Recipe #1 and #2: Pico de Gallo and Guac

Recipe: Pico de gallo
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: This depends completely on how much you plan to make and how fast you can chop
Ease: 2--unless, of course, you aren't very good with a knife
Taste: 7
Leftover Value: There were no leftovers, however, PW notes that it will not keep for long in the fridge.
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

Recipe: Guacamole
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: If you have ready made pico de gallo on hand, 10 minutes tops
Ease: 2
Taste: 8
Leftover Value: Again, no leftovers, but similar to the pico de gallo, guacamole will not last long in the fridge.
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

These two recipes come from the "Starters" section of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Since pico de gallo and guacamole intertwine not only naturally, but also in PW's book, I made them both as a way of starting this challenge off running.

I have only one complaint towards the pico de gallo recipe.  There are no quantities listed for the onions, tomatoes, or cilantro.  She only tells the amateur home chef to use equal quantities of all three.  Now, intially that seems all fine and well until we reach the jalapenos.  She says to use 1 or 2 jalapenos.  One can imagine that the jalapeno amount is not to be anywhere equal to the previously measured amount of the first three ingredients.  However, what dictates when to use 1 or 2?  This was tricky for me, as I am trying to follow each recipe exactly as it is written.

I used a pretty big jalapeno, sliced it in half and diced half of it for starters.  After mixing it with the onion, tomato, and cilantro, Mallory and I taste tested to see if it needed more spice.

It was perfect.  Since PW did not give specifics of the other ingredients here are the measurements I would give to this recipe:

2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups diced onion
bunch of cilantro (equaling 2 cups before it is chopped)
1 big jalapeno

After those ingredients are mixed together, the juice of half of one lime is squeezed into the bowl.  The lime flavor didn't play through so well, so next time I would use the whole thing.

After a sprinkle of salt, we followed her final direction, "...taste it with chips so the salt quantity is factored in."

Not. A. Problem.

I served the pico and guac as an appetizer for my brother and sister-in-law.  They liked the pico de gallo, but they loved the guacamole.

Again, PW doesn't include actual quantities.  She sort of helps us out by stating, "I like to allow three-quarters to one whole avocado per person", but that doesn't really help with knowing how much pico de gallo to make in advance because essentially her guacamole is mashing avocados and gently mixing in pico de gallo...a "big pile" of pico de gallo.

Because I'm a pretty literal person, and I happen to need specifics in my life, I'm going to help you out here should these two recipes have peaked your interest.  Total the number of cups of tomatoes and onion used and use the same number of avocados as cups of tomato and onion.  (That is, unless you have monster sized or baby avocados).  I found that an average sized avocado blended nicely with one cup of pico de gallo.

Now I'm going to be honest with you.  I don't think I ever tried guacamole before.  I know, I know, I know, crazy!  Knowing how good avocado is for you, has always made me want to love it, but the green always turns me off.

That might also be why I've never been a big fan of kiwi.

Once I got past the green, I loved it!  The avocado adds enough coolness to the pico de gallo that I might have been able to get away with a little more jalapeno.

The total time to prepare both took me an hour, but that was with chatting and reading and rereading the recipe a couple dozen times to make sure I hadn't missed some invisible quantity listing.

Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Recipe: Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Source: Ask Dr. Nandi

Time: 55 minutes (15 min prep, 40 minutes cooking)

Ease: 2

Taste: 1

Leftover Value: Was not worth saving

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain!

I should have known better than to get my hopes up with a recipe on Facebook.  The one pot pasta should have taught me that.*

But I couldn't restrain myself.  It looked so good.  It looked so different.

It's looks were deceiving.

*I'm not totally knocking the one pot pasta.  It's a great concept and simplifies the whole process of pasta.  The only issue was it was a little bland (my issue) and lacked protein (Hubby's issue).

I think the problem with this recipe is that the end result picture looks a lot like a Thanksgiving turkey.  

DELICIOUS.

Remember the old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"?  This recipe is proof that it goes both ways.  Everything that looks good on the outside isn't as great as it seems on the inside.

I'm going to tell you where this recipe goes wrong. 

You can't really go wrong with cauliflower.  You either like it or you don't.  Ordinarily, I don't.

But that is not what made this recipe fail, not was it the reason I disliked it.

I have loved experimenting with grilling, ricing, and mashing cauliflower.  My favorite so far has been to put chunks of cauliflower into a food processor and get it to a rice-like state.  After that I put it in the oven on 350 for about 10-15 minutes and it is good to go.  While there is certainly an obvious difference from it and the real thing, on nights where I'm trying to cut back or simply go healthier it works.      

I used up the remainder of my Greek yogurt on this recipe.  That made me a little sad.

We start this recipe towards disaster by mixing Greek yogurt, lime zest, lime juice, and just about every spicy spice available (chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, pepper).  

Alright, perhaps there are some spicier ones out there.

At this point I already knew the fate of this recipe, but I wanted to believe in it so badly that I ignored my gut.

Even if I had listened to my gut, I would have followed the recipe out to the bitter end.

Yet, I continued to tell myself that the odd combined smell didn't matter.  This recipe was going to be delicious.

This part was a little fun.  The head of cauliflower is dunked into the yogurt mixture and swirled around until completely covered.  Naturally this required that I eventually use my hands.  By the time the cauliflower ended up on the baking sheet it and I were equally as covered in spicy yogurt.

Since the cauliflower needed to bake for 30 to 40 minutes, I assume something scientifically magical was going to happen with the molecular make up of the spices and the yogurt.  Somehow it was going to transform this strange smelling cauliflower head into the roasted cauliflower that I imagined tasted like Thanksgiving turkey.

Foolish, foolish girl, I know.

As I pulled the finished product out of the oven, the never changing smell of cumin still hung prominently in the air, almost like a public service announcement warning me that my gut had been right.

Let me reiterate.  It was not the cauliflower's fault. 

Notice the brown chunks to the left of the plate?  That is what happened to the yogurt mixture.  I have no food relation that I can think to make for it.  It was like a paste that had become dried out.  Was it spicy?  Yes.  I'm not an overly excited fan of spicy food, because I usually can't handle it without needing a gallon of water.  However, I certainly know what good spicy food tastes like.  

This isn't it.

I'm tempted to experiment with this recipe some more.  The promise of an actually delicious roasted cauliflower head I believe does exist, it just will never involve yogurt and cumin.