Category Archives: Appetizer

Tennessee Caviar

by Sarah

Close to this time last year, my little sister got married!  Cary and I were reminiscing about the wedding and I thought I would make one of the dishes served at the reception, Tennessee Caviar (also known as Hillbilly Caviar or Redneck Caviar).

For Tennessee Caviar, you need 1 can of shoepeg corn, 1 can of blackeye peas, 2 cans of Rotel, half a red onion, a green pepper and 1 cup of Italian dressing.

Mix the corn, blackeye peas, rotel, diced green pepper, and diced onions together.   Stir in the Italian dressing and let the mixture marinate overnight.

We serve Tennessee Caviar as a dip with Tostitos chips.  Happy anniversary Katie and Carl!

Guacamole

by Sarah

I have to be honest with you.  I didn’t think I liked guacamole until I had it at Bobby Flay’s restaurant Mesa Grill in Las Vegas.  You can read about that experience here.

Now, I learned how to make guacamole by eating at Sol.  You see, they make guacamole table side.  It is amazing.  It was so good, that I made Cary take me back the next day, just so I could see how they did it again.   Here is what you need to make guacamole at home:

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • red onions
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 lime
  • jalapeno
  • Cilantro
  • Sea salt

So, the hardest part when I started making guacamole was picking out a ripe avocado.  You want to find one that doesn’t feel hard as a rock.  That’s really it.  It’s very similar to picking out a ripe peach.  Once you pick your avocado, cut it lengthwise.

Many people use a knife to remove the pit of the avocado.  That never works for me, so I gently wiggle it out with a spoon.  Then, I scoop out the flesh and put it in a bowl.

I use a fork to bring the avocado to a smoother consistency.  Sometimes in our excitement to have guacamole, we buy avocados that aren’t quite ripe.  When this happens, I slice the avocado into small cubes.

Add a pinch of salt.

Clean out the seeds and chop the jalapeno into small pieces.  Add as much or as little as you like.

Cut a red onion into small pieces and toss that in to the mixture.  In our case, we got several small red onions from our CSA.  Again, add as little or as much as you like.

Normally, I use Roma tomatoes, but they didn’t look good when we went to the grocery store, so I got a “vine ripe” tomato.  Remove the seeds and chop the tomato into small pieces.

Add cilantro.  If our grocery store has fresh cilantro, we get that and chop it into fine pieces.  However, if the cilantro doesn’t look good or not there, we buy the Gourmet Garden cilantro.  As with all the other ingredients, add as much or as little as you like.  Add lime juice from a fresh lime.  Mix well and enjoy!

Click here for the printable version.