I used to be known for spending hours in the kitchen. If you had a time-consuming, pain-in-the-neck-inducing recipe - I was the girl for the job! Complicated instructions. Detail oriented. Particular.
But it was worth every overly nerotic nuance
almost every time!
Then, along came The Boy. Now, I spend countless hours each week cooking for him. He is allergic to dairy and soy and we suspect something is going on with wheat and his digestive system. My cooking has gone from dream hobby to complete necessity. My child wouldn't eat much if I didn't spend time in the kitchen.
I also watch my nephew after school for a few hours and he likes to eat. So when you add it all up, I'm generally in the kitchen for about half of the day either cooking or cleaning up (which has been dramatically reduced since my awesome husband jumped on my bandwagon to install a dishwasher in our very old pre-dishwasher home just a few short weeks ago! Maybe I'll write a post on that one too one of these days. Dishwasher: Best. Invention. EVER.).
Back to the story. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
I haven't been particularly creative with my own food much in part to the fact that I have to be creative with The Boy's food. Today, however, I wanted something fresh and spring-like for lunch even if the weather outside wasn't exactly screaming "SPRING IS HERE!" (unless 15 degrees is spring-like for you - then you should probably go. I whine a lot about the cold.). As I was dishing up plates of food for the boys, I was trying to figure out what I could make for lunch that wasn't a straight-up salad but was still healthy and incorporated some green.
As I plated my not-so-fancy child lunch of their but favorite scrambled eggs, carrots and dip, and sliced avocado I realized that I wanted an avocado too. I noticed a few cherry tomatoes withering away on my counter. I was thrilled! I could make guacamole! Yes! Noooo. Noooooooo. No. I can't eat straight up guac for lunch. Yes it's green, but I needed more. Plus I'm out of tortilla chips.
I had a vague memory of a kale-guac recipe my family made a year or two ago and decided to replicate it. I was out of kale, but did have spinach.
The results were pretty awesome. Filling. And not too guilt-inducing. Considering that I'd rather eat a bag of jelly beans this time of year to try and keep up my winter layers (pudge) to stay warm during our incredible "spring". Did I mention that I dislike the cold? Whatever. This was better than jelly beans.
Give it a try. Simple. Green. Hurry-Up-Spring in a bowl.
Here is the recipe for my Extra Green Guacamole:
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach - chopped well
1/2 avocado
1/4-1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (to taste)
Up to 1 TB lime juice (I like lime)
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Garlic - to taste
Fresh jalapeno - to taste (if not allergic like me)
Using a fork or potato masher combine ingredients. Add lime, salt, pepper, garlic and jalapeno to suit your taste preferences. Eat straight up using a fork like a salad or more sophisticated scooping with broken pieces of tostada. Like me. Or wrap in white corn tortillas.
Enjoy!
I jumped on the ombre wagon.
