Holy Moly Guacamole!

When summer comes all I want to do is eat fresh produce. My body craves vine ripened tomatoes and lush avocados. I also love having the margaritas that usually go with making guacamole. In college, my friends and I used to go to an amazing restaurant in Northampton, MA called Mama Iguana's. They have strong margaritas and table-side guacamole. I remember watching the ingredients and the process very carefully one time. I was determined to make guacamole that was just as good without having to drive to Northampton to get it.

Guacamole is one of those recipes where I usually have nothing on-hand to make it, except garlic and hot sauce. Cilantro doesn't stay good for very long so I usually plan to make something else Mexican-inspired to use up some more of it, but luckily it's not very expensive (I think my bunch came to $1.29 or so). The most expensive part is usually the avocados but those go on sale for $1/piece fairly regularly during the summer months. 

If you decide to make this, I would advise going to the grocery store a couple of days ahead of time. Avocados are often very hard when you first get them, but if you leave them out on the counter for a day or two, they soften up quick. The secret to looking for a good avocado: looking for one with the smoothest possible skin and has a slight give when you squeeze it. The smooth skin trick also applies to limes. 

The tricky thing about guacamole is making sure that it stays green, because even though it tastes the same, brown guacamole is just unappetizing to look at, and we eat with our eyes first. Hold onto the pits of your avocados, stick them in the finished guacamole, and squeeze half a lime so the juice sits on the top without being stirred in. Then you can put plastic wrap over it, put it in the fridge for a while and it won't turn brown. 

The recipe below is for 2-3 people. If you want to make this for a dinner party or small get together, I figure it's going to be a little less than one avocado per person. If there are going to be other snacks at the same time, count on half an avocado per person. 

Enjoy this recipe!


Holy Moly Guacamole
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Serves 2-3 Ingredients 2 ripe avocados 1/2 medium tomato 1/2 red onion 2 cloves of garlic 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro 1/2 jalapeno 1 lime Hot sauce, to taste Salt and pepper, to taste Directions Finely dice tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic and jalapeno. Set aside. Mash avocados with a fork, potato masher, or mortar and pestle. Stir in diced ingredients. Add juice from lime, and hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tortilla chips. Tip: To make ahead, prepare as usual, saving avocado pits and without adding lime juice. Push pits into prepared guacamole and squeeze lime juice to sit on top, without stirring. Cover with plastic wrap and will stay for 1-2 hours.