Nacho Libra

This is MY nacho!

Sorry about the movie reference-since I'm a Libra, and this is a picture of a nacho that I made, I thought...oh never mind.

Ahem.

Anyhow, here's how to make a delicious plate of nachos from the ground up.

refried beans-2 cans of kidney beans, good dash of paprika and cumin powder-if you wanna be a purist here, I suppose you could soak your beans of choice overnite and smoosh them the next day, but I use the canned ones. Just plop them, drained, into a food processor and make a bean smoothie...then pour into a pan that will hold them, add the spices, and simmer on a very low flame until warmed through.

meat-if you don't like meat, please skip this part. Otherwise, brown 1 pound ground meat of your choice, (I used lamb here) and spread it out on your skillet, to evenly brown the meat until no pink remains. Then add as much cumin as you like, (I put about 2 tablespoons in there) and paprika to taste, a dash of sea salt, a few sliced cloves of garlic, and when the meat is no longer pink inside, you're good to go.

guacamole-3 ripe avocados, good sized bunch of cilantro, juice of 2 limes, good pinch of sea salt, 4 peeled garlic cloves. Slice avocado in half, discard seed (unless your kid has a need for a show and tell item-see the bottom of this recipe) scoop out the flesh, and puree one at a time in the food processor. Then while it's running and you have the cover still secured in place, add the juice of two limes, then one after the other, the remaining avocado flesh. Then, while still running, add the cilantro leaves, the pinch of sea salt, and the garlic cloves. There! Flavorful without being overpowering. Spice it up with a bit of Jalepeno if you must.

salsa- combine in a bowl the following ingredients: 5 chopped roma tomatoes, finely chopped onion to tase, good bunch of cilantro leaves, a dash of olive oil, sea salt, chopped jalepeno (if you want it spicy, leave the seeds/core in, if not, remove them first. And wash your hands right after you are done handling the Jalepeno because you run the risk of rubbing your eye or nose and that stings. Ask me how I know.) Stir it up and put a cover on the bowl, let it sit in the fridge a while. It will get a bit loose and watery, but that's okay-that is the consistency you want-just stir it again before serving.

You may also want to include shredded cheese and sour cream. I'm still working on a recipe for sour cream, and I haven't figured out how to make anythign but cream cheese, so when I figure out how to make hard cheese that's shreddable, I'll certainly post about it.

Then assemble your lovely ingredients, pile the toppings over your favorite brand of tortilla chip, and enjoy!

And now, for the avocado incident...

Actually it was an avocado seed incident. When I was in second grade, our wonderful teacher, Mrs. Rowe, decided we should have show-n-tell each week. I decided to bring an avocado seed for some reason. Probably because my mom was on an avocado kick, and as soon as I spotted that thing, I thought, "Wow! That's the biggest seed in the universe! I gotta bring it to class!" or something.

So, the big day arrives, all is well, I show the seed, get the appropriate number of oohs and aahhs and that is that.

Back to the daily grind.

Back to math, cursive writing workbooks, learning about Thanksgiving. Yum! cornbread. (already a little foodie.)

Caught the flu, one week out.

Back in school, Christmas pageant, paper chains, construction paper stocking, what are you getting for Christmas? Yay! Chistmas break! Thank you Jesus for being born during the month of December! Counting down the days, hot chocolate, getting frostbite while ice skating, I hope Auntie Mae doesn't serve that awful pudding that's not really a pudding at dinner this year then all of a sudden it's January 1979 and we have to go back to school.

And clean out our desks.

And there it is, waaaaaay in the back of my desk, behind the papers, the forgotten crayons, and the little pencil box.

The avocado pit. Of despair.

I must say, I got better reviews the second time when I unearthed the decrepit thing once the garbage can made it's way past my desk. Got way more oooohs and aaaahs that time. It still stank, though.

So, I learned my lesson, and throw them away RIGHT AWAY now that I'm all grown up.

No more petri dishes in my desk drawers, nu-uh.

Gotta love the experiences of childhood. They teach us so much.

I love the smell of avocado in January, it smells like.......history.