Totally Amazing & Fetastic Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my all time favorites for spring and summer!  Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate here in Minnesota after what has seemed like a never-ending winter.  Maybe this recipe will bring some warmth and sunshine our way, or at least trick our minds into thinking we are on a beach in Puerto Vallarta sipping on a Margarita and dipping some crisp tortilla chips into a bowl of guacamole goodness.  Oooooohh... Margaritas... is it happy hour yet?  Guacamole is such a crowd pleaser and has always been one of my go-to "bring a dish to share" recipes for barbeques or any summer gathering.  I love making it because the ingredients are always fresh and guacamole is so versatile, you can put it on anything!  When I first started making guacamole, it was simply to avoid eating the paste-like, pre-made guac that they sell at the grocery store, and I typically only made it using a couple avocados and salsa.  Over the years, my recipe has definitely increased in ingredients and prep time.  Although there is a lot of ingredient chopping involved in this recipe, I promise you the extra labor is SO worth it.  This recipe makes enough guac for a party, it is very easy to reduce the recipe.

Prepare your guacamole arsenal with the ingredients below:

*Ripe Avocados (Qty 6) - should be slightly soft when you squeeze them, avocados vary in size, but the larger the better, larger avocados means more guacamole!
*Red Onion (Qty 1)
*Jalepeno (Qty 1)
*Tomato (Qty 1)
*Cilantro (Qty 1 Bushel) - they typically sell this in a bushel at the grocery store
*Garlic (Qty 6 Cloves) - you can also used pre-packaged minced garlic
*Lemon (Qty 1)
*Lime (Qty 2)
*Feta Cheese (1 container of crumbled - any brand)
*Olive Oil (1 Tablespoon)

*Vinegar (1 Tablespoon)

*Salt

*Pepper

*Dippers of Choice - Tortilla Chips, Crackers, Pretzels, Veggies

1. Finely chop the red onion, jalepeno, cilantro, garlic & tomato and combine in one large mixing bowl.  I recommend chopping the tomato last as it will get your cutting board wet with tomato juice and it's no fun to chop cilantro on a wet cutting board.  Here's a tidbit for the cilantro - Wash it, dry it, remove majority of the stem (I don't like the stem so I take the extra time to remove all of the cilantro leafy goodness from the stem), bunch together the cilantro to make chopping easier.  Set aside a small portion of the chopped cilantro for garnish at the end.

2. Remove the pits from and scoop out the avocados into the mixing bowl with the already chopped ingredients.  If you are having trouble removing the pits from the avocados, use your knife and twist as pictured above.

3.  Halve the lemon & limes and squeeze into your bowl of ingredients.  Warning: Make sure that you don't get any of the lemon seeds in your bowl!  

4.  Add the Olive Oil & Vinegar to the bowl and MIX up your ingredients until well combined.

5.  Chop the crumbled feta cheese (sometimes its more chunky than crumbled so i always give it an extra chop) and fold it into your guacamole.  I do not like to add the feta before I mix the main ingredients because depending on the softness of it, the feta can get lost in the guac and I like to see all of the ingredients, it makes it pretty :)

6.  Taste your guacamole and THEN add salt & pepper to-taste.  I always taste the guac before I add the salt and pepper because the feta already adds some saltiness to the mixture, so it is better to wait until the end.

7. Ta-da!  Garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro and you have some Totally Amazing & Fetastic Guacamole!  Take a dip & enjoy!