Jeez, has it been over a year since I last posted? Perhaps I should explain. Back when I began this blog, I had taken all my product photos using my smartphone. It never occurred to me to transfer those photos to my laptop, or a flash drive, or the cloud . Then the microSD memory card where the photos were stored crapped out on me, and there was no way to recover the files. I've since replaced the memory card, but some of my enthusiasm for the blog was dampened.
Mostly, though, the main reason I haven't posted is that I've wanted to post something overwhelmingly positive about a product that I've purchased from ALDI. Last October, my sister and I thought it might be fun to compare pumpkin bread mixes from ALDI and Trader Joe's:
Here was the result:
Welp.
Of course, the logical explanation why things turned out they way they did is simply due to the fact that the Trader's Joe box contains more mix. I should also note, that there was nothing wrong with the Baker's Choice pumpkin bread. I personally thought it had more pumpkin spice flavor than the Trader Joe's mix. The trouble is it just doesn't look good when placed side-by-side with the Trader Joe's loaf, so I put off writing it up. Besides, the pumpkin bread mix is a seasonal product. By the time I had collected my thoughts, it probably would have been hard to find in stores.
Why am I posting today, then? Well, today so happens to be Cinco de Mayo. Maybe it's the due to the warming weather or the fact that I got out of work early, but I felt like celebrating a little in spite of having absolutely no Mexican in my family makeup. Guacamole is the only remotely Mexican dish in my repetoire, and avocados happened to be USD$.79 at ALDI. Here's my recipe for a basic guacamole. It's probably too late in the day for you to use it, but store it away for next year (or whenever you feel hungry).
Basic Guacamole
Ingredients
- 2 avocados
- 1/4 onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely diced (remove ribs and seeds to reduce heat)
- 1 lime
- salt (to taste)
Directions
Slice avocados into halves and remove the pits. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh from the halves into a large bowl.. Add onion, garlic, jalapeno and salt to bowl. Squeeze the juice from the lime into the bowl. Mix the ingredients with two forks, breaking up the avocado into smaller chunks. Make sure the ingredients are well mixed but leave the avocado on the slightly chunky side. Serve with tortilla chips.
Did you know that aside from Super Bowl Sunday, the greatest amount of guacamole is consumed on Cinco de Mayo? At the very minimum, all you need to make guacamole is avocados and salt. Everything else is optional. The key is to make sure your savory ingredients are diced as fine as possible. Nobody wants to bite into a chunk of onion. I occasionally like to add diced mango to my guacamole; and even though mangoes were $.49, I left them out this time around.
There you have it: one quasi-apology, one quasi-review, and one quick-and-easy recipe! Logging in today, I noticed this blog is still drawing in traffic. Thanks for stopping by. I hope I can give you reason to stop again soon.
