Guacamole dip, made from avocados, is quite easy to make. The key is finding flavorful and ripe avocados. When my husband brought home some absolutely perfect avocados from Target grocery store, I decided to put my other blog post ideas aside and make an avocado dip.

I don’t have a recipe for this avocado dip. I learned to make it from watching my mother-in-law and then adding seasonings that I like. She uses only a few ingredients in her dip — mainly mashed avocados, some chopped tomato, a bit of onion, a little lime or lemon juice and seasonings. For seasonings I used salt and pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and some fresh cilantro. Not much of each seasoning is needed; the taste of the avocado should come though as the main ingredient.

Here are the ingredients; the cilantro from my garden is going to seed. However, the leaves still impart flavor into the dip. Later I decided to add a touch of garlic powder so that is a missing ingredient in this photo.

Avocados

Avocados are different from most other fruits because they are high in fat. However, the fat in avocado is mainly monounsaturated fat or oleic acid which is does not raise cholesterol levels in one’s bloodstream. Avocados contain moderate to rich amounts of vitamins including B vitamins, Vitamins K, C and E and potassium. So avocados have some health benefits.

Finding avocados which are ripe and flavorful is the key. It helps to purchase avocados in season. They should yield to slight pressure when gently pressed. Avocados will ripen at room temperature, especially when stored with bananas or apples. They will not ripen once refrigerated, so don’t refrigerate until they have reached the ripe stage (then they can be stored up to a week). The ones my husband found did not contain blemishes or soft spots; the Hass avocados in the photo are as perfect as you will find.

Fun Kitchen Gadgets

I have noticed this kitchen gadget in our kitchen gadget drawer for quite some time now but really didn’t know where it came from or what if was used for. Today I discovered it is an avocado slicer that my husband purchased.

My husband helped me cook today by chopping vegetables for several recipes. He got out the avocado slicer and demonstrated how to use it. It worked great to extract and slice the avocado pulp. And now I know what the gadget is!

Here is the sliced avocado.

Recipe

My avocado dip is easy to make. Just mash the avocados – leave some chunks if you like. I don’t use any mayonnaise in this dip. Add the lime juice, seasonings and just a little very finely chopped onion. Then mix in a finely chopped tomato. Chill.

When storing the dip, my mother-in-law gives this tip. She places the stones of the avocados in the top of the dip and says this helps prevent browning. (Remove the stones when serving.)

This dip can’t be beat! Try it.