Guacamole

Honestly, I can't believe that I am into my second year of this blog and that I have never posted my guacamole recipe. Maybe it's because I used to make it so often that I started to get tired of it. Guacamole is the number one request (or demand) that I get to bring to family gatherings. I'm often asked for the recipe and I've converted many people from being afraid of this weird, green stuff to loving it. It's even loved by our four year old niece. So, when I was asked to bring this to a family picnic over the 4th of July weekend, I remembered to grab some photos so that I can finally post guacamole on this blog. It was delicious as ever and went quick. This recipe will make a snack-sized dish to pass.

Guacamole
2 ripe Haas avocados
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane (or minced)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
a good amount of sea salt, to taste
couple dashes of fresh cracked black pepper
juice of 1 lime (2 limes if your lime isn't very juicy)
1/4 to 1/3 cup minced cilantro

Carefully sliced the avocados in half around the pit. Open them up and carefully remove the pits using a knife or spoon. Use a knife (butter knife works well and is safer) to score the avocado flesh length-wise and cross-wise into small pieces. Use your spoon to scoop out all of the flesh into a bowl. I like to use a fork to mash up some of the pieces so that there is a mix in the texture (leaving some pieces still in squares while mashing some into a more creamy texture).

Add all the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix well. Serve immediately with corn chips or as a topping to your favorite burritos. If you need to store it for a while, squeeze a bit more lime juice on top and then place plastic wrap right on top of the guacamole to help prevent browning. Store in the refrigerator and stir before serving.

If you want to you can add some diced tomatoes or a can of drained and rinsed black beans to change it up every once in a while.  

What was I cooking one year ago?: One of my FAVORITE dishes of all-time: cauliflower and broccoli stuffed manicotti