My Guacamole

Patterick thinks I shouldn't share this in such detail - he thinks we won't have any friends if they all can make this for themselves or something, but here's my super delicious Guacamole recipe anyways - I have faith in the fact that ppl like us for more than my guacamole making abilities.  It's a lot of work - mostly of the chopping variety, but it's totally worth it! 

Presented in the style of The Pioneer Woman.

FYI - taking, editing, and posting this many pictures take a long time; I don't know how she does it everyday - but, I'm in love with her method!!  She has ruined all other cookbooks for me.  I am lost without step by step pictures.  Thanks a lot PW.

P.P.S.  These pictures were obviously BF.  I miss my kitchen.

On to the guac...

What you'll need - plus the cumin I forgot for the picture: 

(4-5 avocados, 2 limes, 1 medium onion, 3-4 cups of cherry tomatoes, a bunch of cilantro, 1 jalapeno, 2 Tbsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp garlic salt,  1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin.)

Start with the juice of one lime in a large bowl.  It takes me a while to chop everything, so this keeps the avocados bright green!

Slice up and scoop out the avocados into the lime juiced bowl.  The avocados should be ripe, but not smooshy - just a little give when you squeeze them.
 
Extracting an Avocado 101 with Amanda:  

Slice all of the way around the pit...

...then twist them open and whack the pit with your knife and twist it out (you might need to then whack the pit on the side of the sink to get it off your knife)...

 ...and then score the avocado in it's skin with a knife and use a spoon to scoop out the goodness!

P.S. This recipe uses a lot o' dishes.

Now mash up the avocados with a fork.  This is the only mashing we do, so make it as smooth or as chunky as you like - I'm smooth, personally. 

Now dice up one medium sized onion.

Now at the time I was planning to share this recipe, I was going to make some cute little comment about how 'if you're me, you have to deal with this under your feet waiting for the slightest crumb of anything to fall', but given the fact that rug and floor are no longer in my house, having her under my feet seems like a fairly insignificant thing to complain about - but isn't she cute?!?!?

Back to the food - add the onions to the mix.

Now chop up one large jalapeno.  I think it's easiest to chop off the top, run a knife around the inside to cut out the membrane and seeds, rinse out the inside of the jalapeno to get rid of the hot stuff, cut it in half, slice each half into super thin strips, and then diced the strips super duper fine - but that's just me...

And add the spicy dicey to the mix!

Now we need to chop up about half a bunch of cilantro - cilantro's a pretty strong and distinct flavor, so just use as much as you want, and you can always add more.  We're big cilantro fans though, so if you've had this from us before, it probably had upwards of 2/3 to 3/4 of a bunch in it - just a little perspective for ya!  Make sure you take all of the leaves off the stems; it's worth it!  Then add it to the mix...

Now stir the mix together.  Please note the use of yet another utensil.

Next comes the black pepper - add about 2 tablespoons of regular ground black pepper.  Don't be afraid.  It really does take this much to make it perfect.  You can start with less and just taste it as you add, but I always end up with this much...

You also need to add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt,  1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin.

And mix it all together.  At this point you want to taste it and add more of something.  Something else always needs to be added - and it's usually the juice of half a lime.

Now comes the fun part - slicing cherry tomatoes.  You may be thinking 'Amanda, why don't you just throw them in there whole?' or 'Amanda, why not use a big tomato that's easier to slice?', but trust me, this is the way it has to be.  The cherry tomatoes always have just the perfect flavor that you don't always find in regular tomatoes, and they need to be sliced up so they're easier to scoop with a chip and so their juices permeate the whole guacamole.  Trust me, we've tried to make this easier...

You'll need 3-4 cups of tomatoes, depending on how tomato-ey you want it and how long it takes you to get tried of slicing them in eighths (or fourths if it's a really small tomato).

Now add the tomatoes to the mix and fold them in very lightly.  You don't want to over mix here so you'll still be able to see the red tomatoes - think pretty!  (Sorry about the flash in this picture - it's really not this slimy)

And TA- DA!!!  

This is where I wipe down the edges of the bowl and sprinkle a little more tomato on the center to make it pretty for hubby's official taste-testing, but he never even notices...

According to Patrick, any official taste testing must be done with a chip so the saltiness of the chip is taken into consideration as a part of the overall flavor.

 He usually tells me it needs more lime, so I add it, bringing the official total for recipe-keeping purposes up to "the juice of two limes".

Then refrigerate it for a couple of hours and serve chilled.  On the Border chips are best, for the record.  Enjoy!

And please still be my friend...