guacamole and pico de gallo

I know I said that 7 layer dip would be the next post, but to post on 7 layer dip, I felt I had to post the guacamole recipe we use.  Honestly I have to admit that we totally cheated this time around because we just used salsa, but we do normally make guacamole following this recipe.  I'm including our pico de gallo recipe becasuse it seems like everyone would know what it is so it doesn't merit it's own post.  However, in case you don't, or I ever forget the proportions, I've included it here.

Again, no picture - other than as part of 7 layer dip.

Ingredients

• 3 avocados (Hass medium), 
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1/2 cup pico de gallo (see below)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced (3 cloves)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon jalapeno, stemmed seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Pit avocados.  Score without going through the skin.  Scoop dices our into a mixing bowl.  Add the lime juice and stir to coat.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients and stir and mash until desired consistency is reached. 

****Tip - We learned this awesome tip a while back - if you toss an avocado pit in with the guacamole it will keep it from going brown.  

~~Like I said, today we totally cheated.  I love the Jack's Special fresh salsa that they sell at our costco.  It has a nice limey flavor.  We just subbed that for the jalapeno, pico, and lime juice.  I'm pretty sure Brandon still added a bit of garlic, the olive oil, and salt to taste.  But like I said, I share the recipe because it is our go to guacamole recipe.

Pico de gallo

Ingredients

• 2 cups (1 pound) tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup white onions, diced
• 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 2 teaspoons lime juice (fresh is best)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  

maple nut bagel spread

This was a super simple cream cheese that I made to go with the pumpkin spice bagels I made this morning.  It is also from the taste of home healthy cooking magazine.  The original recipe called for walnuts and I used pecans, and I didn't toast them.  The spread would be good with or without the nuts.  Didn't make for the prettiest picture with the nuts though.

Ingredients

• 1 8 oz carton reduced-fat spreadable cream cheese
• 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, bead cream cheese, syrup and cinnamon until smooth.  Stir in pecans.  

I whipped this up, spread it on a few bagels and stored the left overs right back in the cream cheese container.  Definitely way better than any store bought flavored cream cheese I've tried.

Hummus

So today's lunch per Sparkpeople was a whole wheat pita with hummus and red peppers, so I made pitas, and I made hummus. Both turned out really well (other than the garlic breath from the hummus.) Here is how I made the hummus - I did get the idea to used sour cream from a sparkpeople recipe, but I subbed out the sesame oil and upped the garlic from the recipe I saw there.

Ha, I just came back to get this recipe to make some hummus and realized I didn't put the main ingredient of chick peas.  Oops.  Wouldn't be much of anything without that.  Problem solved. 

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 Tablespoon fat free sour cream
• 1/8 teaspoon cumin
• 1 can chick peas rinsed and drained

Directions
Combine ingredients and mix with stick blender (or regular blender or food processor...) Blend until smooth.  Enjoy with veggies, pita chips ....

Asian Meatball Soup, baby carrots and dinner rolls

Recipe number 4 from my new book and still loving it. (Although looking at next week, I want to rearrange some things. Hmm. This was a super simple meal - especially today. You are supposed to make most of the soup the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight. I actually made it the other day when I made hamburgers and stuck it in the freezer (minus about 1/2 of the chicken broth.) I took it out last night and left it to defrost on the counter. (Had I been thinking about it I would have taken it out yesterday morning to defrost on the counter during the day and marinate overnight, but I was preoccupied with birthday stuff yesterday.) Anyway, today I just had to dump everything in the crockpot and turn it on. That gave me time to make some rolls.
I liked all parts of this meal. The soup was really nice with a peppery flavor, but not too hot. (I did cut out 1/2 teaspoon hot chili sauce. That was perfect for us.) However, after surveying the family, they didn't like it as well. Brandon only gave it a 2. Bummer. I wasn't the hugest fan of the meatballs, but I think they would have been better if I would not have frozen them and they would have soaked up more marinade.
Everyone was a huge fan of the carrot dip though and it was so simple. We ate the whole bag of carrots with most wanting more to use more dip. Only Tavio didn't like it, but he doesn't like mayo or sour cream or pepper. It would get 5 star.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons fresh garlic (from a jar)
  
• 1/2 onion, sliced)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger (from a jar) (I used a ginger/garlic mix -2 teaspoons of that and 1 teaspoon minced garlic)
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 60 ounces chicken broth (I used stock)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon hot chili sauce (tabasco - I used only 1 teaspoon)
• 2 green onions
• 10 ounces snow peas
• 7 ounces egg noodles

Directions

The night before

1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Form ground beef into tight 1 inch balls, placing into fully boiled water as you form. Set timer for 7 minutes after the last meatball goes into the water.
   
2. While these are cooking, combine garlic, onion, ginger, pepper, soy sauce, chicken broth and chili sauce in the inner crock of the slow cooker. When meatballs are done, drain, and add to the slow cooker. Cover and store in the fridge overnight.

In the morning

1. Put inner crock in the slow cooker and set on low.

In the evening

1. make noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with hot water and set aside
   
2. Slice green onions and add to slow cooker with the peas.
3. Make carrot dip.
4. Put noodles in bowls and ladle soup on top.

Cold Veggie dip
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise, light
• 1/4 cup sour cream, fat free
• 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Original seasoning

1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with 1 lb bag of baby carrots for this meal.