Homemade Guacamole and Salsa

Whenever my friend Melia visits, one of us always ends up quoting Step Brothers and asking the other “Hey! I never asked you, do you like guacamole!?” And no, it never really gets old.

People are a little surprised when I tell them I like guacamole because, well, it’s green and I rarely consume anything green. I tell them I love it because it’s essentially a garlic salt paste for my chips and I can eat around any tomatoes or onions that get in my way. I’ve kind of been toying with the idea of making my since Cinco de Mayo when I ate some of my friend Casey’s AMAZING guacamole. So today is the day! It is time to try my hand at the salty, avocado-filled goodness that is guacamole.

I chose to avoid dreaded chunks of tomatoes and onion completely and instead made mine sans the tomatoes and used a food processor to make the onions almost unnoticeable.

Ingredients:

3 Haas avocados
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 of a red onion – chopped
2 Serrano peppers
Juice from 1/2 of a lime
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. cumin
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

1. Roughly chop cilantro, onion and Serrano peppers
2. Add chopped ingredients to food processor with lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin and then pulse until you get a green paste with a similar consistency to pesto
3. Core and smash avocados and mix with the cilantro paste until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bonus: Homemade Salsa

Of course I couldn’t stop there. What is guacamole without salsa? Since the recipes are so simliar, I decided to put together a batch of salsa too. I rarely mess up salsa. It’s something you can fix pretty easily by throwing whatever is missing into the food processor until it tastes right. I like to blend mine until it’s near water consistency because chunky salsa (actually chunky sauce of any kind) ruins my life.

Ingredients:

2 (15oz.) cans roasted diced tomatoes
1/3 cup cilantro
2 Jalapeno peppers
1/4 of a red onion- chopped
Juice from 1/2 of a lime
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. cumin
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

1. Roughly chop cilantro, onion and Jalapeno peppers and add them in a large bowl with roasted tomatoes, lime juice and garlic and mix well
2. Add ingredients to food processor and pulse on high until the salsa is the consistency you like
3. Pour into dish and mix in cumin. Salt and pepper to taste.

Molly was really enjoying the sunny summer weather in Chicago this weekend. While I didn’t let her snack on any Mexican goodies, I did sneak her up onto the rooftop deck at my apartment. My friend Kathleen was in from Nashville so we had some drinks and girl time up on the roof. Molly was visibly excited about the invite to hang out with us!