Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Macaroni and Cheese with Guacamole?




We love guacamole in our house -- at least most of us. But, we consider it a real treat, because even on sale, avocados run $1.50 to $2 each in Ohio. And then you're lucky if it's good inside. Well, our grocer had a great sale over the weekend - $.57 a piece. I bought a few for guacamole -- some for Father's Day and some for last night's burgers. Hamburgers and guacamole are a great combo, but we discovered another great combo with our dinner -- macaroni and cheese and guacamole. You may think it sounds really strange, and I have to tell you that it doesn't look all that appetizing, but if you serve the macaroni and cheese with just a dollop on top, you can take just a little bit of guacamole with each bite -- Yum! It makes a simple macaroni and cheese very grown up. My macaroni and cheese was a stove-top recipe -- basically cheese sauce mixed with cooked elbow macaroni -- similar to this.

My recipe for guacamole is really simple. It starts with my recipe for salsa.

Salsa

1 can tomatoes and chilies (like Rotel)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 red or sweet yellow onions, cut in a few big chunks
1/2 lime
salt
Cilantro to taste (optional) (I use about 2 T.)

Place garlic and onion in food processor bowl with metal blade. Pulse until onions are in small bits. Drain about half the juice of the tomatoes and place tomatoes and remaining juice in food processor bowl with garlic and onion. Squeeze 1/2 lime over tomatoes, add Cilantro if desired, and then pulse until tomatoes are in small bits -- do not puree. Salt to taste, pulse a few times, then taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary.

To serve this salsa as a dip, you can add to it -- add 1/2 cup of corn or a 1/2 c. black beans or both. You can also add fresh tomatoes.

NOTE: Rotel tomatoes and chilies come in a variety of "heats." I find that Original is plenty hot, but Doug likes Festival -- which is just a tad hotter.


Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
3 heaping tablespoons salsa
1/2 lime
salt
Cilantro to taste (optional)

Peel ripe avocados and break into chunks, removing pits; place in a medium bowl. Spoon salsa on top, toss in cilantro to taste (if desired) and squeeze lime over the top. Mash with a potato masher, or the back of a fork, until guacamole is creamy, but not pureed (there should still be small chunks). Salt and stir, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

3 comments:

scrapper al said...

I never would have thought to combine mac and cheese and guacamole, but now that you mention it, I'll have to try it. Especially since I love guacamole and avocados.

abstractmina said...

I actually just got the idea to try this, and decided to google it to see if it's worth trying. Surprisingly, this is the only page that came up that talks about combining the two. I just think, how different is macaroni compared to cheese enchiladas?
I'm excited to try it in the next few minutes!

Barbara said...

If you like guacamole and Mac and cheese it's a win-win!