Blender Guacamole

Recipe challenge, week twenty-five.

I've been experimenting with the Vitamix lately.  I got this cookbook in the mail and I was intrigued by their guacamole recipe.  It's a really interesting take on guac, because I usually mash the avocado with a potato masher and then add in some pico de gallo because the more flavor the better.

Let it be known that the picture I took looks very little like the picture in the cookbook, which disappointed me.  I was looking forward to some blended guacamole that looked like this:

Oh well.  If I were going to make it again, I would add more lime juice and maybe just a hint of garlic.  It was a bit too garlicky for me. And maybe more juice would've helped it blend.  

That would make sense.

Blender Guacamole

from Vitamix Cookbook

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced

2 roma tomatos, diced (I used 6 grape tomatoes)

4 tablespoons finely diced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Juice of half a lemon or lime

Sea salt to taste

Add all ingredients to your blend and start it on low, slowly increasing the speed to high.  Blend for about a minute, until desired consistency is reached. 

Fajita Quinoa

Recipe challenge, week twenty-three (which is this week)

In case you're looking for a high-protein, low-carb kinda meal this weekend...I make fajita meat in the crockpot a lot and it's easy to freeze once you cook it too.  This is like a giant Mexican quinoa salad of sorts, but I'd totally put this with tortillas, taco shells or on nachos.  The idea for the recipe came from A Year of Slow-Cooking, but I made them into quesadillas a couple of years ago.

This is a recipe post, but I do have other things to say.

Scott asked me if I wanted to go to a Kenny Chesney concert with a bunch of people he works with later this year.  Apparently it's a tail-gating extravaganza with tickets ranging from $40-$240.

I tried to be diplomatic with the smiley face.  He didn't answer my email, so when we Skyped yesterday, I asked about it.  He said, "Yeah, I figured that was a NO."

All I could think of was this gif.

Okay, maybe it was just the one thing that I needed to get out.

Fajita Quinoa

1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced

1 packet fajita seasoning mix (or 2 T. of homemade fajita/taco seasoning)

¼ water

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 bell peppers, thinly sliced

Cooked quinoa (I use chicken broth instead of water: 1 cup dry quinoa, 2 cups broth, cook it like you would rice)

Guacamole/pico de gallo/cilantro

In a 4-quart crockpot, combine all of the ingredients and stir it around.  Cook on low for 2-4 hours.  It cooks pretty quickly because the meat is already sliced.  Serve with quinoa and your favorite toppings for Mexican food. 

You can easily double this recipe in a 6-quart crockpot and even freeze portions in Ziploc bags.

Burrito Bowls

Recipe challenge, week eighteen.

Since tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, you can make this for dinner and enjoy it with a margarita. Or two.  Unless you're going out somewhere.  In which case you can still make this and enjoy it with a margarita (or two) on any old Tuesday night.

Aside from the Chipotle that I enjoyed for lunch on Friday, I've only been to a Chipotle restaurant twice.  Once in Springfield, Missouri and...well, I feel like I've been there twice.  Maybe I haven't. I really can't remember.  I've been to Qdoba dozens and dozens of times because it's always been more accessible.  Though there is a Chipotle on every corner in Colorado Springs so I don't know if my reasoning makes any sense.

I think the reason why I never go there is because I can make stuff at home that tastes just as good.  I mean, the Chipotle I had was okay.  Nothing wrong with it.  I'd probably eat it often if it was set down in front of me.  But I swear that if you buy a particular array of ingredients at the beginning of the week, you can eat Chipotle-like food every day.

-Chicken or steak (pre-cooked)
-Frozen or fresh corn
-Tomatoes
-Pico de gallo (or salsa)
-Black beans
-Garlic
-Onion
-Peppers
-Cilantro
-Lime
-Shredded cheese
-Avocado
-Smoked Paprika
-Tortillas

I almost always have these foods on hand, and have put them together in several combinations and it always tastes amazing.

Start off by sauteing the thinly sliced peppers and onions in some olive oil for a few minutes. Add in thinly sliced garlic (sliced gives a sweeter flavor than minced) and let it cook for another minute or so.  Add in bite-sized pieces of chicken or steak (or you can make it without) and sprinkle on some smoked paprika.  Toss in the frozen corn, drained and rinsed black beans, and tomatoes.  Let it all cook together for a few minutes.  Add in some chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

In a bowl, place a warmed tortilla.  Top with the filling and sprinkle cheese on it.  Add slices of avocado and enjoy.

Often, I'll just make burritos out of the mixture and then warm them in the oven for 20 minutes before topping with avocado.

Another variation is to leave out the meat and use diced, roasted sweet potatoes.  This is my go-to dinner/lunch-prep meal because it's so easy and tasty.

Corn and Tomato Guacamole

We spent the last 24 hours in Branson, Missouri.  The traffic in Branson is some of the worst I've ever seen.  That was pretty much my take-away (oh, and I need a tan).

  

Happy Memorial Day!  Here's a great summer appetizer...

One thing I really don't like about Missouri is the darkness at night.  I'm a firm believer in daylight.  All daylight, all the time.  So aside from the wind, rain, and 50* temperatures, summer in Alaska agreed with me.  Or, shall we say, it was tolerable.  Why SHOULDN'T it be daylight all the time in the summer?  I don't like the dark.  I know it sounds odd...I watch some pretty "dark" shows..Dexter, The Walking Dead, True Blood...but I enjoy the daylight.  So that, I'm finding, is a rough adjustment.  

Another thing that was slightly disappointing: Avocados are still over $1 a piece.  Granted, I didn't expect an avocado tree to fall into my lap (though that'd be nice).  But hey, can't win them all.

One thing I like about Missouri: the sweet corn.  Just a regular old 30-cents-an-ear-piece of sweet corn packs more flavor than you could imagine.  In Alaska, corn was always like 60 cents an ear, and it usually wasn't any good, so we didn't buy it.  In PA, corn doesn't start tasting good until July/August.  In this pseudo-southern state though?  It's already amazing in May.  I'm not sure where the grocery stores get the corn...but I like it.

I took my guacamole recipe, and put some sweet corn in it.  Nothing screams "summer!" more than guacamole.

Corn and Tomato Guacamole

2 avocados, peeled and pitted

2 garlic cloves (grated or finely minced)

Juice of 1 lime

3 T of chopped cilantro

1 Roma tomato, finely chopped (or a small handful of grape tomatoes, diced)

1/4 cup of sweet or red onion, finely chopped

1 ear of corn, shucked

1/2 t salt

 In a small mixing bowl, mash the avocados.  Blend all the other ingredients into the avocados, adding more salt to taste, if necessary.  Cover and store in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.  It'll last a day in the fridge, but is best if eaten immediately.

Kristin's Guacamole (and lazy-person-chicken)

"Seriously?  This is what it's come to?"

I didn't take this picture.  Google image search did.

Indeed.  It has come to this.

Let's not even talk about it.  I just thought I'd share that this is the perfect solution when you need protein, but are too lazy to defrost, cut, and fully cook your own chicken.  Yes, sometimes, even a rotisserie chicken won't do.  Rotisserie chickens need to be eaten within a couple of days.  These can sit in the freezer forever!  You are welcome, friends.

Now.  Guacamole.

I refer to the Summer of 2008 as the Summer of Guacamole.  I was 22.  I tried it for the first time.  I liked it.  I proceeded to eat at least 2 avocados a week for an entire summer.  I made this for Scott when we first started dating.  He made me an ice cream cake.  And the deal was sealed.

Personally, I'm a fan of that powdered guacamole mix you can buy at the store (in the produce section) to mash with your avocados.  However, avocados are kind of expensive.  And cramming vegetables onto tortilla chips is a great way to get them into your body.
So I make my guacamole pico-de-gallo-style to stretch my avocado budget and to get more vegetables into myself.  It works well enough.

Kristin's Guacamole
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
2 garlic cloves (grated or finely minced)
Juice of 1 lime
3 T of chopped cilantro
1 Roma tomato, finely chopped
1/4 cup of sweet or red onion, finely chopped
1/2 t salt

 In a small mixing bowl, mash the avocados.  Blend all the other ingredients into the avocados, adding more salt to taste, if necessary.  Cover and store in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.  It'll last a day or two in the fridge.