Holy Guacamole!

If you're like me, you enjoy the occasional Mexican dish. Actually, if you're anything like me, you could eat Mexican food every day! That being said, I was watching The Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition, and one of their challenges involved learning how to make guacamole. I was inspired by this and decided that I should learn the recipe as well. It definitely didn't disappoint! Here is a link to the original recipe (courtesy of Rachael Ray): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/grilled-guacamole.html

The only changes I made were using 1 tbsp ground Cumin in place of garlic, and I added about a half of a shot of tequila at the very end.

To start, finely chop the onions and place in a bowl off to the side. Add the ground cumin (or garlic if you're going by the original recipe), and soak with the juice of both the lime and lemon.

While the onions are soaking, place a grill pan on the stove and roast the jalapeno's and avocado's until they are slightly charred (about 3-5 minutes).

The next step is probably the most fun! Place a cooling rack over the bowl that contains the onions, and place the avocado's (one at a time, skin on the outside) on the rack. Push the avocado through the cooling rack and into the bowl.

Once all of the avocado's are in the bowl, add in the finely chopped peppers, and the half shot of tequila (not required). Use a fork or potato masher to combine all of the ingredients until they reach a consistency that you enjoy. Personally, I enjoy lots of chunks of avocado in mine.

This is a great recipe for sharing with friends at a party, or for topping your favorite dishes with. Enjoy!

Homemade French Bread Pizzas

Hello everybody! To start, I'd like to thank everyone who has been asking me to start posting on the blog again. It means a lot to me that you have enjoyed reading my posts, I'll do my best not to take such a long break next time :) Now, with that said, back to business! I've realized lately that I haven't been cooking as many original recipes, so last night I tried to bring back my creative side a bit.

Anyone else who is single and living on their own knows that when you get home from work and you're tired, it's very easy to grab a frozen entree and stick it in the oven or microwave and call it a night. Personally, one of my favorites are the Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas. However, after what I ended up making for dinner last night, I don't think I will ever need to buy them again. Here are the ingredients that you will need:

1 French Baguette
1/2 Red Bell Pepper (sliced)
2 Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage links (sliced)
1/3 Jar Marinara Sauce
1/2 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (or more if desired)

To start, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is warming up, slice the baguette into 4 sections. Spray a baking sheet with canola oil and bake the 4 pieces of bread FACE DOWN for 5-6 minutes or until they are slightly crispy. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and cook the sausage and peppers over medium heat until the sausage is brown around the edges.

Remove the bread from the oven, and top with marinara sauce, cheese, sausage, and peppers. Place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy! These are a very simple, quick, and delicious weeknight meal! Feel free to serve with a side salad or another side of your choice.

When life gives you lemons...

They say that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Over the past few days I have been enjoying some delicious turkey tacos that I made (great comfort food for a blizzard). Unfortunately, when I went to enjoy a few more last night, I discovered that 3 out of the remaining 4 shells were broken into pieces. Have you ever been eating hard shell tacos and had the contents of said tacos fall out onto your plate, in addition to pieces of the shells, and you end up eating those scraps with your fork? Well, last night I decided to make that into it's own meal instead. Ground turkey, shredded lettuce, salsa, and broken taco shells. What do you do when life gives you broken taco shells? You make a crunchy taco salad.