Melanie W.'s Guacamole

I really like guacamole so I knew I would like this. It's also really easy to make, which is another reason I knew I'd like this. I doubled the recipe, though only added 3 tomatoes because I thought 4 would be too much. I didn't have cayenne pepper so I substituted chili powder and paprika like Whitney did. I added the full amount of salt and it was fine for my taste buds. I've never made guacamole with cumin before so that was a nice addition. I'll have to remember that for next time I make guacamole (because I usually don't use a recipe when I make it).

Cami's Veggie Burritos

I love how easy these are to make. I whipped them up last night in no time. They are quite tasty as well. As you can see Calder thought they were awesome. His favorite foods are cheese, avocado, black beans and tortillas so these are right up his alley.

The flavor is perfect. I love the onion and black bean insides. I also love the warm burrito with cool tomatoes and guacamole on top. I used orange bell pepper instead of red because I prefer the flavor. I somehow made large burritos and only ended up with 6. All well. I'll certainly make these again.

Cami's Chipotle Chicken Nachos

These are so tasty! I love that they have a spicy kick at the end but it doesn't overpower the other flavors. The avocado cream was so perfect and good. I'll have to make another batch just to eat as a dip.

I wanted to make the mango salsa but the mango I bought was very far from ripe. I've never had such poor luck with mangoes before. I'll have to make it next time because it looks really good.

I served these with beans and rice. It was a great meal.

Updated Nacho recipe

Hey everyone. LuAnn brought to my attention a mistake in the recipe I posted. I accidentally left cumin out of the ingredients (although it was included in the instructions). Sorry! The recipe calls for 1 tsp. cumin to be added to the chicken mixture. The recipe below has been updated.

Nacho Pictures

So I don't normally take photos of dinner foods, but I do actually have some photos of the nachos that I took awhile back. These were taken before I discovered the mango salsa.

Chicken Chipotle Nachos with Avocado Cream and Mango Salsa

[Sorry, this is an extraordinarily long post!]


This recipe comes from Seasonal Southwest Cooking. I can't recommend this cook book highly enough! It's amazing! Everything I've tried out of it is incredible, and I cook out of it at least a couple of times every week. Buy it! You'll love it! (Unless you don't like chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. Because 90% of recipes in the book call for it.)

Anyway, this recipe is my favorite.

Chicken Chipotle Nachos with Avocado Cream and Mango Salsa

Chipotle Chicken:
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 - 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped (stick with 1 unless you can handle a lot of heat)
3 tsp. finely chopped red onion
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1.5 c. grated Monterey Jack cheese

Avocado Cream:
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 Tbsp. sour cream
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Mango Salsa:
1 mango, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 c. diced red bell pepper
1 jalapeno chile
1/4 c. findely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. grated lime zest
salt and pepper to taste

Tortilla chips (as many as needed)

To prepare mango salsa, combine all salsa ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. Let stand one hour to allow flavors to mellow.

With an electric mixer, cream together the cooked chicken, cream cheese, chipotle, red onion, garlic, cumin, and shredded cheese. Mix well.

Prepare the avocado cream. In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat broiler. Evenly spread each chip with a generous amount of the chicken mixture. Arrange chips on baking sheet and broil about 3 minutes away from the heat until puffed and golden. Transfer nachos to a platter and top each with a teaspoon of avocado cream. Serve warm.

NOTES:

1. The recipe in the book doesn't actually include the mango salsa. I got it from another recipe in the book, but I love it on these nachos. You can do without it if you don't have time to make it or don't want to buy the ingredients, but I highly recommend it. You could also do without the avocado cream if you want to just have the salsa on them instead. But you need something to go with the chicken.

2. This makes a TON of nachos! I usually make the full batch and make as many nachos as we want and then keep the rest of the chicken mix in the fridge. It's super easy to throw together once you've got the chicken mix made, so we usually end up eating it for lunch for a few days until it's gone.

3. I never strictly follow the recipe for the avocado cream (in fact, the ingredients for the avocado cream above have already been altered by me). For the avocado cream I usually just mash up an avocado, add a spoonful of sour cream, squeeze half a lime into it, and add as much cilantro, salt, and pepper and I think looks good. You can adjust any of the ingredients to your liking.

4. I also never follow the recipe for the salsa. I just chop up veggies till it looks right in proportion. And I never use more than half of a jalapeno. And I usually forget to add lime zest. It tastes good however you make it!

5. If you have thin tortilla chips, keep an eye on them while they bake. Thin chips can burn before the chicken mix is hot enough.


Do you have any pet peeves?
Too many unfortunately... One thing I hate is when a store or restaurant is either out of or discontinues one of my favorite things. Especially if I'm really craving something. So disappointing.

Any other hobbies besides being an amazing cook?
Running, photography, reading, and wasting time on the internet. :)

What is your favorite summer activity?
As a kid it was swimming but I don't get to do much of that these days. This summer it has been sitting on the porch in the sun reading a good book.

Are you a morning or a night person?
Neither. I'm an eight-hours-of-sleep kind of person. Although I try not to stay up too late so I can get up at a decent time.

Are you a go-go-go sight-seeing kind of vacationer or lie-on-the-beach-all-day kind of vacationer?
I definitely lean towards lying on the beach. Mmmmm... Mexico...

What is your favorite store?
Two favorites -- Anthropologie (clothing) and Wegman's (groceries). Oh how I miss Wegman's!

What is your favorite beverage?
Water, but when I'm letting myself live a little, I like flavored lemonades and limeades.

If you had to go back to school, what would your major be?
Photography

Danielle's Chicken Wraps

Again, no picture. Taking a picture of my food is the last thing on my mind when I'm getting dinner ready. And I can't stand to let my food sit there getting cold while I take pictures of it (I can't just snap one quick one, I just can't do it).

Anyway, kudos to Whitney. This was a great dinner! I love a recipe I don't have to go out and buy any extra ingredients for. I was able to make these with everything I already had on hand. (Luckily Max's mom had buttermilk in the fridge. I think that's something I'm going to start keeping around. Buttermilk is one of my new favorite ingredients!)

In the sauce, I used a chipotle pepper instead of jalapeno because I discovered that my jalapeno had gone bad. I'm sure it would've been good with jalapeno, but I love the flavor added by chipotle. I think I'll make it that way all the time.

We topped ours with cheese, corn salsa, avocado, and tomatoes. Yum!

Whitney's Summer Fresh Chicken Wraps

RECIPE:

4 chicken breasts

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oil

sauce:

1/2 c buttermilk

1/4 c low-fat mayo

3 T fresh parsley (chopped)

1 juice of a lime

1 large jalapeno pepper (seeded & chopped)

garnish:

2 tomatoes

1 head of romaine lettuce

10 flour tortillas

optional, but delicious with it: 1 avacado, cheese, black beans, sour cream

Cut chicken into strips. Place chicken, chili powder, cumin and oil (I used less than recommended) in plastic bag - shake bag to coat. Stir fry in pan 5 minutes. Combine sauce ingredients well and add to chicken, cook 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Dress tortillas with chicken and garnish and wrap.

COMMENTS:

This is such a simple recipe and it's a healthy, summer dish. If you want to get fancy, try to make your own tortillas (I used Costco's uncooked tortillas). I adjusted the recipe for just the 3 of us, but used the same amount of sauce. It had a little kick, but I think my jalapeno was especially hot. ENJOY!

QUESTIONS:

When did you start baking/cooking? Officially in college when I moved out. My mom didn't cook very much growing up. She struggled with her weight and always seemed to be dieting, so she didn't want to cook us something that she couldn't eat. She brought home meals from fastfood or restaurants at least 4 times a week and the other days we cooked up freezer meals in the microwave. It's amazing I didn't end up huge, seriously.

What is your favorite kitchen tool? My cheese graters - we just love cheese.

What is your favorite book? Can't say it's my favorite, but I recently read Confessions of a Shopaholic and thought it was great - an easy, fun read. I couldn't believe how different the movie was.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Europe, please.

If you had to change your name right now, what would you change it to? It's funny, I can't picture myself with any other name, but if I had to, I guess I'd choose "Carden" ... one of my favorites.

Where do you currently live? Orem, Utah just for the summer. We just moved from Chicago and are here while my husband studies for the Arizona bar. We're moving to Phoenix, AZ area in the Fall when my husband's job starts in September.

Where are you from? Orem, Utah

If you could eat one thing for every meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Ice Cream or Candy (if it wouldn't ruin my teeth)

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July! We had a lot of festivities, so I didn't have time to bake any goodies out of Baked, but these mini cupcakes were a hit. It's red velvet cake mix, with cream cheese frosting and blueberries (yay for the red, white and blue). Yum!