Lies, Lies, Lies... and a little guacamole

So the other day when I posted that I was okay with getting snowed in every week this winter ...I maybe, possibly, accidentally lied to you. I was really trying to be positive and give out a good energy - I was even lying to myself. Truth is - I didn't even want to get out of bed this morning looking out the window.

I grew up in California and I'm convinced I need 10xs more vitamin D than your average east-coaster. Where is the sunshine? People are talking about an early spring - I prefer skipping straight to summer. I want to go running in the park.

So though it is only breakfast time - there was only one thought that actually got me out of bed this morning. Sunshine in a meal. I wanted some fresh cilantro. When I promised myself that if I could crawl out of bed I would run across the street and get some cilantro it almost felt like promising myself a tropical vacation.

But they didn't have cilantro across the street! I grabbed some questionably soft avocados and a jalapeno and headed back out into the wild of wide slush rivers that I used to call sidewalks. Second grocery store - another questionable success.

You know when you pick up cilantro and smell it to double-check that you didn't pick up parsley instead? Cilantro should smell every bit of that promise of sunshine. If it doesn't smell don't buy it. Period. I almost had to face that tragedy (seriously today I was desperate enough to go for grocery store #3), but found one with a whiff of flavor and went for it.

When your cilantro (or any ingredient for that matter) is questionable in strength - use a ton of it! Make up for in volume what you are missing in power.

I was excited, however, to find a few other summer-time treats in my produce isle. I got some red bell pepper and lime. If cilantro is the sunshine in this bowl then lime is the hammock under the palm tree to go with it. :)

I was also excited to find some fresh corn (not an ingredient in my traditional guacamole recipe) - so sweet! Perfect addition to help me lie to myself that it's actually summer for a moment. However, it is also pushing me to the edge of how much one can fit into a guacamole. I finally realized I was going grocery shopping crazy (happens to me a lot - but especially when I have a craving of some kind). I put the breaks on the operation and made a bee-line towards checkout.

How much stuff can you add before you don't have enough avocado to hold it together? And does that really matter?

Don't forget salt! Your avocado will never forgive you for depriving it of it's soul mate.

With the corn, the entire bunch of cilantro, a whole bell pepper, jalapeno, red onion, lime juice and some tomato to a ratio of only two avocados - I definitely turned this into some more closely resembling a guacamole salad. A salad you can still eat with chips, but a salad none-the-less. When you're craving sunshine in February I seriously don't think that this could possibly be more satisfying.

Breakfast of Champions!! :)