Out Of The Garden

I am a purist when it comes to guacamole. Sometimes I don’t even use cilantro, and I never need the chips…

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I made a little batch especially for mom yesterday ~ visiting for my son’s graduation day. She gobbled it up so fast I didn’t get a picture.
Increase ingredients as needed if more is required; this makes just enough for a couple of hungry avocado lovers.

Guacamole

1 ripe hass avocado
1/4 – 1/3 c grated onion and its juice (amt according to your taste)
juice of one lime
1/4 tsp olive oil
2 TB chopped cilantro (if desired)
salt to taste

Halve avocado, carefully remove the pit, and spoon out into a bowl. Cut halves into small chunks with knife and fork. Stir in grated onion and its juice, lime juice, olive oil, salt and cilantro if desired.

Stir well with fork to combine. It will mash up enough this way and the few little chunks of avocado left whole are pure luxury.

Enjoy with chips if you like them, or with a spoon

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Some say if you leave the pit in the center of the guacamole, it will not darken as quickly when exposed to light/air ~ this has never worked for me.

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More party food:

Indira’s Palak Paneer in store-bought phyllo pastry cups ~ huge hit (thanks, Indira!).

I even made my own paneer and it came out *almost* as good-looking as this one. My dad did not believe I made the cheese myself. Conversation went something like this:

Dad: But where did you get the cheese?

Linda: Well, I made it, Dad.

Dad: HOW??

Linda: Easy: boil milk, add lime juice, stir and strain.

Dad: But how did you make it into CHEESE?

This exchange was repeated several times with me trying to explain that the acid splits the milk into curds and whey, and Dad, although an intelligent guy, not really getting it. So finally…

Linda: Well, Dad, I strained it in CHEESEcloth. The cheesecloth magically turned it into cheese.

That seemed to give him pause for thought, as I didn’t hear any more about it…

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Store bought cake ~ baker I am not!
Michael, you rock. I am so proud of you!