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Friday, January 13, 2012

Creamy Guacamole with Homemade Tortilla Chips {Guest Post}

We're so happy to welcome Becca from Home Beccanomics (isn't that a fabulous name?) here at RHBC. She's the mastermind behind loads of amazing recipes that have been tested by the toughest critics: kids! That's right, she's a Family and Consumer Science Teacher, so you know her recipes have been tried and tried and tried until they passed the test! Clean up the drool after looking at this guacamole and head on over to her blog for tons of other delicious recipes!

Creamy Guacamole with Homemade Tortilla Chips

When I introduce the homely avocado to my high schoolers, some girl inevitably raises her hand and states, “avocados are super fatty and bad for you”. Gasp! You lie, little girl, and I won’t have you speaking badly of the avocado.

Avocados DO actually have a lot of fat, but it’s the GOOD for you fat that you can eat as much as you want of; true story, as much as you want. It’s called monounsaturated fat and it lowers your bad cholesterol and raises your good. Also, Oprah said it reduces belly fat (and we know she probably has some intense fact checkers).

Buy your avocados when they’re hard and let them ripen at room temperature (to speed up this process put them in a brown paper bag with a banana). When one of your avocados “gives” when you press on it, put it into the fridge. When all four avocados are in your fridge, you’re ready to guac it up.

My husband likes guacamole. He is, in fact, crazy about it. I have made eggs with guac, guacamole chicken salad; sometimes I just give it to him in a bowl and he eats it with a spoon. I pretty sure he’s not alone in his love affair. I bet you don’t know anyone who dislikes the green happiness that is guacamole. If want a crowd pleasing appetizer, this wins every time. As long as the avocados are ripe and you add enough salt, guacamole is SUPER easy to make. The add-ins are really up to you. Love cilantro? Or lime? Add in small amounts and taste as you go. If you prefer to just follow a recipe then I can assure you, this one is legit.

Creamy Guacamole with Homemade Tortilla Chips
Serves 8

Chips:
8 Medium Flour tortillas
¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. garlic powder
Sprinkle chili powder or paprika, to taste

Dip:
4 ripe avocados
¼ c. minced onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed through garlic pressed or minced
2 c. quartered cherry tomatoes
2 partially seeded jalapenos, minced
¼ c. sliced green onions (or scallions, same thing)
¼ c. nonfat plain Greek yogurt
¾ tsp. kosher salt
Pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
Pinch garlic salt, or to taste
Tomatoes and green onions for garnish

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush olive oil over tortillas.

  2.   Stack tortillas and cut into 8 wedges.

 
  3.  Grease two cookie sheets or cover with parchment paper. Arrange wedges in an even layer on cookie
         sheets.Sprinkle salt and spices over wedges.


    4.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until starting to turn light brown. Let cool, and store in a Ziploc bag at room
         temperature. These chips will be good for several days.

    5. Cut avocados in half vertically. To remove pit, chop your knife into it and give it a twist. Remove any 
        part of avocado that is brown.


 
  6.  Scoop out flesh of the avocado and place in a mixing bowl. Mash with a fork, breaking up the large
         chunks.

   
 7. Add onion, garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos, and green onions. Mix to combine. To prep the jalapeno,
       slice in half vertically. You must remove the white part of the pepper. Leave seeds if you like
       a lot of heat; remove all seeds if you don’t. I usually keep about half.


     Here’s a tomato tip: Take two Tupperware lids and put your cherry tomatoes in the middle in an  
     even layer. Slice across with a sharp, serrated knife, while pressing down on the top lid. A great
    way to slice them all at once! If your tomatoes are small you might only need to halve them; if they
    are large like mine were, quarter them.






    8. Add Greek yogurt, salt cayenne, and garlic salt. Stir. Taste, and add more salt and cayenne according
        to how you like it.

  
 9. Scrape mixture into a serving bowl. Garnish with tomatoes and green onions, if desired. Guacamole is
       best served the day it’s made. If planning to serve it several hours after making it, store in the
       fridge with a sheet of plastic wrap pressed against the surface.



Mmmmm....We can't wait to try this! Thanks so much for stopping by today, Becca!

Have a GREAT weekend, everyone! Any fun plans that include guacamole?

3 comments:

  1. That looks delish. We have avocado every day in our salad. My 12 year old laughed and agreed with you. She could eat avo's for breakfast lunch and tea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My mouth is watering reading this post. Too bad my husband doesn't like avocado :(. I think that's ok though. I could eat it all myself.

    ReplyDelete