Recipe: Guacamole

I'm off to South Jersey to get together with some girl friends of mine. I decided to bring one of my favorite things to eat with me. The recipe below is originally from my very good friend Amanda, but over the years I've altered it slightly.

4 Hass Avocados (DO NOT use Florida avocados)

1/2 Small Spanish Onion chopped (regular yellow or white is ok too)

- this should be about 2 Tbsp of chopped onion

1 Plum/Roma Tomato - seeded and chopped

1 tsp of chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp of salt
1 lime

1 clove of garlic (minced, I prefer to use a garlic press)
1/2 of one jalapeno minced (remove seeds and ribbing)

Use the above ingredients as a starting point, adjust the flavor (spicyness or saltiness to your liking). Be aware of the guests you are serving the dip to, some people may not like the taste of cilantro, 1/2 tsp of chopped fresh cilantro is not a ton of flavor.

Cut the Avocados length wise, remove the pit and scrape the fruit of the avocado with a spoon. Transfer to a bowl (glass works well), or a mortar and pistol. Smash up the avocados to a consistency to your likely. I like a tiny bit of chunkiness to mine :)

(This mortar and pistol was a present from my Future Mother In-law, it weighs about 25 lbs!)

Add the chopped tomato, chopped onion, cilantro, 1/2 lime juiced, salt, garlic and jalapeno (you can substitute a few teaspoons of hot sauce, like Red Hot, if you don't have jalapenos). Mix it up.

Chopped tomato

Transfer to the bowl you are going to serve it in.

If you aren't ready to serve it yet, drizzle enough lime juice (from the other half of the lime) to thin layer of juice on the the top of the guacamole. Cover airtight with plastic wrap. The avocado will oxidize and turn brown make sure you follow the these steps to keep it fresh. The dip should be eaten within a few hours. Serve with Tortilla chips!

Final product, pressed with plastic wrap

Say Cheeese!

Note: This post is not for the lactose-intolerant, you might be running to the bathroom after you are done reading this! - just kidding

I love Cheese. Not quite sure about you, but I can eat cheese with anything. I typically stick with grocery store cheeses; shredded, grated, shaved, blocks, double-cream, triple-cream, green veins, chunks, balled.... give me cheese!

I've recently had a jones-ing for better quality cheese and thus started researching Cheese Shops in Central Jersey. I discovered "Bon Appetit", a specialty food's store, located in Princeton.

This past Sunday, Jason and I took a trip to Bon Appetit where we were quite surprised with the abundance of goodies they sell. They have a meats section, with a nice variety of salami's and cured hams, a bakery section with freshly baked bread and cakes, and of course a cheese area equipped with a Cheese monger to provide all sorts of recommendations on cheese. http://www.bonappetitfinefoods.com/

We sampled a few cheeses and then decided on 3 cheeses (2 Italian and 1 French) to purchase:

1)Montasio - Italian cows milk. Similar to a Parmesan, but much more mild. We enjoyed this by cutting it into small pieces and snacking on it - bread wasn't required.

2)Tallegio - Italian cows milk. Smelled pretty disgusting when we got it home, but tasted like heaven. We nixed the rind (not sure if it was edible or not) and then applied it (liberally) to slices of freshly-baked, crusty french bread (we picked this up at Bon Appetit when it was still warm).

3)Saint Agur - French cows milk. Pronounced: San-AhGEEEEr. This was a very creamy, salty, blue cheese. It was definitely mild when it comes to blue - not soo pungent. We also slathered this onto slices on french bread.


(from top to bottom: Saint Agur, Montasio and Tallegio)

Snowed-in Saturday

We had lots of plans today, but they were all curtailed with the lovely snowstorm that came in over night. I certainly do not mind since there are lots of things I can do around the house.

I love the fact that I subscribed for weekend newspaper delivery. Our local paper, the Home News Tribune inserts weekly ads and coupons into it's Saturday issue. Since most Sales begin on Sunday, this extra preview day allows me to plan my weekly shopping a little bit earlier!

The Newspaper was delivered this morning despite the 10 inches of snow on the ground. It was doubley wrapped to keep it nice and dry. To my surprise there were 4 Coupons booklets!

After clipping the coupons this is what my dining room table looked like:

Grocery Night

I spent my Sunday clipping and printing and clipping again. I looked at the ads and determined where I was going to do my weekly shopping. There are a few ways you can save money when shopping for groceries.

1) buy items that are On Sale

2) buy items that are discounted with the "Club Savings Card" (Yes, go sign up for every store you shop at, STOP using the "store's" card!)

3) use coupons, both Store and Manufacturers

4) Stick to your list

Tonight was ShopRite night:


I bought 73 items
Used 15 Manufacturer coupons - totaling $18.99 (ShopRite doubles coupons under $0.99)
Used some Store Coupons - Saved another $9.05


Total cost of Grocery Bill was $163.03
After scanning Price Plus Card and Coupons, Paid out of Pocket: $88.48
That's $74.55 in Savings

One more piece of information, all 73 of the items purchased were Name-Brand grocery items!

Super Bowl Sunday Delicious Dip

I'm currently on my lunch break - I made my salad and now I'm back at my desk.

I decided to check out Rachael Ray's Weekly Newsletter which appeared in my inbox this morning. This week she is focusing on 5 Super Bowl Dips- one of which is a Spinach Artichoke Dip (SAD). After looking at her recipe I came to the conclusion, based on the ingredients, the SAD recipe that I use (a variation of Alton Browns recipe) is probably better. I recently made this dip for a friend's housewarming party and it got rave reviews! If you decide to test drive this recipe please leave a comment and let me know your opinion.

Spinach Artichoke Dip (SAD)

1 ½ bricks of neufchatel cheese (or Cream Cheese- 1/3 less fat)
1- 8oz or 10z package of frozen chopped spinach
1- can of artichoke quartered hearts in water or brine NOT marinated! (canned veggie isle)
½ -cup light mayonnaise
½ -cup reduced fat sour cream
2/3 -cup shredded parmesan cheese
½- tsp red pepper flakes
½ -tsp garlic powder
½- tsp salt

Defrost the Frozen Spinach (I typically do in the microwave)

In a small pot cover spinach with water and cook on low for 5-10 minutes.

Drain the can of artichoke hearts. Chop them up into smaller pieces.

Remove the neufchatel cheese from the packages and put in a microwavable dish ( I use a medium sized, oval corning ware dish, a 9x9 square glass baking dish would also work).

Microwave the neufchatel cheese from 1 – 1.5 minutes until it begins to bubble.

Stir in all the other ingredients: Mayo, Sour Cream, Red Pepper Flakes, Garlic Powder and Salt, chopped artichoke hearts, chopped cooked spinach and parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly.

Before serving pop the dish back in the microwave (covered with lid or plastic wrap) for 1 minute increments. Serve the dip warm with tortilla chips or sliced French bread

Substitutions and Notes:

*Neufchatel cheese is a version of cream cheese with less fat – every grocery store sells it in the dairy isle right next to the cream cheese.

* You can use an 8 oz bag of frozen artichoke hearts (find by frozen veggies)- defrost and drain before using.

*If using grated parmesan cheese, cut the amount of cheese to a 1/3 cup.

*I attempt to make this as light as I can and still taste yummy, so feel free to fatten this recipe up by using the full-fat versions of sour cream, mayo and cream cheese.

*I do not endorse making this even “healthier” with fat free products.

CVS Extra Bucks and more

In case you are unaware, CVS has a really sweet Rewards Program called Extra Bucks. On some items they have on sale you can get them for a Sale Price and also earn Extra Bucks to use at a later date. You need to sign up for a CVS Extra Care card and ensure that you have the cashier scan it for each purchase-even at the pharmacy!

Regularly you can earn $1.00 for every 2 prescriptions you have filled at the Pharmacy.
*Now through March 15 you can double the bucks on prescriptions ($2.00 for every 2 prescriptions). With this current special you will earn 4% back on CVS brand items.

To sign up for this promotion, cut out the coupon on page 14 of your CVS ad for this week and bring it into the store. OR if you have an Extra Care card sign up online http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/promoContent/promoLandingTemplate.jsp?promoLandingId=1177

How do you redeem Extra Bucks and the "% Back" that you earn? The "% Back" gets added up and will get printed on a receipt after April 1 (for Winter spending). The Extra Bucks earned on purchases get added to your current receipt and you can use them on your next purchase!

The plan for CVS this week (2 items):

SoftSoap Nutri-Serum Body Wash (15oz)
Regular Price: $4.99
Sale Price: $3.00
Coupon: $1.00 (from this week's Newspaper)
Out of Pocket: $2.00
Savings: $2.99!

Theraflu (6 Count)
Regular Price: $6.49
Sale Price: $5.99
Coupon: $2.00 (http://www.coupons.com/)
Out of Pocket: $3.99
Savings: $2.49!
Bonus: $2.00 Extra Bucks for my next purchase!

Additional Score: I'm also printing my Fall 2009 Reward (only $1.00) to use on my total purchase.




I'm dishing out $4.99 for $11.48 worth of items. Saving over 5o%.