Sunday, October 05, 2008

Spicy Guacamole Dip

This message is from Paul Elliott, the co-author of The Collard Patch The recipe is for Jane Butel's spicy Guacamole Dip. Paul says: We know you love delicious food. How about healthful food that ALSO helps you lose weight?
You're gonna love this!

It's called cooking with chiles! Yes, the capsaicin (hot stuff) in chiles actually stimulates your metabolism by about 30% and THAT burns more calories. But you don't need to go around with a flaming mouth and a scalp dripping with perspiration to get the benefit.

1 Delightful spicy Guacamole Dip recipe and 2 Southwestern Recipe and Chile Resources--

First, a delicious spicy guacamole recipe--

Jane Butel, the Queen of Southwestern Cooking and owner of the "Best Cooking School in the US," designed this recipe.

GUACAMOLE
Guacamole at its best! For greatest flavor, appearance and keeping
quality - always cut avocados with two knives into coarse chunks
about 1/2 inch square.
**[Paul's hint: "Two knives" means one in each hand cutting across in front of you so you don't squash up the avocado. Jane says chunky avocodo is tastier and has a better texture. You know what? Jane's right!]
Yield: 4 servings
2 ripe avocados (preferably Haas)
½ teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice, or to taste
1 medium-size tomato, chopped
¼ cup finely chopped Spanish onion
1 medium fresh jalapeno, minced
2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1. Halve the avocados; scoop pulp into a bowl. Coarsely chop with
two knives. Add salt and garlic; then slowly add lime juice to
taste.
2. Fold in tomato, onion, chiles and cilantro. Let stand a few
minutes before serving to allow flavors to blend.
3. Taste and adjust seasonings. Some like spicy guacamole, while
others like it quite mild. Often piquancy is best determined by
the other foods you are serving. If some like it hot and others
don't, a solution is to serve a side dish of spicy salsa.
4. Serve guacamole in a Mexican pottery bowl and garnish the top
with a few tostados thrust into the top. Serve with a basket of
tostados. As a salad, serve over chopped lettuce and garnish each
serving with a cherry tomato.
Note: Many myths seem to abound about placing an avocado pit in
the guacamole to keep it from discoloring or oxidizing. I don't
find that to work so well. Cover the guacamole well or sprinkle
with a few drops of ascorbic-acid mixture, the mixture used to
prevent darkening in freezing fruits. Be careful not to add much
of the acid, as it can be slightly sweet.
** [Paul's Note: ascorbic acid is nothing more than Vitamin C: great for keeping food from turning a brown color on exposure to air. Of course, it's still good food with excellent flavor, the ascorbic acid keeps it looking nice.]

Yum!

FREE: A delightful Southwestern recipe e-book and Southwestern Cooking resource--tips, tricks, and recipes

Jane is offering all our friends a free subscription to her newsy, recipe filled Butel's Bytes. As a bonus for joining Butel's Bytes, you will receive her five favorite recipes and a weekly series of fun, newsy notes about chiles, health, and Southwestern cooking.

To subscribe click here for Jane's Site. When you get to the site, look on the right side turquoise menu bar and select the button labeled "subscribe." You will be taken to the form where you put in your name and email address. Press "submit."

VERY IMPORTANT: Next, you will need to activate your subscription.

Check your mail from Jane Butel that says "RESPONSE REQUIRED." Open that email and click on the long link in the middle to activate your subscription. Very quickly you will receive Jane's email with the e-book of special recipes attached.

Spicy Guacamole Dip

You'll get her Butel's Bytes tips, tricks, information, and recipes in your email regularly and can even browse back issues. Yum!

All Jane's recipes are kitchen tested and guaranteed to delight!

Here's to Happy Cooking and eating.

Oh, yeah, that little ** thingy--Blatant confession follows . . . I, Paul, acknowledge that I know little of cooking. I am the Certified Spicemouth(TM) and Eater in Chief. So I'll watch out that these great chefs and magnificent cooks don't run in any strange terms on y'all.

Yum!

Mary Cheatham and Paul Elliott, the Collards Folks

Go to Jane's site here.