fresh guacamole

I have been meaning to put this recipe here for months now!

I am finally getting around to it today...

On our 15th wedding anniversary Brett & I went to San Antonio, Texas & ate at the most fabulous restaurant on the river walk. There they served guacamole that was freshly made at your table. It was LIFE CHANGING. Neither of us were huge guacamole lovers until this moment.

I've been making a copy of it ever since!

the ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1/2 orange

1/2 lime

1 roma tomato diced

2-3 Tbsp. onion diced (preferably red- but I didn't have a red one here)

2-3 Tbsp. salsa

chopped cilantro to taste ( I really love cilantro so I add a lot)

kosher salt & pepper

Dice the avocado to the desired size & place in a bowl.

Add freshly squeezed juice of both the lime & orange; stir gently.

(the juice is hardly noticeable, but then makes all the difference... how is that possible? It's true, trust me!)

Next, gently add the rest of the ingredients then- salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with chips or on tacos- whatever you like.
Seriously this is so good & so easy.
I always double & sometimes triple recipe.

granola

Anyone that knows me well

knows that I'm not a health food kind of person.

I am a whole food kind of person.

I love to cook & I love real food made from scratch.

I always have.

Recently I have been so inspired by

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

that I have really thought long & hard about what I am feeding my family.

SO....

I feel really good about making my own homemade

(no preservatives included)

granola for breakfast this week.

This Granola is

not low fat

is not low in sugar

It's just wholesome, good, real food.

I hope my family loves it- let me know if you try it too!

My recipe for granola is adapted from this one at allrecipes.com- (I love this website.) I looked through a lot of recipes before I settled on this one for a base.

4 cups of whole rolled oats

1 1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup of rough chopped pecans

1/2 cup of rough chopped almonds

1 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix the first five ingredients in a big bowl. Mix the rest together & drizzle over the granola. Use your hands & really get it mixed/smooshed in. Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper then spread the granola on it. Place in the oven & cook for 40 minutes for really crispy granola stirring once half way through.

When it's done- carefully remove the parchment paper & granola onto cooling racks. Cool completely & store in an airtight container.

Serve over yogurt, or in a bowl with milk.

Other mix-ins to try:

shredded coconut (I'm adding this for sure next time)

raisins

dried cherries, blueberries, bananas- whatever dried fruit you like.

If you really want to get crazy- add yogurt covered raisins after it has cooled.