$5 Guacamole

While I was shopping at Publix on Saturday, I came across a great sale on avocados. The giant green-skinned avocados were on sale from $3.49 each to $1 each!! They were not quite ripe yet, so I bought 3. Californians: you have to understand that 1 of these giants is akin to about 4-5 Hass avocados. They are huge! They are a bit softer in texture than the Hass variety, but still very delicious. I used up 1/2 of one on a few salads over the weekend, but yesterday I realized that they were ripe and it was do or die. So, I decided to make a huge batch of guacamole. I used 2 large avocados, 4 large cloves of fresh garlic, 1 lemon, 1 red diamond tomato (a HUGE one), 2 small red onions, 1 tbsp kosher salt, and a generous sprinkling of onion powder and garlic powder. I ended up with a ridiculous amount of fresh, delicious guacamole and decided to experiment with freezing it. I froze 5 ziploc bags of it and kept a 12 ounce bag in the fridge. I ended up with 59.9 ounces of guacamole for about $5 with all the ingredients I used. You pay about $5 for a 16-oz container at the market!!

One Bottle BBQ Chicken

I have always said that one of these days I would make the famously simple "one bottle BBQ chicken." You put 6-8 chicken pieces (breast, thighs, drums, etc.) into a crock pot with 1 bottle of barbecue sauce and cook into until it falls off the bone, then shred it. Supposedly it's then "ready to eat." When I came home at lunch time today I put 6 bone-in chicken thighs into the crock pot and added 1 regular-sized bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle barbecue sauce. I turned the crock pot on high for 5-1/2 hours. When I came home the meat was very tender and had decent flavor, however the barbecue sauce did something strange that I did not care for. In retrospect, I probably should have put the chicken on low for a longer period of time, but that's beside the point. I wasn't too satisfied with the overall flavor, (though to be honest there are probably many restaurants that would have served it as is) so I took it out of the sauce. I threw out the sauce and shredded the meat off the bone with a fork. If your chicken is cooked properly, this takes about 2 minutes.

I then started my customary kitchen dance of opening the cabinet and seeing what looks good to add to my chicken. I drizzled the chicken with honey, then added the tiniest sprinkles of the following: onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, ginger (powder) and cayenne. Then I poured about 3/4 cup of honey barbecue sauce into it and stirred it with the fork. I left it in the crock on high for about 30 minutes more. 

It was delicious! Rich really liked it. So, my recipe for one bottle BBQ chicken didn't turn out quite so simple...but, I think mine tastes better than theirs. :) Happy Saturday!

My Little Boo!

Chihuahuas are one of the few breeds that were developed just to sit around and look cute, begging to have their sweatshirts put on when it's 95 degrees outside just because it's 65 in the house :) 

My little guy makes me smile! He loves to "hang out" and no matter what I am doing he will not be happy till he is right next to me.

IT'S A HAIR DAY!!!

Bed head! I've become pretty comfortable with these crazy bedhead curls.

Straight! 

My hair has grown about 5 inches this year since I stopped straightening it every day. It actually annoyed me today to feel my straight hair touching me, it was sticking to my face, neck, and shoulders. It was over 100 degrees today!!! My curls are much lighter and cooler in this heat!

Happy Wednesday!

Recipe Pictorial: Linguine Alfredo alla Avocado!

I made a new recipe today!!! An invented recipe. I try to try something totally new once a week. I saw a recipe on Facebook for fettucine with an avocado-based sauce. I wanted to try it, but then I saw the comments stating that it wasn't very good. Several reviewers complained about the unpleasant lemon flavor and said that the sauce wasn't creamy. The original recipe called for garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt, avocado, fresh basil, and pepper. Below I will post my recipe and a step-by-step picture guide. I made a swordfish loin to go with this meal.

Here is my "invented" recipe:

Alfredo alla Avacado

1 ripe hass avocado, mashed with a fork

3-4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

1 generous tbsp olive oil

½ tsp dried basil

1 tsp  kosher salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ c heavy whipping cream

¾ c fresh grated parmesan

8 oz linguine, al dente

My pretty avocado

 Pit, peel, and chop the avocado with kitchen scissors 

Mash the avocado 

Peel 3-4 large cloves of garlic and get a massive chopping knife ready to go

Crush the whole cloves: place the knife on top of a clove and SMASH!!! It's really cathartic (and also releases the scent, flavor and oils, yum!)

 Crush, crush, crush!!

Mince like a maniac

Keep going till your fingers want to fall off.

My neat little pile of minced garlic :)

This is how much kosher salt I added. It was about a teaspoon.

My bowl with avocado, garlic, salt, and a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil, just before blending.

3/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan. It must be fresh grated (from a BLOCK!) or it won't flavor the sauce well!

I used an immersion blender to blend 2 oz of heavy whipping cream into the ingredients I showed you in the bowl. Then added a good sprinkle of dried basil for the next round of blending.

I blended in 2 more ounces of cream before pouring the sauce into the pot on medium low. It still had a somewhat thick consistency--you have to remember, the fluidity will increase as it warms. Stir in the cheese first with a spatula, then whisk for 3-5 minutes until melted.

A plate of Linguine Alfredo alla Avocado with two, 2-oz pieces of broiled swordfish loin

Rich's plate: plain linguine drizzled in olive oil with fresh asiago on top, with two 3.5-oz pieces of fish, plus a small "tasting bite" of my new recipe. 

A creamy bite.... it was sooooo amazing!!! Creamy, fresh, with a light avocado flavor. None of the heaviness of traditional afredo. It was spectacular! 

Rich: "It tastes like creamy green sauce." (code for, I don't love it; it's GREEN. GREEN!!!)

Leftover linguine and fish for Rich's lunch tomorrow.

Daily Wisdom

“Today, and every day, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You deserve them!”

“In doing what we ought we deserve no praise.”

 “It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.”

Artisan Bread

I decided to make some bread using a recipe given to me by my dad. One thing you may not know about him is that sometimes, he will simply wake up in the morning and say, "Today I want to learn how xyz is made." Then he will make it, and be done with it for years! This recipe is for Artisan bread. I should have added more flour to my dough but frankly the bread came out quite tasty. My favorite is the round loaf with rosemary, parmesan, and sea salt on top. To view the original blog we got the recipe from, click HERE.

 Before baking

 Forming a loaf

After rising