Summertime Favorites, New and Old

As I've said in previous posts, I love experimenting with food and cooking.  This summer, I'm trying new things out so I'll be able to cook for my roommate and myself in our apartment (moving in in about a month, woo!).  At the beginning of the summer, I posted about a chicken dish I made.  This time, I'm going to share a few recipes for smaller-portioned snacks and desserts.  One is an old favourite, and the other is a dessert I just discovered on Pinterest today, and put my own twist on it.

Before I go on, a random side note: I love how my cat always seems to know when there's something going on in the kitchen.  It's like she has sonar for it.  When I start cooking, she's at my feet within seconds. Here she is, waiting for a scrap to fall...I can't believe I haven't posted a picture of her here before!

First, I'll share an old favourite: guacamole.  I blame my best friend Ruth for getting me addicted to this.  She shared her original recipe with me, and I've made it my own.  Here's how I do it.  This is just enough for me and my parents to snack on before dinner...usually.
 

• 2 avocados, fairly squishy; that means they're ripe
• Juice of half a lime
• A modest spoonful of plain Greek yogurt
• Dashes of salt and pepper
• I add a little bit of dried oregano and basil, and a small bit of balsamic vinegar.  These aren't necessary, but they add good flavour.

Slice the avocados in half length-wise and remove the pits.  Spoon the flesh into a bowl.  Add the yogurt, and squeeze the lime juice over the avocado.  Add the salt, pepper, and whatever else you choose to add.  Mush with a fork until it reaches your desired consistency.  I like mine smooth and creamy, but my parents like theirs a little more chunky with some tomatoes and peppers.  It's delicious either way!  Best served with tortilla chips, especially Tostitos Hint of Lime!

Guacamole is my favourite snack/appetizer.  A bowl is lucky to last me half an hour.  I could eat it by the spoonful...and am capable!

This summer, I've been trying to cut back on my Coke and coffee intake, and drink more water.  I'm absolutely addicted to caffeine--I blame fall semester, when I often stayed up late writing 4 papers per week--so it's been difficult.  Water doesn't have much of a taste on its own, so I found ways to make it more appealing taste-wise by adding fruit and some herbs (fresh from my own mini garden).  My favourite combination so far is lemon, lime, and mint.  It tastes great, and it also serves as a detox drink!  I'm now up to drinking about 3 bottles a day (by "bottle," I mean my Camelbak travel bottle, which might have been the best $15 I ever spent).  I add half of a lemon, a lime wedge, and about 10 mint leaves into my pitcher and let it steep overnight.

I've also done raspberry and lime, and pineapple mint.  I think I'll try blueberry lemon next!

And now for dessert!  I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest for Oreo Fluff.  I checked it out, and thought I could make a lighter version of it with reduced-fat and low-sugar ingredients.  After a quick trip to the grocery store, I gave it a shot.  Here's what I ended up making, and how:

• 1 package white chocolate pudding mix (I used the sugar-free kind)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• Roughly half of a tub of Cool Whip Lite
• 10-12 crushed Oreos

I mixed the above in a bowl.  My original plan was to put it in little dessert dishes and chill them until later, but then I discovered a package of mini pie crusts in our pantry, and used those instead.  I left out the marshmallows from the original recipe--mostly because I forgot to grab them at the grocery store--and instead spread a little bit of melted chocolate in the bottom of each little pie.  I filled the pies with filling and topped each with a cookie.  They're now sitting in my freezer, and should be nicely chilled in another half-hour or so.  I can't wait to try them...I bet they'll be like little frozen pies.  Yum!

Bon appetit, readers!

P.S. that guacamole I made just before writing this post?  It's about 2/3 gone...whoops.