Awesome Avocado Dip

You know how Mexican restaurants always serve chips and salsa while you’re waiting for your food to come out? Well, awhile back, I went to a place that served a delicious green dip along with the salsa. It was tangy and creamy and I loved it. I swore I was going to figure out how to make my own. Well, I have finally gotten around to it.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 medium avocado
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup green taco sauce
• 1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Handful of cilantro leaves 

This recipe is so quick and simple, you are going to love it. First up, the avocado. Cut it in half around the pit. Then to remove that, tap it firmly with your knife to embed the edge of the blade.

Then just twist gently and it should come right out.

The pit is super slippery, so to get it off of the knife, wrap it in a paper towel and it should pull off pretty easily.

It isn’t strictly necessary, but I like to cut the avocado into little cubes before it goes into the blender so you don’t end up with a big chunk of it hiding under the blade. Using your knife, carefully slice it right inside its shell.

Scoop or squeeze the cubes into your blender.

Next up, the lime juice. Mine was really juicy, so I actually only ended up just using half. You’re shooting for about 1 Tablespoon of juice.

After that, add the salt.

I like La Victoria’s green taco sauce. I’m sure any kind of green salsa will work just fine if you’d prefer.

My sour cream was a bit of a heaping measure. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, this is not rocket science.

Last is the cilantro. I know there are some serious cilantro haters out there, so if you’re one of them, go ahead and leave it out. Personally, I love the stuff. It’s strong though, so a little goes a long way. Shoot for something like this.

Throw that into the blender.

Now, just add 2 Tablespoons of water, and that’s it!

Start the blender at a low speed and slowly increase it.

In probably 30 seconds, you’ll have a dip that is amazingly delicious!

And the cool thing is, unlike guacamole, which turns brown in almost not time, this dip stays a nice, bright green for days in the fridge. It’s fantastic!

What is your favorite thing to do with avocados?

Perfectly Peeled and Pared Pineapple

Well, I bought another pineapple, and as promised, I’m going to show you how to prep it. I’ll be honest, I used to be pretty intimidated by whole pineapples. So much so, that I refused to buy pineapple that wasn’t already processed for me. I know they make tools that are supposed to make it “super simple”, but I just don’t have room for something like that. A few months back, I had some incredible pineapple on a buffet. Then, I came across some pineapples at the store that smelled amazing, so I just decided it was time to get over my fear and dive it. Turns out, it couldn’t be easier!

To pick a good pineapple, try to find one that has a fair bit of yellow on it, but even more importantly, smell the bottom of it. If it’s ripe, it will have a wonderful pineapple aroma. Lay your pineapple on its side and cut off the top.

Turn it around and cut off the bottom.

Now you have a flat surface for it to stand on.

You should be able to see a line of eyes around the edge. Place your knife behind one of those and slice all the way down.

If there are still eyes or seeds, make another thin cut in the exact same place until it looks like this.

Now place the knife behind the next row of eyes and slice all the way down again.

Repeat until you’ve gone all the way around the pineapple.

Now, cut vertically, straight through the middle of the core.

Two perfect halves.

Now take each piece and cut it in half.

Nothing too difficult yet, huh?

Place your knife just above the core and cut at a 45° angle to the board.

Don’t throw the core away though. Pineapple Sweet Tea is to die for!

I like to just cut each quarter in half lengthwise and then slice pieces that are something like ½ inch thick.

I have discovered that fresh pineapple is fabulous with vanilla yogurt. Seriously, if you haven’t tried it, do. The yogurt really mellows the acidity and the whole things just becomes sweet, fruity, creamy deliciousness. For yogurt, I prefer smaller pieces, so I cut each piece into the quarters and then slice.

So there you have it. It literally takes about 5 minutes and you have pineapple for snacking, for yogurt, and a core for making pineapple water, or even better, Pineapple Sweet Tea. As a bonus, I’ve been finding pineapples consistently for around $3, which makes it way cheaper than the already processed stuff.

What kind of produce are you intimidated by?