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Smoothie Sunday: Avocado Horchata Smoothie

My last attempt at a horchata smoothie was yummy, but a bit thin for my personal smoothie tastes. So I decided to try again. Remembering how thick the avocado smoothie I made last year turned out, I figured if I wanted a thicker smoothie that this would be a good bet. And I was right! This smoothie was much thicker and smoother. The fats in the avocado also made it more filling. Overall I preferred this horchata smoothie over the first, but they’re both good in their own ways.

What you'll need

What you’ll need

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Quick Recipe: Cereal Chicken

We’ve covered chicken cutlets before on PCFG. They’re easy, relatively quick, and require few ingredients. Today’s recipe is an alternate take on them, however. This recipe incorporates crushed up cereal, like Cap’n Crunch, as breading for your chicken. The result is, well, it’s pretty much what you’d expect. It’s yummy, crunchy chicken pieces with a subtle sweetness from the cereal. It might take a little longer than using plain old breadcrumbs, but it’s a fun change-up for this classic recipe. After you’re done reading, why not take a look at some Cereal Report posts to pass the time?

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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

The line-up

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Quick Recipe: Chicken Pasanda

Chicken Pasanda is a curry dish that some describe as a “royal” dish, due to its richness. It skips out on the usual ingredients of tomato sauce/paste, which gives it a nice creamy white color, which makes it stand out from other curries which are frequently reddish or orange. It has all your standard curry flavors, with a fun bonus addition of chopped almonds which add a delightful nutty flavor to the dish. Bear in mind, our column’s name “quick recipe” denotes the the fact that the post is quick, not the recipe necessarily. In this case, chicken pasanda is a bit on the lengthy side of meals to make, but it shouldn’t take longer than an hour to prepare. It’s certainly worth it; it tastes awesome!

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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

What you’ll need

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