Monday, September 24, 2007

Deb's Pumpkin Roll

O.K. Joey I can do this! Of course mine won't have the description of yours but will taste equally as good, and is fitting for the season! ENJOY!

By hand mix:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup of pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup flour

Grease cookie sheet. Place wax paper(or parchment) on the cookie sheet and then grease the wax paper as well. Pour the batter on top and sprinkle with chopped nuts.(The Morales like slivered almonds) Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Take dish towel (not terry cloth. More like a cheese cloth.) and sprinkle with sugar. Flip cake onto towel. Peel off paper. Roll up and let cool.

In the meantime mix:
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese (works better at room temp.)
1 cup powdered sugar

After the cake has cooled unroll and frost it, and roll back up. (I like to put it in the fridge to let it set a while) I've heard it can be frozen but haven't tried it myself.

Now that everyone has the recipe what am I going to bake for you? :(

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Joey's Guacamole

What's more fitting for the premier DailyAvocado recipe than Guacamole? I'm happy with my recipe. There is one key choice you will need to make:

Can you take the heat?:
Sometimes it is great to spice it up so it can hold its own as the lone ranger salsa in front a bowl of chips. On the other hand Los Morales tend to make a bunch of salsas at once which span a large range of heat. In this case guac is a great refresher from the spicy alternatives. Decide what you are preparing for. Consider whether or not there are spice-wimps who will be eating.

Ingredients:
3 Avocados
1/2 Medium red onion - diced
1 Handfull of fresh cilantro (not dried coriander - and this is key) - chopped
Fresh lime juice to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 Roma tomatos (cut out the gelatenous blob and dice the tomato wall into small squares).
1 Medium clove of garlic - minced or pressed.

If you can stand the heat:
1 Small Habanero - diced
1 Jalapeno - diced
(These peppers heat different places of your mouth for different lengths of time. Together they carry the spice smoothly as you masticate and ingest your dip and chip).

Directions:
1.) Dice the tomatos, hot peppers and onion.
2.) Chop the cilantro.
3.) Peel the avocados and put them in a mixing bowl with the chopped ingredients and a pressed garlic clove. Mash and stir this with a fork occasionally adding dashes of salt and pepper. Squeeze in limes until you feel you have the correct salt/lime combo. these are the two flavors that typically tune the guac to the correct taste.

Selection of Ingredients:

Avocados: Hoss avocados are very good and easy to find.

Hard or Soft? You can press your thumb and make a dent but it only makes a dent. It doesn't alter the shape of the entire avocado.

Peel: I'm particular about thickness of avocado peel. If too thick it can create a gap between the peel and flesh. The avocado flesh in this gap can turn brown and mushy and eventually starts to taste like bacon. On the other hand I don't like it when the peel is too mushy and becomes part of the avocado itself. These are very difficult to manipulate with a knife. The skin should be between the two extremes. The skin should dent along with the avocado leaving no air pocket between the flesh and peel - but you should definitely be able to feel that the peel is an independent piece of the fruit.

Limes:
Key Limes are superior if you can find them. They are more juicy and have a more Mexican flavor. This also applies for lime use in Mexican Beer.