[photo courtesy of the healthy everythingtarian]

If all has gone according to plan and I didn’t get sidelined en route by all the cheese farms, I am currently in Madison, Wisconsin. Why? you ask. Good question.

Tomorrow, I am running my first ever half marathon. This is big stuff. Big for me, anyway. The last two months have seen me run farther than I’ve ever run before and I’ve been enjoying running so much. High fives all round!

Hopefully this race will be one big fat celebration of that running fun and then we can all eat cheese curds and sleep happily in our beds, yes?

Wish me luck!

Guacamole is one of those wondrous things isn’t it? Creamy avocado at your desired level of smooth or chunky, salted and scooped up with a tortilla chip or spread inside a taco shell.

I.love.guac.

One of the main things I love about guacamole is that it need not be fancy or stuffed full of a million things to be great. Don’t get me wrong, throwing some cilantro in there and adding certain spices is fun, delicious and a great idea. But if you’re low on ingredients, you can whip up an awesome, simple guacamole in no more than 5 ingredients. Four at a push!

Simple Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 medium avocados, peeled, pitted and smooshed up to your desired level of chunky/smoothness
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• salt, to taste
• lemon juice, to taste
• 1 tomato, diced (optional!)

Directions

You don’t need directions! You literally just smoosh it all up in a bowl and immediately get those tortilla chips out, get the drinks flowing (I’ll have a Tecate, please. Thanks very much.) and get eating!

Guacamole travels well, too — in fact, it’s traveling with me today, as I hit the road for Madison!

What does your favourite guacamole have in it?

Yeah, you heard right.

I was working this weekend in Fargo, ND. Lucky me, eh? Actually it was all kinds of lovely, but that’s another story.

Anyway, for reasons that there is just no need to get into, I came home with about 16 fairly ripe bananas. I chopped some up and froze them (favourite snackage); I mushed some up to make overnight oats with; I baked some banana bread for my co-workers; and then I got to thinking about combos.

I put coconut in the banana bread. That combo won at life. Everyone loves the banana and chocolate combo. Well, everyone who is my friend does. But I was missing the classic.

Everyone’s favourite peanut butter and the humble banana. A match made in sweet heaven. I’ve never baked with both. Yes, I’ve made banana bread and yes I’ve made peanut butter cookies, and yes I loved them both with all my heart. BUT. When you have two good things going on that just happen to compliment each other…then you put your hands together folks.

Peanut Butter Banana Blondies
adapted from How to Cook Everything

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup mashed banana
• 1/3 cup peanut butter

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8×8 pan
2. Mix your melted butter with the brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg and then vanilla.
3. Add a pinch of salt and stir in flour. Mix in peanut butter and banana mush.
4. Pour the mixture into your buttered pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. This part also depends on your desired level of goo. I am a goo girl so less time wins for me. Cool on a rack before cutting them.

These are kind of shocking. In a good way. They are so peanut buttery it’s untrue and the banana gives them just a kick. You might want to up the banana and lessen the peanut butter slightly for a less intense pb experience. But I wouldn’t blame you if you just stuck with these measurements and loved it up in peanut butter land for those few sugary, buttery bites.

P.S. Feed these to people and they will be your friend forever, like it or not. You’ve been warned.

Check out some other blondie ideas.

What are your favourite flavour combos?
I love cheese and pineapple (reminds me of having chunks of them on cocktail sticks at parties as a child!) and chocolate and orange is a match made in heaven.