Saturday, December 18, 2010

Pomegranate Mango Guacamole

Either Alicia and Jarrod are too nice to lie, or this is good guacamole. Jarrod's delicious homemade flautas worked so well with this guacamole. It created a yummy blend of sweet and spicy. Easy to make. Beautiful colors. Great flavor. What's not to like?


Ingredients:
4 ripe avocados
1 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 fresh jalapenos, finely chopped (depending on how much spice you like)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (add more if you wish)
1 cup pomegranate seeds (plus some more to add on top of the guacamole)
1 cup diced peeled mango (plus some more to add on top of the guacamole)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste

Directions:
Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chiles, lime juice, and salt. Gently stir in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with salt and additional lime juice if you wish.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cashew Cookie Larabar

I love larabars, especially the cashew cookie. It makes a great post-run snack, and unlike other foods that claim to be all-natural, but contain ingredients I cannot even pronounce, larabars really are 100% natural. The cashew cookie only has two ingredients, dates and cashews. Buying larabars can get pricey, so this weekend I was determined to find the right proportions and make the cashew cookie larabar at home for half the cost. 

Ingredients:
16 pitted dates
2/3 cup raw unsalted cashews

Instructions:
1. In the food processor, pulse the cashews until it turns to bite size pieces. I like my larabars chunky, so left mine a little bigger. Put cashews into a separate bowl.
2. Pulse the dates until there are not chunky. Put the dates into the bowl with the cashews.
3. With your hands mix the two together until the nuts and dates are well incorporated.
4. On a piece of plastic wrap, spray with non-stick spray then put mixture on the plastic wrap and top with another layer of plastic wrap. Roll to about 1 inch thickness with a rolling pin.
5. Wrap after shaping into large square and put into refrigerator for about 20 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and cut into desired sizes. You can even use cookie cutters to make fun shapes! After cutting them, you can now individually wrap them and place them back in the fridge.