My wife does a little dance every time I make this.

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
1 medium, ripe tomato, diced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Mash ingredients together in large bowl.
2. Taste and adjust lime and/or salt to suit your taste.

Notes:
A potato masher makes an excellent guacamole mashing tool.
The fresher your ingredients, the better your guac. Use the best tomatoes you can find. Don’t use canned lime juice. It really does matter.

To store:
Guacamole is a tender, fleeting treat. It will only keep for a day or three in your fridge. To maximize freshness, place in airtight container with plastic wrap pushed onto the surface of the guacamole. This will help prevent darkening.

Video:
Check out the video, “Frunkle Paul and his Amazing Guac!”. It also includes footage of cats!

To see my videos, including high quality versions, visit my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/eatingSCD

All the taco goodness without the corn. The Napa cabbage provides the alternate crunch and makes it easy to handle.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground chuck
1 tsp salt
2-1/2 tsp homemade chili powder for mild, 1-1/2 T for hotter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (see this video for easy peeling)
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
Napa Cabbage

Directions:
1. Brown beef and onions then drain excess fat.
2. Add salt, chili powder and garlic and simmer for 5 minutes, adding a little water if necessary to incorporate spices.
3. Serve on Napa cabbage leaves with your choice of toppings. The Napa cabbage is sturdy enough to pick up the taco and not fall apart.

Toppings:
Rich yoghurt (in place of sour cream)
Cheddar cheese
Chili Sauce
A Fresher Salsa
Cilantro
Slices of avocado
A Fresher Guacamole
Tabasco sauce (only the original red – read the labels)

Might I suggest some refried beans to go with that?

The meat freezes well.

Ingredients:
4 cups ripe tomato, diced or about 3 large tomatos
1-1/2 cups yellow onion, diced or 1 medium to large onion
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice, about one lime’s worth
3/4 packed cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 small jalepeno pepper, finely diced

Directions:
1. Combine tomato, onion, lime juice, cilantro and salt in bowl.
2. Allow to sit for a couple of minutes then taste. Now is the time to add more salt or lime if you like. If you do this taste test after adding the jalepeno, it will be more difficult to discern.
3. Add jalepeno pepper. This can be tricky as the heat of the jalepeno can range from bell pepper mild to eye-watering hot. Best to start small. Add some to the salsa, give it a good stir and then taste. Too mild? Add more, stir and taste. Repeat till satisfied.

Notes:
Do not use sweet onion!
If you like extra mild salsa, just omit the jalepeno.
Keeps in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Good on eggs, refried beans, steak and just about anything you can imagine.

Bonus Recipe: A Fresher Bloody Mary using the juice produced by this recipe. Mmmmmm.

Ingredients:
1 lb. (about 2 cups) red kidney beans
1 lb. (about 2 cups) navy beans
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup lard
1 large yellow onion, diced. Do not use sweet onions!
5 cloves garlic, crushed (see this video for easy peeling)
2 Tbs homemade chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs ground cumin

Directions:
1. Carefully sort through the dry beans to check for debris.
2. Soak beans in water for 24 hrs, changing the water about half way through. The beans will expand by a factor of about 3, so use a large bowl well filled to keep the beans submerged.
3. Rinse beans well.
4. Put beans and bay leaf in large pot and cover with water by 1-2 inches.
6. Bring to a boil then down to a strong simmer. Cook for 1 – 2 hours until the beans are tender, adding water as necessary to keep beans just covered.
7. Mash beans. A potato masher works well.
8. In a second large pot melt lard and add onions, cooking on medium heat just until they begin to brown, about 15 minutes.
9. Add garlic and spices to onion and cook a few minutes more to allow spices to come alive.
10. Add mashed beans to onion mixture and stir will.
11. Continue cooking beans if necessary to reduce to a thick paste. If the beans are too thick add water a little at a time. Be careful though, nobody likes runny beans.

Yield 12 cups. Freezes well.

Perhaps you’d like some tacos to go with that?

An excellent accompaniment to all things mexican. Try with refried beans or tacos.

Ingredients:
4 quarts home-canned tomato OR 8 pounds fresh, cored and peeled
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic (see this video for easy peeling)
3 Tb homemade chili powder

Directions:
1. Puree tomato and garlic in blender.
2. Put all ingredients into large pot.
3. Bring to a strong simmer.
4. Simmer for about 3-1/2 hours to thicken to desired consistency, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.

This chili sauce preserves well with canning. Make a lot and enjoy year round.

Yields about 2 quarts.

This is a useful mix for a variety of recipes. I use it with hamburger to make a sort of taco filling. I also use it in chicken khorma and refried beans. It has a pleasantly hot, but well rounded flavor.

Ingredients:
4 Ancho chilies, dried and stems removed
8 Guajillos chilies, dried and stems removed
4 Thai chilies, dried and stems removed (see notes)
4 Tbs cumin seed
4 Tbs coriander seed
1/2 Tbs black peppercorn
9 Tbs oregano, preferably Mexican

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 300° F.
2. Put all ingredients except for oregano on large flat pan.
3. Roast for 7-10 minutes or until you begin to smell the spices.
4. Cool completely.
5. Remove stems from chilies
6. Add oregano to cooled spices and grind to a fine powder.

Notes:
Any small, hot pepper can be substituted for the Thai chili.

Yields about 1-1/2 cup.

I use a food processor first to coarsely grind then a coffee grinder to make it fine.I use a coffee grinder that I have reserved for spices only. If you use your grinder for both coffee and spices, you will contaminate both. The coffee will taste funny and so will your spices.