Homemade Guacamole

I am a guac freak! Every restaurant I go to, I am constantly ordering guacamole or avocado on my meal. I will happily pay 50 cents extra for the rest of my life if it means getting to have this amazing condiment on my food...yes, for me, it is a condiment as much as mustard and ketchup.

Naturally, I had to come up with my own recipe for it. This is the freshest, easiest and quickest way to make guacamole for you and your friends...or just you. :)

For this recipe, you'll need a lemon, a lime, fresh cilantro, garlic, 2-3 avocados (depending on how much you want to make),  cumin, chili powder (if you like it spicy!) and a red onion.

Hint: do not, I repeat do not use cilantro flakes or lemon/lime juice already squeezed from the store. It will not taste the same. Everything should be fresh.

Core and spoon out you avocados into a large mixing bowl using a spoon.

Using a pairing knife or a food blender, chop your onion and garlic.

Add your onion, garlic, and lemon and lime juice to the mixture. Do not blend yet.

Add the Rotel, cumin and chili powder. Do not blend.

Add fresh chopped cilantro. You may now blend. Be careful not to mash the avocados too much, as the dip is much better with some chunky texture.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 can Rotel

3 avocados

1/4 cup chopped onion

3-4 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice (preference)

3 tbsp lime fresh-squeezed juice

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/8 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

Cinco de Mayo Must-Haves

Every good hostess needs a good set of cocktail napkins. Why not get a few festive and funny ones for the holiday we Americans center around drinking margaritas and eating cheese dip?

You can find the fiesta/siesta napkins here.

Personalized margarita glasses. 'nuff said. You can find them here.

My guacamole recipe....if you're not prepared to eat the entire thing, make a smaller portion. This stuff is highly addictive!

Link here.

Margaritas!!! AYE YAI YAI! You can have all the fun without all the sugar and calories. That's a reason to celebrate. Find it here.

So good you may have your friends asking...

This very useful and chic chip and dip tray from Williams Sonoma. I love the rattan because it's festive but doesn't pigeon hole it's use like other overly-themed trays. Find it here. Also, a less expensive option here.

How are you planning on celebrating?

Healthy & Savory Mashed Potatoes

A big influence on my cooking and recipes has come from being raised in the south. Southern grits, coastal favorites and buttermilk biscuits are all a staple of my cuisine. If any of you have visited a restaurant that creates such heavenly soul foods as these, you'll know that unfastening your belt is just as traditional as the recipes handed down.

I love southern cuisine...the only thing I can't deal with is the giant calorie count that comes with it. I've made it a personal goal to create savory and filling meals with the same flavors momma used to make but with the calories cut in half.

Mashed potatoes were always served along some type of meat in my household as a child. That's how God intended it. My mother would use half a stick of butter, whole milk or heavy cream, lots of salt and pepper...I'm not going to lie, they were heavenly...but if I'm going to look halfway decent in a swimsuit this summer, that recipe just won't fly.

In steps olive oil and greek yogurt, you lovely creatures I adore. If you don't follow my instagram account (@littlehouseofchic and shame on you!) then you missed my spiel on olive oil and weight watching.

Olive oil is awesome (in moderation)! Dr. Oz has been preachin' olive oil for so many things...heck he even thinks we should put it on our cereal (umm.. yuck).  But the one thing most of us ladies don't realize is how using olive oil can pack on extra calories too. 1 tbsp (about the size of the pool of you hand shaped like a cup) is equivalent to 119 calories! and while yes, it has the "good" fat packed in, too much of a good thing can be bad thing. In steps olive oil spray. I love this stuff. It's healthier than traditional Pam and you still get all the benefits of olive oil without the high calorie count. When most people cook in their kitchen, they can coat everything in olive oil (this was me)... 2 tbsp on this veggie, 3 tbsp as a marinade, maybe half a cup to cook with on the grill...but what I didn't know was that I was unknowingly adding almost 600 calories to our meals...yikes! This spray has been a life-saver on watching how much we add to our food. Plus it's much more efficient to coat food and veggies.

So let's start with the basics: red potatoes contain less starch than other potatoes. When choosing which to use for your mashed dish, I'd go with red or russet potatoes. For this dish, I prefer to keep some of the skin on because it adds good texture and also looks very pretty when serving.

Before I boil them, I always dice them into large cubes. Many people boil them whole, but as a time saver I prefer them to be pre-cut.

Next, I cut the shallots. No need for a small dice, here ladies and gentlemen. These babies will cook down with the potatoes and have a very soft consistency so you won't get that awkward hard crunch when eating them. 

Add a bundle of thyme laced together by some cooking twine, your shallots and your potatoes to a pot of water. Bring to a boil. Cover your pot and turn the heat to medium-high and continue to cook until your potatoes are tender (about 10-15 minutes).

Follow by draining the water and removing the thyme bundle. 

Hint: I do not use a colander on this step...why? you'l lose a decent amount of your onion/shallot. Instead, using a oven mitt, drain the water with the lid of your pot and hold it over the sink until it's pretty-well drained.

Add your 8 oz greek yogurt, garlic, spray a squirt or two of olive oil, and add more thyme if you like. If you have an immersion blender, use it to blend the potatoes. Otherwise an electric hand mixer works, too. I try to keep my potatoes a little chunky to add texture, so I'll halfway blend a section here and there.

And you're done! Easy, simple, delicious and healthy...win!

This recipe made 4-6 portions. Prep time: 5 minutes. Cook time: 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

3 red potatoes

1 tbsp minced garlic

8 oz plain greek yogurt

Bertolli's spray olive oil

1/2 cup shallots or red onion

Bundle of fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Peel potatoes living some skin exposed. Chop the potatoes into large cubes. Set aside. Take 2 shallots and chop them, not worrying to have the dice too small. Add potatoes, shallots and a bundle of thyme (strung using kitchen twine) into a large pot and cover the potatoes with water. Bring them to a boil for 1-2 minutes. Once boiling for 2 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-high heat and cover with a lid, leaving a small opening for some air. Cook potatoes until tender (about 10-15 minutes). Once the potatoes are soft (using a fork to test), drain the water using the lid of your pot and dispose of the thyme. Add greek yogurt, garlic, additional thyme (if you like), and olive oil to the mixture. Blend the potatoes with a hand mixer, leaving some spots a little chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Ikea Hack - Hemnes

I love a good Ikea hack. 

It allows me to shop inexpensively and create a gorgeous, high-end look for right around $100 bucks. Many of the hacks I create, I do because I know the specific style of furniture is a fad and will not be a timeless investment...in steps Ikea.

So, if you haven't seen the flooding amounts of light-colored dressers with the circle ring pull hardware on Pinterest, you must not follow any bedroom accounts...I can't seem to get away from them.

Examples of bedside tables and dressers:

Source - unknown

Erin Gates Design // Michael J. Lee Photography | Pale Powder - Farrow & Ball

Source

Suzanne Kasler-designed bedroom. Photo by Pieter Estersohn. Featured in Architectural Digest.

 Above are four of my favorite bedside tables in four very similar, yet very different rooms. I like the idea of using a chest (if you have the space) for a bedside table. Originally, I had your classic, very small bedside tables and they just didn't cut it. I needed more storage. (I like clothes, okay?)

I shopped and shopped and searched and searched for a dresser like the ones in the photos and found that this high-end trend I loved also came with a high price tag.

Starting from top left to right:

Bungalow side table / Beverly Dresser / Summer Hill Nightstand / Hemnes Dresser

One day as I was walking through Ikea and I spotted the Hemnes 3-drawer dresser in a bedroom they staged. It was sturdy, a beautiful shade of white and had amble storage space. I measured them, knowing what size I needed, and they were going to fit like a glove! I purchased two on the spot.

The next step was finding hardware. I currently have lots of antique gold finished in my home. I'm a sucker for gold and brass. Growing up southern, it's everywhere in antique homes. Frankly I don't remember seeing much silver at all other than a tea set or a good mint julep cup. 

My home has quite a few antiques. For a while it was starting to feel a little stuffy. You know those homes you go into that look absolutely breath-taking but you feel like if you sit down on anything or you're going to ruin it? I never want my home to feel like that. 

When I started designing my home, I would tour Mrs. Howard's showroom in Atlanta - among many others. She has a great way of mixing timeless, feminine decor with modern, fun accents. As soon as you'd walk into a room you'd know it was pricey, but you couldn't help but want to plop down on the sofa and sit for a while. That was my inspiration. Classic style with a comfortable ambience. 

Since then, Phoebe Howard has become my FAVORITE designer of all time. You may have seen a few of her books as popular coffee table reads in nice home stores:

My first book purchase from her small collection was The Joy of Decorating. In that book, I read about how she keeps her rooms from having that 'stuffy' feeling. The trick is to start with a few classic anchor pieces - this could be a great Governor's desk or a thick wood armoire (etc.), add in a few trends - like a cool coffee table, a sexy lamp or some fun throw pillows, and then style it with other pieces that have personal meaning yet still fit the room. Sounds simple enough, right?

Well I'll say she didn't get where she is today from being a simple designer. Interior design takes serious talent and a lot of work - mainly finding the right pieces to use! The internet and home stores have SOOOO much to choose from, you could spend days or even weeks looking for one great piece or accent. In which case I'll save you the time and do some of the looking for you. ;)

So, after scouring a few hardware sites, these are the ones I liked the most for this hack:

Zig-zag from top left to bottom right:

Silver ring / Gold ring plain / Sunburst gold ring / Plated gold ring / Vintage gold ring

If you loved the Beverly dresser from the photo list above (with the extra pizzaz for $1,800) you can recreate that look as well. 

If you are brand new to the Ikea hack world, allow me to introduce you to a company called O'verlays.

The two photos above are both custom fit for the Ikea Hemnes 3 dresser drawer, and are my two favorites for this hack. They have tons of overlays for a number of different projects and make the DIYer's job much easier....could you imagine trying to make those wood frames yourself? I'll pass.

For my hack, I wanted to keep my bedside tables pretty simple because I have a lot going on already with my fabric choices. If your bedding is fairly simple, jazz up your hack with an overlay! I've also seen other bloggers use fabric and nailhead trim for theirs which is amazingly creative and beautiful. 

To make my bedside dressers, you'll need to purchase two of the three drawer hemnes dressers, and twelve hardware pieces in satin nickel. Follow the assembly instructions by IKEA and skip the section at the end about installing the black handles. Take a screwdriver or a drill and on the front of the dresser, hold your hardware and on the inside of the dresser screw in the screws the hardware company provided to you. Repeat this step until each drawer has two pulls.

You're done!

Pretty easy hack, huh? And can you believe the same dresser is going for $700-$1,800??? You just saved yourself about a thousand bucks...now what can you decorate with that extra cash?

If you'd like to see more of my bedroom and get details on the pieces, let me know in the comments below!

Shrimp Étouffée Recipe

Shrimp Étouffée is in my top ten favorite southern meals! I was born in Louisiana and my mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, all she ate was Cajun food. Roast beef poboys, beignets, and hearty stews. I'm not sure if there's been any research on whether what your momma ate when you were in the womb has any effect on your taste buds, but based on my affinity for Cajun cooking, I'd have to say there must be a correlation. 

I grew up on the coast of Florida, so seafood has a special place in my heart. What's strange is that my mother never really cooked it much growing up, but when we went out to eat I ordered it at almost every meal. 

When I moved to Atlanta, I had a great kitchen. It was huge for a one bedroom apartment in the city. Having that much space to myself to experiment really had a giant influence on the development of my cooking skills. I worked in a bakery in college and knew how to whip up any sweet you asked me to, but cooking was an underdeveloped skill that I was dying to become proficient at.

 One of my best friends who shares my love of cooking decided to take me to the Dekalb Farmer's Market one Sunday afternoon. If you live anywhere near Atlanta and have never been to this spot, I highly recommend you go. I would have included photos of the interior with this post but it's against the rules and there are security guards who watch you.

From cooking-enthusiasts to chefs alike, this place is an ingredient food haven, filled with some of the most rare and bizarre items that you won't find at a Publix near you. The produce section alone is a thing of wonder and delight, where every turn of an aisle has you scratching your head wondering how you'd cook this spiky purple thing...or that long yellow stick...or, what the hell is this?

They also carry rare meats and cheeses. You can find quail eggs, liver, cows tongue, shark....you catch my drift? Now I realize this type of variety doesn't spark everyone's interest as much as it does mine, but regardless - this type of food-creating possibility revolutionized my cooking skills. Almost every paycheck I got went to bizarre ingredients that I would spend the weekend experimenting with. Now I still go back to that market whenever I want to make a great meal on a dime, because along with an amazing selection of food items come a very low price.

The shrimp étouffée recipe below is not outlandish. It is as authentic and delicious as they come. No need to be a fancy chef. No need to go to an exotic market. You can find everything at a grocery near you. I developed this recipe three years ago during my at-home food training and experimental phase. Most similar recipes do not call for sausage, but I've found it adds an extra kick and makes it more hearty. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Ingredients

Start by peeling and deveining your shrimp. Rinse the shrimp thoroughly.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over your shrimp and dust the shrimp with cracked pepper. Toss and set aside.

Follow by chopping your vegetables. If you've never worked with okra before, this is what the thickness should look like.

For the remaining vegetables, I used my food processor to give them a fine chop and save time.

Aren't those peppers lovely?

Now it's time for the sauce. Start by browning your butter over medium heat until it becomes a light brown. Then add your flour and whisk them together until the mixture becomes the color of a cappuccino and creates a thick paste.

Once browned, add your chopped veggies and cook them down until translucent.

After cooking the vegetables for 10-15 minutes, add your stock, tomatoes, herbs, lemon and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes and then add your shrimp and cooked sausage for about 5 minutes.

Put about 1/2 cup rice into individual bowls. I formed my rice using a ramekin. 

Fill the bowl with the étouffée and top with parsley, paprika and chives. I served ours with buttered french bread and Chardonnay.

Ohhhh yeaaaaa....

Recipe: