Ten Minute Tasty, Fresh, and Easy Guacamole

As a kid, guacamole grossed me out for some reason; I guess it was a combo of being green and squishy looking that made it look so unappetizing. But isn't it funny how our opinions change. Now I think guacamole is delicious. Plus, it's easy to make, and wonderful to serve to other people because they love it!



Guacamole
Makes 4 - 6 Servings

Ingredients
2 avocados
1 tbsp of lime juice
1 small jalapeno pepper
1/8 cup of finely chopped cilantro
1/8 cup of very finely chopped red onion
1/2 roma tomato, diced
1/2 tsp kosher/coarse salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Tortilla chips



Halve avocados, remove stones, and remove flesh from the skin with either a knife or spoon. Immediately pour lime juice over avocado pieces so that they do not oxidize. To create a creamier guacamole, use a fork and mash the flesh. Add all other ingredients and gently stir.

Shrimp Burrito Bowl

Try my Chicken Burrito Bowl with shrimp! It's great! Just take about half a pound of raw, deveined and peeled shrimp, and cut them into bite size pieces (or keep them whole if you prefer). Use the marinade that was meant for the chicken and put it on the shrimp instead.

Cook the shrimp by stir-frying it in a hot pan with about one tablespoon of olive oil. It only takes about 1-2 minutes to cook the shrimp; as soon as the all the shrimp becomes opaque (from grey, to white/pink) it's cooked!

Heat up the black beans in the pan you cooked the shrimp in; the beans will soak up all the flavor that is left in the pan from the shrimp.

Enjoy with pico de gallo, cheese, etc. Basically, anything you like!

Chicken Burrito Bowl

I was craving Chipotle, but alas, there is no Chipotle within easy reach of where I live. So, I decided to scour the fridge to see if I could come up with something that would be similar. Turns out that I had no lettuce which really wasn't vital, but I also had no tortillas! Well, that didn't stop me. I still made the filling for the burrito, making what Chipotle calls a "burrito bol". It turned out pretty well, and I particularly enjoyed the marinade I made for the chicken.

Chicken Burrito Bowl
Serves 3 people for dinner

Ingredients For the Rice
1 cup of basmati rice
2 cups of water
Juice of one lime
1 tbsp of canola oil
1/2 tsp of salt
Handful of cilantro, finely chopped

Ingredients for the Pico de Gallo
2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
1 large handful of cilantro, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Ingredients for the Chicken
2 chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 of a red onion
6 garlic cloves
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp salt

Other Optional Ingredients
Black beans
Cheese
Guacamole
Lettuce
Sour Cream
Tabasco/other hot sauces


This recipe is very simple, especially with the help of a Cuisinart. Take all the ingredients for the chicken, except the chicken itself and blend them together in the Cuisinart. Spread the mixture over both sides of the chicken and marinade for at least one hour. When it comes time to cook the chicken, grill it on a hot grill, or in a fry pan (add a dash of oil to a fry pan so that the chicken doesn't stick) for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Cut the chicken into slices and serve hot.



For the salsa, simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. For the rice, I used a rice cooker, so that just involved putting everything, aside from the cilantro, into the cooker and hitting the "cook" button. Just before serving, I carefully stirred in the cilantro, without crushing the rice.



I mixed in some low sodium black beans, cheese, and red and green tabasco sauces with my rice, salsa and chicken. This is a great dish for guests because everyone can customize their bowl. Now I can make delicious burritos at home and not pine over the lack of Chipotle in my area!

Chicken Fajitas

So, I would not say that these fajitas are necessarily the most authentic; it's just my interpretation of a mainstream dish.

These fajitas are great if you are having friends over... you can prep everything ahead of time and just grill the chicken at the end.

Chicken Fajitas
Serves 4 people (2 fajitas each)

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1 green pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 red onion, sliced
Salsa (homemade or store bought)
2 cups grated cheese (I use a Mexican blend)
1 package of tortillas (any variety will do)
1 tomato (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Cilantro, finely chopped (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt

Mix turmeric, cayenne pepper, garlic, cumin powder and salt together. Cover this mixture evenly over the chicken breast and let marinade for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, grill the green pepper and red onion so that it is slightly softened and charred. This should be done in a nice hot pan or on a grill pan and should only take about five minutes.

Cook the chicken breast on a hot grill. It should take a couple minutes on each side. Slice the thick part of the chicken breast to see if it is cooked. Remove from heat once cooked and slice chicken into strips, garnishing with cilantro if desired.

You can create an assembly line of all of the ingredients. Heat the tortillas either on a warm pan on the stove, in the oven, or for 10-15 seconds each in the microwave.



Let guests assemble their fajitas to their liking. It's a fun way for guests to be able to customize their meal. If you have vegetarians/vegans you could also grill some zucchini, eggplant or tomatoes; all of these would be a welcome addition to any fajitas.