Guacomole!

                               What do you do when the grocery store has massive avocados?

I ended up with eight cups of ohhhhhhh so tasty Mexican dip.  Licking the bowl was the only option.

Guacomole

6 large avocados, diced

1.5 c. chopped cilantro

3-4 cloves of garlic, to taste

Juice of 1 lime

3/4 c. minced onion

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tomato chopped.

1.  Dice up avocados and put in a large bowl, you will want plenty of room to stir.

2  Add remaining ingredients and stir briskly.  The stirring action should mush up some of the avocado but leave you with a chunks as well.  I prefer chunky guacomole.

Serve with any tortilla chip or meal.

Warning:  Guacomole normally doesn't keep well overnight.

Crockpot Marinara

I was inspired by a few Pinterest links claiming to have to best marinara sauce EVER!  I reviewed the recipes and decided I could do just as well or better.

The endeavor also helped with my idea to cut preservatives and gluten out of our diet.  We are not a gluten free house, but are making small changes.

 Marinara

1 can crushed tomato(32 oz.) (organic)
1 c. tomato paste - from a glass jar, pure tomato
1 can petite diced tomatoes(16 oz.)(organic)
2 c. water
5 Medium tomatoes, diced.
1 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced - you can use more if you like.
3/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
3 T. italian seasoning
2 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. garlic powder

Put all of the above in your crockpot.  Set on high for 4 hrs. Stir.  If it is the desired thickness, cut back to low until dinner time.  There should be about 2 quarts of sauce in the end, use what you need and freeze the rest for later!

Basic freeze sizing for us, family of 4.

1 c. marinara - for spreading on homemade pizza or dipping

3 c. marinara - for pasta dinner.  Cook up some lean ground meat, add sauce and a little water for meatsauce

5 c.  - enough sauce for me to make a lasagna

When I have to defrost this for dinner I may add a few more ingredients off this list to mix it up a bit.

Cup of white wine - for chicken spaghetti
Cup of red wine - for a richer meat sauce

Sneaky vegetable add-ins
pureed roasted red pepper
pureeed cooked carrots
can of pure pumpkin