.
Lass seemed to enjoy the green stuff, and she’s getting the hang of this eating thing.

When I bought an avocado for Lass at the grocery store yesterday, I picked up a few extra to make guacamole. I never used to like guacamole until I started making it myself with fresh ingredients. Here’s the recipe I’ve adjusted over the past few years.
Guacamole
3 avocados, mashed with a fork
2-3 scallions, minced
2 garlic cloves, pressed through garlic press
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp Kosher salt
Mix all ingredients. Enjoy. All the ingredient amounts are adjustable to your taste. I like lots of lime and cilantro in my guacamole, but you could use a bit less, for example. If you have any left over that you’re storing in the fridge, put it in a container with an airtight lid, but put on some plastic wrap pressed down right onto the guac before sealing the lid to help minimize the avocado turning brown.
We don’t eat chips much in our house, but this is great added to tacos or burritos or as a dip for fresh veggies. Tonight we had it with enchiladas suizas (sauce made with tomatillos, poblano peppers, and a bit of sour cream rather than lots of cheese and cream). Yum.