What better way to start off a baking blog than by making guacamole?
My aunt introduced me to this recipe. It’s an easy and cheap way to make a whole ton of tasty guacamole. I will often just get a bag of chips and eat a bunch of this stuff for supper one night. Guacamole is good for you! There’s a ton of vitamins, nutrients and a bunch of “good” fats (is there such a thing?) in the avocados. They’re heart healthy fats, so if you’re on a diet high in antioxidants, you might consider this a good treat. And did I mention cheap? And easy?
The Prep
There’s not much to this. Go to your local grocery store, buy two medium, slightly-firm, dark green avocados, one large (but not too large) dark green lime, one packet of your favorite guacamole seasoning (I usually prefer McCormick, but the store I was at doesn’t carry it. This stuff isn’t bad though. You know I’ve already tested the dip) and your favorite kind of tortilla chips. I find that the ones with the lime flavoring add a zing to the recipe. As if it needs more?
For utensils, you need one small piece of cling wrap, a masher (optional), a bowl to mix, a bowl to serve, a spoon and a knife. You can use your spoon to mash the avocados, or you can use a regular potato masher.
First things first, take everything out of your prettily arranged bowls. What is this, a modeling show or a cooking blog?
The Method
Cut the lime in half.
I just wanted to be able to say “hey, I took a picture of a lime!” Because seriously, how many people can say that?
Squeeze each half over your mixing bowl, squeezing the juice into the bowl. You can toss the rinds aside. They’ve done all they can do for us. Set the bowl aside for a minute.
Slide the knife into the avocado length-wise until you can’t anymore. Lame explanation, but you’ll see when you’re cutting, trust me. It’s easy to slice through the avocado – VERY soft flesh. Once your knife hits the pit, slowly move your knife around, keeping it against the pit, until you run into the beginning of your original cut.
Gently grip the avocado and twist until it lets go with a mostly inaudible pop. You should be able to slide the two pieces of avocado apart cleanly.
They’re kinda cute, don’t you think? That big ol’ brown thing is the pit, not the seed. Inside there is a tiny little seed, about the size of your pinky nail, if not smaller. Compensating much?
Hold the half of avocado with the pit in it in the palm of your hand, cupping your fingers around it to keep it firmly in place. Lightly tap your knife against it. Don’t be Rambo or you’ll be learning how to make this guacamole one handed.
The pit should grab on fairly easily. Give the knife a little twist and the pit will pop right out.
If you give the pit a little wiggle with your thumb and forefinger it’ll fall right off the knife. You can toss the pit or you can figure out someway to open it and get the seed out to plant it. I’m not telling you how because I don’t do that.
By the way, see the smudges on my knife? That’s the deepest it went into the avocado.
Use your spoon and poke around the edge of the avocado between the meat and the skin and carefully nudge your spoon down, all the way around until the flesh pops out. You don’t have to do this, but I find it’s cleaner and you get more of the meat.
Like I said, the flesh is super-soft, so it’s very easy.
After you get all four pieces (two avocados, cut in half) of fruit de-skinned, dice them carefully.
You can also do this in your hand, before you take the skin off and then scrape the pieces out. Do it at your own risk. I’ve been cutting avocados for years, so I’m comfortable with it.
Dump all of your recently cut and chopped avocado pieces into the bowl with the lime juice.
Using your spoon, mix the avocado around until you’re relatively sure it’s well-coated with the lime juice. The citric acid in the lime juice helps shut down the enzyme that causes browning. You can also use lime or lemon juice on things like apples and bananas, to help with this as well.
If you’re upset with someone, now is the time to picture their face in the bowl!
I like leaving mine a little chunky, just because that’s how I like it and because it compensates for the lack of chunky tomatoes and jalapeños.
Once your avocado and lime concoction is mashed to a consistency of your liking, pour on your guacamole seasoning.
Mix well until you have no more traces of white. It should essentially look just like mashed avocados, though you will see some red flecks from the seasonings.
This is the part where I transfer it to my serving bowl. Makes it easier later, when you’re ready to set it out. Or. Um…eat it.
Once it’s in the dish of your choice, use a small piece of cling wrap and press it down right on the surface of the guacamole. I don’t mean “over” it, but press it right down onto the dip. Make sure it’s relatively well-sealed. This is extra little protection (that we hardly need) against browning.
Stick your bowl/cling rap concoction in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to chill. This is a good time to clean up, get your chips ready or do nothing.
After a minimum of 30 minutes, it’s ready to eat. Set it on the table with bowls of chips and dig in!
The Info
Taste: Mild. It depends on the seasoning you buy. I find the McCormick to be a decent mix between mild and not.
Total cost: $11. All the utensils I already had on hand.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
I hope you guys like this one! It’s a nice change from the pre-made salsas but still easy as anything to make!
