National Guacamole Day!

September 16, 2011 is

National Guacamole Day

Today is National Guacamole Day! We all know and love guacamole as a party snack, but there's more to guacamole than meets the eye. Guacamole is made from avocados, which are packed with more than twenty vitamins, contain "good fats" that reduce cholesterol, can help fight cancer, and can be used as a substitute for butter or shortening in baking.You can purchase pre-made guacamole at your local supermarket or buy some ripe avocados to make your own. Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July, Super Bowl Sunday, and Easter each account for approximately five percent of annual avocado sales. Have no fear, avocado trees produce up to 400 fruits a year so there should be plenty to go around.

Here's my trusty Guacamole Recipe in case you missed it the first time!
 Happy National Guacamole Day!

                                                                                                                                      

WY-OLLY  GUACAMOLE                                                        
3/4 cup  Chopped onions
3/4 cup Diced Tomatoes
1/2-1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 T Mayonnaise
Dash Garlic Powder
Dash Cumin
Dash Salt
Dash Pepper

Tabasco to taste (approx.7-8 drops)

3-4 Avocados (I like Haas myself)

Mash Avocados to creamy or kind of lumpy whatever consistency you like. Mix in all ingredients. Chill for about 2-4 hours to settle ingredients. (but I usually can't wait, I eat it immediately!) Serve that day for it doesn't keep to well.

 Happy National Guacamole Day!

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 The Beginning of Stepping Back in Time with My Cherished Cookbooks

Sharon McAndrews Burkey

Mini Caprese Bites

This is the sampler that I served my Daughter Dana to test!

Here's one of my favorite appetizers!
It's a low carb and healthy option.
I served this when we hosted a Gala Appetizer Dessert Party for Christ Lutheran School and for a BBQ this last weekend for community service at La Mesa Dale Elementary.
My challenge, finding the right size skewers! I found really long skewers, thought they could be cut in half, but it doesn't skewer through the tomatoes nicely, and breaks the mozzarella cheese balls.Ugh! Note:to self to stock up on skewers. So I decided to leave the length. Instead of serving individually, which I did previously in non stem wine glasses. I needed to serve it buffet style. So, hunting around the house for serving dishes. I ended up serving in 3 glass cylinders and turned out to be a nice presentation. Love it when impromptu creative ideas come to mind!
Enjoy! Sharon

Mini Caprese Bites
Prep: 20 min. Grape tomatoes vary in size from week to week at the grocery store; some pints we found had only 24 while others had more than 40. Good news, you should still have enough mozzarella balls because they are generally sold in 8-oz. containers that have more than enough.

Yield: Makes 8 appetizer servings
1pt. grape tomatoes, halved
10 to 14 fresh small mozzarella cheese balls, cut into thirds*
32 (4-inch) wooden skewers**
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and pepper to taste1. Thread 1 tomato half, 1 piece of cheese, and another tomato half onto each skewer. Place skewers in a shallow serving dish.
2. Whisk together oil and next 3 ingredients. Drizzle oil mixture over skewers; sprinkle with basil and salt and pepper to taste.
*1 (8-oz.) package fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, may be substituted.
**Wooden picks may be substituted.

Southern Living, MAY 2008