May 2015

Waldorf salad, a delicious summer treat

(But choose your recipe carefully)
Last night I bought way more chopped walnuts than I needed, plus I had apples that I needed to use soon, and I was inspired to make Waldorf salad.
 
Waldorf salad is a chilled sort-of-fruit salad, with a base of diced apples and chopped walnuts, typically served over a bed of lettuce. Most recipes add halved grapes, thinly sliced celery, and a cream dressing. Optional additions include diced chicken, dried cranberries, raisins, and lemon zest.
 

Making a basic guacamole

Zesty!
I recently moved to southern California, where avocados literally grow on trees. They are everywhere here, and often on sale, so I am much less reluctant to experiment with them than before.
 
The biggest key to guacamole is making sure that your avocados are ripe enough. The timing can be tricky here! If you need your avocados to ripen faster, put them in a paper bag. Adding a ripe banana to the bag will help them ripen even faster.