Blog Archives
Food 101: Basic Guacamole
In my experience guacamole seems to be one of those foods that most people either love or hate. Some people are happy with any guacamole, but others take it much more seriously. There was even a huge social media blow-out (Guacamole-gate) when it was suggested that a guacamole that included peas could be superior to others. Personally I’m more on the traditional side of guacamole things. A good basic guacamole is a culinary multi-tasker. You can set it out as a dip at a party, put it in a burrito, on a sandwich, or use it as a topping for quesadillas, chicken, etc.
Guacamole can range from super basic to super loaded. With this post I’m going to go over how to make a super basic guacamole and then add some suggestions to amp it up a bit if desired. There’s really only 3 ingredients you need for your most basic guacamole: avocado, lemon or lime juice, and salt. Once you have this base you can easily decide on other ingredients to add in to give your guacamole a different taste to fit the occasion. Or just eat it as is. Whatever suits your mood that day.
The line-up
Smoothie Sunday: Blueberry Melon Smoothie
I like trying to use melons in smoothies because they’re so refreshing. They’re also a quintessential summer food. As I discovered last year, watermelon can be tricky because it’s just so, well, watery. I’d wanted to try a smoothie using honeydew melon last year, but the melon kept getting eaten before I had a chance to use it in a smoothie. So this year I made sure to grab some before it was all gone. I decided to mix it with blueberries because I like blueberries. As a bonus blueberries are really good for you.
What you’ll need
Smoothie Sunday: Apple Horchata Smoothie
This smoothie has a bit of a back-story. Erik and I first encountered horchata at our favorite Mexican restaurant. They have it up at the counter and we kept seeing it, saying it looked interesting, looking up what it actually was, and then somehow instantly forgetting so almost every time we went we’d look up what horchata is. Horchata (and yes, I had to look it up again just be sure I got it right) is a type of beverage that is made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barely, and/or tigernuts. The Mexican version of horchata is usually made with rice and also contains cinnamon. Finally we actually ordered it. And it was super yummy! We drank it all up and that was it. I didn’t really give it much more thought. Then a few weeks later we were at a local deli and lo and behold, they had dry horchata mix*. “Dude, I should get this and use it in a smoothie. It’ll be awesome,” I said, and Erik agreed. And thus the beginning of the apple horchata smoothie was born.
Unfortunately I still had to figure out a fruit to include, since without a fruit it wasn’t going to be a smoothie…just a really big glass of horchata. I tossed around a few ideas. Erik suggested apple would go best, and even though I was a bit skeptical of putting an apple in my blender, I ultimately decided to give it a try.
What you’ll need
Smoothie Sunday: Carrot Cake Smoothie
Smoothie Sunday is back everyone! After taking the winter off from smoothies, now that the weather has finally turned warm it’s time to go back to smoothies. While starting the brainstorming process for smoothies I decided I wanted to try to work some more veggies into smoothies this year, since I didn’t use any last year except avocado (and even then I believe that’s technically a fruit). One of the first things that came to mind was a carrot cake smoothie. Carrots are a vegetable, but they’re on the sweet side, and carrot cake is definitely sweet, so it would make it seem less like drinking veggies, and more just yummy. While a lot of my smoothie recipes call for yogurt, mostly just to add substance, in this case the yogurt plays a vital flavor role. The vanilla yogurt adds a sweet tang, similar to the cream cheese frosting that normally tops carrots cakes, without as much fat and sugar and whatnot. This smoothie is like eating dessert for breakfast, but it’s good for you!
What you’ll need
Cheat Codes: How To Substitute Buttermilk Using Vinegar and Milk
Buttermilk is a weird concept. It’s milk that’s cultured with bacteria to curdle it slightly, making it kinda gross and blorpy, but actually good for you and better for certain types of cooking. It originally was made from the leftover milk when butter was churned, letting bacteria build up to acidify the milk and thus curdle it. In plainest terms, it’s really just a controlled version of spoiled milk. Obviously it’s not the same as leaving milk in the fridge for a month and having it taste like hot-ass and sponge, but both the old-fashioned butter churning way, and modern day cultured way result in milk that’s been curdle due to high amounts of bacteria in it.
Oh boy! Yum!
But actually, I should stop kidding around, buttermilk actually plays a really big role in foods like cake and waffles. It transforms pancakes from good to legendary. It’s ironically become somewhat of a luxury item today, despite the fact it’s not very dissimilar to yogurt. If you can find it at your local grocer and don’t mind shilling out the extra money for it, go for it! But if not, there’s a way to simulate it at home pretty easily.
The Poor Couple's Food Guide 
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