Guacamole, Chile con Queso, and Margaritas!

This post is a follow-up post from the one I made earlier today.  I spent all day making food for Cinco de Mayo and here are my recipes for sides.  I love them all very much and hope you all enjoy making and eating them as well!

Guacamole

I have been making guacamole from scratch for as long as I can remember.  I get really picky about it at restaurants and such and have never even dreamed of buying it premade at the grocery store.  With that said, I will do my best to write down my instructions so that they are easy to follow (I usually just sit down and make it blindly, adding different things depending on how it tastes)

Ingredients:

6 large California avocados (I say CA avocados because I feel like they taste the best and are the best consistency.  Mexican or South American avocados are fine, I just prefer the former)

1 large lime

2 small roma tomatoes

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 small shallot (can be substituted with half a small red onion)

2 cloves of garlic

Worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon sour cream (optional)

Directions:

Take all 6 of your avocados and cut them in half, removing the pit and scooping the meat out of the skins.  I've found that the easiest way to do this is to cut the avocado in half, use a spoon to scoop the meat out, then using a large knife, hit the pit straight on, driving the knife deep into the pit.  Then twist the knife and the pit should pop right out.  It takes some practice but works really well.

Once you've scooped out all of the avocado halves, cut into large chunks and put into a bowl.  As soon as you get all of the avocado into a bowl, cut the lime in half and squeeze all the juice on the avocado.  This will keep it from turning brown.  

Next, the shallots and garlic.  I prefer shallots to red onions because they tend to be milder.  They're pretty easy to find in the produce section near onions and garlic. How much guacamole you make dictates how much shallot/onion you use.  I used 6 large avocados so I used 2 shallots.  Mince the shallots and garlic very finely and add them to the avocados.  The smaller the better unless you like a lot of raw onion flavor because they will not be cooked.  To the garlic, shallots and avocados, add 2 small roma tomatoes diced.  I remove the seeds and inner membranes from the tomatoes before I cut them so it doesn't make the guacamole too soupy.

Once everything is added, mash the avocado chunks with a fork.  I prefer my guacamole pretty chunky, so I don't mash it too much.  While you are doing this, add kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate immediately.  I find that this guacamole tastes best if it sits in the fridge for at least an hour before you serve it.

Chile con Queso

This is possibly the least "homemade" thing I am making today but the people I am eating with wanted Chile con Queso so I am biting the "I don't use processed cheese products" bullet and making it anyway.  This recipe is super easy and can be changed so many different ways.

Ingredients:

1 package Velveeta cheese product

3/4 lb ground hamburger meat (I prefer 97/3 fat content)

8 oz. jar of salsa

Small can of bean-less chili

Directions:

First, brown the ground beef on medium heat in a deep saucepan.  Cube the Velveeta in large cubes and add to the beef.  Once these are combined, add the salsa and chili and stir until well combined.  That's pretty much it for this one.  Like I said, it is super easy but tends to be a crowd favorite.  I generally serve it with raw vegetables or tortilla chips.  

  

**Side note: I have made this dip using just Velveeta and salsa or just Velveeta and chopped up jalapenos and red peppers.  Basically, you can take the Velveeta and add as much or as little to it as you want.

Skinny Girl Margaritas

This is in honor of my good friend Erin Sims.  We love to watch trashy TV and drink together and this was a result of both.  For those of you who don't know, the Skinny Girl Margarita is featured in a ton of different TV shows, magazines, books, etc.  I miss and love you Erin Marie!

Ingredients:

1 bottle good quality tequila (I prefer silver patron, don julio, or 1800 silver)

3 limes

1 small bottle of orange liqueur (I prefer Cointreau but triple sec works fine)

Ice

Directions:

Make this drink in a highball or similar glass.  I make mine pretty big so you can adjust how you see fit.  First, take two lime wedges and squeeze all the juice over a glass filled with ice.  Then add 4 shots of tequila and 2 counts of Cointreau.  Stir and drink.  The point of this margarita is that it eliminates the sugary margarita mix in traditional margaritas (hence, "skinny").  I personally LOVE tequila so this is a nice, new way of drinking it.