I love avocados. They are delicious all by themselves, and they are among my all time favorite party foods when transformed into guacamole. The biggest sin I believe there is in the world of guacamole is store bought guacamole. I realize that avocados may be a little intimidating, and it may seem daunting to put together a solid guacamole. But, here’s the secret – guacamole is the bacon of the produce department. It makes just about anything taste better, and it goes with just about everything. Below, I have a basic guacamole outline of a few key ingredients that I always use. It tastes great by itself, but it can also be easily embellished with any number of ingredients, and the outcome is nearly always incredible. In addition, it’s a great dip for little ones, full of healthy fats and oils, and an excellent way to get kids to greedily gobble large quantities of vegetables.

In the recipe below, I have added an asterisk to the “core” ingredients that I always use in my guacamole. I also have a few added items I used for the first time with this batch, and they worked really well. So, grab some avocados and your favorite hand masher, and let’s make some guac!

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados*
• 2 tablespoons of finely minced onion (sweet or red)*
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced*
• Juice of 1/2 a lime*
• Salt to taste*
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 tablespoon of roasted garlic salsa
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Procedure:

Slice the avocados in half and scoop out the meat. Add to a mixing bowl. Add the garlic, onion and lime juice (and any other ingredients you may have chosen to include). Mash with a hand masher to your desired consistency. I like mine a little chunky, but if you like it smoother, by all means, mash away! Taste a little bit, and add salt to taste. It is VERY EASY to over salt guacamole, so add a little at a time and stir/mash to combine.

Guacamole is a great all by itself with some chips. Our little guy likes to eat it straight off a spoon! But, it’s also great on burgers, eggs, tacos, burritos, nachos, salads…really, just about anything. This particular batch was the final touch on a batch of breakfast burritos. I scrambled some eggs with a little onion, salsa and cheese, added some black beans and served it all in a grilled flour tortilla topped with some of this guacamole.

It was awesome. Give it a shot, and I have a feeling you’ll never reach for a tub of guacamole in the grocery store again!