A Fiesta At Your Table! Pico De Guaco! Fresh Homemade Guacamole!

Many of you know I grew up in Arizona.  Born in New Jersey, but moved to Az. when I was 10 we moved from the pastoral beauty of the garden state to the foothills of the grand canyon state.  That is where my family lived until 10 years ago.  Now we live in North Carolina, the gateway to the south.  While I love where I live now, I love Arizona and I miss her especially when it comes to good Mexican food!  So today I am going to share with you my way of making a great guacamole. 

The name comes from an Aztec dialect via Nahuatl āhuacamolli [aːwakaˈmolːi], which literally translates to "avocado sauce".  Avocados were first cultivated in South Central Mexico to Central America and as far south as Peru.  They made their way into Mexican cuisine and have been a staple ever since.

My version of guacamole is kind of like a combination of two of my favorite things on every Mexican restaurant table.  Guacamole and pico de gallo.  The first you know, the latter, if you don't is a delicious fresh salsa made with tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice.   You can sometimes purchase this premade, but trust me, fresh made is best.  Take the two dips and mix them together for an amazing, fresh and creamy dip that will have you reaching for the chips or the tortillas or anything else you can think of to dip or smear this heavenly concoction.

The combination is quite simple really.  Mashed avocados, tomato, white onion, jalapenos or if you prefer, finely diced bell pepper, garlic, cilantro, lime juice and salt.  You can also throw in a dash of black pepper, and even some hot sauce.  You control the heat level here so add more or less jalapeno or none at all.  Garlic also provides a bit of heat so you can adjust that as well.  Mash the avocado, mix in everything else and you are all set.  Voila!  Pico -de-guaco!  Grab the chips and enjoy!

A word of warning.  I have seen a lot of recipes where people include either mayonnaise or sour cream as part of the guacamole.  I am hear to tell you that this is just wrong, wrong, wrong.  Guacamole, does not need the addition of a creamy ingredient to be creamy.  Sour cream may be pushing it for me, but mayo is just stepping over a culinary line that one should never go over!  Mayo has it's place in many things, but guacamole is not one of them.  If you are one of those mayo including folks,  this is not a way to call you out.  I will not apologize for this one though!  Keep the mayo for the tuna and keep it out of the guac!  This will conclude the warning part of my blog!  LOL!

This dip is really best made and eaten right away, however you can store this in the fridge for up to three days in an airtight container.  The avocado may tend to brown a little, but you can add a bit more lime juice, but not too much or it will be much too runny to enjoy.  Do that right before you put it away. 

Dipping is the most popular way to enjoy my pico-de-guaco, but for a light lunch think about making a quick wrap with some of the spread on a flour tortilla, topped with more tomatoes, onion and some shredded lettuce.  If you have some leftover grilled chicken or steak, this would be a great addition as well.  Roll that up, cut it in half and you have an amazing lunch ready to go in no time.  Also great for packing to take to work or school for a quick meal on the go! 

I think you are going to love this version of guacamole, my pico-de-guaco is an awesome way to enjoy a southwestern favorite like the kind I grew up eating in Arizona!  I hope you will give this a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

Noreen's Kitchen

Pico De Guaco

2 ripe avocados, mashed 1 cup diced roma tomato 1/2 cup diced white onion 2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh jalapeno, minced 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced 2 to 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice Salt to taste

Ingredients

Combine avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro together in a bowl.  Blend well.

Add lime juice a tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency and flavor.  You want this to be thick but not runny. 

Add salt to taste and even some cracked black pepper and or hot sauce if you are so inclined.

Serve with tortilla chips, flour or corn tortillas or as an addition to a guacamole salad like you get on the side at a Mexican restaurant!

You can get a printable copy of the recipe on my website:

http://bit.ly/1OKkHMI

You can see how to pick the perfect avocado in my video here:

http://bit.ly/1To4VpJ

See how I made this in my YouTube video!

Pick Your Produce! How to Pick the Perfect Avocado!

Today we begin a new intermittent series called "Pick Your Produce".  In this series we hope to help you understand how to best pick particular produce that may be baffling you or maybe you just never understood how to choose the best one of something or other.  Today we begin with avocados!

Avocados are often associated with Mexican food and are best known as the main ingredient in Guacamole.  It is the fruit, actually it is botanically a large berry, of the avocado tree which is native to Mexico.    The avocado tree has a long history of cultivation in central and south America and there is some evidence that this history may go back as far as 5000 B.C.!  There are many varieties of the avocado, including heritage varieties.  In America the most popular variety hails from California and is widely known by the "Haas" name.  Avocados are grown the world over in tropical and sub tropical climates.

Picking the perfect avocado is easy, if you know what you are looking for and just like with everything else, there is a learning curve.  This isn't rocket science, but there are a couple of tips and trick to help you on your way to getting the best avocado you can for your meal. 

First you have to decide if you are going to want to eat the fruit immediately or if you are going to wait a day or two.  This will determine the ripeness of the fruit you choose.  Pick avocados that are heavy for their size, they should fit in the palm of your hand.  If they are on the bright green side, this is an indication that it is not fully ripe and when you give it a gentle squeeze with your finger, and it feels heard and does not yield easily to that pressure, your avocado is not good for eating today, but it will be in a day or two. 

If you want to eat your avocado today, then look for fruits that are greenish black to black in color and again, hold in the palm of your hand and apply gentle pressure.  If the flesh yields and leave a bit of a dent then you are good to go.  If you hold the fruit and it feels mushy like a water balloon, then leave it, that one is not fit for anything but the compost. 

To ripen an avocado you can simply leave it on your counter and wait a couple of days or some people like to put them in a paper bag with either an apple or a banana and close it up and the next day they should be ready to eat.

When your avocado is ripe you can cut it around the middle and give it a gentle twist and it should separate from the pit easily.  If you are only going to eat half, eat the half without the pit.  Leave the pit in the other half and put it in a plastic bag or sealed container with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.  Leaving the pit in the other half will help it to retain its freshness.  At least that is my personal experience.  Store any ripe avocados in the fridge till you are ready to use them.  Don't buy more than you can eat in a few days.

Avocados are a love it or hate it type of fruit.  In our house we have two who LOVE them one who HATES them and one who can take them or leave them.  I could personally eat avocados all day long.  The are often seen on the side of a sandwich, or in a salad or on some hearty toast for breakfast.  They are also known to be thrown into a smoothie every now and then to add rich creaminess without adding dairy.

Avocados are nutrient dense super food that everyone can benefit from enjoying.  They are the only food to naturally contain good monounsaturated fats.  That is good fat for you and I!   They are naturally cholesterol and sodium free! Nutrient dense avocados provide a substantial amount of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients with relatively few calories. One-fifth of a medium avocado has 50 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, making it a great nutrient dense food choice.  Avocados act as a “nutrient booster” by helping  to increase absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like Vitamins A, D, K and E.  So in short avocados are awesome for your health!  Avocados are also an excellent "first food" for baby!  The smooth creamy texture is something that most little ones will enjoy and with all the nutritional benefits contained in that little green fruit, how can you go wrong! 

So I hope this is helpful information about how to pick the perfect avocado for you to enjoy today tomorrow or the day after!  I hope that you will use it well and enjoy avocados more often!  While they are available most of the year, the spring/summer season is the time they are most plentiful and at their peak of deliciousness.  So that is how you pick your produce in avocados! 

I hope you give this method a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

You can see my demonstration of how to choose a great avocado in my YouTube video here:

Summer in a Bowl! Avocado, Mango Salad with Strawberries!

Today I want to share a delicious salad that I have been enjoying for a couple of weeks now for my lunch. This avocado mango salad with strawberries, hits all the notes, is super satisfying and will keep you coming back for more. I think you are going to love it!

This salad screams summer! It has all the freshness that you look for in a summer lunch. It smells amazing when you are making it and it looks amazing when you get it all in the bowl together. This one is a knock out the ballpark winner! I personally love a salad that has not greens in it from time to time. I love to have a chopped salad that has lots of veggies and fruits mixed together and this one is the perfect combination.

I know what you are thinking! Mango AND avocado AND strawberries AND onions? Really? Yes Really! Trust me on this one. This hits all those flavor notes you are looking for. Sweetness from the berries, tang from the mango, rich creaminess from the avocado and spicy bite from the onion. Lime juice brings the whole thing together with a palate cleansing citrus burst and married with a little bit of agave nectar to enhance the natural sweetness of the berries and the mango this is a real winner. Top this all off with a sprinkling of homemade chili lime seasoning and you have one out of this world experience in your bowl for lunch or dinner!

Like I said, I have been enjoying this for lunch the last couple of weeks. Normally I only eat two meals a day so Rick and I either enjoy breakfast and dinner or brunch and dinner. This is the perfect afternoon offering. i have been pairing this with a hard boiled egg on the side and this takes me to dinner with no problem. This is light but filling and it will stay with you and give you what you need to get the job done.

This salad is enough for two people as a side dish to a nice piece of grilled chicken or you can even serve this on top of the grilled chicken or a nice filet of grilled or broiled fish! This salad has amazing potential. Make it fresh when you want to enjoy this because it won't keep very well past a day or so because the avocado may get to mushy and disappear if it is ever so slightly too ripe. So you will want to keep that in mind.

If you don't have access to fresh strawberries or they are not in season, you could use blueberries, blackberries or even cubed nectarine, plum or peaches would be great. You can basically make this work with so many different fruits! Don't have sweet onion? Use red onion or green onion to round it out. Don't like onion? Skip it! Make this salad your own and enjoy!

I used a homemade chili lime seasoning on my salad. If you would like to see it, stay tuned because I will be sharing that in an upcoming video! I know you are just going to love that seasoning because it is so versatile in so many different dishes! Keep an eye out for that coming soon!

I think this is the perfect summer salad. I hope you do too! I know that when you give this a try you are going to keep on making it all summer long!

I hope you give this salad a try and I hope you love it! 

Happy Eating!

Get the recipe on my website here:

http://bit.ly/1SlqBjA

You can see how I made this in my YouTube video: