Holy Guacamole!

Honestly, I'm not the biggest guac fan. There was one restaurant in Boca (whose name eludes me) that used to prepare it tableside, and honestly, it was about the only guac I ate. However, the avocados at the farmer's market were too good to be believed, so I thought I would give it a shot to serve with leftover hummus and flatbread.

1 avocado, pitted
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 chopped tomato
juice of one lime
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried cilantro
dash of paprika

Mash the avocado with salt and lime juice. Add onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro and paprika. Chill for several hours before serving.

Chimichurri

I love a good chimichurri sauce, so since we were making grilled skirt steak for dinner, I opted to lighten up on the marinade (just a quick soy, honey, ginger, garlic, mustard mix) so that we could complement our meal with this.

1 cup fresh parsley, tightly packed

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Puree items in blender. Pour into bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill for two hours. Serve with your favorite grilled beef.

Beer Batter Veggies with Horseradish Dipping Sauce

This weekend, DH gave me a deep fryer (that also steams & boils) as a gift. I was so excited to use it, and fried veggies are among my favorite guilty pleasures. I'm looking forward to putting this new appliance to good use.

Beer Batter

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 beaten egg

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 cups flat, light beer

Put flour, egg, garlic salt, pepper and paprika in a mixing bowl. Add beer and whisk together.

Fried Veggies

Cut zucchini, broccoli and mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Toss in beer batter.

Heat deep fryer to 375. Carefully add coated veggies to basket and fry 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. Place on paper-towel covered plate to absorb extra oil and serve immediately.

Horseradish Sauce

1/4 cup mayonnaise

horseradish to taste

Mix together to desired spiciness. Chill before serving