Our stomachs were rumbling as we prepared to dip our chips at The Center’s 1st ever Guac Off! The competition sprouted out of a friendly conversation in our Center Café and four team members took the challenge of creating an award-winning guacamole. Sandy Adams, Angela Palacios, Melissa Parkins, and Matt Trujillo all started with a simple avocado and mixed and mashed up top-secret recipes.
Each contender lined up a bowl on the café counter and the rest of the office eagerly piled up on chips. The lucky judges included the rest of The Center team members willing to dip a chip! Everyone enjoyed scraping the bowls clean of the glorious green! Judge Gerri Harmer said the tasty competition was, “The best job I’ve ever had.”
Our victor, Angie Palacios said her recipe was inspired by a weekend getaway to Sante Fe, New Mexico. “It was there I finally learned how to make great guacamole when we ordered it tableside at a restaurant,” Angela remembers. “While I do add lots of different vegetables and spices, it all has to start with a few perfectly ripened avocados!”
I just make it by taste so I don’t have any measurements. I think that day I had to work with:
Ingredients:
8 ripe avocados (the kind that are very small and come in bags of 4 taste the best – a tip I picked up from Marilynn Levin)
Juice of 2 limes
½ bunch of cilantro chopped
2 or 3 roma tomatoes chopped
¼ cup of chopped onion (I’m guessing I had red but can’t remember)
1 package of “Great Guacamole” mix
Salt to taste if needed
Mix ingredients together in a bowl and cover with saran wrap pressed down to touch the guacamole and let it rest for 30-60 minutes