Guacamole!!

Well, it’s official!

Football season is upon us.

Happy Sunday!

Commence periodic alarming shrieks of agony coming from the living room and consumption of massive amounts of beer, pizza, wings, chips and………pause for effect……..guacamole.

I’m sorry super convenience lovers, but with guac…freshly homemade is the ONLY way to go.

It’s not difficult.

It doesn’t involve a lot of ingredients.

It doesn’t take all day to make.

It tastes the best.

You’re running out of reasons not to make your own.

Ok, ok so it’s not as fast as ripping open a container but who wants to deal with those weird little vacuum sealed bags it comes in so you have to squeeze oddly flavored green goo into a little plastic container anyway?

Suspicious.

I choose avocados.

I bet you will too.

Especially after you’ve tasted this.

First: collect yourself.

You just need some ripe avocados (we’re goin 4 avocados), an onion, and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Isn’t it pretty?

When I tried to type cherry tomatoes just now I accidentally wrote cheery tomatoes instead.  That sounds about right…

Also honestly….you don’t even need the onions and cheery tomatoes! You could have JUST avocados and be good to go.

We need to get those avocados into a bowl to mash them.

Cut them in half and open them like a book.

I’m going to teach you a trick and officially smash your last reason not to deal with avocados!

Chop at that big sucker of a pit with your knife so it sticks in there like this:

Give it a twist and wham bam thank you ma’am…super easy

Now just take a spoon and run it between the skin and the meat of the avocado. Pile it up in a super appetizing bowl of green mush!  Which we will make delicious.

Now just smash them up, dice half your onion and chop your cheery tomatoes into quarters.

Note: I like cheery tomatoes because they hold their shape better when you cut them up. 

You could use just one big tomato but then you’ll have guac with tomato guts rather than guac with tomato pieces. 

Still delicious. It’s completely your call.

Throw everything your bowl with juice from about half a lime, salt to taste and a DASH (seriously we’re talking not a lot here at all just a hint) of garlic powder and LOOK!

You made guacamole!

It’s it’s like a tasty Mexican flag in a bowl!

Which you should immediately consume with chips.

If you happen to have leftovers..

(weirdo)

((just kidding I still like you even if you don’t eat all your guac))

…cover it with plastic wrap and press it down so that it literally touches the guac. There shouldn’t be any air between the covering and the guacamole.

That way nobody turns brown and everybody is happy.

Enjoy!

❤ Ellen

Guacamole

(sort of a recipe I guess…)

4 ripe avocados

1/2 onion, diced

a handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered

juice from 1/2 lime

a dash of garlic powder

salt to taste

cilantro (optional)

1. Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit, and spoon the meat into a bowl.  Mash with a fork or potato masher until it reaches the desired consistency.

2. Add lime, salt and garlic, combine well

3. Add choped onions and tomatoes, mix well

4. Serve immediately (or it will brown) with chips or add to a seven layer dip! (recipe soon)

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Filed under Dips, Uncategorized

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Hi, friends!

I think it’s time to address the issue of peanut butter.

It was mentioned briefly but we have come nowhere near discussing an adoration that I should probably be embarrassed about.

I mean…we’re at the point where my mother feels the need to stock up on peanut butter when I’m going to be home.

This is serious.

Peanut butter might be my favorite food.

I’m not even entirely sure it counts as food, really, but in my world…all you need is love and peanut butter.

(Plus the occasional banana.)

((Chocolate is good too.))

So how about ooey gooey decadently rich chocolate cookies with peanut butter filling?

I mean really…do I need to sell these to you?

When I saw these cookies, I literally dropped everything and made them.

They did not disappoint.

They are incredibly rich and satisfying.

They IMMEDIATELY went away to Daniel’s office or I would have eaten them all.

I also realized something: when a male person thinks something is too rich or too chocolatey…that means they’re amazing in female-speak.  Keep that in mind.

Let us begin.

First: butter(s) and sugar(s) meet $8 retro-chic electric mixer

Anything involving multiple butters and multiple sugars wins, right?

Seriously. Try them.

Then eggs and vanilla come to play.

Now make it chocolatey and doughy

I happened to have some mini hershey’s bars lying around that had been lying around for a while now and were not going to get eaten.  So…into the bowl of wonder they go.  Get ready for super fudgy chocolaty melty cookie amazingness

NOW. You’ve got your dough and it’s time to deal with the peanut butter part.

There are differing philosophies regarding peanut butter filling sweetness.

The original recipe called for 3/4 cup powdered sugar for 3/4 cup peanut butter.

I didn’t do that.

Some people have issues with just basically a glob of peanut butter in the middle of a cookie.

I don’t.

If that’s you that’s ok we can still be friends. Sweeten your peanut butter filling to your heart’s content!

I won’t do that.

I added a bit of powdered sugar but seriously…a little shake of sugar is all it takes for me to be happy.

I like the contrast of the salty peanut butter with that super sweet/chocolatey cookie.

Also: I used crunchy peanut butter.

Because crunchy is fun.

Also because that’s what I had in my pantry.

Work with what you’ve got.

Ready for the secret technique that makes this a peanut butter surprise?

(not hard. at all.)

Roll.

Flatten and Fill.

Pinch and Roll.

Flatten again.

You know….so they can actually cook through…

BAM those already delicious guys are hiding an even more delicious peanut buttery surprise!

Genius.  I know.

Into the oven they go to become an ooey gooey peanut butter chocolate mess.

This is one mess I can handle.

Make sure you have an ice cold glass of milk on hand.

Also here’s the thing about these guys….

JUST THINK OF THE COMBINATIONS!!

chocolate-mint

chocolate-caramel

chocolate-peppermint using candy canes for a Christmas treat?

marshmallow fluff?

pumpkin-cream cheese

carrot-cream cheese

lemon cookie-blueberry filling

almond-vanilla cream

vanilla-strawberry

chocolate-raspberry

peanut butter cookie-jelly filling

cinnamon-apple

shall I continue?

Do you have any fantastic ideas?

Or any of the above you would like to see on here?

Let me know! Talk to me!

Also subscribe!!!!!!!!!!!

And enjoy.

❤ Ellen

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

(Recipe adapted from Big Flavors From a Tiny Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus more for rolling)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, SOFTENED!! (you know how I feel about this)
1 cup peanut butter, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
some powdered sugar for the filling…the orginal recipe said 3/4 cup…do what you like

1. Preheat oven to 375º F


2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. Cream sugars, butter and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg, beating to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and stir to combine, blending well. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, mix together however much powdered sugar you’re using and remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth.

5. Pull off a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough and flatten with your hands. Take about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter mixture and place it in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter center, pressing to seal. Roll the cookie into a ball and roll the cookie in the sugar. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass or a spatula or any flat thing, flatten each cookie to about a 1/2 inch thickness.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes. Let stand on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to cool.

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Filed under Dessert, Uncategorized

Cleaning out the fridge…and calling it pizza

I have some real life for you.

Sometimes, I just have too many vegetables and they’re about to go bad.

Also, sometimes I just don’t have a lot of time or energy to cook.

Also, sometimes I got a little ambitious and bought a weird vegetable from the farmer’s market and I just really don’t know what to do with myself and my giant eggplant.

(Other than eggplant parmesan…don’t worry…that’s happening.  It’s the week of the eggplant)

Luckily, there is a solution.

I call it: pizza.

Pizza is the great garbage disposal of meals.

Anything goes on a pizza.

Seriously..anything.  Maybe I’ll have a bunch of pizza posts on here.  We’ll see.

Anyway..pizza cleans out the fridge nicely.  It’s ok if some of the veggies involved are a little questionable. They’ll be on a pizza! They’ll still be delicious.

Today we’re going Mediterranean style.

Why?

Because I’ve got these freakin eggplants and I have never actually cut into one and I have no idea what to do with it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

You start with this Pillsbury pizza dough that is AWESOME.

((They’re not paying me to say that or anything..it just is. High five Pillsbury))

Best pizza dough out there.  It’s ACTUALLY crispy!

(If you like thicker, doughy crusts..well..sorry).

One day, there is no doubt in my mind that I will make my own pizza dough.

For now, though…it’s late and I am hungry.

It pre-bakes for about five minutes so we can use the preheat/bake time to chop!

Lucky for me, a certain handsome boy I know was right there with me.

We spread some pesto on the crust before a layer of regular tomato sauce.  That was a really nice touch.  Highly recommend.

We sauteed some eggplant, some onions and some mushrooms and threw those on the crust along with some spinach, fresh basil (YUM), feta (because it’s amazing. and because it can’t be Mediterranean without it) and Parmesan cheese.

Then right before we stuck it in the oven (to cook according to package directions) Daniel pulled some master chef action.

Brush that crust with olive oil and sprinkle it with garlic powder.

You will be very, very happy you did.

It came out of the oven all crunchy-garlic-crusty and cheesy-gooey feta-basil phenomenal.

((Did you get all that?))

So I learned a thing today.

Eggplant is yummy.

No recipe, just an idea.

Enjoy!

P.S. This was lunch the next day.  Yes, you do see ants-on-a-log involved.

❤ Ellen

3 Comments

Filed under Main Dish