Chips and Salsa and Guacamole

Organic blue corn chips with flax (from Target), salsa, guacamole, dried mango with chile; snap peas, radish and grapes.

Summer CSA season is here! Yesterday we picked up our produce, and La Segunda went out in the field and picked snap peas while La Primera and her friend climbed a tree. It's always fun to put fresh local produce into the lunchbox, especially if the kids helped pick it (or even choose it) themselves.

This lunch went together very quickly. You can pack everything but the dips the night before--keep the container of produce in the fridge. In the morning make the guacamole; you can make it the night before if you have to, but it's better fresh. One avocado made two portions. Pack it up and you're done!


Simple Guacamole

One ripe avocado
Lemon or lime juice
Salt
Optional: Minced onion, garlic and/or cilantro

Use a perfect avocado. Sometimes the grocery store will discount too-soft avocados and suggest you make guacamole. I suggest you let them alone. Too-soft avocados that are turning brown inside taste bad. Your perfect avocado, mashed with a little citrus juice and a little salt, will be delightful. I also enjoy minced onion in mine. Some people use a food processor to get a creamy puree. I prefer to grate or mince the onion, and mash the avocado with a fork so it will be chunkier. The joy of making it yourself is that you can have it just as you like it : )


Even Simpler Guacamole

If you ever find yourself in the unenviable position of walking in the door with children who are so hungry they are bickering and it is on your very last nerve, quickly dash into the kitchen, scoop that last ripe avocado you were saving for dinner into a bowl, mash it up with a couple spoons of salsa and fling it on the table with a bag of chips. The kids will still try to fight over who is getting the most, but their mouths will be full, dampening the sound. You will hardly hear it as you sit down with your sudoku puzzle.