Avocado Sandwich Spread or Dip

I am not going to call this an egg free substitute for mayonnaise, because you couldn't really use it to replace mayonnaise in recipes. It does make a very tasty sandwich spread though. So in our house we will be using it as an egg free, soy free mayo/ranch alternative. It also works great as a dip. This isn't so much of an actual recipe as a, "here is a vague outline of what I did, with some pictures and witty banter thrown in". So now go out there and adjust it to your own taste preferences and dietary restrictions.:)

The only downside to this is that avocado turns brown and I didn't add enough lemon juice to prevent it. If you make this, you have to use it quickly, or you have to get over that lovely shade of greenish brown (that always reminds me of Linda Blair) being on your sandwich or quesadilla.

All I did was throw 2 tbs of yogurt, two avocados (washed, peeled, pitted) and the juice of one lemon into the food processor. Then I added ranch dressing mix to taste. I've found packets of ranch dressing mix on the shelves that my met our dietary restrictions before, however....I did not love them. I wanted to...believe me, but it was just not meant to be. Try making your own, you can adjust the sodium, spices, and there are even dairy free recipes out there.

This made it's way into the kids muffin tin snacks the other day, check it out....

The theme was "A". A is for apple slices, avocado dip, and ants on a log. The kids gobbled this whole tray up in no time flat. I got the idea for serving it in a muffin tin over here, at Mama to 4 blessings, our homeschool blog.

Might I also suggest you try it on a veggie burger....good stuff!

Cranberry Salsa

Cranberry salsa on top of plain yogurt....surrounded by black bean and cheddar quesadilla "petals"

I love sweet and spicy....I think I've established that pretty well at this point. One of my favorite places to eat in town has this mango habenero salsa that is sooooo good. Well it got me thinking about other fruit salsas, and I thought how about cranberry? You could actually chop all the ingredients up really small and mix them together with lemon juice for a chunky salsa, but I can't do that....because then my daughter would know there were onions on it....and then she would have to vomit at the dinner table....again.

I used this salsa to make a cute quesadilla flower for my daughter with the salsa in the middle and quesadilla "petals" surrounding it. This recipe can easily be adjusted to suit your own taste, try more or less jalapenos or different types of peppers....you could even substitute a different type of dried fruit...apricot, mango....whatever. This salsa is also really good on nachos, spread on a sandwich, as a dip, or poured over cream cheese.

Oohh and in other cool news, I'm adding a "football" tag. So you will be able to browse through my site for recipes that (I think) would be great to munch on during a game.



1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves (washed really well)
1 clove of garlic
2 tbs sliced jalapeno or other pepper to taste
1 lemon worth of juice

Put all of the ingredients into food processor and process until desired consistency.

Post Super Bowl Food Hangover + Q&A

I ate too much on Sunday, and I felt like crap all Monday long. I really do feel better when I stay away from junk food...so why do I eat it...even once a year, I'm compulsive.

Note to self: Next year, don't sit next to chips and dip.

I did make some vegetarian fare to bring to the event, a pesto and roma tomato pizza, and some stuffed mushrooms, but I sat next to the french onion dip, and that's my own dang fault. I did however have a revelation of sorts halfway into cutting my tomatoes. I realized my kids are going to be socially awkward.....perhaps cripplingly so if we don't get out of the deep south. Not just because my DD (at three) begs to watch Star Trek, or because we have a large number of aspies in the family, but also because she will be the kid who's mom brings a vegan option to the Super Bowl, and always smells like garlic.......sigh. It probably won't help either that I continue to use slang from the early nineties....yo.

So for next year more BBQ sauce, less flax seed. Still healthy, but perhaps more deceptively so. As I'm sure every mother of children with allergies feels, I just want them to not feel left out.

On to the Q&A portion of the blog:

Is your sugar fast over?
Yes, it ended here.

Did you cheat?
I may have popped a few of DS's Cheerios in my mouth, before I realized they had sugar in them...but no chocolate, no desserts, even when the Fam decided to eat ice cream I held firm.

Did you lose weight? Yes...one week without sugar, exercising every day, I lost a whopping 1.2lbs....woo....hoo...


Any other side effects?
My headaches went away, and I lost that afternoon slump feeling. Both were unexpected, but welcome changes.