I stand corrected

There are two main points that I am hoping to convey with this post.

1. I love Mexican food. Guacamole in particular.
2. I wasn’t wrong.

Let’s start with #1.

I eat avocado as often as I can. I have absolutely no self control around the stuff. I have to hide it from myself, which think about that. It doesn’t work.

Here’s the crazy part though – I used to hate it! I studied abroad in Costa Rica when I was in college. Costa Rica, you know? Tropical paradise and land of avocado? Yet, I didn’t eat any. The color, the texture, the flavor, you name it, I hated it.

(Side note: I also hated birding while I was there. Yeah, I know, I have studied birds for a decade now, but I hated them back then. In fact, I had to return for a vacation a few years later so that I could see all the birds that I had missed out on.)

Oh how I am kicking myself for all the avocado that I could have (and should have) been eating.

Now? I have an entire board on Pinterest devoted to avocado recipes.

Avocado on its own is pretty close to food nirvana, but if you throw in some lime juice, garlic, salt and cilantro (and maybe a little something with a kick to it), why then you’ve attained food saint-dom.

But here’s what I don’t get; why does it always cost more at restaurants that offer unlimited chips and salsa. That’s a bunch of crap, I say. If ever I find a Mexican restaurant with bottomless guacamole bowls, I will…I don’t know, be really happy. And eat there all.the.time.

Until then, my cheap self refuses to pay $1.50 for a tiny little “dollop” of guac. I’ll make my own, thankyouverymuch.

A while ago, on my old blog, I posted about how I don’t like The Hungry Girl (I’ll save you my rant, but the gist is that she uses all kinds of fake “garbage” foods). After that post, my aunt sent me one of her recipes that she thought might change my mind.

Aunt Vickie didn’t mess around. She went straight for my jugular. My weakness. Guacamole.

I still kind of want to not like the Hungry Girl, but home-girl makes a mean guac.

(But to reiterate, I am not saying I was wrong.)

Of course I didn’t follow the original recipe (which, by the way, doesn’t actually contain any processed foods….still, I wasn’t wrong…). I went basic on this first attempt because in case it sucked I didn’t want to waste any of my precious farmers market tomatoes. So, I omitted the tomatoes and the onion, and replaced the yogurt with almond milk.

 

I don’t usually add the peas to my guac. Normally, I’m on the guac straight-and-narrow: avocado, garlic, salt, cilantro, and lime. If I’m feeling fiesty, I might add some finely diced red onion and if tomatoes are in season, I’ll throw those in, too.

I’ve also need to tell you about a new method that I’m telling myself I invented for making guac. A lazy woman’s approach. A dishwashing-hater’s approach.

You put all your ingredients (except tomatoes, if you are using those) into a ziplock bag. Zip it up and smoosh until it is your desired consistency.

You can store it in the ziplock in the fridge for a few days or flatten all the guac inside and freeze it.

I like to go the freeze route, because as I said, I have no self control. I just take out however much I want (if you freeze it in a flat mass, it breaks really easily), nuke it for a few seconds, and serve.

See? I’m a genius. If you know of someone, or if you yourself has done this already, please don’t tell me. Delusions of grandeur are acceptable here.

But back to the fancy guac. The not-at-all authentic guac. The guac that tastes almost as good as the real deal and saves you some money for when those avocados are out of season and twice the price they are in the summertime.

It seems this recipe doesn’t belong to The Hungry alone. If you google “sweet pea guacamole” you’ll get about a kagillion hits, all with one tiny tweak from one another (or not).

So, I’m not going to throw yet another spin out there, but I will give you a different recipe. Because, I know what you are really wondering is what is that delicious looking goodness that the guacamole is resting on?

That, friends, is the easiest taco salad ever.

I had never made taco salad before (I know, bonkers, right?). But I needed an excuse to eat more of this guacamole, so I pulled this recipe from…thin air.

Ground Turkey Taco Salad (Makes 2 BIG servings)

• 6 ounces lean, ground turkey
• 1/3 large onion, diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 tsp mexican style seasoning mix (I used Adobo)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup salsa

Saute onions, garlic, bell pepper and zucchini about 3-5 min (depending on how mushy you like your veggies). Add in seasonings and turkey, cook until turkey is done (about 2-3 min?). Add salsa and hot sauce.

Serve over a bed of lettuce and a *dollop* of guacamole.

Did you ever travel somewhere and refuse to eat something only to regret it later? Luckily, the second time I went to Costa Rica, I had wisened up, both with regards to avocados and birds.