Guacamole with a Twist

I'm not just saying this because I made it, but I've never, ever, ever liked guacamole. Always tasted bland to me. I made this on a whim tonight with some leftover avocado from sushi from dinner the other night and I LOVE this. Love love love love.

Ingredients:
1/2 jalapeño pepper
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 cup onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or lime juice if you like. I'm not a fan)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
Pinch of sea salt
Itty bit of orange zest
1 avocado
1 small tomato (or 1/2 medium tomato) roughly cut up into 4 or 5 pieces.


Directions:
1. In a food processor, add jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, onion, lemon juice, cumin, chili powder, and sea salt. Pulse until all ingredients are chopped in small pieces.
2. Add avocado and orange zest and blend until mostly smooth (leaving little chunks is great!)
3. Add tomato pieces and pulse until chunks of tomato are left in the guacamole.
4. Enjoy on your salad, in your wraps, or as a yummy veggie dip.


***If you don't have a food processor, just finely chop all ingredients except avocado & tomato and mix together. Blend avocado in with fork and mix until mostly smooth. Add in bits of tomato at the very end for a chunky guacamole.***

Veggie Chili

Fall is here and you can't do without a good,  hearty, warm chili for the cool evenings.  This is Lacey's own recipe! Change it to your liking though. Wanna add mushrooms? Go for it. Hate peppers? Take them out.  Add some tasty winter squash for added flavor. It's all about throwing what you love into the Crockpot for an easy meal ready  by dinner.

Ingredients
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 Orange Pepper chopped
1/4 c. Diced onion
2 chopped stalks of celery
2 c. corn
2 diced tomatoes
1 c. kidney beans
1 c. black beans
3 c. All natural or homemade tomato sauce
3 chopped carrots
1/2 c. Quinoa**
2 gloves garlic (pressed/chopped finely)
1 tsp. chili seasoning (or to taste)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp. cumin (or to taste)
1 tsp. onion powder (or to taste)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Pinch of salt

Directions
Put all ingredients in slow-cooker & stir. Cook on Low heat for 6 hours.

**Optional: Quinoa is very similar to rice. It's a small grain that looks sort of like couscous. You can either make this separately as a base underneath or add directly into the crock pot to be part of the chili.


If you're able, I challenge you not to buy your normal canned goods for this recipe (corn, kidney & black beans). Many of them are loaded with salt. If you choose to do so (which we have to resort to many times since beans must be prepped before being used in a recipe), buy no sodium or low sodium items.